When 27-year-old Dodgers outfielder James Outman was good, he was oh so good. So good, in fact, that a good many Dodgers fans were a bit concerned that when 34-year-old Dodgers outfielder Jason Heyward was due to return to action following his 40-game stint on the injured list for lower back tightness, that it would be Outman who would be optioned back to Triple-A OKC, not 23-year-old rookie sensation Andy Pages, who had been called up from Triple-A to fill in for Heyward.

Unfortunately, during Pages’ incredible rocket to stardom, Outman absolutely tanked, this despite Dodgers manager Dave Roberts giving him significant playing time to ‘work through’ his horrific batting slump. As such, and despite his early success at baseball’s highest level, those good many Dodgers fans still believed that it would be Pages who would be optioned back to OKC when Heyward returned and not the slumping Outman, with his .147 batting average and 40 strikeouts in his 109 at-bats.

Lo and behold, when Heyward was activated from the IL prior to Friday’s game against the Cincinnatti Reds at Dodger Stadium, it was indeed Outman who was optioned, not Pages.

As for Heyward, all the Ridgewood, NJ native and first-round draft pick in 2007 by the Atlanta Braves out of Henry County High School in McDonough, GA did in his first game back was crush an 87.4-mph slider from Reds right-hander Alexis Díaz in the bottom of the eighth inning, sending it 384 feet just inside the right field foul pole for a two-run home run (scoring Pages, who had singled ahead of him), to give the Dodgers a 7-3 lead and the final score. It was Heyward’s first round-tripper of the season and third and fourth RBIs.

“Awesome to be back out there, I’ll never take that for granted, playing the game. But it’s huge to get an at-bat like that, add on, keep some pressure off of us. That’s a big part of the season, that you can add on in moments like that,” Heyward said postgame of his eighth-inning blast.

“Definitely didn’t take that at-bat for granted. Great at-bat by Andy right there in front of me … awesome to be in the game right there,” added Heyward.

By no means is this piece meant to slam James Outman, whose defense has been absolutely stellar this season. It is merely to say that Outman needs to work some things out to get his swing back to what it was last season, and Triple-A is the place to do it, not The Bigs.

“It was tough,” Roberts admitted, of having to tell the extremely popular Outman that he was the one being optioned to make room for Heyward on the Dodgers active roster.

But for as tough as it was, it’s hard to argue that it wasn’t the right choice – for now, at least.

Play Ball!

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