The Los Angeles Dodgers have the best record in the National League by a comfortable margin. Their injured list reads like an All-Star roster — Will Smith, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow. And their farm system is deep enough that they could probably trade for a rental bat and still have prospects left over. So naturally, the question nobody is asking out loud is: should they bring back Benny Rortvedt?
Bill Shaikin of the LA Times floated that exact idea this week, and it makes a weird kind of sense. Rortvedt was a trade deadline pickup last summer from the Rays, and he ended up starting four postseason games ahead of prospect Dalton Rushing when Smith was dealing with a hand injury. The guy was a defensive specialist who somehow became a folk hero. His walk-up song, a saxophone-heavy remix of “Run Away,” turned into a meme every time the Dodgers did something clutch. There’s a clip of it with over a million views. The whole thing was ridiculous and wonderful.
Now Rortvedt is in Triple-A with the Mets. He’s not lighting it up at the plate, but that’s not his job. The Dodgers’ current backup catcher situation is thin. They tried minor league journeyman Chuckie Robinson and cut him. Eliezer Alfonso, currently holding the backup spot, is hitless in nine at-bats and only made his MLB debut in his ninth professional season. If Smith’s return timeline gets pushed back, that’s a problem.
Shaikin wrote that a defense-first catcher with major league readiness fits the profile of what LA needs. And Rortvedt fits that description better than most. He knows the pitching staff. The pitching staff trusts him. He already has a ring from the 2025 run. The Dodgers could pursue a bigger name — Ryan Jeffers, Francisco Alvarez, maybe someone like Luis Torrens — but do they need to? Rushing might still be the long-term answer. Smith should be back eventually. The gap is temporary.
But here’s the thing about trading with the Mets: it’s not 2025 anymore. New York is in a different place. They might not want to hand LA a proven postseason catcher for cheap. Then again, Rortvedt is a 28-year-old backup at Triple-A. If the Mets ask for anything serious, the Dodgers can hang up and call someone else.
Either way, the fact that this conversation exists tells you everything about how the Dodgers operate. They don’t need a blockbuster. They need a guy who can catch a few innings, handle a staff, and maybe get on base once in a while. If that guy also comes with a built-in hype track for the home crowd? Even better.
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