Dodgers Rookie Michael Busch May Not Be Going Back to Triple-A as Soon as We Thought

It sounds like he may have a longer stay.

Dodgers rookie infielder Michael Busch has had a crazy few days. Busch was called up to the Dodgers seemingly out of nowhere, after Max Muncy went on the paternity list. The Dodgers were running out of bats, and decided to call up Busch, who was raking at the Triple-A level to start the season.

Busch made it to Pittsburgh for his MLB debut on Tuesday and, in his third at-bat, hit a huge RBI single that helped sparked the Dodgers rally as they came back from down 2-7 to win the game 8-7.

Now, Busch has two more games under his belt, and has played third base with Muncy out. However, Muncy is going to rejoin the Dodgers on Friday, ahead of the team's series against the Cardinals in Los Angeles. It was somewhat assumed that when Muncy returned, Busch would be heading back down. But then, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts started talking about him.

Before his debut, here's the high praise that Roberts had for Busch.

"He’s earned this promotion," Roberts said. "When we had an opportunity to give him a little runway and opportunity, we wanted to let him know we see him and see what he’s done. You can talk as much as you want to the players about being part of the plan, but when they keep performing, it gets discouraging. When you have our ballclub, that’s kinda what guys signed into. But when we do have a chance to recognize performance, I think that’s fantastic."

“I just want him to be in the moment.” Dave Roberts hopes Michael Busch doesn’t let the pressure get to him in his first MLB start. pic.twitter.com/tOAZsi9EcJ

— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) April 25, 2023

Then, after his debut, Roberts was asked if Muncy's return would spell the end of Busch's time with the big league ballclub. He definitely made it sound like it wouldn't be (per Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register).

"We’re gonna discuss all possibilities," Roberts said on Wednesday. "Certainly with Mookie (Betts) being able to play anywhere in the infield, with CT (Chris Taylor), it opens some things up. We’re gonna get a good look at Michael the next couple days, as well as yesterday, and we’ll make that decision when we need to."

If J.D. Martinez heads to the injured list, Busch will likely be able to stay up until he's back. If Martinez does not, however, Busch will likely remain when Muncy returns, but go back down a few days later when Miguel Rojas returns from the injured list.