Dalton Rushing keeps a few baseball gloves on the top shelf of his corner locker in the Dodger Stadium clubhouse. None of them is a catcher’s mitt.
Which seems significant since Rushing is a catcher.
But in college at Louisville and in the Cape Cod Summer League, he played more games at first base and in the outfield than behind the plate. So he still runs out with a fielder’s glove during batting practice, just in case.
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“I’ll shag during BP, just kind of to take the shakiness, just to be as comfortable as possible if I have to go out there,” he said.
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“It’s good to have that skill, to bounce over there and play. But the biggest thing moving forward is catching.”
Using Rushing as anything other than Will Smith’s backup behind the plate would qualify as a “break glass in case of emergency move” for manager Dave Roberts, although he has played Rushing for 13 innings at first base and tabbed him as the next man up when he feared Freddie Freeman would miss time after being hit on the left wrist last month.
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“He can handle first base,” Roberts said. “I don’t feel good with him in left field, but he’s done it.
“Right now the main thing is to spell Will; continue to be good behind the plate.”
Few teams cherish utility more than the Dodgers, who have used five players in at least three different positions this season. However, catchers — even backup catchers — are typically valued more for their unique skills at calling games, blocking 100-mph pitches in the dirt and throwing out would-be base stealers than for their versatility.
That’s why Smith, the Dodgers’ starting catcher and a three-time National League All-Star, has played just 3 2/3 innings anywhere else in the field in seven major league seasons. Rushing expects the same.
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“The main focus is catching. It’s been catching since I showed up,” he said. “When they made the decision to bring me up in May, it was kind of: ‘Hey, we want this guy to catch. Learn the position. Learn these guys as much as possible.’
“I like to keep it in my back pocket that I can play other positions. But I would say the main reason is still to catch.”
And hit, since the Dodgers also see value in Rushing’s bat. A left-handed hitter with pop, Rushing was slashing .308/.424/.514 when he was called up from triple-A Oklahoma City in May.
“The bat got him here,”…