Within the hours main as much as the Dodgers’ Sept. 10 sport in opposition to the Colorado Rockies, Dodgers catcher Ben Rortvedt was taking a nap.
After the earlier week, it was a well-deserved relaxation.
A 28-year-old journeyman backstop who’d been traded from the Tampa Bay Rays to the Dodgers on the deadline, Rortvedt was known as up from the minors and thrust into emergency responsibility in the course of a good division race. Within the span of three days from Sept. 3-5, each Will Smith and Dalton Speeding had been injured. And in Rortvedt’s first three begins with the Dodgers after that, he’d twice helped take a no-hitter into the ninth whereas providing sudden contributions along with his bat.
“It’s been a whirlwind,” Rortvedt stated then. “But this gets you battle-tested.”
By Sept. 10, nonetheless, Rortvedt’s time within the majors seemed to be ticking. The earlier night time, Smith had returned to the lineup every week after taking a foul ball off his throwing hand. Speeding was additionally working his method again from the injured listing after fouling a ball off his leg 5 days earlier. And in what seemed to be certainly one of his closing days on the Dodgers’ big-league roster, Rortvedt went for a pregame nap.
When he wakened, all the things had out of the blue modified.
And three weeks later, he’ll begin behind the plate for the Dodgers in Recreation 1 of their Nationwide League wild card sequence in opposition to the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night time.
Within the lead-up to that Sept. 10 sport, Smith’s hand swelled up on him, forcing him to be scratched from the lineup and in the end go for additional testing that exposed a fractured bone the place the crew initially believed there was solely a bruise.
Speeding, in the meantime, by no means discovered a groove along with his bat or his game-calling upon returning to the energetic roster a number of days later, enduring extra rookie rising pains that had plagued him all 12 months.
Rortvedt, alternatively, simply saved on contributing, offering a gentle presence behind the plate for the pitching workers, improved protection on balls within the grime, and subtly helpful offense with a .224 batting common and three sacrifice bunts.
It was sufficient for supervisor Dave Roberts to successfully identify Rortvedt the crew’s major catcher in Smith’s absence, saying he would get the “lion’s share” of enjoying time if Smith wasn’t again for the beginning of the playoffs.
And although Smith was included on the Dodgers’ wild-card roster Tuesday, after making sufficient progress along with his hand to take reside at-bats throughout a crew exercise the night time earlier than, he nonetheless wasn’t able to resume full beginning duties. For this sequence, he’ll seemingly be solely a pinch-hit choice off the bench.
Rortvedt, in the meantime, will get playoff begins not even he might have seen coming a month in the past.
“I’ve just been really grateful to get another chance [in the majors],” Rortvedt stated final week. “And a chance like this is an amazing opportunity.”
A former second-round draft choose of the Minnesota Twins popping out of highschool in Wisconsin in 2016, Rortvedt has struggled to carve out a constant major-league position in his nomadic skilled profession. He made his MLB debut in 2021 with the Twins however hit simply .169 over 39 video games. He was traded to the New York Yankees the next spring as a minor piece in a Josh Donaldson/Gary Sánchez deal, however spent most of that 12 months injured.
After one other disappointing 32-game stint in 2023 with the Yankees, when he hit .118, Rortvedt lastly discovered some success in 2024 following one other commerce to Tampa Bay. By means of mid-Might, he was hitting over .300 and incomes constant begins behind the plate. And although his numbers pale the remainder of the way in which, he lastly gave the impression to be cementing his place on a big-league roster, getting into this season assured that some offseason swing tweaks would result in an excellent stronger 12 months.
“I thought I was in a really good space to have a good year,” Rortvedt stated.
As a substitute, all of it fell aside.
In 26 video games over the season’s first two months, Rortvedt had simply six hits in 63 at-bats. He was relegated to backup duties, then in the end the minor leagues. In late Might, when he was designated for task, he traded emotional goodbyes along with his Rays teammates on his method out of the clubhouse.
“The beginning of the year was a big down for me,” he stated. “I messed around with a little too many things [in my swing], and I never got comfortable coming out of spring training.”
On the commerce deadline, Rortvedt was on the transfer once more, getting roped right into a three-team cope with — coincidentally — the Dodgers and Reds that noticed Los Angeles successfully use him to interchange Hunter Feduccia as their third organizational catcher.
“As one door closes, another opens,” Rortvedt stated. “And especially with the organization here, with the reputation, the job they do in all aspects of the game, I was extremely grateful to be in this kind of place.”
That didn’t imply his transition over the past month was straightforward. After being thrust into beginning duties, Rortvedt spent most of his hours catching bullpens, speaking with the crew’s pitchers about their tendencies, and devouring movie of the workers every night time on his iPad to study each’s pitch combine.
“That’s really, really hard,” Dodgers bench coach Danny Lehmann stated. “But his personality and the way he goes about things shows that he cares. It’s evident in his work and his meetings and talking to the guys, and putting defense first when he’s supposed to.”
Regardless of the whiplash nature of his return to the majors, Rortvedt discovered all-around success.
He has gone 11-for-49 on the plate with two doubles, a house run and an on-base-percentage above .300, posting the next OPS than Speeding on the 12 months. He has overseen a dominant run from the rotation, with Dodgers pitchers posting a 2.89 ERA within the 18 video games he has caught.
“For him being new to the team, he’s just had a really good energy,” Dodgers Recreation 1 starter Blake Snell stated. “He’s been very clutch for us offensively, very clutch for us defensively. I just attribute it to how much he wants to catch and how much he wants to be back there. His excitement, it’s contagious. And it’s helping the pitchers pitch good.”
The Dodgers, after all, are nonetheless hoping to get Smith again to full-time beginning duties in some unspecified time in the future this October. They nonetheless have Speeding as a long-term piece of their future puzzle.
However for now, Rortvedt has been the precise man on the proper time to assist the crew navigate its sudden catching issues. And Tuesday night time, he’ll get his first playoff begin.
“It’s been pretty crazy,” Rortvedt stated of his temporary however influential Dodgers tenure. “But it’s definitely been better than sitting around.”
