The Los Angeles Dodgers have one goal in mind this 2025 season: to repeat as World Series champions. So far, this year’s team is off to a positive start in that defense, sitting at 29-15 overall, which is tied for the best record in Major League Baseball.
Shohei Ohtani is once again playing like an MVP candidate, and the rest of the roster is gradually following his lead and rounding into form. However, with these hefty expectations, playing time is tough to come by for young players. So when talented prospects are moved up to the first team, they must seize that opportunity.
Fortunately, the Dodgers’ top prospect, Dalton Rushing, did show that he has immediate staying power in his MLB debut. Rushing, the 40th pick in the 2022 draft, has worked his way up the ranks and is now the No. 15 ranked prospect in the entire league. And the young catcher’s first game on Thursday was one to remember as he had two hits and a walk in four at-bats, scoring three runs in the Dodgers’ 19-2 win over the Athletics.
The 24-year-old reflected on this moment in a postgame interview with SportsNet LA reporter Kirsten Watson. Rushing gave a thoughtful response to a question on how long he’s been thinking about this day, whether it lived up to reality, and what it meant to get a win like this.
“Yeah, (I’ve been waiting for this opportunity) my whole life,” Rushing said. “It’s been something that obviously I wanted to do at a very young age. Never in a million years did I imagine it would come with a team like this, so that just makes it that much more special. I’m looking forward to a lot more wins, a lot more big opportunities, and big things to happen.
You get a win on your debut like that it kind sends a message obviously not only to myself but also other teams around on how powerful and dangerous this club is, and I’m glad I could be another piece to it.”
Follow The Sporting News on WhatsApp
Overall, if Rushing can become a reliable player already at this level, that will just make the Dodgers more dangerous in 2025. Hopefully, this is just the beginning for the super-talented lefty on a team that is the favorite to win the Fall Classic again.
More MLB: Dodgers Freddie Freeman could be ‘one slip-up’ away from IL
