Dodgers’ Dalton Rushing trying to fix ‘bad dude’ reputation

ST. LOUIS — You won’t find anyone with the Dodgers who thinks Dalton Rushing is a bad guy.

But that doesn’t mean the second-year slugger wants to be saddled publicly with a bad rap.

Throughout his career, Rushing has always tried to play with a smoldering competitive fire. He has never shied away from the fact he carries a competitive edge.

“I played football half my life,” the Dodgers’ backup catcher said. “So I compete a little differently, I click a little differently.”

Lately, however, a string of heated in-game interactions that have gone viral on social media — and, in one instance, drawn public criticism from an opposing player — have forced the 25-year-old to take a step back and make a renewed effort to keep his emotions in check.

“You never want to be viewed as a guy like that from opposing teams,” Rushing told The California Post on Saturday. “You want guys to hate playing against you because of the player that you are and how great you are on a baseball field. Not because of the verbalized things you say.”

Already this season, Rushing had been in the middle of several different headline-grabbing situations; from saying the Rockies were making “fishy” swing decisions during a series in Denver, to catching flak for an F-bomb he appeared to direct (though later said was misinterpreted) at Giants outfielder Jung Hoo Lee after a collision at the plate.

Then came last weekend’s series against the Cubs, when Rushing was captured dropping another seemingly disparaging expletive in reference to Cubs catcher Miguel Amaya.

This time, it wasn’t only lip-reading internet sleuths who called Rushing out but also Cubs veteran Nico Hoerner, who was standing in the box when Rushing made his alleged “fat f–k” comment as Amaya advanced to second base on a wild pitch last Saturday.

“I wish that I had confronted him a little more directly, to be honest,” Hoerner said during a radio interview this week. “It was just kind of a strange thing to experience. So, yeah, I felt a little weird about that.”

Turns out, Rushing did, too.

Rushing and Hoerner are represented by the same agency, Apex Baseball. So this week, Rushing said he reached out to Hoerner through his agents “to clear the air” about what happened.

“I respect his point of view of it, from the looks and the sound of it,” Rushing said. “And I respect him sticking up for his players. I would do the same thing for any of these guys.”

Asked if he thought Hoerner (or, for that matter, the online lip readers) had understood him correctly, Rushing said he didn’t think so — though stopped short of recounting his exact dialogue from the moment in question.

“Regardless,” Rushing explained, “there was a word said, whether it was positive or negative or what. And he didn’t like it. And I respect that.”

Thus, moving forward, Rushing is trying to be more careful about how his emotions are expressed on the field.

“Obviously, you know what social media can turn you into, [how it can] build an image for yourself both positively and negatively,” the second-year big leaguer said. “So I think from here on out, it’s just my job to build a positive platform for myself.”

“There’s things that can change,” he added. “There’s things I’m going to change.” 

Rushing’s fiery temperament is nothing new. It was part of his persona long before the Dodgers made him a second-round draft pick out of the University of Louisville in 2022. And it was there throughout his rise through the farm system as one of the organization’s top prospects.

For the most part, the Dodgers have appreciated that component of his competitive makeup.

Even after the recent bouts of drama, manager Dave Roberts said the club doesn’t “want to take the fire out of him.”

At the same time, though, Roberts has cautioned Rushing “to be mindful” of his outbursts. Others in the clubhouse have reinforced the same message.

“He’s bringing stuff onto himself he doesn’t need to bring on,” Roberts said. “There’s a responsibility to not be reckless because everything is captured.”

Rushing also cited that “responsibility” during an interview at his locker Saturday, acknowledging how, when “tempers flare,” he sometimes lets “things take over.”

“I don’t want to create an image like that,” he said.

The good news: The newfound scrutiny has been spurred by Rushing’s breakout start to the year. Entering Saturday, he was batting .348 with seven home runs and 17 RBIs despite limited playing time in the season’s opening month.

“It wouldn’t matter if I was struggling,” he said. “It would just be, ‘Oh, this guy is just a bad dude. Bad player. Bad dude.’”

However, Rushing also noted that nothing “I’ve said verbally on a field has enhanced my play by any means.”

So, while he won’t douse his competitive fire anytime soon, he will be trying to limit how often it flares up. 

“I’m gonna continue to compete, I’m gonna continue to play with an edge,” he said. “But obviously we can hone back a little bit on things that can get you in trouble in this media world.”