PROSPECTS Meanwhile, Down on the Farm

Dodgers farm has two remaining teams playing this season. OKC took five of six versus Sugar Land and now has a four game lead. Both teams have six games to go, starting tomorrow.

Also tomorrow, Tulsa begins a best-of-three divisional series with Springfield, the St. Louis Cardinals AA team. Quintero and Davalan have been promoted from Great Lakes for this series. They'll join Sirota, Wagner, and Hainline as the other position player top-30 prospects active for the series. Drillers have Zazueta, Root, Serwinowski, and Foeller on the pitching side, along with Kmatz out of the pen. I hope Quintero and Davalan can do better than they did in GL's playoffs last week and fill the gap left by JDP's promotion. Serwinowski is slated to start game 1.

 

This one is for @F!nski : https://www.truebluela.com/los-ange...le-irvin-pacific-coast-league-pitcher-of-week

 

With the minor league seasons either done or close to wrapping up, I thought I'd review some pitching stats today. This table lists organization strikeout leaders. The first group is everyone who had a minimum of 100 strikeouts. The second group is the remainder of the Dodgers top pitching prospects. The number before their name is their ranking on the Top 30 list. The number in parenthesis is their strikeout to walk ratio.

This shows the dominance of Zazu, with 7.2 K's per walk. Also demonstrates why Copen, who can't keep consistent control of the strike zone, is no longer considered a top prospect as well as why Ferris dropped from a single-digit ranking to the bottom half. Some are saying that Romero is ready for a call up to the majors - maybe he'll be dealt in the offseason. Jang has a nice ratio and could make the ranking next year if he continues. 2025 high draft picks Root and Leiter are looking good, especially considering that both were capped in innings pitched this season. Nieves is wild and likely on his way off the list. And lastly, Kmatz is the releiver that came over with Feduccia and should be in AAA next season and probably on the big league roster at some point early in the year too.

14 Serwinowski AA 150 (2.2)
5 Zazueta AA/A+ 144 (7.2)
N/R Copen AA 136 (2.0)
24 Patick A+ 114 (2.2)
N/R Romero AAA 109 (2.3)
N/R Jang A+/A 108 (3.4)
N/R Carias A 107 (1.2)
17 Ferris AAA 106 (2.0)
8 Root AA/A+ 103 (2.9)
21 Foeller AA/A+ 100 (3.0)


29 Auger A+ 85 (2.7)
16 Leiter A+/A 80 (3.1)
27 Nieves A 57 (1.4)
25 Kmatz AA 25 (8.3)

 

This one is ERA's, and I want to do WHIP next, but it was taking too long to filter through all the pitchers on all four teams, so I decided to only show how the ten pitchers ranked on the Top 30 did. So here's the 2026 ERA's for each of the top prospects:

16 Leiter A+/A 2.45
25 Kmatz AA 2.76
21 Foeller AA/A+ 2.81
8 Root AA/A+ 3.54
29 Auger A+ 3.62
5 Zazueta AA/A+ 3.65
27 Nieves A 5.09
14 Serwinowski AA 5.31
24 Patick A+ 5.35
17 Ferris AAA 5.51

 

And finally, WHIP...

25 Kmatz AA 0.96
5 Zazueta AA/A+ 0.97
21 Foeller AA/A+ 1.14
16 Leiter A+/A 1.15
8 Root AA/A+ 1.30
29 Auger A+ 1.36
14 Serwinowski AA 1.43
17 Ferris AAA 1.57
24 Patick A+ 1.58
27 Nieves A 1.66

 

he’ll be so proud

 

Gavin Stone goes for OKC today. His first four starts coming back were positive, and then he stumbled last week. Hoping to see another good performance today as it would be great to see him in contention for a starting spot in the Dodgers rotation in '27.

 

Interesting and I hope that works out. He's proving to be a great pick and it'd be sweet if they can find ways to unjam their OF logjam and still keep the cream of the crop.

 

Unfortunately, yesterday was not a good day for the Dodgers remaining two farm teams. Tulsa lost the first of best-of-three in their playoff series, and OKC lost as well. Most of the individual performances were not what we want to see. I'll start with the good first, as there's not much to report there.

Davalan, who got promoted with Quintero for this series, hit a two-run HR - pretty cool for his first AA game. Sirota also homered and went 2 for 5. Hainline got a hit.

Now for the bad, or should I say ugly. Pitching was horrendous, particularly for guys I've had high hopes for. Serwinowski walked 4 to go with 3 hits in his 4 innings and was roughed up for 4 runs. Kmatz, who had been lights out coming in, gave up a run and blew the save. In OKC, Stone surrendered 4 runs in 3 innings on 4 hits and a walk. Then Cousins, whom I thought was ready for a call up, got blasted for 4 runs in just one-third of an inning. Pretty bad all the way around.

