Dodgers News: James Outman Somewhat Superstitious Over Uniform Number with LA

Dodgers outfielder James Outman was assigned number 77 at random, but he superstitiously might want to keep it after last year's success.

When Dodgers prospect James Outman was called up for a cup of coffee with Los Angeles last summer, he was, as is tradition with rookies, assigned a high uniform number to wear in LA. In Outman's case, it was number 77, and the cup of coffee went very well, with the young outfielder going 6-for-13 with a 1.409 OPS in four games.

Outman was on local Los Angeles radio recently, and he and the host talked about uniform numbers. Heading into what he hopes will be his first full season in the big leagues, Outman will likely have the opportunity to choose his own uniform number. But Outman says he might not want to change.

"I haven't put much thought into it yet. You know, the superstitious part of me thinks that 77 is a good number now but we'll see. I'll let the moment speak to me."

Seventy-seven is a pretty cool number, all things considered. After Yasiel Puig was assigned number 66 in spring training in 2013, he liked it so much that he kept it throughout his big-league career. For Outman, there's the cool factor of the number and the fact that he played really, really well in number 77 last year.

Of course, he also played really well wearing number 55 for the Oklahoma City Dodgers last year, and 55 is currently available in Dodger blue, last worn by Albert Pujols in 2021. Number 55 is at least as cool as 77, and it has a solid history with the team, with Russell Martin and Orel Hershiser wearing it in addition to Pujols.

Spring training starts in about a month, and we'll get an idea what number Outman will wear by then, if not sooner.