Saturday, September 06, 2014

Welcome to the Blue, Roger Bernadina!


The Dodgers added another outfielder to their roster.  This afternoon they called up Roger Bernadina from the Albuquerque Isotopes.  He will wear a Dodger uniform for the first time.

Back in early July, the Dodgers signed the recently released veteran outfielder to a minor league contract and assigned him to Albuquerque.  He slashed .246/.380/.351 while there.  In seven Major League season with the Nationals, Reds and Phillies he slashed .236/.306/.352; while stealing 59 bases in 71 attempts.  So, the Dodgers hope Bernadina provides some outfield depth and speed on the basepaths.

Per a Dodger press release:
(pic via @NumbersMLB on twitter)
The Los Angeles Dodgers today selected the contract of outfielder Roger Bernadina (#18) from Triple-A Albuquerque and transferred right-hander Josh Beckett to the 60-day disabled list. Los Angeles now has 34 players on its active roster.

Bernadina, 30, opened the season with Cincinnati and was signed by the Dodgers as a minor league free agent on July 8, batting .246 with two doubles, two triples and two RBI in 23 games with the Isotopes. He has a .236 career batting average with 59 steals, 27 home runs and 117 RBI in 539 games in seven big league seasons with the Nationals (2008-13), Phillies (2013) and Reds (2014).
BTW, Bernardino is from Curacao, like Kenley Jansen, and played for the Dutch National Team during the recent World Baseball Classic.  He is 30-years old and bats left-handed.

In celebration of Roger Bernadina's promotion to the Dodgers I made the above fantasy card for him.  I used a photograph grabbed from Wikimedia Commons/UCinternational (along with some photoshopped images from around the web) and the 1964 Topps Baseball card design.

Below are his career statistics, via Baseball Reference:


Below, watch Bernadina drive in the winning run on a sacrifice fly this past Sunday, August 31st, to help the Isotopes defeat the Las Vegas 51's, 12 to 11.

Video Link:

Wow!  Bernadina has quite a glove.  Watch this fantastic catch from 2011 for the Nationals.  (And here's another from last year, here)

Video Link:

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Blog Kiosk: 9/6/2014 - Dodger Links - Some Dodger Odds and Ends


Here is the 2014 Dodger organization team photograph, via Jill Weisleder/LA Dodgers 2014Go here to check out more photos from Jill, Jon SooHoo and Juan Ocampo from yesterday.
(via Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2014)
"And soon Clayton is teaching these kids how to throw and catch a ball, without communicating with words. And that was the moment he realized that God gave him the ability to throw a baseball and it can make a difference to a kid in Africa. And he realized he could do this, even if it was my calling and not his. It was an amazing moment."
You can check out a bunch of great photos taken by Dodger photographer Jon SooHoo here.  The photo on the right is of Andre Ethier with his own paddle.  LOL!


What you don’t think of ace pitchers as doing is hurling the ball down the middle very often. That’s the danger zone, the area where you find the bulk of the meatballs. Turns out Kershaw’s not afraid of going down the pipe. Turns out Kershaw doesn’t really get hurt there very much.



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* Dodgers Blue Heaven home page *