PROSPECTS Meanwhile, Down on the Farm

OKC's best hitter right now is some youngster named Teo Hernandez. Hit 3 homers this week and has a 1.364 OPS.

 

And that again was last night... tonight Sirota had a single and a couple of walks, but the big news was that #23 prospect Payton Martin threw 7 shutout innings, allowing just 5 runners.

Great Lakes was pretty interesting too. Quintero had a couple hits, one being a HR, and for the first time this season his OPS is over .800. Recently promoted 3B Harlan had a huge game: single, double, home run, home run. OPS is 1.146 in high A. Another great start for unranked Auger. 5.2 innings, one ER, and his ERA is down to 2.12.

In OKC, Ferris got drilled again and is simply a mess right now.

 

I’m going to do the June Top-30 summary today. I know there’s one more game this month – tomorrow - but today is no-game Monday plus I’m going to be too busy the rest of the week, so this will have to do.

If you want to cross-reference the May summary, it is here: https://dailysportspages.com/index.php?threads/meanwhile-down-on-the-farm.9495/page-29#post-630510

By the way, MLB Pipeline does two major overhauls of its ranking – one after the summer draft and one in the offseason. Other than that, they only make minor adjustments, mostly when a prospect graduates to the majors. For some reason, they bumped up Zazueta one spot… over Ferris. In my opinion, while they were moving Ferris, they had might as well drop him way down. Nevertheless, here they are:


1. De Paula- OF – Solid month hitting .292 AVG/.897 OPS. 5 HRs as part of 10 XBH, and walked (15) more than he K’d (13).

2. Hope – OF – Cooled-off significantly this month, hitting only .217/.737. Makes me wonder if he’s playing hurt or there’s another underlying cause. Only 15 RBIs for the month, hitting cleanup on a really prolific team.

3. Quintero – OF – After a miserable April, his May and June have him just about back where he needs to be. .316/.942 were his June numbers, and for the season his OPS is back over .800 and batting average just a hair under .300.

4. Sirota – OF - Reached base in all 22 games, bringing his current streak to 63 consecutive. For the month, he hit .325/1.036. He also walked (23) more than he struck out (21).

5. Morales – SS - Struggled some after his promotion to high-A in mid-May, but finally is heating up. For the month, he hit .256/.836. A HR and two doubles yesterday give promise for a strong July.

6. Ryan – P – Three ineffective starts in June (8.16 ERA) and then to the IL.

7. Davalan – OF – Faded some this month. .225/.631. Eighteen hits, but 13 were singles and went yard only once.

8. Zazueta – P – May just be the Dodgers top pitching prospect right now. 1.10 ERA for the month, and that includes a game in Tulsa after getting promoted where he recorded 5 one-hit innings. Batters only hit 0.080 against him and his WHIP was an unreal 0.43. 24 K’s vs only 3 walks. Yes, 3… that’s not a typo.

9. Ferris – P – Ugly. 9.35 ERA for June, 0-3 record for a team that is mostly winning. Control is an issue. In 17.1 innings, 15 walks and only 21 K’s. 2.02 WHIP.

10.Tibbs – OF – June was not his best month and I’m starting to lose faith that we’ll be able to rub this one in Gnat fans’ faces. .217/.780 for the month. Just 4 HRs. 30 strikeouts vs just 18 hits. He’s streaky, so there’s always hope he’ll get hot again. Or, AAA may just be his ceiling.

11.Serwinowski – P – Strong month, culminating in being named the Texas League Pitcher of the Week. Has really saved his season, where he had an 11.00 ERA in April, 3.75 in May, and now 1.63 in June. Opposing hitters only batted .161 against him during the month.

12.Root – P – Three great starts in June, one poor one. In total, 3.10 ERA and 1.18 WHIP. Not as good as his May, but still respectable and they’re starting to give him more innings. 20.1 in June vs 12 in May.

13.George – OF – Returned from his injury sustained while hurdling Rover, but was sent down from AA to single-A. Only 9 ABs over three games, so clearly they’re taking it slow. Just one hit so far. Hoping there are no lingering side effects.

14.Ko – OF - He had a strong month. I don’t see many monster games from Ko, but he’s been pretty consistent. Batted .307/.979 in June with 4 HRs and 6 doubles.

