The Los Angeles Dodgers have not had a traditional leadoff hitter on their roster since they traded Dee Gordon after the 2014 season. Fortunately for the Dodgers, the game has generally shifted away from needing that type of batter at the top of the lineup.
With Andre Ethier and Howie Kendrick beginning this season on the disabled list, it’s created multiple opportunities for Chase Utley. He’s appeared in all seven games, making six starts at second base.
In each of those starts, Utley has been placed atop the lineup card by Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. The 37-year-old infielder is batting .310/.394/.448 with two doubles, one triple and two RBIs.
Utley is in his first full season with the Dodgers, and also playing under new rules for slides into second base. Dubbed by many the ‘Chase Utley Rule,’ runners are who are trying to break up a double play are required to make a “bona fide attempt to reach and remain on the base.”
They can initiate contact with an infielder, but runners are not permitted to kick their legs above a fielder’s knee, throw an arm or upper portion of their body at a fielder, or change their pathway once they begin to slide or utilize a “roll block.”
Although it wasn’t at second base, Utley found himself at the center of a somewhat controversial slide into home plate on Opening Day. He was out on the play, and maintained the slide wasn’t dirty but simply how he was taught to run the bases.
According to J.P. Hoornstra of the LA Daily News, Dodgers third base coach Chris Woodward views Utley’s baserunning in high regard:
“Chase is a great baserunner, and I love all the little things that he does on a consistent basis,” Woodward said. “We are trying to preach to the rest of the guys, those are things that will get us extra bases. It will help us win games.”
Woodward added the Dodgers have placed an emphasis on baserunning and making throws more difficult:
“We talked about it in spring training a lot,” he said. “In fact, we had just talked about it probably two weeks before we got here. We sat down and showed the video of how to get in the lane.”
Albeit in a small sample size — Spring Training and seven regular-season games — the Dodgers have already shown better poise, instincts and decision-making on the bases than they did much of last season.
Utley may not have many allies in New York due to his slide in the 2015 National League Division Series, but he’s revered in the Dodgers clubhouse, and more times than not is a catalyst on the basepaths.
