James Outman: Insider Reviews Dodgers Outfield Prospect

As the Top 100 Prospects lists from various outlets have rolled in, Dodgers outfielder James Outman has consistently been on the outside looking in. He came close with Baseball Prospectus; LA had nine prospects in BP's Top 101, and Outman was number 10 in BP's Dodgers list.

Outman has finally broken through, though, with Keith Law's Top 100 over at The Athletic. The left-handed hitting center-fielder comes in at number 89 on Law's list, the eighth and final Dodger in the group.

Law is complimentary of Outman's progress since being drafted, and he's quite impressed with four of Outman's tools.

Outman has made some real swing changes since the Dodgers took him off an unremarkable couple of years at Sacramento State, and he’s performed better and better even as they’ve moved him up aggressively due to his age. He’s one of the best athletes in their entire system who might have four pluses on the scouting report, definitely a plus run, plus arm, plus power guy who might be a plus defender in center as well. 

Why is he all the way down at number 89, then? The one tool not listed there — the hit tool — isn't quite what you'd want it to be, and it leaves Law wondering if Outman will make enough contact to be a great hitter.

There’s too much swing and miss in the zone here to say he’ll be more than an average hitter, but with his other tools, that makes him a potential star, especially if he can do more against lefties than just hit for power. He’s older than any hitter on this list, but doesn’t have as much baseball experience as the typical 25-year-old. Don’t be surprised if he ends up the Dodgers’ primary center fielder this year.

We saw most of that on display in Outman's four-game stint with Los Angeles last summer. He went 6-for-13 with a homer and two doubles, but all seven non-hits were strikeouts.

But as Law says, the Dodgers have an opening in center field, so Outman should get a decent chance to show what he can do in the big leagues. If he can makes some progress in the bat-to-ball skills, he could be a star, but even with all the strikeouts, he's likely to provide more on offense than Cody Bellinger did the last two years.