15.Lindsey – SS – Red hot in May, then injured in early June. Played only five games this month, hitting .300/.714.

16.Harlan – 3B – He’s killing it in June, the last six games of which were after a move-up to high-A with no adjustment period needed. He hit .329/.927 for the month.

17.Ehrhard – OF – As you know, he had his on-base streak end during the month, then started hitting bombs. Totaled 8 HRs for the month and hit .287/.992. For at least June, he looks to be the better prospect received in the Dustin May trade. 19 RBIs too from the leadoff position.

18.Nieves – P – Seems he’s getting eased back after injury. Two starts this month for a total of 3 innings. 3 hits, no walks… one earned run.

19.Ward – OF/1B – Spent entire month with big-league club.

20.Vargas – SS – I haven’t been all that impressed with him. .247/.702 in June.

21.Leiter – P – He went a personal-high 4.1 innings in his last start. For the month, he had a 3.55 ERA which was higher than in April and May, but 21 K’s in 12.2 innings and only 6 walks is noteworthy.

22.Patick – P – Not looking top-30 at the moment. 8.36 ERA this month. He’s not walking a ton of batters, but 21 hits in 14 innings hurt.

23.Martin – P – Seven shutout innings in his last start top off a good month: 3-0, 2.45. Little low in the K category with 20 over 29.1 IP, but only 9 BBs.

24.Hainline – SS – No doubt he’ll want to forget this month, hitting only .210/.669.

25.Vidourek – OF – Vidourek and Tunink are languishing now. He hit .155/.665.

26.Tunink – OF – 3 HRs in April – none in May or June. .152/.474 for the month. He and Vidourek are still young though.

27.Miller – SS - He had surprised early season, then slipped back to his all-glove no-bat MO in June. .209/.632.

28.Copen – P – He’s gone the opposite direction from Serwinoski, getting progressively worse as the season goes on. 16.34 ERA this month. Really rooted for him to overcome his disability, but at this point I hope they take him off this ranking.

29.Smith – P – Excellent month, just when I was starting to think he was a non-factor. 1.72 ERA and 0.83 WHIP for the month, and 30 K’s in 15.2 IP, and just 3 BBs. Let’s see if he can continue this into July.

30.Heubeck – P – Back from an extended IL stint, he couldn’t follow up on a 1.50 May ERA in June. This month he experienced a serious lack of control. 13 walks in just 7.1 innings. 12.27 ERA and 2.73 WHIP this month is not going to cut it.



A few others that I can’t resist making honorable mentions because I could see them being top-30 down the road:


Shelton, 1B for Ontario, hit 9 home runs and drove in 25 for the month. .307/1.162

Elkins, OF for Ontario, batted .333/.891.

Nico Perez, 2B for Great Lakes, hit .300/.991 but injured.

Brooks Auger, P for Great Lakes. 1.04 ERA over four starts.

Aidan Foeller, P for Great Lakes. 0.00 ERA over four starts. 4 hits, 1 walk, 15 K’s.

 

great write up statman
i really like morales (some latin homo)

 

https://www.mlb.com/video/top-prosp...partnerId=web_video-playback-page_video-share

Scouting grades: Hit: 50 | Power: 60 | Run: 50 | Arm: 55 | Field: 50 | Overall: 55

Born in Spain and trained in the Dominican Republic, Morales had one of the highest ceilings in the 2024 international class and signed for $1,897,500. He was named Rookie-level Dominican Summer League MVP and top prospect during his pro debut that summer and continued rake when he came to the United States last year. He topped the Rookie-level Arizona Complex League in hits (70), extra-base hits (25) and total bases (116) before batting .339/.420/.548 in the final six weeks at Single-A at age 18.

Morales is more physical and hits the ball much harder than most teenagers, and he could have well-above-average power once he's a finished product. He already displays aptitude for lifting and pulling the ball, and while he looks to do damage, he keeps his approach under control. He had a 17 percent swing-and-miss rate against fastballs compared to 41 percent against everything else during his brief time at Single-A, so he'll have to prove he can handle secondaries from more advanced pitchers.

