Wednesday, September 07, 2011

Three Dodger Call-Ups Include Much-Ballyhooed Federowicz

Well, here we go. The guy whom we received in order to give away major-league-ready outfielder Trayvon Robinson, Tim Federowicz, has been claled up to the big leagues himself:

The Dodgers called up three players from Triple-A Albuquerque on Tuesday, bringing in pitcher John Ely, catcher Tim Federowicz and outfielder/infielder Jerry Sands.

Ely and Sands were up with the Dodgers earlier this season, but Federowicz will be making his Major League debut when he first sees action with the big league club. The Dodgers obtained him from the Red Sox at the Trade Deadline, and he hit .325 with six homers and 17 RBIs in 25 games with Albuquerque.

Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said that he spoke to Federowicz and wants to give the rookie some time to adjust to everything. He hasn't caught any of the Dodgers' pitchers yet and doesn't know much about how Los Angeles expects catchers to perform their duties, and the skipper wants the rookie to take some time to get settled.

Federowicz caught Clayton Kershaw and Nathan Eovaldi in a bullpen session Tuesday afternoon in his first attempt to connect with the staff.

"They threw it right where my glove was; it's nice," Federowicz said. "I want to earn their trust, and that's going to be the biggest thing. They trust in A.J. [Ellis] and they trust in Rod [Barajas] right now. It's going to be quite a learning experience."

Mattingly said Federowicz will likely see some playing time in the final week or two of the season.

Robinson, by the way, has played in 24 games for the Seattle Mariners this year, batting .272/.318/.432, which translates to a .750 OPS or a OPS+ of 111. One could argue that the Seattle Mariners are worse than the Dodgers, so it's not a fair comparison. Except for the fact that we have at least one, and possibly two, open outfield positions into which Robinson might fit. Okay, that's enough complaining about the past...for now.

Federowicz had better be awesome, Ned.

Meanwhile, Mattingly also says that Sands will get a lot of play, and that Ely will be mostly bullpen work but might get a start.

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