Dodgers, Yesterday and Today

08/20/2026 Dodger Top Prospect Activity

Phil Gurnee ♦ August 20, 2026 ♦ Leave a comment

Pitcher of the Day: Will Gagnon making just his second start for the Loons pitched another gem. Gagnon got fifteen outs, four hits, zero earned runs, two walks and seven strikeouts. That is now fourteen strikeouts in nine innings for Gagnon as a Loon.

Hitter of the Day: Mairoshendrick Martinus beat off some serious challenges from top five prospects De Paula and Emil Morales to take the honor today. Martinus did it with a grand slam and now has his Loon OPS over .900.

OKC Dodgers: Ehrhard/Tibbs/Ward/Miller went zero for 11. Another Dodger rehab, another Dodger dominant outing. Gavin Stone got nine perfect outs with five K’s.

Tulsa Drillers: De Paula hit his 24th home run and drove in four runs. Hainline/Wagner went zero for six. It hasn’t been the same recapping the Drillers since Hope was traded, George had knee surgery, and Sirota is on vacation. Aidan Foeller got fifteen outs, four hits, one earned run, one walk, and six strikeouts.

Great Lake Loons: While Davalan and Quintero have cooled this past week, Emil Morales is still cooking. Emil hit his 18th home run and now has 108 RBI for the season which is the most in the minors. Nico Perez has also stopped hitting so his OPS has now dropped below .900 however Martinus has replaced him with a plus .900 OPS. Who will have the highest OPS when season ends? Davalan (.950) / Quintero (.934) / Morales (.925) / Martinus (.928).

Ontario Tower Buzzers: Not a great day for Ontario. Lindsey was 0/5. West came back to go 1/4. Vargas had only his 3rd game in August without a hit. Ko was 0/4 and Shelton didn’t play.

08/19/2026 Dodgers Top Prospect Activity

Phil Gurnee ♦ August 19, 2026 ♦ Leave a comment

Pitcher of the Day: Jacob Kmatz continues to make his case as someone the Dodgers might want to consider in their bullpen. Kmatz got six outs, giving up just one hit with two k’s. Since joining the Drillers, Kmatz has been in five games, pitched 7 2/3 given up just 3 hits, zero runs, one walk, and ten strikeouts.

Hitter of the Day: Emil Morales went four for five including a grand slam. He needed all of that to hold off Easton Shelton for HOTD. That was Morales’s 17th home run and I thought I saw a blurb saying that he has now hit four grand slams this year?

OKC Dodgers: This was the Tyler Glasnow show as he made what should be his last rehab start and dazzled to the tune of nine strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings. Quiet day with the bat with the only top 30 Prospect to do anything of note was Ehrhard hitting his 24th double. Kim slugged his 3rd home run, but he has mostly struggled at a level he needs to do more to convince the team he’s a future major league option.

Tulsa Drillers: De Paula had one hit but with a chance to drive in the winning run he took a close pitch for strike three. With Sirota not playing, George out for the year, it is wrong to be asking why Davalan and Quintero aren’t getting the AA at-bats that are going to Newell and Myers? Zack Root only gave up one run but also gave up five hits and three walks in only four innings.

Great Lake Loons: Morales was all the offense for the Loons. Davalan/Quintero/Nic Perez went zero for twelve.

Ontario Tower Buzzers: Easton Shelton has shrugged off his August slump and slugged his 35th home run and second in two games. Shelton also added his 25th double giving him sixty extra base hits. He also drove in three runs and now holds the all time record for runs batted in by a California League Dodger. Joendry Vargas had two more hits including his 33rd double. No one has been hotter than Vargas in August and yet he somehow was left off the MLB Pipeline Top 30!!!! I had to double check to make sure I’d read it correctly.

08/18/2026 Dodger Top 30 Prospect Activity

Phil Gurnee ♦ August 18, 2026 ♦ Leave a comment

Pitcher of the Day: 

Hitter of the Day: Tibbs III got on base five times and made the most of it. He hit two home runs(25th and 26th), two singles, and a walk. Tibbs now has a .986 OPS after over 500 plate AAA appearances this year.

OKC Dodgers: OKC rotation is basically ex-Dodger starters just trying to get ready or staying ready. Landon Knack years away from his prospect status is trying to make sure they don’t forget about him. Tonight he threw six fantastic innings giving up just three hits and one run. This comes right after he helped the actual Dodger bullpen on August 12 getting eight outs when they really needed it. Tibbs got all the offense.