Morales moves well for his size -- 6-foot-3 and at least 15 pounds stronger than his listed 191 -- and is an aggressive runner with average speed. He's not the rangiest shortstop but moves well and puts himself in position to make plays. His instincts, hands and arm help his chances of sticking at short, though he'll wind up at third base if he loses any quickness as he continues to mature physically.

 

Knack is back and gets his second crack in OKC tonight, looking to fare better than last week's hack (2 runs in 1.1 IP).

Three top-30's at the other levels: Heubeck is starting in AA, Root in A+, and Leiter in A. Root and Leiter are the only ones that matter in my mind though, as they're getting stretched out with the hope that they can maintain their effectiveness. Heubeck probably drops off the ranking after the draft and Knack is, well... Knack.

 

We don't talk much about the Dodger rookie league teams, but a 32-run outburst is pretty impressive.

https://www.mlb.com/amp/news/arizona-complex-league-dodgers-score-32-runs.html

 

Unfortunately a rare bad game for Sirota tonight. He struck out 4 times.




















But he walked once.

 

Pretty eventful day for the Dodgers lesser league teams. All four won.

OKC - Knack was pulled after 50 pitches, but got through 2.2 scoreless innings, allowing 1 hit, 1 walk, and striking out 4. The offensive heroes were Ward and Ehrhard who both went deep. For Ehrhard, it was his 9th HR of the month which is really impressive.

Tulsa - Sirota had the golden sombrero but added a second walk in keeping his streak alive. Heubeck sucked again - he was a better player on the IL. No HRs for Tulsa in this one, but De Paula singled and doubled and stole his 21st. Hope drove in his 59th run with a single.

GL - Davalan, Quintero, and Morales - all top-10 prospects - hit long balls. Quintero's shot, his second HR in two games, was with bases loaded and he drove in 5 on the day. He also singled and doubled and his bat has really come alive. He topped it off with 2 stolen bases and I believe he's tops in the Dodgers system now with 31. Zach Root went an effective 6 innings: 5 H, 0 BB, 2 ER, 7 K's.

ONT - Kendall George, who only had one hit in his first three rehab games, went 3 for 4 including a double. He's starting to run again with 2 SB attempts, one of which was successful. Ko had three hits including a double, as did Elkins. Finally, the big guy Shelton who usually mans first played third in this one and got three hits, pushing his OPS back over 1.000. Leiter struggled on the mound, walking 4 and only getting through 2 innings. He gave up 2 runs and his ERA is up to 3.44.

 

Wow, Josue! 4 for 4 with 2 home runs and a double. 4 runs. 4 RBIs. Justifying that #1 rank.

Sirota added a HR and single in support of Zazueta, who only went 4 innings but struck out 8 while only allowing 1 run.

 

@azfreedman
Evan Phillips pitched again tonight in OKC and struck out all three batters he faced.

 

That was my assessment as well in my June wrap-up. With Ryan's inability to stay healthy and Ferris' inability to find the strike zone, Zazu has pretty much claimed the top spot among Dodger pitching prospects. Looking forward to his continued progression.

Scouting grades: Fastball: 60 | Slider: 50 | Changeup: 60 | Control: 55 | Overall: 50

After signing with the Yankees for $110,000 out of Mexico in 2022, Zazueta spent his first two years as a pro in the Rookie-level Dominican Summer League. The Dodgers picked him up along with Matt Gage in a February 2024 trade that shipped Caleb Ferguson to New York. He got roughed up for a 6.36 ERA in Single-A in 2024 but excelled at that level last season, posting a 2.44 ERA and 80/16 K/BB ratio in 66 1/3 innings while winning organization Pitcher of the Year honors.

Zazueta carved up California League hitters with his plus fastball and changeup. His heater operates at 92-95 mph and touches 97 with a flat approach angle and plenty of carry and armside run, while his cambio arrives at 83-85 mph with fade and sink. He'll use different versions of a mid-80s slider, varying from tight to sweepier to one with more depth, and shows the ability to land them for strikes as well as get some chases.

Zazueta's athleticism allows him to move down the mound well and create extension, and to repeat his simple delivery well enough to locate all three of his pitches where he wants. Just 21 years old, he still has plenty of projection remaining in his 6-foot-3 frame. He already looks like a possible mid-rotation starter, and adding more power to his pitches could raise his ceiling higher.