Los Angeles Dodgers prospect Dalton Rushing has risen up to No. 27 overall on Baseball America's top 100 prospect lists Tuesday. Rushing has shot up 24 spots over the last year, as he ranked No. 51 overall in August 2023. He is up 16 spots from this May, when he ranked No. 43 on the top 100.
Rushing has credited his approach for his improvement this season from 2023, but says he hasn't necessarily changed up his swing.
“Same game. Really, I didn't change anything swing-wise," Rushing told Dodgers Nation's Doug McKain. "It's more of the approach side of things. I went into this year with a little more edge to swing the bat.”
Rushing spent all of 2023 with High-A, where he slashed .228/.404/.452 with 15 home runs and 53 RBIs across 89 games.
"Last year was tough because I would go up there for a week series, and there was a chance I got seven to 10 at-bats and just take 20 walks," Rushing told McKain. "This year, I know guys are gonna attack me. They're gonna come at me with whether it's their best stuff or whether they're pitching me backward, whatever the situation may be, I know they're gonna throw it to me. So it was more I want to swing the bat more, display the damage that I can do, display the power that I have that didn't really get to be dived into as much last year.”
Rushing began the 2024 season with Double-A, hitting .270 with 17 home runs and 59 RBIs over 77 games. He was recently promoted to Triple-A, where he has been even better despite playing at a higher level. Rushing credits his better play with the Oklahoma City Dodgers due to the nature of Double-A, which describes as not a 'hitter friendly' league.
“[Double-A is] not as hitter-friendly of a league, just taking a ton of walks, not swinging the bat too much," Rushing told McKain. "This year, my main goal was to go up there with the idea to do damage, hitting in the two, three, four, five spot [in the lineup]. Ideally, that's my job. That was my main goal getting in and so far it's worked out pretty well. At the end of the day, I'm just trying to finish the season as strong as possible and just get myself to get myself a chance to keep playing baseball.”
Through 22 games of Triple-A this season, Rushing has slashed .308/.439/.551 with five home runs and 15 RBIs.
