Chuckie Robinson realizes he’s in rare company when puts on the Los Angeles Dodgers uniform he’s had the opportunity to do so the last three weeks.
“It’s an honor,” the 31-year-old backup catcher for the Dodgers and Danville native told SportsNet LA on June 11 when he was called up to the Dodgers. “My grandpa grew up a Brooklyn Dodgers fan, so I know he’s really excited to see me play and play in this uniform.”
Robinson getting a shot in the majors isn’t what’s noteworthy. Anyone who saw his prodigious skills as a teenager growing up in Danville knew something was different about him. The News-Gazette’s All-Area baseball Player of the Year in 2012 put up prolific numbers during his career at Danville High School, helping the Vikings win a Class 3A regional and sectional title during that 2012 season. It’s the last season Danville baseball has won any IHSA hardware, but then again, Danville hasn’t produced a generational talent like Robinson on the baseball diamond since.
What makes the story of Robinson stand out as the calendar flips to July is the perseverance he’s had in his pro baseball career to keep on playing the game he loves.
Before the Dodgers played late Tuesday night against the Athletics in Sacramento, Calif., Robinson had played in 59 MLB games across four seasons with the Cincinnati Reds in 2022, the Chicago White Sox in 2024, one game with the Dodgers last year and seven so far this season with the Dodgers.
Robinson has struggled to hit MLB pitching — who hasn’t — and was only 2 for 19 with one RBI this season before Tuesday night. He started this past Sunday against the Padres, going 0 for 3 out of the No. 9 spot in Dave Roberts’ lineup, but he caught all nine innings as the Dodgers won 4-2 in San Diego.
Robinson is up in the big leagues because the Dodgers’ All-Star catcher Will Smith has found himself on the injured list since June 11 because of a neck injury. Smith is expected to return to the Dodgers, possibly before the All-Star break arrives in mid-July. When he does, Robinson will likely go back to Class AAA Oklahoma City, where he was hitting .260 with two home runs and 18 RBI this season before his promotion to the Dodgers.
Robinson has far more experience in the minors than the majors, having accumulated 2,566 minor-league at-bats since his professional journey started in 2016 with the Tri-City ValleyCats, the now-defunct former New York-Penn League affiliate of the Houston Astros. A journey that has taken the journeyman Robinson all across the country and to six different organizations with the Astros, Reds, White Sox, Angels, Braves and Dodgers.
The fact he can tell his grandchildren someday that he was teammates with guys like Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts and that he gets to play with the two-time reigning World Series champions who should cruise to their sixth straight National League West division title is a fact no one else in this area can claim.
Just like the fact Tanner Gordon made his 26th MLB start on the mound Tuesday night when the Champaign Central graduate toed the pitching rubber for the Rockies before Colorado hosted the Miami Marlins at Coors Field in Denver. Much like Robinson, Gordon’s MLB numbers are far from what he would like or what he envisioned when he grew up dreaming of one day getting the chance to pitch in the majors. He was 0-1 with a 6.37 ERA in 35 1/3 innings pitched before he made his first start with the Rockies since May 31 after a hip injury sidelined him for most of June. All told, Gordon carried a 6-15 with a 6.89 career ERA in 145 innings pitched during the past three seasons with the Rockies before Tuesday night’s start.
Yet Gordon has pitched in places like Wrigley Field in Chicago, Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles and Citi Field in New York, among several others, since he made his MLB debut with the Rockies in 2024. The 28-year-old right-hander has had to retire hitters like Ohtani, Aaron Judge of the Yankees and Cal Raleigh of the Mariners. No small task.
“At the time when you’re in high school, facing Centennial, that’s a big game,” Gordon told me last October on a visit back to Champaign. “It’s all perspective. It’s cool to see those guys on paper, like Ohtani and Judge, and then compete against them, but once they’re in the box and once I’m on the mound, it’s game time then. All the jitters kind of go away.”
Dylan Dodd can relate. The 28-year-old left-handed reliever with the Braves has had to deal with injuries, callups, demotions and roles changing since the Bismarck native threw five innings in a start at Busch Stadium on April 4, 2023, for his MLB debut in St. Louis. A debut he won in one of seven MLB starts he made that season with the Braves.
Unlike Robinson and Gordon, Dodd has stuck with just the Braves since the organization drafted him in the third round of the 2021 draft. Not that Dodd has had it easy. He spent most of the 2024 season with Class AAA Gwinnett, struggling to get hitters out as a starter. He went 2-7 with a 5.35 ERA in 107 2/3 innings pitched that season, making 20 starts.
But since 2025, all Dodd has thrown is out of the bullpen. A new fit that seems to fit him well now. He was activated from the IL on May 19 after left thoracic spine inflammation sidelined him for a few weeks, and Dodd has stayed up with the Braves since. Entering Tuesday night’s series opener against the Cardinals at Truist Park in Atlanta, Dodd had a 2.70 ERA in 15 appearances, striking out 22 and walking eight in 20 innings.
Neither Robinson, Gordon or Dodd will appear in the MLB All-Star Game when it takes place July 14 in Philadelphia. They’ll get a few days off amid the grind of a 162-game regular season. Get a chance to reconnect with family and friends.
But then, it’s back to the job of professional baseball player. No matter the ballpark or city they’re in, it’s a ride their younger selves wouldn’t trade for the world.
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