Dodgers’ Best Players of 2026: 3 Surprising Stars Fueling Early Success

Dalton Rushing is getting hits — and hate

Backup catcher Dalton Rushing, who also fills in at first base and designated hitter, hasn’t had enough at-bats to qualify for the league lead in statistical categories, but he’s certainly taken advantage of the opportunities he’s gotten.

Per FanGraphs, Rushing’s wRC+ is 244, with the next-best Dodger being Max Muncy with 166.

Rushing has 52 plate appearances, and when you compare him only to players with 10 or more, the next-closest player to Rushing is Daniel Susac of the San Francisco Giants, who has a wRC+ of 227 in 24 plate appearances.

May 15, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing (68) shakes hands with relief pitcher Justin Wrobleski (70) in ninth inning of a 12-2 defeat of the Athletics at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

In those 52 plate appearances, he has 16 hits and 17 RBIs while slashing .348/.423/.848/1.271.

While performing this well, he’s also getting under the skin of opponents with caught-on-camera moments like appearing to say “f— ’em” about Jung Hoo Lee of the San Francisco Giants after a play at the plate appeared to leave Lee shaken up.

Rushing took a fastball to the ribs for that one, then slid hard into second base.

He also apparently called Chicago Cubs catcher Miguel Amaya a “fat f—” after Amaya stole second on him.

As you might imagine, opposing fanbases have taken exception to Rushing, but it’s hard to argue with his performance at the plate.

Justin Wrobleski’s ‘strong early impression’

Wrobleski is also not qualified for statistical leads, having pitched 30 innings over the Dodgers’ 31 games, just below the 1.0 innings pitched per game limit.

But if his next outing goes like his previous five, his 1.50 ERA would vault him into the National League lead, and he could continue to build on the 4-0 record he’s stacked up so far.

Baseball Savant has him in the top 4% or better in value:

• Pitching Run Value – 10 (98th percentile)
• Fastball Run Value – 6 (96th percentile)
• Breaking Run Value – 4 (96th percentile)

Will Wrobleski return to Earth as the season goes on? It’s possible.

He’s severely lacking in categories like whiff percentage (13.2%, only in the 2nd percentile) and strikeout percentage (12.6%, only in the 6th percentile), but he’s also only walking 7.6% of batters, which is better than two-thirds of pitchers.

Do you think Pages, Rushing and Wrobleski can keep up the strong performances? If not, who do you think will fall short.

Jordan Hum contributed to this article.