Dodgers prospect James Tibbs III attempts to show staying power

PHOENIX — When he was selected with the 13th pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, outfielder James Tibbs III envisioned himself wandering the Oracle Park outfield in a San Francisco Giants uniform for many years.

He never could have predicted that a year and a half later he would be playing for a longtime rival of the Giants, already in the third stage of his young career.

The Giants packaged Tibbs along with Kyle Harrison, Jordan Hicks and Jose Bello in a trade with the Boston Red Sox for three-time All-Star Rafael Devers last June.

A month and a half later, Tibbs’ life was turned upside down once again when the Red Sox traded him and Zach Ehrhard to the Dodgers in a trade for Dustin May.

MLB Pipeline prospects analyst Jim Callis has covered the draft for more than 30 years and can’t remember a situation like this.

“Tibbs is the only player I can think of who was picked in the top half of the first round and then traded twice in his first full professional season,” Callis said. “He really took off after joining the Dodgers, and I bet we see more consistency from him when he’s not bouncing back and forth. [organizations] in 2026.”

Tibbs appears to have found a comfortable landing spot with the Dodgers. He had seven home runs, 32 RBIs and a .269/.407/.900 slash line during his 36 games in the Dodgers organization, completing his season at Double-A Tulsa. And in his first camp with the Dodgers, Tibbs turned heads. In 15 Cactus League games, he hit two home runs, hitting .281, with an on-base percentage of .351 and an OPS of .914.

He probably won’t open the season on the Dodgers’ big league roster, but manager Dave Roberts sees his potential.

“I love James Tibbs,” Roberts said. “I like him a lot. He loves baseball, he’s obsessed with getting better at this game and he’s a perfect fit for who I am as a baseball coach and the players we want, so he’s going to play in the big leagues. He’s a championship-type player.”

Tibbs was bowled over by both trades and taught him a lesson on how to deal with adversity.

“Honestly, I might be one of the first first-round picks to get traded twice in their first year,” Tibbs said. “For me, it was hard. I’m not going to sugarcoat it; it was hard. And really, mentally exhausting. [I] I felt like I had been punched in the face several times and I really had to learn how to get back up and continue to compete and figure out how to be true to myself and what I do well.

Tibbs said joining the Dodgers helped him rediscover himself and get back into shape after his time at Florida State.

“[When I joined the Dodgers, they] “Hey, you know, we just want you to be yourself,” Tibbs said. “We want you to do what you need to do to be successful. We believe in you, we believe in what you did in college. We want you to get that back and be able to be successful in the way you swing the bat and the way you play defense, and we don’t want to take that away from you. So obviously adjustments were made, and there were things that we had to change a little bit to get to this point, but I think for the most part they just allowed me to be myself and work within those boundaries to help figure out how to continue to make this better and better.

“And that being said, I felt a lot of relief from that.”

Tibbs hit 28 home runs during his junior year at Florida State, propelling the Seminoles to their first trip to the College World Series since 2019. He received ACC Player of the Year and consensus first-team All-American honors.

“Tibbs was one of the top offensive prospects in a loaded 2024 college class,” Callis said. “He makes good swing decisions and hits balls hard, which gives him the ingredients to hit for average and power. Most of his value will come from his bat, but it’s a potentially powerful bat.”

For now, Tibbs is content to realize his potential within one organization.

“Props to the Dodgers, they did everything they could to help me transition smoothly into this and make it a better process,” Tibbs said. “And it’s made it a lot easier for me to go out and play every night, because of the way they’ve encouraged me and believed in me. It’s just a blessing to be here.”