DODGERS 2018 MINOR LEAGUE/PROSPECTS THREAD

Discussion in 'Los Angeles DODGERS' started by ColoradoKidWitGame, Apr 2, 2018.

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  1. ColoradoKidWitGame

    ColoradoKidWitGame DSP Legend Administrator

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    We have an emerging prospect to watch in Tulsa. I threw Connor Joe's start to the season aside based on the fact I had heard his name now for a few years and wasn't impressed with the idea of a guy in his age 25 season repeating AA. With that said, reports on him are very positive and from the sounds/looks of it, he may have finally tapped into the power that was a giant factor holding Joe back. Joe has always been a high contact guy with no pop that was leading to low averages, but he has really good strikezone recognition and has always walked a ton. He made some adjustments to his swing and has started to hit the ball in the air more than in the past and the results could lead to him being a solid utility bat option, if not something more. He has seen a jump in his strikeouts(though a quarter of them came in a bad 2 game stretch, so SSS could be hurting him there), but everything else that made him a former top prospect is still there. Keep an eye on him as players with shittier track records and potential have taken major leaps in recent years after making swing changes. It is still early, but this is someone to keep an eye on and could be close to AAA promotion.
     
  2. Dodgers99

    Dodgers99 DSP Legend

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    Santana has been promoted to OKC.
     
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  3. ColoradoKidWitGame

    ColoradoKidWitGame DSP Legend Administrator

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    First start will be this Sunday. They are continuing to stretch him out further and further pitch count wise. It would be nice to see him get a couple 100+ pitch starts in AAA here soon. It will be interesting to watch how he is handled here going forward as he was pretty dominant in AA and if that continues in any way in AAA, he will probably get the call fairly quickly. I brought this up in a post a bit back, the club could use the emergence of a Santana or White to push some guys to the pen with experience there. One idea would be pushing Maeda to the pen as that could also open upwards of $6M in payroll flexibility.
     
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  4. ColoradoKidWitGame

    ColoradoKidWitGame DSP Legend Administrator

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    Dennis Santana fucking dealt tonight in his first start in AAA. 6 IP, 3 H, 0 BB, 11 K’s on 86 pitches. Damn...
     
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  5. Dodgers99

    Dodgers99 DSP Legend

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    Might be up quicker than anyone planned, his performance coupled with big club injuries.
     
  6. fsudog21

    fsudog21 DSP Legend

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    Injuries and general ineptitude.
     
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  7. Doughty8

    Doughty8 DSP Legend

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    Was thinking the same thing with Rich and his finger AGAIN! This rotation could be a lot different very soon even though Alex did well today.
     
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  8. ColoradoKidWitGame

    ColoradoKidWitGame DSP Legend Administrator

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    I was thinking the same thing, plus he is already on the 40 man. He won't be up for long in all likelihood as he is on a similar pitch limit as Buehler and Santana too will probably be limited to 150 innings this year. I would not be surprised to see him come up for a couple starts, get a taste for what it is like and then head back to OKC no matter what to keep his innings down for an if needed playoff run.

    I still have not heard anything about how he has looked and am only going by the numbers and the couple starts I have watched in shitty low res. I am interested to hear what he is doing this year that has him so dominant. I am hoping it is more than just, "he is locating his sinker" which is what someone told me. The word on him before the season was that he has true front of the rotation stuff if his secondary pitches continued to improve, but that was a BIG if and most pegged him for the pen.
     
  9. ColoradoKidWitGame

    ColoradoKidWitGame DSP Legend Administrator

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    Prospects who had slow starts to the season, but have some promising signs going forward:

    - Top Prospect Keibert Ruiz. He had a rough go of it for a little while in AA, but was also the second youngest player in the Texas League at the time. There was an article about him from a week or two ago and he had mentioned that he was still adjusting to the differences from HiA to AA, but was starting to feel much more comfortable. Welp, that seems to have been true as in his last 10 he is hitting .375 with 3 HR's and only 3 K's. For the season, he has a slash line of .293/.343/.459 6 HR's. 11 K's, 5 BB in 133 AB's.

