MINOR LEAGUE/PROSPECTS Thread

Toles and Stewart are still considered rookies to MLB, I wonder if they made the cut as well.

 

From Baseball America on Chase De Jong

In the summer of 2015, the Blue Jays had their eye on a power-hitting prospect out of the Dominican Republic with impressive bloodlines.

But before they could sign Vladimir Guerrero Jr., the Jays traded a pair of minor leaguers to the Dodgers for an additional $1 million in international bonus slots in order to avoid penalties for giving Guerrero $3.9 million.

Eighteen months later, it looks like money well spent for both teams. The 17-year-old Guerrero is already the Jays’ top-ranked prospect—and one of those minor leaguers acquired by the Dodgers has moved closer to reaching his own potential.



The Blue Jays’ second-round draft pick in 2012, righthander Chase De Jong passed on a commitment to Southern California to sign with them. In parts of four seasons in the Jays’ system, De Jong showed promise but hadn’t made his way out of Class A before the trade.

De Jong, 22, went 14-5, 2.86 for Double-A Tulsa this year. He led the Texas League in wins and WHIP, finished second in ERA and fourth with 125 strikeouts in 141.2 innings.

That season earned him a spot on the Dodgers’ 40-man roster in November (along with catcher Kyle Farmer and righthander Jacob Rhame) and a nod of gratitude to Tulsa pitching coach Bill Simas.

“Chase took some important steps forward in 2016,” Dodgers farm director Gabe Kapler said. “Notably, he added a cutter to his arsenal in late June with Billy Simas’ guidance. He was able to induce weaker contact as a result.

“While making the jump from Class-A to Double-A, Chase was able to lower his walk rate and give up less damage overall. Additionally, the cutter development added to his effectiveness against lefthanded hitters, forcing them to respect the inner third. When they look out over the plate for the fastball, they find themselves sawed off more frequently than they did in 2015.”

 

Sometimes just the right instructor (Simas) can make a difference.

 

I'm interested to see what another year with the cutter will do. Everyone is saying (beyond just this article) that it was a big game changer for him. Is it what takes him from a #5 to a #3 or even better? He got off to an ok start, but if I remember right, he added the cutter early in the season and it was kind of the reason for his turnaround. After that, outside of basically 3 games, he was legit lights out. I'm not saying he is some quiet ace, but if he continues to be a workhorse, having him in the #5 spot behind guys like Kershaw, Hill, Urias, De Leon, Alvarez and Buehler could be very nice.

 

Wow, Chris Blessing of USA Today and Baseball HQ was just tweeting about the D'Backs farm system. It's bad... they're really bad. According to him, he was talking to another scout about who he had at #4 and the scout said that the guy was not in a top 15 for likely any other system. I fully expect this to be the team that will be big time sellers at the deadline if they are out of it. With the Giants and Rockies improved and the Dodgers a little more put together this season, it is going to be very hard for them to get going this year. Have to believe that with their payroll and farm that they will really need to do something.

 

De Jong is behind the top guys, that is for sure, but he seems to have the potential to be another solid if not above average starter in the pipeline. De Leon is the higher prospect now, but that is because he is ready. Every report I have seen this year though has his ceiling lower than the two you mentioned as those guys have #2 if not legit ace potential. De Leon has that same #2 ceiling, but that is what is to be believed as his absolute tops and that he is most likely a very good #3 now.

 

Preliminary player list from MinorLeagueBall for our eventual top 20. Out of this 47, there are A LOT of recognizable names in there. Though some good players graduated last year in Seager, Urias, Maeda and Thompson, plus the trading of Montas, Holmes and Cotton, the system is still insanely deep.

This may be a year where the farm takes a step back ranking wise, but continued upward trajectory of Buehler, Alvarez, Bellinger, Verdugo and Calhoun could put the team back into a top 3-5 spot in the league following this season. I'm not expecting any of those guys to graduate this year, so it very well could be something like we saw the year Joc came up where it started a domino effect of top prospects breaking in with the club one after the other. Obviously not every prospect can be expected to have great years, but I think I said that last year and literally every top prospect surpassed expectations, including the 4 that graduated, as well as about 10 other less heralded guys.

