MINOR LEAGUE/PROSPECTS Thread

I think the defense is the more important aspect people are missing when talking about Puig.
That arm of his and his ability to cover a lot of ground is an expensive commodity. Look at what the Cubs paid Hayward, and he cant hit a lick all year and there are no signs of him coming out of it.
While Puig has good numbers now and they keep improving. You still wont get more than a half decent spec for him or a reliever.
Might as well just sign a Joba or promote one of our guys if thats the case.
Puig is not a leadoff guy and like you said we wouldnt trust him hitting 3rd or 4th just yet.
But he makes for a good hitter at the #2 spot.
Corey deserves to be promoted to the heart of the lineup at #3.
Having a guy that can score from first base with his speed and power on the basepaths would give Corey even better pitches to hit.
And the two veteran professionals Chase and Howie can handle leadoff duties until we get something good there.

BTW, how do you think Puig looked in the box early on in his career?
I was reading a hitting coach's blog that detailed Puigs approach and harped on his less than stellar technique.
Yet he stated that Puig was so talented that he is the type of player who doesnt necessarily need to have the best technique due to his speed and power generation. If he had better technique he would use that power for home runs more often instead of drives.
He said that a guy like Turner needs to be all about good technique because he doesnt have the raw talent that a Puig has.
And the good professional hitting skills in the box get the most out of whatever talent he does have.

 

Andrew Toles to get called up for tonight's game
by Matthew Moreno | Dodger Blue — 16 minutes ago



With several players going down to injury this season, the Los Angeles Dodgers have needed to tap into more of their depth than anyone could have predicted. Aside from Trayce Thompson taking advantage of his opportunity, multiple players have made their respective Major League debuts in 2016.

It began with the highly-touted Julio Urias in May and included Brock Stewart making his debut in June. Between the two starts, Nick Tepesch, who lasted pitched in the Majors in September 2014, made a spot for the Dodgers in late-June.

With a bullpen that’s shouldered a heavy load in recent weeks, the Dodgers called up Carlos Frias from Triple-A Oklahoma City prior to Thursday’s series opener against the San Diego Padres.

The move paid dividends as Frias followed Hyun-Jin Ryu’s 2016 debut with four scoreless innings. However, it also left the Dodgers with a three-man bench. Manager Dave Roberts indicated a roster move would come prior to the second of the four-game series.

According to J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group, the Dodgers will call up Andrew Toles, who is not on the 40-man roster, from Oklahoma City:

According to multiple sources, the 24-year-old outfielder will be recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City prior to tonight’s game against the San Diego Padres​

After missing the entire 2015 season, Toles signed a Minor League contract with the Dodgers last October. He was selected by Andrew Friedman and the Tampa Bay Rays in the third round of the 2012 draft.

Toles began this season with High-A Rancho Cucamonga, where he hit .370/.414/.500 with eight doubles, two triples and nine RBIs in 22 games. Over 43 games with Double-A Tulsa, Toles batted .314/.363/.514 with 14 doubles, five home runs and 22 RBIs.

He hit .303/.333/.485 in eight games with Oklahoma City. Toles was released by the Rays in March.

 

trolles

 

Far from home, Dodgers pitcher Jharel Cotton grows into prospect
by Bill Shaikin | Los Angeles Times — 11 hours ago



Jharel Cotton was 16 when he left home, and his family. The journey to the beginning of the rest of his life covered 1,500 miles, to a place where he would be a stranger. For a boy, the decision to leave must have been excruciating.

“It was easy,” Cotton said.

He grew up in the Virgin Islands, a baseball player in a sporting land dominated by basketball and soccer, a homeland with about as many people as Visalia, Calif. He lived with his uncle, since his mother had died when he was 12.

When his coach suggested that his baseball future could be enhanced by playing high school ball in Virginia rather than the Virgin Islands, his father blessed the move, and Cotton jumped at the chance.

“I felt like it was the best option for me,” he said Sunday. “Baseball was kind of dying down in the Virgin Islands. I really think it got me the exposure I needed to be where I’m at today.”

On Sunday, he was at the Futures Game, the annual summer showcase for baseball’s brightest prospects.

Cotton, 24, is one of the pillars of the Dodgers’ oft-trumpeted pitching depth, for now a member of the starting rotation at triple-A Oklahoma City. The Dodgers’ rotation there includes Cotton, Jose De Leon, Ross Stripling, Brock Stewart and Trevor Oaks – all right-handers, none older than 26 – with 19-year-old left-hander Julio Urias in the bullpen, conserving innings after an eight-start trial in Los Angeles.

Cotton was the winning pitcher Sunday, retiring the only batter he faced as Team World routed Team USA, 12-3. The Dodgers’ other Futures Game representative, double-A second baseman Willie Calhoun, went hitless in two at-bats. The Angels’ lone participant, triple-A left-hander Nate Smith, pitched one inning and gave up two runs on four hits.

As a kid, Cotton ran track – “kind of boring,” he said – before gravitating to baseball. He watched Pedro Martinez on television and tried to mimic him.

His older brother, Jamaine, would pitch in the minor leagues for six years. His friends back home included Jabari Blash, an outfielder who played briefly this season for the San Diego Padres, and Akeel Morris, who pitched in one game last season for the New York Mets.

Jharel Cotton was the only one that did not graduate from high school in the Virgin Islands. He moved before his senior year, to a high school in Newport News, Va.

“It was pretty cool, moving there and seeing snow for the first time,” he said. “It was legendary.”

It must have been, since he said he now spends the winter in Michigan, home with his girlfriend. His career has taken him from junior college in Florida and college in North Carolina to minor league stops in Utah, Michigan, California, Tennessee and Oklahoma.

On Sunday, for the first time, he played in a major league stadium. Whether he plays for the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium might be determined this month, since Cotton could be an enticing trade chip, one of the good but not elite players in a minor league system ranked as baseball’s best.

Baseball America last week ranked six Dodgers among the game’s top 100 prospects. Cotton, who can start or relieve, was not one of those six.

“I feel the Dodgers are the best team in the major leagues right now, minor league system, everything that they do,” Cotton said. “I think they’re the best.”

Even, he said, in their unusual emphasis on healthy eating. Cotton is looking forward to arriving in Los Angeles and finding where Curacao native Kenley Jansen goes for Caribbean food, but in the meantime he said he enjoys all the chicken served in the clubhouse.

“I never knew about organic food until they brought it to us,” Cotton said. “It makes me feel a lot better.”

One suggestion, though: Enough with the takeout counter at Whole Foods Market.

“The Whole Foods is just plain,” Cotton said. “The caterers put their love and passion into it.”

 

meh

• Agent Scott Boras is “happy” with the way the Dodgers have handled 19-year-old phenom Julio Urias, he told Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register on Monday (Twitter link). The Dodgers are monitoring the workload of the left-handed Urias, who is currently with Triple-A Oklahoma City and could factor in as both a reliever and starter in the majors down the stretch. Between OKC and LA, Urias has thrown 78 1/3 innings, which is just 9 1/3 fewer than the career-high 87 2/3 frames innings he amassed in 2014.