Serra graduate James Outman named Double-A Central Hitter of the Week

For the week of Aug. 1-7, in his second full week since his promotion, Outman earned Double-A Central Hitter of the Week honors.

“If I look back at my ’18 and my ’19 season, I was a better second-half player,” Outman said. “So, joking, when the second half got here, I was like: ‘OK, here we go. I’m going to rake.’”

A seventh-round draft pick by the Dodgers in 2018 out of Sacramento State, Outman has put himself on the map as a bat to contend with. Through his first two years in professional baseball — a half season at Rookie-Class Ogden in 2018, and his first full season in 2019 spent at Low-A Great Lakes — Outman totaled 30 home runs in 650 at-bats.

And Outman wasn’t about to let the cancelation of the minor league season in 2020 slow him down. Through the early months of the pandemic, he sheltered in place at his family home in Redwood City. But then the lifelong San Francisco Giants fan realized he was in the right organization with a Dodgers franchise that wasn’t about to let their burgeoning baseball dynasty go south.

In June 2020, with the help of Dodgers area scout Tom Kunis — who along with scout Paul Cogan was responsible for drafting Outman — a contingent of Dodgers minor leaguers based in the Bay Area started commuting to Sacramento several times a week to play ball. The group included left-handed pitcher Justin Bruihl, a Petaluma native who Sunday received a big league call-up.

“We were desperate to find something for sure,” Outman said. “And once this opened up, it felt like the clouds opened up. It felt so good just to get something in.”

While the Dodgers went on to win the 2020 World Series, the powerhouse that is their minor league development department remained vigilant. Tabs were kept on the progress of the Sac-Town gang, including regular video sessions.

“I think it saved my season, honestly,” Outman said. “It absolutely saved my season because I got to [minor league instructional camp] in September in 2020 and it felt like I hadn’t missed a beat. So, I think that paid off coming into this year because they were able to see Outman was still getting better.”

It paid off in March 2020 as well when Outman received an invite to big league spring training camp for the first time in his career.

The Serra Twitterverse blew up when Outman made his Cactus League debut in center field against the Giants in a televised game. But it was far from Outman’s only moment in the Arizona sun. He played in 17 spring training games and logged a respectable .455 slugging percentage despite a .227 (5 for 22) batting average.

“With (Cody) Bellinger being hurt at the beginning of the year, I was able to get a couple starts in center,” Outman said. “So, that was cool.”

It was in spring training where Outman met Dodgers minor league coach Brett Pill. The Los Angeles organization was a likely landing place for the former Giants first baseman. The Covina native played his college ball at Cal State Fullerton, where he was teammates with now Dodgers All-Star infielder Justin Turner.

Outman was recently reunited with “Pill the Thrill” — who homered in his first big league at-bat with the Giants in 2011 — who serves as the Double-A hitting coach.

The Dodgers have become more synonymous with developing elite pitching in recent years, but their roster of homegrown position players is just as impressive. Catcher Will Smith and shortstop Corey Seager are both former first-round picks by Los Angeles. But Bellinger is the real developmental success story as a former fourth-round draft pick who went on to record a humdrum .271 batting average throughout his minor league career but was oozing with power and speed tools that the Dodgers worked to unleash.

“They are incredible at developing guys,” Outman said. “When I came in, my swing was terrible. I had some tools and they took me as high as they did [even though] I didn’t have high numbers or anything. But I think they took me for my athleticism. But they took me and developed my swing and developed me into a good baseball player.”

Outman also brings the power-speed combo to the field. Hitting .270 this season over two levels of minor league ball, he is slugging .505 with 13 home runs to go with a career-high 22 stolen bases.

More importantly, the second-place Dodgers have stirred up a recipe for winning, and not just at the major league level. Triple-A Oklahoma City is currently in second place with a 44-40 record; Double-A Tulsa is tied for second place at 45-41; High-A Great Lakes is in second place at 45-40; and Low-A Rancho Cucamonga is in first place at 47-36.

“The Dodgers are very good at keeping us relaxed and having fun, and at the same time they expect us to win,” Outman said. “And all of us do.”