The Los Angeles Dodgers take a gamble on former top prospect Keston Hiura. Los Angeles hopes to unlock his hit tools and revitalize his major-league career.
The Los Angeles Dodgers continue to add depth ahead of Spring Training, signing former first-round pick Keston Hiura to a minor league contract that includes an invitation to their big-league camp, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post.
For Hiura, the deal represents another opportunity to reestablish himself at the major-league level. The 28-year-old spent last season in the Colorado Rockies organization, appearing briefly with the big-league club while spending most of the year at Triple-A Albuquerque.
There, he turned in an impressive .272/.369/.507 slash line with 21 home runs, once again showing the offensive production that has long made him an intriguing bat.
Hiura’s professional journey has taken him through multiple organizations in recent years, including stints with the Milwaukee Brewers, Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Angels, and Rockies.
While he has consistently produced in the minors, translating that success to sustained major-league production has proven more difficult.
At his peak, Hiura looked like a foundational hitter. After debuting with Milwaukee in 2019, he delivered a standout rookie campaign, posting a 138 OPS+ across 84 games and flashing the power that made him a top prospect.
However, swing-and-miss concerns that surfaced early in his career became more pronounced in the seasons that followed.
His strikeout rate climbed sharply during the shortened 2020 season and continued to rise in 2021, limiting his ability to stay in the Brewers’ everyday lineup. Even during stretches when he provided above-average offensive output, the elevated strikeout totals made consistency elusive.
By 2023, he spent the entire year at Triple-A Nashville before bouncing between organizations over the past two seasons.
Over limited major-league action in the last two years, Hiura has struggled to find rhythm at the plate, recording more than twice as many strikeouts as hits across 18 games.
With Los Angeles, Hiura enters a crowded roster picture, making him a long shot to break camp with the club. Still, the Dodgers have a reputation for refining hitters’ approaches and maximizing player strengths.
If the organization can help him make more consistent contact, then Hiura’s power could once again become a useful weapon.
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