Dodgers turn to familiar backstop Band-Aids to address suddenly dire catching situation

CHICAGO — At 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, the three newest Los Angeles Dodgers players huddled into a makeshift former closet in the visiting clubhouse at Wrigley Field for the daily game-planning meeting. The day after baseball’s trade deadline brought a new dynamic that the reigning back-to-back World Series champions will have to work out, and Tuesday marked their first test.

So Tarik Skubal entered the room, as did Ben Rortvedt and Hunter Feduccia. Skubal, the prize of the deadline, is the two-time Cy Young-winning headliner of one of the most talented rotations in recent memory. Rortvedt and Feduccia are the catching tandem the Dodgers changed virtually overnight because of injuries to Will Smith and Dalton Rushing and are entrusted with shepherding that staff.

“Thrown into the fire,” Rortvedt said.

Things are not going well for the Dodgers, who after Tuesday’s 5-1 loss have dropped a season-worst five in a row. Rortvedt and Feduccia arrived together as extras in a Skubal-led deadline. Neither would be here if he didn’t have familiarity with the franchise.

“It’s part of the reason we acquired them,” said Danny Lehmann, the bench coach who runs the Dodgers’ game planning and works closely with the catchers. “Having both of them be familiar with the system and how we go about things, it’s way easier, especially in a time like this.”

The Dodgers also got rid of both players over the last 12 months, trading Feduccia at the last deadline as part of the deal that initially brought Rortvedt to Los Angeles, and then designating Rortvedt for assignment twice in the offseason. Now, they’re the Dodgers’ solution at catcher for at least the next month.

Smith won’t be ready until around September as he ramps up from an inflamed disc in his neck that has kept him out since June. Rushing has a small tear in an ulnar collateral ligament, manager Dave Roberts said Tuesday night, which could cost him at least four to six weeks. Even then, it’s not clear how much Rushing’s throwing could be affected.

This was not the plan.

Los Angeles had already been monitoring the catching market to add depth after Smith’s injury. Rushing’s injury before Sunday’s game made it a requirement. So the Dodgers plucked both from roles where they were superfluous. Rortvedt was in Triple A with the New York Mets’ affiliate. Fedducia was suddenly the odd man out with the Tampa Bay Rays after they acquired Liam Hicks from the Miami Marlins.

“Both guys have had familiarity with our staff,” general manager Brandon Gomes said. “It was really important to kind of come in and fit right into the clubhouse.”

Both arrived Tuesday, supplanting Eliezer Alfonzo Jr. and Chuckie Robinson as backstop Band-Aids. It’s rare to see a catcher change teams for a contender midseason, given the demands of the position. The Dodgers revamped their group entirely. Rortvedt and Feduccia were traded for each other 369 days ago and are now the Dodgers’ temporary catching solution.

“It’s kind of like we knew each other already,” Feduccia said. “Obviously, we met for the first time, but it was kind of just all smiles when we saw each other. … It’s crazy.”

“It’s funny,” Rortvedt said. “I’ve heard a lot about him.”

They had some catching up to do. Feduccia strapped on a Rays chest protector to catch Roki Sasaki’s bullpen session. When Feduccia returned to the dugout, Mookie Betts stopped to say hello.

“You got the wrong blue on,” Betts said, pointing to Feduccia’s chest protector.

Rortvedt spread out on a couch in the visiting clubhouse, scribbling notes into a notebook while sheets of scouting reports and heat maps were sprawled out on the table in front of him to prepare for the meeting with Skubal, Lehmann and pitching coach Mark Prior.

Just two days earlier, Rortvedt was catching Mets minor leaguers in Syracuse, N.Y. On Tuesday, he caught the reigning two-time AL Cy Young winner.

“Couldn’t have dreamed of something better,” Rortvedt said.

Rortvedt’s quick assignment required study. That and Swedish Fish, which Rortvedt had in bulk in his locker. (Rortvedt calls it a tradition.)

The Dodgers are demanding of their catchers. It’s why they put such a premium on getting guys familiar with their processes to paper over any issues that pop up over the next month.

“Knowing how we think, the system on the game planning, I think that makes it seamless,” Roberts said.

Rortvedt went through this process last season when Smith broke his hand and Rushing struggled, then got hurt. In Rortvedt’s first start behind the plate last September, Yoshinobu Yamamoto came within one out of throwing a no-hitter while calling his own pitches, only for the Dodgers to wind up losing. Last October, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said some of the bullpen’s struggles during the 2025 stretch run were due in part to some changeover at the catcher position.

“We’ve been breaking in a new catcher, which adds challenges,” Friedman said then. Dodgers officials have noted there were some hiccups in integrating Rortvedt last season, largely due to a lack of familiarity with some of the Dodgers’ arms and processes.

That experience should help Rortvedt — and Feduccia — this time around.

“I think it’s learning our guys and learning how he processes stuff, too,” Lehmann said. “I think that’s what’s nice about Ben is that we kind of have a decent idea about how he processes things.

“That’s probably one of the bigger hurdles to me, to communicate with the catcher and make sure, like, we’re getting everything we need out of him, and vice versa.”

This is still not an ideal setup. Smith and Rushing are two starting-level catchers in part for what they can provide with their bat. No one expects that from Rortvedt or Feduccia, so the expectation is simple.

Both catchers are here to make sure the Dodgers’ run prevention doesn’t fall off the tracks.

“We had to raise the floor on the catching,” Roberts said. “More cost certainty.”

Skubal delivered a perfect first inning in his debut. Rortvedt gave him a fist bump at the top step of the dugout.

Dansby Swanson ambushed a first-pitch fastball for a home run to lead off the third. A four-pitch walk and a double over Kyle Tucker in right field put Skubal in trouble in the sixth inning, leading to a run when Nico Hoerner chopped a grounder out in front of home plate. But the dominant left-hander looked the part, delivering six innings of two-run ball. He and Rortvedt worked quickly and seamlessly.

“On the same page all night,” Skubal said. “What he was trying to do feeds right into what I’m trying to do on the mound.”

Pete Crow-Armstrong laced an Alex Vesia fastball that was at his shins to bring home another run. One more came across when Seiya Suzuki lined an Evan Phillips fastball to score Crow-Armstrong. Feduccia caught the final inning after Rortvedt was lifted for a pinch hitter.

Hoerner added a solo shot when closer Edwin Díaz hung a slider in the eighth.

It wasn’t run prevention but a quiet offense that produced just four hits that led to the Dodgers’ fifth straight loss. The bullpen could have been better, though. For the first day of this tandem, it was fine enough.

The adjustment period will continue Wednesday. As Rortvedt got ready to wrap up his whirlwind 48 hours, a Dodgers staffer placed a fresh sheet of scouting reports at his locker.