James Outman struggled mightily for a second straight year following his breakout rookie season, playing in just 22 games with the Dodgers before being traded to the Minnesota Twins at the trade deadline.
After making the opening day roster in each of the past two seasons, Outman opened the season in Triple-A with the Oklahoma City Comets, where he opened the season slashing .253/.322/.508 with eight home runs over his first 32 games. Outman was eventually called up back to the big league level on May 6 after an adductor injury to Teoscar Hernández, hitting a pair of home runs in his absence before being demoted back to Triple-A on May 19.
Back with Oklahoma City, Outman improved drastically at the plate, cutting his strikeout rate from 36.3 percent down to 25.7 percent. He slashed a robust .318/.422/.622 with 12 home runs over 38 games before an elbow injury to Kiké Hernández signaled another promotion to the big leagues on July 7.
Outman found sparse playing time back with the big league club, only accruing 17 plate appearances over his next 13 games. He had just one hit, a double back on July 7, and started just five games manning center field. His final game as a Dodgers came on July 30, where he came in as a late defensive replacement in center field against the Cincinnati Reds. The following day, he was dealt to the Minnesota Twins before the trade deadline for reliever Brock Stewart, who previously played with the Dodgers from 2016-19.
Outman played another 12 games with the Triple-A St. Paul Twins before making his Twins debut on Aug. 16, where he began to find regular playing time for a team that just underwent a massive fire sale at the deadline. Outman played in 37 games to the end the season with Minnesota, still underwhelming to a .147/.221/.337 slash line with four home runs.
2025 particulars
Age: 28
Stats with Dodgers: .103/.205/.282, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 37 wRC+, -0.2 rWAR, -0.1 fWAR. Stats with Dodgers and Twins: .134/.216/.321, 6 HR, 11 RBI, 48 wRC+, -1.0 rWAR, -0.5 fWAR, 59 games
Salary: Unknown
Game of the year
Outman only had three games where he collected at least one hit with the Dodgers in 2025, and his only multi-hit game came on May 15 against the Athletics. Outman collected two hits including a home run, the last one he hit in a Dodger uniform, as the Dodgers steamrolled their way to scoring a season-high 19 runs.
Roster status
Outman is on the Twins’ 40-man roster.
