Sellers focuses on hitting
“He’s going to be a big league guy,” Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly says of infielder Justin Sellers. “There’s no doubt about it.” But when? Sellers, 26, is fighting to stay with the Dodgers as a backup infielder, but his mediocre batting has hurt his cause.
So being a better hitter has been Sellers’ priority in spring training.
“I’m very confident in my defense no matter where they put me,” said Sellers, a Bellflower native who grew up in Huntington Beach, where he still lives. “It’s my bat” that’s the problem, he said. “I’ve got to show them I can do it.”
Sellers spent most of last year at triple-a Albuquerque but did play in 36 games with the Dodgers, making his major league debut in late August.
Playing shortstop, second base and third base, he made only one error in 2782⁄
3 innings with the Dodgers. But he also batted only .203 (25 for 123) with nine doubles, one home run and 13 runs batted in.
“There’s pop [in his bat], but just enough pop to get him in trouble,” Mattingly said. “He hits too many balls in the air. He knows it, he’s working on it.”
With the Dodgers’ infield already set with Dee Gordon at shortstop, Mark Ellis at second base and Juan Uribe at third, there aren’t a lot of openings for Sellers at the moment.
Sellers is unconcerned. “I don’t really focus or worry about who they sign or who’s in front of me or anything like that because I can’t control that,” he said. “I can only control one thing and that’s go out there and play hard every day.”
And the 36 games he played with the Dodgers last year “made me realize how awesome the big leagues are, and it just made me work harder,” Sellers said. Mitchell among first cuts
The Dodgers reassigned infielder Russ Mitchell and right-handed pitcher Shane Lindsay to minor league camp.
Seven other players also were cut as the Dodgers prepare for opening day April 5: right-handed pitchers Chris Withrow, Stephen Fife and Josh Wall; left-handed pitcher Michael Antonini; outfielders Scott Van Slyke and Alfredo Silverio; and infielder/ Alex Castellanos.
Mitchell — who played 25 games with the Dodgers last year, batting .157 with two home runs — continued to struggle offensively this spring and was not getting enough plate appearances, Mattingly said.
“He was scuffling with his swing, and not getting any at-bats is not going to help him,” Mattingly said. “It’s more, in my mind, to go down and get his swing together so he can compete.” And finally
The Dodgers said their Camelback Ranch games against the San Francisco Giants on Saturday night and the Angels on Sunday were sold out.