    - Starling Heredia has begun to put things together after a horrid start in LoA. He is still not breaking down any walls, but he is beginning to string together some hits which were in short supply early on. in his last 10 he has brought his average up nearly 30 points and has hit 4 long balls. One thing to remember is that many latin american players struggle in their introduction to the MWL. It is not necessarily a talent thing, but that many of these players have never played baseball in the weather conditions they are subjected to during the early goings. Would be nice if the Dodgers could somehow land a Sally League club(tells you something when there are clubs located not far from these MWL clubs and they end up going to the SAL). Anyway, on the season Heredia is slashing .196/.258/.357 with 5 Bombs, 55 K's and 11 BB's in 143 AB's. Dude has to cut down down on the K's.

    - Jeren Kendall has not exactly been having the breakthrough season that most of us were hoping for, but his last 5 games have raised his average up over 30 points and he has connected on his first 2 HR's of the season in his last 10. He is still striking out at an AWFUL 36% clip for the season, but is at least walking at a good clip. Slashing .234/.340/.375 on the season with 15 SB's.
     
    Last edited: May 22, 2018
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  10. lastatman

    lastatman DSP Legend Staff Member Moderator

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    I read the first five words of your sentence and initially thought he got traded and you were pissed.
     
  11. ColoradoKidWitGame

    ColoradoKidWitGame DSP Legend Administrator

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    When it came to looking ahead at the season, AA Tulsa had the most early intrigue with the bevy of top pitching prospects assigned to the club matched with DJ Peters, Keibert Ruiz and a couple of other pieces. In the first month since the season has started, that interest has shifted to another club. Armed mostly with a mixed crew of under-performing former top prospects and unheralded others, the Rancho Quakes in HiA have started to see some potential future big leaguers come into their own. Some names to keep an eye on:

    Gavin Lux- One of the Dodgers 3 former 1st Rnd/Comp picks on the club, Lux got off to a very rocky start in his first taste of full season ball last year when he sported a .615 OPS at the halfway point. Since making some adjustments in July, he has been one of the organizations most intriguing prospects. He doesn't sport the pop of a Corey Seager at the SS position, but Lux has high teen HR potential and makes a lot of contact while knowing how to take a walk. Most people felt he was destined for 2B with Seager's stranglehold on the position, but the continued run of injuries could have Lux suddenly in line to take the position over at the end of Justin Turner's contract. His defensive numbers have been lacking, but he is said to be a hard worker who is putting in the time to improve on them. A recent tweak to his mechanics has the club feeling that he will drastically cut down on his throwing errors. Lux is currently sporting a .311/.404/.435 slash line with 2 HR's and a 2:1 K:BB ratio which is even more impressive when you see how he started off 1-20 on the year.

    Jeren Kendall- We talked about him just the other day, but Kendall continues to improve and is now in the midst of a season best 7 game hit streak that has included his 2nd and 3rd HR's of the season. His numbers are still nowhere close to where the org would like them to be, but any stretch like this will give folks like me hope that he is finally starting to put things together. Armed with 70 grade Speed and 70 defense, if Kendall can harness his uber-athletic talents and put it all together, he would be one of the top prospects in the game. For the time being, we can only hope that the complete rebuild of his swing works to our benefit. He is slashing .243/.342/.404 with 3 HR's, 16 SB's and a horrific 34% K rate.

    Connor Wong- The early season power surge hasn't kept up as the season has progressed(Not totally shocking), but the 2017 draft pick is still putting up better than hoped for numbers. Wong was always viewed as a versatile backstop in the mold of Austin Barnes and Kyle Farmer, but thus far he has impressed with his new run of power. This discovery has not come without consequences as the once high contact college player has watched the K's drastically tic up(38%!) as his power numbers have spiked. Still, if Wong can continue to adjust to bring his K's down and maintain everything else, the Dodgers may have another valuable super utility player on the horizon. Slashing .293/.353/.579

    Cristian Santana- This has not been the start to a season that many were hoping to see. Believed by many to be the next Dodgers superstar prospect, Santana has gotten off to a very slow start in the hitter friendly confines of the Cal League. The free swinging third baseman is striking out at a 28% clip, not hitting for the power that many thought was coming and not getting on base either. It is still early and he is certainly capable of turning things around, but the guy that many prospect hounds pegged as the most exciting player on the Quakes roster entering the season has come up short in the early going. Slashing .256/.288/.386 with 5 HR's and 6:1 K:BB ratio.

