The Riverside Press-Enterprise
Agoura Hills' Deluca gets call to the Show
LOS ANGELES >> The Dodgers’ newest player is young enough to have seen Clayton Kershaw pitch at Dodger Stadium and count it among his childhood memories.
For 24-year-old Jonny Deluca of Agoura Hills, his welcome-to-the-big-leagues moment came hours before he was officially promoted from Triple-a prior to Sunday’s game against the New York Yankees.
Kershaw, Deluca said, “was actually the first one I said ‘hi’ to (Sunday), so that was pretty cool.”
Deluca’s road to the major leagues was much like Kershaw’s: short. A 25thround draft pick out of the University of Oregon in 2019, Deluca’s trajectory took off when minor league baseball resumed following the pandemic-canceled 2020 season. His big-league promotion came after only 17 Triple-a games, in which Deluca batted .315 with four home runs and 19 RBIS in 73 at-bats.
Deluca needed 1,062 minor league at-bats to reach the majors. Kershaw, for comparison’s sake, faced 905 minor-league batters to begin his professional career.
“It still doesn’t feel real because it happened so quick,” Deluca said. “The turnaround was last night. I three hours’ sleep on a plane. I’m still trying to take in the moment and just enjoy it.”
The Dodgers needed a backup outfielder after learning Trayce Thompson had a left oblique strain and will miss a minimum of 30 days, according to manager Dave Roberts. Thompson is hitting .155 with five homers and 14 RBIS in limited playing time (71 at-bats).
Thompson’s persistent struggles against lefthanded pitchers (six hits, 24 strikeouts in 42 at-bats) were just beginning to rectify. He had three hits, including two homers, against Rays southpaw Josh Fleming on May 28 in Tampa Bay. He went 1-for-2 with a single against Washington Nationals left-hander Patrick Corbin in his last start.
In his only plate appearance Saturday, Thompson injured the oblique on a check-swing against Yankees pitcher Wandy Peralta.
Like Thompson, Deluca will get most of his playing time against left-handed pitching. Roberts said Deluca will start Wednesday in Cincinnati, when the Dodgers are scheduled to face lefty Brandon Williamson.
“He’s that old-school type, gritty, grinder type,” Roberts said of Deluca. “Really good defender at all three (outfield positions). Can really run. Probably one of the strongest guys in the organization, as far as the lower half.”
Roger Craig dies
Roger Craig, who started the final game in Brooklyn Dodgers history and moved west with the franchise to
Los Angeles in 1958, died on Sunday. He was 93.
A right-handed pitcher, Craig was part of the Dodgers’ championship teams in 1955 (in Brooklyn) and 1959 (in Los Angeles). He started and won Game 5 of the 1955 World Series at Ebbets Field, helping the Dodgers win the first championship in franchise history.
In all, Craig pitched in parts of seven seasons with the Dodgers (1955-61) before anchoring the starting rotation of the expansion New York Mets in 1962. He went 74-98 in 12 big league seasons.
Craig later spent parts of 10 seasons as a manager opposite the Dodgers in the National League West. He managed the San Diego Padres from 1978-79, and skippered the San Francisco Giants from 1985-92, winning his only pennant in 1989.
Also
The Dodgers’ June 25 home game against the Houston Astros was added to ESPN’S Sunday Night Baseball lineup. The game will now begin at 4:15 p.m. Pacific Time . ... The starting pitchers for the Dodgers’ three-game series in Cincinnati will be right-hander Tony Gonsolin (Tuesday), right-hander Noah Syndergaard (Wednesday) and lefthander Clayton Kershaw (Thursday). They will be opposed by right-hander Luke Weaver (Tuesday), Williamson (Wednesday) and righthander Graham Ashcraft (Thursday).