Gavin Lux Tears ACL, Will Miss 2023 MLB Season
The Dodgers have been preparing Gavin Lux for this role for what seems like forever. Los Angeles has lost premier shortstops in back to back offseasons (Corey Seager & Trea Turner) and have been grooming young gun Lux in-house to be the long term answer eventually. One Spring Training injury on the base paths has ruined that plan.
Juan Toribio of MLB.com has reported that Lux has suffered a torn ACL and will miss the entire 2023 MLB Season.
Lux, 25, was finally starting to come into his own as a former top prospect. In 2022, Lux was a 2.5 WAR player and slashed .276/.346/.399 across 421 at-bats. Lux was expected to take another step forward as the young infielder was about to head into his prime.
Give some credit to Andrew Friedman for being prepared for this situation. The reacquisition of Miguel Rojas looms ever so important now with him now being slotted in as the everyday shortstop following the news. Rojas even signed an extension with the Dodgers so they have taken care of that part as well. It remains to be seen who’s taking over second base duties now. Chris Taylor could be asked to play more infield now.
This is brutal news for the Dodgers and I’m not sure there is any other way to slice it. Is this the year the Padres overtake the Dodgers in the NL West? Some would argue maybe they already have after last year’s postseason. Young players like Miguel Vargas are going to need to step up sooner than expected.
