{"id":267497,"date":"2025-09-30T21:39:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T21:39:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/267497\/"},"modified":"2025-09-30T21:39:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T21:39:14","slug":"how-dodgers-catcher-ben-rortvedt-got-thrust-into-postseason-spotlight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/267497\/","title":{"rendered":"How Dodgers catcher Ben Rortvedt got thrust into postseason spotlight"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the hours leading up to the Dodgers<\/a>\u2019 Sept. 10 game against the Colorado Rockies, Dodgers catcher Ben Rortvedt was taking a nap.<\/p>\n

After the previous week, it was a well-deserved rest.<\/p>\n

A 28-year-old journeyman backstop who\u2019d been traded from the Tampa Bay Rays to the Dodgers at the deadline, Rortvedt was called up from the minors and thrust into emergency duty in the middle of a tight division race. In the span of three days from Sept. 3-5, both Will Smith<\/a> and Dalton Rushing<\/a> had been injured. And in Rortvedt\u2019s first three starts with the Dodgers after that, he\u2019d twice helped take a no-hitter into the ninth while offering unexpected contributions with his bat.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a whirlwind,\u201d Rortvedt said then. \u201cBut this gets you battle-tested.\u201d<\/p>\n

By Sept. 10, however, Rortvedt\u2019s time in the majors appeared to be ticking. The previous night, Smith had returned to the lineup a week after taking a foul ball off his throwing hand. Rushing was also working his way back from the injured list after fouling a ball off his leg five days earlier. And in what appeared to be one of his final days on the Dodgers\u2019 big-league roster, Rortvedt went for a pregame nap.<\/p>\n

When he woke up, everything had suddenly changed.<\/p>\n

And three weeks later, he will start behind the plate for the Dodgers in Game 1 of their National League wild card series against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

In the lead-up to that Sept. 10 game, Smith\u2019s hand swelled up on him, forcing him to be scratched from the lineup and ultimately go for further testing that revealed a fractured bone where the team initially believed there was only a bruise.<\/p>\n

Rushing, meanwhile, never found a groove with his bat or his game-calling upon returning to the active roster a few days later, enduring more rookie growing pains that had plagued him all year.<\/p>\n

Rortvedt, on the other hand, just kept on contributing, providing a steady presence behind the plate for the pitching staff, improved defense on balls in the dirt, and subtly useful offense with a .224 batting average and three sacrifice bunts.<\/p>\n

It was enough for manager Dave Roberts<\/a> to effectively name Rortvedt the team\u2019s primary catcher in Smith\u2019s absence, saying he would get the \u201clion\u2019s share\u201d of playing time if Smith wasn\u2019t back for the start of the playoffs.<\/p>\n

And though Smith was included on the Dodgers\u2019 wild-card roster Tuesday, after making enough progress with his hand to take live at-bats during a team workout the night before, he still wasn\u2019t ready to resume full starting duties. For this series, he will likely be only a pinch-hit option off the bench.<\/p>\n

Rortvedt, meanwhile, will get playoff starts not even he could have seen coming a month ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve just been really grateful to get another chance [in the majors],\u201d Rortvedt said last week. \u201cAnd a chance like this is an amazing opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

A former second-round draft pick of the Minnesota Twins coming out of high school in Wisconsin in 2016, Rortvedt has struggled to carve out a consistent major-league role in his nomadic professional career. He made his MLB debut in 2021 with the Twins but hit just .169 over 39 games. He was traded to the New York Yankees the following spring as a minor piece in a Josh Donaldson\/Gary S\u00e1nchez deal, but spent most of that year injured.<\/p>\n

After another disappointing 32-game stint in 2023 with the Yankees, when he hit .118, Rortvedt finally found some success in 2024 following another trade to Tampa Bay. Through mid-May, he was hitting over .300 and earning consistent starts behind the plate. And though his numbers faded the rest of the way, he finally seemed to be cementing his place on a big-league roster, entering this season confident that some offseason swing tweaks would lead to an even stronger year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought I was in a really good space to have a good year,\u201d Rortvedt said.<\/p>\n

Instead, it all fell apart.<\/p>\n

In 26 games over the season\u2019s first two months, Rortvedt had just six hits in 63 at-bats. He was relegated to backup duties, then ultimately the minor leagues. In late May, when he was designated for assignment, he traded emotional goodbyes with his Rays teammates on his way out of the clubhouse.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe beginning of the year was a big down for me,\u201d he said. \u201cI messed around with a little too many things [in my swing], and I never got comfortable coming out of spring training.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the trade deadline, Rortvedt was on the move again, getting roped into a three-team deal<\/a> with \u2014 coincidentally \u2014 the Dodgers and Reds that saw Los Angeles effectively use him to replace Hunter Feduccia as their third organizational catcher.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs one door closes, another opens,\u201d Rortvedt said. \u201cAnd 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

That didn\u2019t mean his transition over the last month was easy. After being thrust into starting duties, Rortvedt spent most of his hours catching bullpens, talking with the team\u2019s pitchers about their tendencies, and devouring film of the staff each night on his iPad to learn each one\u2019s pitch mix.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s really, really hard,\u201d Dodgers bench coach Danny Lehmann said. \u201cBut his personality and the way he goes about things shows that he cares. It\u2019s evident in his work and his meetings and talking to the guys, and putting defense first when he\u2019s supposed to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the whiplash nature of his return to the majors, Rortvedt found all-around success.<\/p>\n

He has gone 11-for-49 at the plate with two doubles, a home run and an on-base-percentage above .300, posting a higher OPS than Rushing on the year. He has overseen a dominant run from the rotation, with Dodgers pitchers posting a 2.89 ERA in the 18 games he has caught.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

\u201cFor him being new to the team, he\u2019s just had a really good energy,\u201d Dodgers Game 1 starter Blake Snell<\/a> said. \u201cHe\u2019s 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\u2019s contagious. And it\u2019s helping the pitchers pitch good.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dodgers, of course, are still hoping to get Smith back to full-time starting duties at some point this October. They still have Rushing as a long-term piece of their future puzzle.<\/p>\n

But for now, Rortvedt has been the right guy at the right time to help the team navigate its sudden catching problems. And Tuesday night, he\u2019ll get his first playoff start.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been pretty crazy,\u201d Rortvedt said of his brief but influential Dodgers tenure. \u201cBut it\u2019s definitely been better than sitting around.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the hours leading up to the Dodgers\u2019 Sept. 10 game against the Colorado Rockies, Dodgers catcher Ben…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":267498,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,2385,2442,107546,1910,2327,2961,224,5337,3857,51384,139408,139407,72010,22799,3007,14164,5956,1628],"class_list":{"0":"post-267497","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-day","11":"tag-dodgers","12":"tag-foul-ball","13":"tag-game","14":"tag-hand","15":"tag-la","16":"tag-los-angeles","17":"tag-losangeles","18":"tag-major","19":"tag-plate","20":"tag-previous-night","21":"tag-rortvedt","22":"tag-sept","23":"tag-start","24":"tag-team","25":"tag-way","26":"tag-will-smith","27":"tag-year"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115295418265078456","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}