Getting back to Tulsa, the Drillers struck out 17 times. Eight of nine batters had two K's each, including Quintero who was 0-4 in his AA debut and remains cold following his low output in the high-A playoffs. Now they need to win the next two or will be eliminated. Game 2 is tomorrow.

OKC's loss didn't really hurt because Sugar Land lost too. Comets remain up 4 with 5 to go.

 

Wow, they didn't get cheated on those swings, did they?

 

The California League announced its end-of-season awards yesterday. Four players from Ontario were named to the All-Star team:

1B Shelton
2B Lindsey
OF Elkins
Utility Martinus

Also, Shelton was awarded Cal League MVP. His 37 HRs were 16 more than the second-highest (teammate Ko). He follows Quintero's footsteps, who was MVP in 2025. Here's a list of all the Dodgers who have won Cal League MVP over the years:

• 1941: C Spider Jorgensen, Santa Barbara

• 1959: OF Willie Davis, Reno

• 1960: SP Robert Arrighi, Reno

• 1961: SS Don Williams, Reno

• 1962: 1B William Haas, Reno

• 1970: C Sonny Johnson, Bakersfield

• 1977: 1B Kelly Snider, Lodi

• 1979: 1B Mike Marshall, Lodi

• 1980: OF Candy Maldonado, Lodi

• 1987: C Luis Lopez, Bakersfield

• 1995: 2B Adam Riggs, San Bernardino

• 1999: OF Chin-Feng Chen, San Bernardino

• 2008: C Carlos Santana, Inland Empire

• 2014: SS Corey Seager, Rancho Cucamonga

• 2017: OF D.J. Peters, Rancho Cucamonga

• 2018: 3B Rylan Bannon, Rancho Cucamonga

• 2025: OF Eduardo Quintero, Rancho Cucamonga

• 2026: 1B/3B Easton Shelton, Ontario

(side note: I wish they were still in Lodi, I'd definitely go see some games. I usually avoid Stockton at all costs, but next year I need to go catch a game when they're in town.)

 

@FabianArdaya
Dodgers pitching prospect Jackson Ferris – who has sneakily been quite good the last month at Triple A (4 ER in 28.1 IP over his last 5 outings) – has thrown six perfect innings so far today with 10 Ks.

Ferris was the other part of the Michael Busch trade (with Zyhir Hope).

​

 

Sweet!

His game is over now.

7.2 IP
1 H
1 BB
0 ER
11 K
102 pitches, 73 for strikes

He did this last year, too, coming on strong at the end. Does he forget how to pitch in the off-season, haha?

It's cool that we were able to trade Hope as a main piece for getting Skubal, and yet we still have a bullet in the Busch chamber.

Comets win 12-0. Unless Sugar Land owns the tiebreaker, which is doubtful after last week, this should secure a playoff bid.

 

@dodgers
The Dodgers have activated LHP Kris Bubic from the injured list and optioned RHP Paul Gervase to Triple-A Oklahoma City. In order to make room on the 40-man roster, the Dodgers designated OF Ryan Ward for assignment.

 

I'm making this post only as a "things that make you go hmmm..." point. Dodgers have an outfielder in their system - Chris Newell. He's 25 and has been in the system for five years, likely is going to by a career minor leaguer at best. Especially won't have a spot on the Dodgers as an OF'er. Trade value is minimal to none. Has some pop, but really his one decent year was '23 when he split it between low and hi-A. Hasn't broken .800 OPS since.

This year in 97 games with Tulsa he hit .207/.738. Texas League is hitter friendly, too. On Sept 5, before De Paula got the call up to the Dodgers, Newell was promoted over him to OKC. Now, I know the Dodgers were probably already considering the Ohtani IL and JDP to fill-in for him option, so that's understandable. But why wouldn't Sirota get the bump instead?

Of course I'm not privy to all the info and I'm sure they had their reasons. Just seems really strange to me.

 

Wow, this is pretty damn cool!

I guess it wasn't enough for the Dodgers that prospect Easton Shelton won the California League MVP yesterday, so today Charles Davalan took home the MVP honor for the Midwest League. He led the league in hits, doubles, XB hits, and total bases, and finished third in HRs, just 2 behind the leader.

Not sure but Quintero may have been runner-up. He finished first in batting average, OBP, and runs scored, and second in OPS.

Just like four Tower Buzzers made the Cal League All-star team, four Loons are Midwest League All-stars. Davalan and Quintero in the outfield, Morales at short, and Root as a pitcher.

Must be a thrill for Arkansas teammates Root and Davalan to have been drafted 40th and 41st by the Dodgers, and then in their first full year both are All-stars.

 

By the way, can I just give props once again to the Dodgers talent evaluation and player development staffs? If they were to redo the 2025 draft today, Davalan might go top 10, Root top 20, and Leiter top 30 or no further than top 40.