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Back in March, when I wrote my breakdown about who would be playing third base for the Dodgers, the person currently filling the role was not even in the discussion. Not even a blip on the radar. Then, it was a fight between Nomar Garciaparra and Andy LaRoche, and everyone else was just a spectator. That changed in one barely ten minute stretch in Spring Training, when both went down to injuries, Nomar to a bad wrist, LaRoche to thumb surgery. With Tony Abreu slow to recover from last fall’s abdominal surgery, they took a brief look at defensive whiz Chin-lung Hu at the hot corner before deciding against using him there. This left the Dodgers without much by way of options, so they called Blake DeWitt over from Minor League camp while scouring the league for potential stop-gap replacements, desperation being the mother of invention.

In 2007, DeWitt had split time between the High A Inland Empire 66ers’ and the AA Jacksonville Suns. Still short of 300 ABs at the AA level, most prospect pundits felt he was at least a year away from contributing at the Major League level and more then a few felt that even with more seasoning in the minors he didn’t have the skills to be a productive, everyday Major League third baseman. Still, beggars can’t be choosy so the Dodgers gave DeWitt a trial, and he impressed Joe Torre and Ned Colletti enough to convince them a panic trade wasn’t necessary. Blake DeWitt became LA’s Opening Day third baseman, but was still considered a seat warmer.

One hundred Major League at bats and a 24 hour jaunt back to Las Vegas later, DeWitt is still with the Dodgers, is still their starting third baseman. In the beginning he played some nice defense, walked once a while and was praised for not doing any damage. When Nomar became the the first of the infirmed to answer the call, it made DeWitt expendable, and they sent him back to AAA.

Not the brightest of moves by the Dodger brain trust, as it left the brittle Garciaparra as the team’s only third baseman. Sure enough, Nomar got hurt and the Dodgers had to give Russell Martin a few innings at third while they sent Fed Ex to pickup Dewitt from Vegas. Nomar might not consider himself injury prone and Colletti might agree, but he is.

In his second time around, DeWitt hasn’t played like a place holder, but instead has become an integral part of the offense, building on a strong April with a torrid May- 10 games, two homers, seven RBIs, and a .429 average. Those waiting for him to wilt under the pressure of Big League pitching have clearly been disappointed. The more he plays the better he’s getting. One argument against him sustaining this level of success is that he doesn’t hit enough line drives, and there could be some truth to that. He’s currently sporting a BA that seems pretty ridiculous given the scarcity of said line drives. I doubt he’ll hit .429 for the rest of the month, but right now rather than focusing on and analyzing why DeWitt will fall back to earth, I’d rather enjoy what he’s currently doing.

Just for fun I’ve compared DeWitt’s first one hundred at bats to some of the far more ballyhooed prospects who have given third base a try in the last two years. I did not include ROY Ryan Braun, since he was such a butcher at third as a rookie that the Brewers quickly moved him to left this year. Kansas City’s Alex Gordon entered 2007 as the Baseball America’s number two prospect. Evan Longoria of the Rays entered 2008 as Baseball America’s number one prospect. White Sox prize Josh Fields entered 2007 as Baseball America’s number 44 prospect. LaRoche entered 2007 as Baseball America’s number 16 prospect. Arizona’s Mark Reynolds was not on anyone’s top 100 list and was the Diamondbacks seventh ranked prospect. Much like DeWitt in 2008, little was expected of Reynolds in 2007 during a solid rookie season, but a leap this season means he’s now ensconced at the hot corner for the Diamondbacks.

Could the same be part of DeWitt’s future?

He was on no one’s top prospect list this year, despite being a former number one pick. Despite reasonably good minor league numbers, he wasn’t one of the brightest stars shining in what is admittedly a crowded Dodgers galaxy. He was even given a trial as a second baseman in 2007 but was quickly moved back. His defense was supposed to be only adequate, and his sweet swing just didn’t seem to translate to above average production.

Something seems to have changed, and it changed at the Major League level. DeWitt’s defense has been outstanding and his offense, solid enough in April has been super-charged in May. At this point, it’s fair to argue that one of the best things to happen to the Dodgers in 2008 has been Nomar’s body again proving it won’t withstand the rigors of a starting role.

Blake DeWitt will be hard pressed to continue this type of production, but through the first 37 games, he has proven to be just the solution the Blue needed when everyone in sight was trying to make an appointment with Doctor Doom.

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