Andrew Toles was out of baseball this time last season after getting released at the end of March by the Tampa Bay Rays. Toles latched on with the Los Angeles Dodgers last October, signing a Minor League contract.
It was a reunion with Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, who drafted Toles in the third round in 2012 when Friedman was head of the Rays’ front office. Speaking at the third annual “Dodgers All-Access” event on Thursday night, Friedman credited director of player development Gabe Kapler for reaching out to Toles last year.
Kapler invited the speedy outfielder to the Instructional League, which led to Toles signing his Minor League deal.
Toles began this season with High-A Rancho Cucamonga, and worked his way up the ladder, playing for Double-A Tulsa and Triple-A Oklahoma City before receiving the call for his Major League debut in July.
Since being called up he has impressed both his teammates and his coaching staff with both his play and attitude. In the second game of Wednesday’s double header in Colorado against the Rockies, Toles stepped to the plate with the bases loaded, his team trailing by two and one out away from being swept.
He launched an opposite-field grand slam, securing a 10-8 win and salvaging the series at Coors Field for the Dodgers.
The clutch hit prompted manager Dave Roberts spoke fondly of Toles, the player and person, via Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
“Andrew is a beautiful human,” said Dave Roberts. “The guys have really taken to him. He’s a heck of a ballplayer. His story and trek to the big leagues is amazing. Just as a baseball player, he’s so calm and cool. A little bit of the naivete and not knowing how good the ballplayers are and the ballparks are and just going out there and playing like it’s his backyard.”
Although this is Toles’ first big-league experience, no moment has seemed to overwhelm him. The 24-year-old went 2-for-3 with one double, one home run and three RBIs when called on during the recent series against the San Francisco Giants.
In 25 games (13 starts) with the Dodgers, Toles is hitting a blistering .397/.463/.690 with six doubles, one triple, three home runs and 13 RBI. He’s played all three outfield positions, with the majority of his time coming in right field.
