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The Los Angeles Dodgers optioned infielder Gavin Lux to their alternate site camp on Tuesday, ensuring that he will not make the Opening Day roster. The Dodgers will instead turn over second base to a combination of Enrique Hernandez, Chris Taylor, and Max Muncy.

We ranked Lux as the sixth best prospect in the game entering the spring. Here's what we wrote at the time:

By now, everyone is probably familiar with Gavin Lux, who appeared in 23 games with the Dodgers down the stretch. For the exceptions in the crowd, Lux spent most of the season terrorizing minor-league pitching. He hit .347/.421/.607 with 26 home runs across Double- and Triple-A. He did that while playing the entire season as a 21-year-old who primarily played shortstop. In other words, Lux is a well-rounded player -- one who can hit for average and power, walk, and so on. The main question with him at this point is where he'll play on the big-league team. The Dodgers used him exclusively at second base during his big-league cameo, and it's probably fair to slot him in there for as long as Corey Seager is hearty and hale.

Unfortunately for Lux, a number of factors were working against him this summer. He arrived late to camp and has since appeared to need work on both sides of the ball. Hours after manager Dave Roberts told reporters on Monday that Lux's swing needed to be ironed out, Lux then made a few defensive mistakes during an exhibition game, including this throwing error.

Whenever a top prospect is optioned to the minors before the start of the season, it's always worth examining the service-time considerations. Those may not have been a leading factor here given the other issues at play, but the Dodgers could still gain an additional year of team control if they leave him in the minors for long enough. Lux gained 28 days of service last season, and would have to remain in the "minors" for more than 20 days throughout the season to avoid receiving service-time credit for the interim period. 

The Dodgers also announced that they had signed free-agent reliever Jake McGee, who had previously been released by the Colorado Rockies, to a one-year big-league contract. McGee posted a 120 ERA+ and 3.18 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 45 appearances last season.