Biography
James Matthew Outman (born May 14, 1997) is an American professional baseball center fielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2022.
Early life
Outman grew up in Redwood City, California and attended Junípero Serra High School. In high school, he hit .305 with a .508 slugging percentage and .962 fielding percentage and also played linebacker and tight end for the football team.
College career
Outman attended California State University, Sacramento and played college baseball for the Sacramento State Hornets. He hit .249 in 147 games over three seasons with 23 homers and 99 RBI. He also played for the Humboldt Crabs in 2016 and the Bethesda Big Train of the Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League in 2017, where he was the Team MVP and League Offensive Player of the Year.
Professional career
Los Angeles Dodgers
2018–2021
The Los Angeles Dodgers selected Outman in the seventh round of the 2018 MLB Draft. He played with the Ogden Raptors in 2018 and the Great Lakes Loons in 2019. After missing the 2020 season as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Outman began 2021 with the Loons, where he hit .250 with nine home runs and 30 RBI. He was promoted to the Double-A Tulsa Drillers in July and was named Double-A Central hitter of the week two weeks later when he had seven extra base hits, including three home runs in six games against the Springfield Cardinals. He wound up hitting .289 with nine homers and 24 RBI in 39 games for Tulsa.
The Dodgers assigned him to the Glendale Desert Dogs of the Arizona Fall League after the season, where he was selected to the Fall Stars Game for the best prospects in the league. Outman was added to the Dodgers' 40-man roster in November 2021. He began the 2022 season with Tulsa before being promoted to the Triple-A Oklahoma City Dodgers at the end of June. Between the two levels in 2022, he appeared in 125 games, hitting .294 with 31 homers and 106 RBIs.
2022
Outman was called up to the Major Leagues for the first time on July 30. He made his debut as the starting right fielder the following day against the Colorado Rockies and hit a home run in his first MLB at-bat off of Germán Márquez. He had three hits in his debut with the homer, a double and three RBI. After his second career game the following night, he became the first Dodgers player to reach base seven or more times in his first two career games since Casey Stengel in 1912. Outman appeared in four games in the majors in 2022, with six hits in 13 at-bats, including two doubles, the one home run and 13 RBI.
2023
Outman made the Dodgers opening day roster for the first time in 2023, as the team's starting center fielder against the Arizona Diamondbacks. He hit a two-run homer off Cole Sulser to give the Dodgers their first homer of the season. On April 20 against the Chicago Cubs, Outman hit two home runs including the go-ahead grand slam in the ninth. That was Outman's first multi-homer game, a feat that he repeated two days later when he hit another pair of home runs against the Cubs. Outman was selected as the National League Rookie of the Month for April. He played in 151 games, batting .248 with 23 home runs and 70 RBI.
2024
Outman again began the season as the Dodgers center fielder. However, he struggled at the plate in the first couple of months, hitting just .147 with three home runs, and was optioned back to the minors on May 17. He spent most of the rest of the season in the minors, with the exception of the month of July, when he was recalled. He hit .147 with four home runs and 11 RBI in 53 games in the majors and .279 with 17 home runs and 46 RBI in 69 games in the minors.
2025
Outman was on the roster for the Tokyo Series to open the season but did not appear in either of the two games and was optioned back to the Oklahoma City Comets to start the minor league season. On May 6, Outman was recalled to the majors due to Teoscar Hernández was placed on the injured list.