Dodgers add Ben Casparius to NLCS roster, drop Dalton Rushing
MILWAUKEE — The Dodgers made only one small adjustment to their roster for the National League Championship Series, announcing a 26-man roster before Monday’s opener that included an extra pitcher, Ben Casparius, in place of a third catcher, Dalton Rushing.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had indicated the Dodgers would likely add a pitcher for the NLCS, which is a best-of-seven round with only two days off.
In Casparius, they did it with a right-hander capable of throwing multiple innings at a time (he bounced between the rotation and bullpen earlier this year) and used as an option against the heavy right-handed parts of an opposing lineup.
Casparius, a 26-year-old rookie who played a minor role in last year’s World Series run in the postseason, became one of the Dodgers’ biggest success stories during the first half of the season. Over his first 20 appearances (all but one of which were relieved, and 14 of which went beyond one inning), he had a 2.54 ERA, a .194 batting average and 44 strikeouts to just seven walks.
His production was so impressive that the Dodgers finally moved him into the rotation in early June.
But from that moment on, his season began to turn around.
In his five outings as a starter or loose after a first game, Casparius had an 8.24 ERA and allowed six home runs in 19 ⅔ innings; meanwhile, the Dodgers believed, potentially tipping his pitches onto the mound.
Eventually, he returned to a strictly relief role, but seemed to run out of gas down the stretch, posting a 4.50 ERA from July 9 to September 5 before being demoted to triple-A.
Although Casparius hasn’t returned to the majors since then, his time in the minors seemed to help him. He returned to dominating right-handed hitters. He only gave two points in five outings. And he was back with the Dodgers in each of the first two rounds of the postseason, when the team had just 11 pitchers (not counting two-way player Shohei Ohtani) because of the shorter series.
The addition of Casparius meant the Dodgers had to cut someone from their position player group. They did so by removing Rushing from the roster, with the team no longer needing three catchers in the NLCS thanks to Will Smith’s recovery from a fractured hand.
Rushing, a former top prospect who had a rough rookie season, was largely a non-factor in the first two rounds of the playoffs, getting just one hit at bat late in a Game 3 against the Philadelphia Phillies last week.
Cutting Rushing leaves the Dodgers with one less left-handed bat on the bench, especially after they opted to keep Justin Dean and Hyeseong Kim (who are defensive and baserunning specialists) on the roster over outfielder Michael Conforto (who would have been a more legitimate candidate for the NLCS given the Milwaukee Brewers’ more right-handed pitching staff).
But the Dodgers decided to largely stick with the group that got them this far, adding an extra arm ahead of a best-of-seven showdown that represents the next step in their World Series title defense.
