Dodgers trade Gavin Lux to Cincinnati Reds in wake of Hyeseong Kim signing

mike digiovanna

Mon, 6 Jan 2025, 7:11 pm·4-min read

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 11: Gavin Lux #9 of the Los Angeles Dodgers fields. — Dodgers second baseman Gavin Lux fields a grounder against the San Diego Padres in the NLDS in October. Days after signing Hyeseong Kim, the Dodgers traded Lux to Cincinnati. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

The Dodgers have thinned out their glut of middle infielders, trading second baseman Gavin Lux to the Cincinnati Reds for outfield prospect Mike Sirota and a competitive-balance Round A draft pick, the team announced Monday.

Lux had a productive finish to 2024 after missing 2023 because of torn knee ligaments, batting .304 with an .899 on-base-plus-slugging percentage in the second half after hitting .213 with a .562 OPS in the first half, and he drove in the tying run with an eighth-inning sacrifice fly in the World Series Game 5-clinching win over the New York Yankees.

But with Mookie Betts moving from right field to shortstop this winter and the Dodgers signing slick-fielding Korean infielder Hyeseong Kim, a left-handed hitter whose best position is second base, to a three-year, $12.5-million deal on Friday, the left-handed-hitting Lux became expendable.

The Dodgers have plenty of middle-infield depth behind Betts and Kim, with Tommy Edman, who provides above-average defense at shortstop, second base and center field, slick-fielding middle infielder Miguel Rojas and utility man Chris Taylor on the roster. Betts also has considerable experience at second base.

Lux, 27, was a first-round pick of the Dodgers out of Indian Trail High School in Kenosha, Wis., in 2016, and he was named Baseball America’s minor league player of the year in 2019 after batting .347 with a 1.028 OPS, 26 homers and 76 RBIs in 113 games for double-A Tulsa and triple-A Oklahoma City.

After playing 18 games for the Dodgers at second base during the pandemic-shorted 2020 season, Lux bounced around the diamond in 2021 and 2022, playing shortstop, second base, left field and center field, the Dodgers getting creative in their attempts to keep his bat in the lineup.

But an awkward slide into third base during a spring-training game in March 2023 led to season-ending surgery after Lux tore both the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and lateral collateral ligament (LCL) in his right knee.

Dodgers second baseman Gavin Lux throws out a baserunner during a game against the Arizona Diamondbacks in July. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Lux was set to take over at shortstop last spring before a series of throwing errors prompted the team to move Betts to shortstop and Lux back to second base last March.

Lux, who is projected to make $2.7 million in his second year of arbitration this season, finished with a .251 batting average, .703 OPS, 10 homers, 24 doubles and 50 RBIs in 129 games last season.

He acknowledged that he babied his surgically repaired knee for most of the first half, resulting in a swing that was more tentative and produced more soft contact.

But he adjusted his mindset and approach in the week before the All-Star break and went on a tear, batting .347 with a 1.043 OPS, seven homers, 14 doubles and 21 RBIs in 40 games from July 20 to Sept. 4.

“I don’t think it’s a swing change,” Lux, who was named National League player of the week to start the second half, said at the time. “I’m just trying to be more aggressive, and when I get a decent pitch to hit, put a good swing on it.”

Lux cooled off in September, batting .216 (11 for 51) with five RBIs over his last 20 regular-season games, and he hit only .176 (six for 34) in 12 postseason games.

But he had two hits, including a two-run home run in the seventh inning, in the Dodgers’ 8-0 win over the San Diego Padres in Game 4 of the NL Division Series, and he hit a score-tying, bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the eighth inning of an eventual 7-6 win that clinched the World Series title for the Dodgers in Yankee Stadium.

Sirota, 21, was selected by the Dodgers in the 16th round of the 2021 draft but didn’t sign. He was a third-round pick of the Reds out of Northeastern University in 2024 but did not play for a minor league affiliate. The Dodgers will also receive the 37th overall pick in next summer’s draft in the deal.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.