{"id":17916,"date":"2026-06-25T22:32:51","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T22:32:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=17916"},"modified":"2026-06-25T22:32:51","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T22:32:51","slug":"dodgers-scrappy-alex-call-embraces-being-a-pest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=17916","title":{"rendered":"Dodgers\u2019 scrappy Alex Call embraces being \u2018a pest\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>MINNEAPOLIS \u2014 On Tuesday night at Target Field, Alex Call had what the Dodgers right fielder himself dubbed \u201can Alex Call-branded game\u201d as the visitors took down the Minnesota Twins, 12-3.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=17914\">What to know about Harvey Weinstein\u2019s cases after a rape charge was dropped<\/a><\/p>\n<p>What does an Alex Call-branded game look like? Let\u2019s hear it from the man himself:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt just means you\u2019re going to have long at-bats, quality contact, and be a pest at the plate, someone who is going to be a pain for the pitcher to deal with,\u201d he said. \u201cI take a lot of pride in that. I know there\u2019s value in that, whether it\u2019s having a long at-bat, maybe getting the pitcher a little more tired, and maybe my teammate gets a mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A review of his plate appearances Tuesday shows what that approach looks like.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 In his first at-bat leading off the second inning, Call saw seven pitches from Twins starter Kendrys Rojas, including four fastballs, a changeup, a sinker and a slider. When the seventh pitch ran high and wide for ball four, Call froze, dropped his bat in place and trotted to first with just a touch of showmanship that demonstrated a guy having fun playing a kid\u2019s game for a living.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Call saw six more pitches from reliever Austin Voth in his second at-bat leading off the fourth. He finally hit a full-count sinker on the ground and beat out an infield single. He eventually came around to score on a Shohei Ohtani sacrifice fly.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 With one out in the fifth, Call put Voth\u2019s third pitch in play, a routine fly ball to right.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Leading off the seventh, Call fell behind Voth 0-and-2, then took four straight pitches for another walk. He scampered to third on Alex Freeland\u2019s single and scored on a safety squeeze bunt by Chuckie Robinson.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u2022 In the top of the ninth, leading off once again, Call changed it up and swung at lefty Taylor Rogers\u2019 first pitch. He drilled it high and deep to left field for his first home run of the season.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 The Dodgers ended up batting around and Call ended the inning with a ground out to first base after a five-pitch at-bat.<\/p>\n<p>So that\u2019s what an Alex Call-branded game looks like. Two walks, two hits, three runs scored, and reaching base four times leading off an inning. All while handling five chances in the field flawlessly.<\/p>\n<p>Call was in the lineup because Kyle Tucker, the Dodgers\u2019 big-ticket free agent signing in the offseason, suffered back spasms early in Monday night\u2019s game. Call replaced him and went 2 for 3 that night, setting the stage for Tuesday\u2019s outburst.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=17912\">Leaders and celebrities react after powerful quakes hit Venezuela<\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>And while the Dodgers would love to see Tucker stay healthy and start hitting up to the expectations that accompany his $240 million contract, Manager Dave Roberts appreciates having Call \u2026 well \u2026 on-call when he\u2019s needed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s been great. Alex is such a good guy to have on the team,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cHe knows his role. He\u2019s dependable. He prepares. When you lose a guy like Kyle for whatever period of time, to fill in with Alex, you don\u2019t lose much. You really don\u2019t. I love his energy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Dodgers acquired the 31-year-old Call from the Washington Nationals for two Class-A minor leaguers at last year\u2019s trade deadline. He had bounced around between three organizations, playing 277 major-league games between 2022 and 2025. But the Dodgers saw something they liked in the scrappy outfielder, who rewarded them by reaching base in eight of 15 plate appearances during the postseason last fall.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey felt like I could maybe come in and just give the pitcher a little extra headache and just take the quality team at-bats that are really valuable in baseball,\u201d he recalled. \u201cThey said, \u2018We don\u2019t need you to be Shohei, we don\u2019t need to be anybody else. Just do exactly what you do.\u2019 That made it easy to be comfortable in my own skin.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Call\u2019s team-first approach isn\u2019t lost on his teammates, nor is his potential to expand his role given the opportunity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe loves to walk, and he\u2019s got that little flair to when he walks, which is kind of my favorite part about him,\u201d cracked starting pitcher Justin Wrobleski, the beneficiary of Call\u2019s productive Tuesday evening. \u201cBut I think a little out of his brand was that homer. If he starts adding a little bit of slug, which I know he can do, and he knows he can do, he\u2019s going to become a real problem to game plan against, because there\u2019s so much contact there and you know he\u2019s going to control the zone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The fact that Call was playing against his favorite childhood team merely added to the moment. Growing up in nearby River Falls, Wisconsin, Call was a huge fan of former Gold Glove center fielder Torii Hunter. On Tuesday, he had a crew of friends and family in the stands, and he spent part of his time before Wednesday\u2019s game on the field meeting with his high school coach and a number of current River Falls High players.<\/p>\n<p>Obviously there\u2019s no guarantee any of those youngsters will follow in Call\u2019s footsteps. But if they want to try, they\u2019ve got a great role model to follow in a player who grew up in their own back yard.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe bottom line is, I love baseball. I love to play and to be out here for the guys,\u201d Call said. \u201cI love to compete for championships. And I certainly love being in the major leagues. That\u2019s every kid\u2019s dream.\u201d<\/p>\n<h4>UP NEXT<\/h4>\n<p>Dodgers (RHP Roki Sasaki, 3-4, 4.76 ERA) at Padres (RHP Walker Buehler, 4-3, 3.96 ERA), Friday, 6:45 p.m., Apple\u00a0TV, 570\u00a0AM<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=17901\">Los Alamitos consensus picks for Friday, June 26, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Call, who made the most of extra time in the lineup this week, prides himself on extending at-bats, making quality contact and being \u201csomeone who is going to be a pain for the pitcher to deal with. &#8230; I know there\u2019s value in that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17915,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-based-on-facts-either-observed-and-verified-directly-by-the-reporter-or-reported-and-verified-from-knowledgeable-sources","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Dodgers\u2019 scrappy Alex Call embraces being \u2018a pest\u2019 - Silicon Valley Moving Post<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=17916\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dodgers\u2019 scrappy Alex Call embraces being \u2018a pest\u2019 - Silicon Valley Moving Post\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Call, who made the most of extra time in the lineup this week, prides himself on extending at-bats, making quality contact and being \u201csomeone who is going to be a pain for the pitcher to deal with. ... 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