Dodgers Rookies carrying the team

Posted by Nick Kapur on Monday June 05th 2006, 1:15 pm - filed in News reel

Remember when Dodgers won 5 rookie of the year awards in a row in the mid-1990s?  Well, this year it seems like they are trying to win 5 rookie of the year awards in one season. 

Last season the Dodgers were an aging team riddled with injuries that scuffled to a 91-loss season and wound up a distant 4th place in the NL West.  This season, they are an aging team riddled with injuries that has been saved by an astonishing bumper crop of ourstanding rookies.

Despite significant injuries to virtually every established player on the opening day roster, including Nomar Garciaparra, Rafael Furcal, J.D. Drew, Jeff Kent, Kenny Lofton, Bill Mueller, Dioner Navarro, Rickey Ledee, Jason Repko, Eric Gagne, and Yhency Brazoban, the Dodgers have surged into second place in the NL West and have scored the most runs in the National League.

Check out the numbers of some of their replacements, all of them homegrown rookies called up from the minors on an emergency basis:

     C Russell Martin: .271 avg, .822 OPS, team is 20-5 when he starts behind the plate

     3B Willy Aybar: .314 avg, .879 OPS

     OF Matt Kemp: .333 avg, 1.079 OPS

     OF Andre Ethier: .300 avg, .899 OPS

     P Jonathan Broxton: 19.1 IP, 26K, 0.93 ERA


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