As we have all come to learn, in the game of baseball:

‘When you’re hot you’re hot, and when you’re not you’re not.’

For the first half of the 2023 MLB season, 26-year-old Dodgers utility outfielder James Outman couldn’t have been any colder. Prior to the All-Star break, the extremely popular Redwood City, CA native and Dodgers seventh round draft pick in 2008 out of Cal State Sacramento slashed a painful .236/.318/.419/.737, with 104 strikeouts and 26 walks. He did, however, have 11 home runs and 40 RBI.

But since the Mid-Summer Classic, Outman is slashing a far more respectable .272/.402/.476/.878, with 12 home runs but only 29 RBI; this with four games remaining in the 2023 regular season. Unfortunately, his second half strikeout numbers are still on the high side at 72, with 41 walks. He does, however, have 15 stolen bases, so there’s that.

In his first at-bat against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field on Wednesday night, Outman crushed a 94.1-MPH sinker from Rockies right-hander Noah Davis 382 feet over the right field wall for his 23rd home run of the season to give the Dodgers an early 1-0 lead.

As you might expect and after having already been burned once by Outman’s power, when he stepped to the plate for his second at-bat of the night in the top of the fifth, Rockies manager Bud Black had his infield play back for the powerful left-handed-hitting Dodgers slugger.

Oops.

On Davis’ first pitch to Outman, an 84.3-MPH change-up, the crafty Dodgers center fielder dropped down a perfectly executed bunt along the left field line for a leadoff base hit. He would come around to score when the next batter, Dodgers left fielder David Peralta, ripped a double into the gap in left-center to make it 2-1 Dodgers. The Dodgers tagged on two more runs in the inning for a (then) 4-2 Dodgers lead in their eventual 8-2 win.

But wait, there’s more!

In the top of the ninth, Outman lined a double to center for the preverbal ‘triple shy of the cycle.’

“I can’t say enough about what James has done,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told SportsNet LA’s Kirsten Watson postgame of Outman. “You know, from the first month of the season where he sort of came on the scene by surprise and then hit the skids a little bit, and then just recovered in just such a good way. And defensively, playing great, offensively, doing a lot of good things.”

All of this said and the thing that Dodgers fans need to keep on mind is that Outman went 0-for-4 against the Rockies in Game-1 of Tuesday’s day/night doubleheader. However, he went 4-for-6 in the nightcap with four singles. This, coupled with his 3-for-4 game on Wednesday, suggests that the popular Dodgers outfielder is indeed getting ‘hot.’

…at exactly the right time!

Play Ball!

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