Dodgers: LA Quietly Replaces Longtime Head Athletic Trainer

Amongst the many organizational changes made this month, the Dodgers canned their head athletic trainer.

The Dodgers announced large scale organizational changes earlier this month. Brandon Gomes was elevated to general manager along with several other internal promotions.

LA of course issued a press release outlining the changes, but one big move was not exactly spelled out.

In the release, the Dodgers announced that Thomas Albert was the new head athletic trainer. But what happened to the old athletic trainer, Neil Rampe? That’s the story inside the story according to AM570’s David Vassegh.

“For me, the biggest story of the day is not Brandon Gomes becoming the GM. The fact is, they have a new athletic trainer. They promoted Thomas Albert who’s been on the staff since 2016. Apparently, Neill Rampe is no longer the Dodgers head athletic trainer.”

Rampe had been the Dodgers head athletic trainer since the winter of 2015. A successful franchise like the Dodgers only makes significant staff changes if they feel they can upgrade a particular department or address a deficiency. 

Vassegh continued to outline the importance of the Dodgers seemingly firing the head athletic trainer who held the position for more than half a decade.

“When you replace your head athletic trainer, there's usually a reason why. You don't just change trainers for no reason and that's not really been the MO of the Dodgers under Andrew Friedman. I don't know exactly what the reason was, but I thought it was interesting that they have a new athletic trainer. Whenever that happens, it raises eyebrows.”

It’s purely speculation, but could replacing Rampe be an effort to help lure franchise pitcher, and current free agent, Clayton Kershaw back to the Dodgers? Kershaw had an injury riddled 2021 that resulted in him making just four starts in the second half and missing the post season entirely.

Perhaps Kershaw’s lack of confidence in Rampe led to the Dodgers making a major change behind the scenes.