    Rylan Bannon- Much like Wong, an early season power surge helped spike interest in a player more known for his play on defense than on offense. Though the power has not continued, Bannon has kept hitting and getting on base since his last HR 3 weeks ago. The club has moved Bannon between 2B and 3B this season to help with his versatility and though the numbers have taken a hit, the word on him is that he is a more than capable defender. He is probably not the 30+ HR bat he has displayed in the early going, but could become an interesting prospect if he can add a balance of power to his game to go with the other skills he has displayed thus far and use them at a weak 2B position in the organization.

    Omar Estevez- A prospect that the Dodgers signed along with Yusniel Diaz has not had the same success since transitioning to the states. Estevez was viewed as a bat first 2B with the potential to man SS. After playing SS primarily in 2017, he is now splitting time between the two positions with Lux now up with the Quakes. Estevez underwhelmed in his first two seasons slashing nearly identical numbers in both seasons. This year he is doing much the same in both the avg and OBP departments, but is slugging nearly 100 points higher over last season and is hitting the ball in the air at a better clip than he had previously in his career. He is on pace to put up his highest HR total to date, but is also probably going to obliterate his highest strikeout totals. Estevez is still young and has plenty of room to grow, so we will see if his recent stretch of games turns into something much bigger.

    Tony Gonsolin- A lot of eyebrows were raised when reports surfaced that Gonsolin saw a gigantic spike in velocity in 2017. To reward his efforts, the club moved him into a starting role in 2018 where early results have been mixed. I have heard no word on his velocity this year, but after a slower start he has begun to settle in as a starter. Over his last 5 starts, he has given up 5 runs(earned) over 26 innings, including the longest outing of his career on Sunday where he posted a 7 inning inning performance giving up 5 hits and 1 run with 5 K's. Reports on his overall stuff are good, so it will be interesting to see how he holds up over the long run as a starter.

    Dustin May- He was held back early in the season, then came out with a stellar second start to the season. His 2 appearances since then have left a lot to be desired, but Gingergaard still has the upside of a front of the rotation starter. If he can continue to add velocity to his 6'6" frame and maintain his spin rate, he will be a very exciting prospect to watch.
     
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  12. ColoradoKidWitGame

    ColoradoKidWitGame DSP Legend Administrator

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    - Caleb Ferguson and his shiny 1.38 ERA have been promoted to AAA. Dude has put together a sub 3 ERA in each of the last 2+ seasons. Will be very interesting to watch and his first start is tomorrow.

    - Dustin May had a great night going 6 IP with 2 H, 5 K. Rumor is his fastball was working 94-97, That would be HUGE as he has been known to work down in the low 90's
     
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  13. irish

    irish DSP Staff Member Administrator

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    DODGERS MINOR LEAGUE REPORT
    Farmer homers in OKC 5-2 win
    by Craig Minami | True Blue LA — 6 hours ago
    [​IMG]
    A good day for the Dodger minor league teams, three wins and one walk-off loss, big games for Kyle Farmer, Gavin Lux and Dustin May.

    PLAYER OF THE DAY
    Kyle Farmer had three hits in Oklahoma City’s win. Farmer scored twice and had a double and home run. Farmer has played five games at catcher and three at third base.

    TRIPLE-A OKLAHOMA CITY
    The Dodgers were tied with the Nashville Sounds (Athletics) but single runs for the Dodgers in the third, fourth and seventh innings gave the Dodgers a 5-2 win. Guillermo Moscoso got the win for pitching six innings and giving up just two runs. Three pitchers followed Moscoso and they each pitched a scoreless inning. Joe Broussard and Pat Venditte pitched the seventh and eighth inning, respectively. Yimi Garcia pitched the ninth and got his first save. Aside from Farmer, other Dodgers who had a good day at the plate included Edwin Rios who had two hits and Jacob Scavuzzo who doubled and scored a run.

