Los Angeles isn't waiting around to see how its catching situation shakes out. With Will Smith's return timeline murky and Dalton Rushing dealing with a partial UCL tear, the Dodgers went out and grabbed another arm behind the plate — 31-year-old Chadwick Tromp, a well-traveled backstop who's bounced around the league on minor league deals for years.
Tromp isn't walking in as a savior. His career line sits at a modest.208/.215/.344 with 6 home runs across 229 career plate appearances, and this season between Atlanta and Baltimore he hit just.163 without a homer in 21 games. His best big-league stretch came back in 2020 with the Giants, when he got 24 games and 64 plate appearances — still the high-water mark of a seven-season MLB career that's mostly played out below the surface.
What he does bring is a reputation. Tromp has reportedly made a strong clubhouse impression everywhere he's landed and is considered a steady hand defensively, which matters plenty when a team's top two catching options are hurt or unproven. The Dodgers released Chuckie Robinson to clear the path for this move, a sign of how thin the position has gotten.
Tromp will report to Triple-A Oklahoma City rather than the big league roster, slotting in as third or fourth on the organizational depth chart behind Hunter Feduccia and Ben Rortvedt, who've been holding down the fort in the majors. He'll also work alongside rookie Eliezer Alfonzo in the minors, giving Los Angeles multiple bodies to call up if things get worse before Smith and Rushing are ready to go.
It's a low-cost, low-risk move that says a lot about where the Dodgers stand at catcher right now — not desperate, but clearly not comfortable either. With October looming, expect Los Angeles to keep shuffling names in and out of that Oklahoma City depth chart until Smith and Rushing get healthy.