On Thursday, July 31st, 2025, the Los Angeles Dodgers acquired Alex Call from the Washington Nationals. Before the trade deadline, the Dodgers had two glaring needs: the bullpen and the outfield. While they addressed the bullpen earlier in the day by acquiring Brock Stewart from the Minnesota Twins, the team still needed help in the outfield, which they addressed by acquiring Call.
Dodgers Make An Addition at the MLB Trade Deadline
Call was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the third round of the 2016 MLB Draft. He was traded to the Cleveland Guardians in 2018 and joined the Nationals off waivers in 2022.
Call, who is under team control until 2030, is expected to provide outfield depth.
He currently ranks positively in Outs Above Average with a grade of 1, placing him in the 73rd percentile among qualified fielders.
Against left-handed pitchers, Call has posted an .807 OPS.
In return, Washington receives two right-handed pitching prospects: Eriq Swan and Sean Paul Linan. Swan, 23, had a 4.43 ERA in 16 games (14 starts) for the Advanced Class-A Great Lakes Loons. Linan, 20, was 1-1 with a 2.65 ERA in 10 games (seven starts) for the same affiliate.
Now, the main goal for the Dodgers, as I said in my deadline preview article, was Steven Kwan. So this may seem like a step down, but in reality, that’s not true at all. Call and Kwan have very similar Statcast metrics. Yes, Call isn’t going to be the next Shohei Ohtani or Mookie Betts. He’s not going to be as good or efficient as Kwan. He doesn’t come with a huge upside.
What he is going to do, though, is make the Dodgers just a little better. Think of Call as a better option than Michael Conforto, although he’s probably not going to replace him.
Call and Kwan have surprisingly similar Statcast profiles across the board. Both rank around league average in xwOBA (Call 44th percentile, Kwan 38th) and xSLG (20th vs. 26th), and their average exit velocities are close—89.0 mph for Call and 86.0 for Kwan. Neither hits the ball especially hard (Call’s hard-hit rate is 30.2 percent, Kwan’s is 21.6 percent), and their barrel rates are both low (4.7 percent vs. 2.7 percent). However, they do hit a decent number of balls in the launch angle sweet spot (48th percentile for Call, 86th for Kwan).
Plate discipline is another area where they line up. Both rank very highly in Chase%, Whiff%, and K% (Call is at 97, 86, and 83; Kwan is at 84, 100, and 99), and they walk at a good clip as well (11.0 percent vs. 8.8 percent). In the field, they’re roughly average to slightly above average in range (73rd percentile for Call, 52nd for Kwan), and both have solid arm strength (88.8 vs. 87.0 mph).
Call is 30 years old and has been in the league for five years. He spent one year with the Guardians and the last four with the Nationals. This year, through 72 games, he’s batting .274. He’s a great option to help plug the hole in left field. While he’s not going to replace Conforto, he’s a very good platoon piece.
Alex Call vs the NL West:
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Giants: In 13 games, Call has a .261 average with 12 hits, 6 RBIs, and 6 runs scored.
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Padres: In 11 games, he’s batting .200 with 7 hits, a homer, 4 RBIs, and 5 runs.
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Diamondbacks: In 10 games, he has a .387 average with 12 hits, a home run, 7 RBIs, and 3 runs scored.
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Rockies: In 15 games, he’s hitting .220 with 9 hits, a homer, 5 RBIs, and 8 runs.
At the end of the day, this is a low-risk, medium-reward move for the Dodgers. They didn’t give up any of their top 10 prospects and added a controllable depth piece who fits the current roster needs. If Call can replicate what he did against lefties and continue playing solid defense, this trade could age very well.
Main Image: Matt Blewett-Imagn Images
