Dodgers prospect Charles Davalan moves to second base in Arizona Fall League after outfield experience

By Vancouver Television Sports Desk

A Los Angeles Dodgers prospect known primarily for his bat and left-handed swing is spending the Arizona Fall League learning second base, a shift his organization has framed as a test of versatility that can help future lineup planning. The Dodgers are sending Charles Davalan to the 2026 Arizona Fall League with the Glendale Desert Dogs, where the infielder prospect is “working at second base after manning left and center field during his sophomore season at Arkansas and all of his pro career,” according to MLB’s Arizona Fall League coverage published Nov. 9, 2026.

The Arizona Fall League, MLB notes, functions both as a “finishing school for prospects” and as a “laboratory for experiments,” citing past rule trials including instant replay, pitch clocks and an automated ball-strike challenge system that were later adopted for Major League Baseball. In the same setting, AFL teams also give prospects opportunities at different positions, with a highlighted comparison this fall being White Sox slugger Caleb Bonemer, who “ranks No. 27 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 Prospects list” and moved among all three outfield spots while primarily being a third baseman and shortstop earlier in his pro career with the Glendale Desert Dogs.

While Davalan is new to playing second base in fall games this year, his background includes middle-infield experience. The MLB report states that after spending most of his high school career “on the dirt,” Davalan split his freshman season at Florida Gulf Coast between second base and right field. It also says his first full pro season was divided “almost evenly between center and left field,” contrasting with the current AFL assignment focused on a middle-infield defensive role.

The positional adjustment matters to the Dodgers because the organization’s outfield depth group is described as unusually strong. MLB’s write-up points to multiple outfield prospects with Top 100 rankings, including Josue De Paula, Eduardo Quintero and Mike Sirota, while also listing Davalan at No. 79 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100. The report suggests that proving Davalan can handle second base would “make it easier for Los Angeles to fit that quartet into its future lineup,” tying his defensive work to broader roster construction considerations.

Davalan said the change was communicated by the Dodgers before the end of the regular season. He told MLB that “they talked to me with about a month left in the year and said I was going to come play in this league and play second.” He added that he received practice reps but “didn't play in games” at second base prior to the AFL, describing the assignment as something he was prepared to try: “It’s something they wanted me to try, and I'm super open-minded.”

Even with previous exposure to second base, the MLB report emphasizes that Davalan believes the AFL will still require learning and refinement. It states he has the quickness for the position and that his “fringy arm strength is playable there,” while also documenting early defensive results with the Desert Dogs: he has “committed three errors in 15 games.” The report attributes part of the ongoing adjustment to situational demands, including starting positions and the mechanics required for double plays, while also pointing to catching as a key area of focus.

In his comments included in the MLB coverage, Davalan described what he is working on at the bag and around it. He said “Just knowing how to set my feet, and double plays are kind of a bit hard, but the main thing is just catching the ball,” while also saying “There's a bunch of stuff I need to work on.” He credited the AFL instruction environment by adding that the “staff here has been awesome,” and said he has approached the challenge since the start: “I feel since Day 1, I've done a good job of getting back and getting my feet wet.”

The shift is also tied to the Dodgers’ evaluation of Davalan’s overall profile. MLB’s report states that the Dodgers drafted him in the supplemental first round of the 2025 Draft “primarily for his sweet left-handed stroke and penchant for making hard contact.” It adds that the organization has seen production beyond initial expectations in his first full pro season, where he batted “.292/.402/.535 with 24 homers and 17 steals in 115 games with Great Lakes,” earning “Midwest League MVP” and leading the High-A circuit with “29 doubles, 56 extra-base hits and 235 total bases.”

The MLB write-up also notes his offensive output during the AFL. While it says his “bat-to-ball skills” have been evident, it reports he has “just .217/.333/.350” in AFL action and that he has dismissed the idea that the defensive position switch would affect him at the plate. In the included quotes, Davalan acknowledged the struggle but emphasized his intent and the Dodgers’ message: “It kind of sucks to not be hitting good, but I'm always going to go up there and hit,” and “the Dodgers mentioned just to go there and play defense, so that's kind of taken the weight off my shoulders.”

By committing to second-base reps in Glendale, Davalan is effectively using the Arizona Fall League’s well-established environment of position experimentation to expand his defensive role beyond an outfield-first background. The arrangement described in MLB’s report keeps the focus on fundamentals—footwork, catching and double-play execution—while placing the work in the larger context of how the Dodgers might balance multiple outfield prospects in future roster planning.