Los Angeles Dodgers to re-sign six time All-Star Chase Utley
The Los Angeles Dodgers and veteran second baseman Chase Utley have agreed to a one-year deal, Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports reports. Utley spent the entirety of his career with the Philadelphia Phillies before being dealt to LA last August.
In 2015, Utley hit .202/.291/.363. This coincides with the perception that Utley’s batting has declined sharply. However, the Dodgers have hope that
Utley can have a nice bounceback year. The Dodgers might also be making this move to give their two other second base options, Enrique Hernandez and Jose Peraza, some more time to develop. Hernandez played well in his utility role last year, hitting .307/.346/.490. He doesn’t have the consistency to keep that production up, but he does have a bit of pop in that bat.
Peraza doesn’t have that same pop. As a matter of fact, the only thing he has is speed, a glove, and a top prospect pedigree. He can make contact, don’t get me wrong, but at this time, he might not hit more than .240. Re-upping with Utley allows the Dodgers to read those two prospects and make a decision as to who is the future at second base.