Beyond the 5 I mentioned, other players that could be on the cusp of being more than simple eyebrow raises are the likes of Rios, Diaz, May, White, Peters, Ruiz, Sheffield, Smith, Thomas and Mieses. These are guys that had either breakout years in 2016 or were drafted and showed some serious promise. The breakouts of Rios and Mieses are the ones that are most likely to not come to fruition IMO, as each player has some SERIOUS swing and miss stuff, plus Rios is not particularly great at 3B. A big year from him at the plate would likely make him a prime trade chip at the deadline. Both those guys have elite power, but need better pitch recognition and in the case of Mieses, repeatable mechanics. I am interested to see this list come out when completed and to see what people have to say about a farm that has graduated serious talent over recent seasons, but looks primed to be scary good again a little over a year later.

http://www.minorleagueball.com/2017/1/4/14169932/los-angeles-dodgers-preliminary-prospect-list

And they just released their grading breakdown here.
http://www.minorleagueball.com/2017...-dodgers-preliminary-prospect-grade-breakdown

A solid A from them is not usual, guessing they are very very high on Bellinger. There are going to be 14 guys between B+ and B- which is also pretty crazy.

 

We'd be higher (not that it matters in the grand scheme) if the Yanks and the Sox didn't get those prospects hauls. Yankees are going to be scary in 2018 with all those big contracts coming off the books and all those young players who are cost controlled. HOPEFULLY so will we.

 

Dodgers top 20 on Minor League Ball came out over the weekend. I thought for sure that Bellinger would be the A and De Leon would be the B+, but it looks like there were some late changes made. Sickels is probably the highest guy out there for JDL and still believes he is a top notch hitter. He did give Bellinger an A-, which is still very good, btw. He is a bit worried about stretches where Bellinger will really struggle, which I have definitely seen too. I've chalked that more up to being so young at a high level and that he could overcome.
He rated Alvarez a B+/A-which is not much of a surprise, he probably wants to see success at the higher minors before notching him with an A. One other thing, he is and always has been the high guy on Verdugo and this quote is nice to see, "some of the best bat speed in the minor leagues". Needs a year in Triple A and will need to display more power to be an A guy.

Other notes: The Dodgers first full C+ is Abdullah at #17, their last C+ player was #32, so once again, the depth continues to grow.

http://www.minorleagueball.com/2017/1/6/14193446/los-angeles-dodgers-top-20-prospects-for-2017

Other notes, I was reading a Keith Law Chat and he felt that the Giants top prospect, Arroyo is falling and boy does he love Calhoun's bat.

 

I DVR the show MLB Now because it's pretty much the only show I thoroughly enjoy on that channel. They did a ranking of "teams positioned to become powerhouses". We weren't one of them. It was the Yankees, Astros, Braves, and I forget who else.

Kinda curious to me that with our resources and farm system, we weren't included.

 

I know one of the teams was the Rockies as a buddy of mine was ecstatic. Whether folks on here believe it or not, it is because the Dodgers are likely already there or are considerably close in their eyes since they have won the division 4 years in a row and are coming off an NLCS appearance with a 25 man roster of guys on the DL practically. The Dodgers have elite pitching on the way, a mega star young SS, star young CF and likely another star 1B coming with gobs of money freeing up over the next few seasons. There is no reason to believe that the Dodgers with this, plus potentially the two best LH starters in the game are not going to be dangerous, or you know, already are.

 

Lol Yeah LAD is already a powerhouse.
A list for the teams " becoming " or in position to become.
We havent really heard from the Yankees as powerhouses on any level since 2009/10

 

I think the Yankees are the next powerhouse as they are doing things exactly like the Cubs did. They have loaded up on elite bats and are going to be freeing up tons of money over the coming year or two. They don't have a lot of top flight pitching, but will probably be able to buy it when those guys become available. I would not be shocked if they are a team that offers Kershaw an absurd deal when he opts out.

 

re/CKGW..odds of Calhoun picking up a 1B's glove if he actually rakes at the big league level?
If Calhoun winds up raking, but can just never hack it at 2B defensively maybe it'd be worth a shot using him at 1B and using Bellinger's plus D in LF instead (Verdugo RF) to keep the group together?
He may have already played some 1B, not sure

 

With the death of Fernandez, yeah CK is truly the prize arm that year.
However, CK may be more on the JT side, a guy of his character completely committed to returning to LAD, so NYY may be rebuffed as well.

 

Little to no chance he moves to 1B. He's 5'8" and would be a terrible fit for the position.

 

He'll be a LF if anything tbh

 

Perhaps if anything at all a part timer like Howie?
He can't be much shorter than Howie