Tulsa Drillers: De Paula hit his 23rd home run and 6th in August. Sirota didn’t play again. Hainline and Wagner went hitless. They are both slumping hard. Hainline has been at AA all year and for the most part has done well, but in August he has an OPS of just .636 after posting a July OPS of .996. Wagner was promoted from the Loons and just hasn’t adjusted yet, hitting just .139 so far.

Great Lake Loons: The Loons lost a doubleheader but not because of Mairoshendrick Martinus who hit a home run in both games. In the second game his three run home run was crushed to dead center. I tell you the super utility player always does something when I watch him on the MLB App. For the day he went 4 for 5 with two home runs driving in six runs for the day. The big three (Davalan/Quintero/Morales) went one for 11 with 5 k’s in the second game. Not exactly a showcase for the three top 50 prospects.

Ontario Tower Buzzers: Vargas his his 11th home run, and now has an August OPS of 1.133. Probably his best professional month since he was tearing up the DSL with Quintero. In this game Vargas played 3rd base and Caleb Johnson played SS. Caleb Johnson hit his second home run and now has a home run in back to back games. Shelton hit his 34th home run. With Baez now in the Major leagues, if Shelton can have a hot final few weeks, he might be able to win the Minor League Home Run championship. Woo Hoo????

08/14/2026 Dodgers Top Prospect Activity

Phil Gurnee ♦ August 18, 2026 ♦ Leave a comment

Pitcher of the Day: Aidan Foeller got fifteen outs in relief of Fox, and basically dueled the top pitching prospect in baseball Kade Anderson to a draw. Foeller was fresh off of making the MLB Pipeline Top Dodger 30 prospect list and looked very much like he belonged on the list.

Hitter of the Day: Gelof had one of the two hits off of Kade Anderson and then drilled his 24th home run after Anderson left the game.

OKC Dodgers: The big news was Glasnow doing a rehab game and he did what you’d expect someone like Glasnow to do in AAA. He struck out eight of his eleven outs giving up zero runs. On the hitting side it was quiet as Ward had a double, Tibbs and Miller had singles while Ehrhard went hitless.

Tulsa Drillers:  DePaula/Sirota/Hainline/Wagner all went hitless.

Great Lake Loons: Gagnon got only twelve outs was undone by shoddy defense giving five runs but only two were earned. He struck out seven of those twelve outs. Quintero banged out two singles, Elkins had one single, and Martinus had one single. Davalan/Morales went hitless, not something I have had to type very often this summer.

Ontario Tower Buzzers: Lindsey had two hits including his 6th home run, Vargas had two hits with no K’s, and Ko smacked his 17th home run. Shelton has been having a couple of weeks and went hitless with 2 K’s.

Baseball America Drops new Dodger Top 30 List

Phil Gurnee ♦ August 11, 2026 ♦ Leave a comment

Baseball America updated their top team lists today, adding in 2026 draft picks and trade deadline additions/subtractions. The Dodgers added two from the 2026 draft Bo Lowrance and Russell Sandefer, lost four in the trade deadline (Zhyir Hope, River Ryan, Brady Smith, Landyn Vidourek), added one from the trade deadline (Jacob Kmatz). The most notable addition was Easton Shelton catching on right at the end as the 30th LAD prospect. Kind of notable because a BA writer had told me that Shelton still had too much swing and miss to be considered a prospect, but here he is. So cool for him.

We have our differences, Baseball America is higher on lower level pitchers than I am. Most of the near the bottom of the top 30 have control problems so I go with athletic hitters instead of big arms who can’t throw strikes.

In the newest update they moved Quintero back to the number two prospect matching my own expectation. I just think Quintero will eventually do everything just a bit better than Sirota. BA is higher on Kendall George than myself or most other lists. I think that is because Chandler Simpson has become a thing, and George is as close to being a Chandler Simpson as anyone else in baseball. The Dodger list is very top heavy, they may not be there now, but basically the first seven names are basically top 50. If Hope and Ryan were still in the organization, it might have been nine top 50. Don’t let anyone tell you the Dodgers aren’t developing massive talent right now. You have four OF with All-Star potential, a slugging SS in High A who is still only 19, and two pitchers who have dazzled this summer and are both now in AA. After that who knows, but I think most people will put these seven prospects in some order. At least I don’t see anyone who should be cracking this seven until next summer.