    DOUBLE-A TULSA
    The Drillers scored a run in the tenth and that held up for a 2-1 win over the Corpus Christi Hooks (Astros). Tyler Goeddel hit a sacrifice fly in the tenth to score Andrew Istler and that was the difference in this game. Yusniel Diaz had put the Drillers on the board with a single in the fifth, that run broke a scoreless game. Angelo Mora also had a nice night as he hit two doubles. Tyler Pill made his first start for the Tulsa Drillers and he pitched five scoreless innings. Corey Copping followed with two more scoreless innings. Ariel Hernandez gave up the tying run in the eight. But then, Dylan Baker and Brian Moran had scoreless outings and they received the win and the save.

    CLASS-A RANCHO CUCAMONGA
    The Quakes broke the game open with a five run inning in the Inland Empire 66ers (Angels) that led to the Quakes winning 8-1 over the 66ers. Gavin Lux hit a two-out grand slam in the seventh which increased their lead to five runs. Dustin May pitched six innings and struck out five. He would get the win, his first of the season. May gave up two hits and had no walks. Aside from Lux’s grand slam, Cody Thomas hit his second home run of the year. Thomas would join Jeren Kendall and Saige Jenco with two hits on Sunday. Kendall also stole a base, his seventeenth this season,

    CLASS-A GREAT LAKES
    The Loons had 3-0 lead going to the bottom of the eighth and then, the Lake County Captains (Reds) scored four late runs to come back and win 4-3 over the Loons. Trailing 3-2, the Captains got a lead-off double in the ninth and then Ulysses Cantu hit a two-run homer to walk-off with the win. For Cantu, it was his fourth of the season. Zach McKinstry freshly back from disabled-list, hit a two-run home run that gave the Loons the early lead. Edwin Uceta and Austin Hamilton made that lead hold up for seven innings. Dan Jagiello came in for the Loons in eighth and gave up two runs. Justin Hoyt would take the loss for giving up the two-run homer in the ninth. Eight different Loons each had one hit. Brayan Morales stole his 21st base of the season.

    TRANSACTIONS
    Class-AA:
    Right-handed pitcher Justin DeFratus assigned to Tulsa from Oklahoma City; Tulsa activated outfielder Yusniel Diaz from the 7-day disabled list. Class-A: Great Lakes activated left-handed pitcher Austin Hamilton from the 7-day disabled list.

    FRIDAY’S SCORES
    Oklahoma City 5, Nashville 2
    Tulsa 2, Corpus Christi 1 (10)
    Rancho Cucamonga 8, Inland Empire 1
    Lake County 4, Great Lakes 3
     
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  14. Dodgers99

    Dodgers99 DSP Legend

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    Ferguson had a great OKC debut: 5IP, 3H, 0R, 3BB and 10Ks.

    I didn't get a chance to get out to Dustin May's start on Friday like I had hoped, however, I did get out to the Buehler start yesterday afternoon, all I can say is "WOW!".
     
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  15. Doughty8

    Doughty8 DSP Legend

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  16. Dodgers99

    Dodgers99 DSP Legend

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    Gavin Lux just keeps hitting, .307/.392/.476 coming into tonight where he is 3/3 with 2 XBHs (23 on the season). Granted, it's the Cal League, but for a 20yr old this is pretty impressive.
     
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  17. Dodgers99

    Dodgers99 DSP Legend

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    Lux is at it again, 6th HR (24th XBH), and you guessed it, he also took a walk.

    Side note, but Dean Kremer has pitched really well and is piling up K's (13.5 per 9), I know he profiles as a reliever, but something to keep an eye on when he goes to Tulsa.
     
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  18. MZA

    MZA MODERATOR Staff Member

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    I always saw Bills as mentally weak.

    After his game four performance last year, I can’t say that about Wood.
     
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  19. THINKBLUE

    THINKBLUE DSP Gigolo

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    I know we had to throw Darvish because it would've been risky not to..."You acquired this guy to take the ball in big games...blah, blah, blah"
    But I would've either started someone else or had the shortest leash in the world.
    Morrow should've came in to face Springer, not with the bases empty after the game was already lost. Better yet, Yu should've been taken out after the 1st inning.
     
  20. fsudog21

    fsudog21 DSP Legend

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    Or if the entire lineup didn't shit the bed despite numerous chances to score early in Game 7.

    U will always be Game 7 Goat #1, but the lineup could have bailed him out.
     
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