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

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 of Round A draft picks, the team announced Monday.

Lux had a productive end to 2024 after missing 2023 with 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 victory over the New York Yankees.

But with Mookie Betts moving from right field to shortstop this winter and the Dodgers signing smooth 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 useless.

The Dodgers have plenty of depth in the middle infield behind Betts and Kim, with Tommy Edman providing above-average defense at shortstop, second base and center field, smooth center fielder Miguel Rojas and utility man Chris Taylor on the roster. Betts also has significant 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 hitting .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 in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, Lux bounced around the diamond in 2021 and 2022, playing shortstop, second base, left field and center field, and the Dodgers got creative in their attempts on keeping his bat in line.

But an awkward slide into third base during a March 2023 spring training game 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 supposed 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 expected 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 stroked his surgically repaired knee for most of the first half, resulting in a swing that was more tentative and made more soft contact.

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

“I don’t think it’s a swing change,” Lux, who was named the National League Player of the Week for starting 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, hitting .216 (11-for-51) with five RBIs over his final 20 regular-season games, and he hit just .176 (six-for-34) in 12 postseason games.

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

Sirota, 21, was selected by the Dodgers in the 16th round of the 2021 draft but did not sign. He was a third-round selection 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.