C.R.’s Schebler traded from Dodgers to Reds

CEDAR RAPIDS - It's the best thing for his professional baseball career, without question. But getting traded still tends to send you for a loop.

At least it did Scott Schebler.

'It's been a pretty crazy morning,” he said.

The former Cedar Rapids Prairie prep was involved in a three-team, seven-player trade Wednesday that sends him from the Los Angeles Dodgers to the Cincinnati Reds. The marquee name moved in the deal was third baseman Todd Frazier, an all-star who's going from the Reds to the Chicago White Sox.

For Schebler, a 25-year-old outfielder, this would seem an opportunity to play and stay in the big leagues he probably would never have gotten with Los Angeles. He made his MLB debut in 2015, hitting three home runs in 19 games, but the free-spending Dodgers are stacked in the outfield.

'I could have done great and maybe not gotten as good a chance with the Dodgers,” said Schebler, via cellphone, as he was driving to the Twin Cities for hitting work with Shawn Wooten, a former Cedar Rapids Kernels player who was his hitting coach at Double-A Chattanooga in 2014. 'I definitely view (the trade) as a positive thing. My opportunity, hopefully, will be great with the Reds. But, you know, it's all on how I play.”

Schebler signed with the Dodgers in 2010 as a 26th-round draft pick out of Des Moines Area Community College. He worked his way through the minors, becoming a legitimate prospect with back-to-back high-quality seasons at high-A Rancho Cucamonga and Chattanooga in 2013 and 2014.

That prompted Los Angeles to place him on their 40-man major league roster. Schebler hit .241 in 121 games this past season for Triple-A Oklahoma City and saw his first action in the majors, singling in his first MLB at-bat June 5 against the St. Louis Cardinals, the team he grew up rooting for.

'I haven't been to all of the major league parks, yet, of course, but Dodger Stadium was a pretty darned cool place,” he said. 'And just being in that clubhouse ... You had 10-year veteran after 10-year veteran in there. It was cool to be around those guys, some guys you grew up watching.”

But now it's all about Cincinnati. Schebler said he talked briefly with the Reds on Wednesday and expects a phone call from Manager Bryan Price within the next week.

Sports Illustrated analyzed the trade Wednesday, saying Schebler profiles as a 'league-average left fielder,” one who could begin fulfilling that role as soon as the 2016 season.

'Shoot, as a player, you only ever see yourself with the team that drafted you,” Schebler said. 'I can't thank the Dodgers enough for everything they did for me. Drafting me, giving me an opportunity to play in the big leagues. But I'm happy to be going to the Reds, a team that obviously liked me enough to trade for me.

'I'm ready for the next chapter in my career.”

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