Struggling Loons

Phil Gurnee ♦ May 3, 2017 ♦ 2 Comments

Just about one year ago the Dodgers drafted Gavin Lux with their first pick, and twentieth pick overall.  He was considered the best SS in the draft not named Delvin Perez who was picked by the Cardinals with the twenty-third pick.  Perez has yet to play in 2017 and Lux so far in 2017 has forgotten how to hit.

Lux got a late start to his 2017 and didn’t even get into a game until April 20th. You know that saying “making up for lost time”. That is not happening here.  Lux is four for thirty-six, and all four hits have been singles giving him a TSL of .111 / .313 / .111. The only saving grace has been the ten walks.

But hey, at least he’s not Oneil Cruz who can’t hit or field in his first taste of baseball in the United States.  Cruz has finally stopped his error a game antics but he still has ten errors. To be fair he has improved, I think he had ten errors a week ago, and they were making him play both 3rd and SS. Hitting,  however, has not improved.  Of his twelve hits, eleven have been singles. The SS/3rd is a tall dude at 6’6 and is just eighteen so I don’t want to be too rough on him. The Dodgers were probably a little too aggressive with the kid sticking him into a tough offensive environment for his first taste of the minors.  His TSL right now is .141 / .213 / .176

Mitch Hansen was drafted in the 2nd round in 2015 and had a nice 2016 after a dismal debut in 2015. Like Lux, he started late this year, and like Lux, he is struggling to hit. He had several good games from April 24th – April 26th but that has been the extent of his offense in 2017.  Of his measly ten hits, six of them came in that three-game stretch. Since that mini hot streak, he’s gone one for thirteen. Does his sound familiar? Of his ten hits, only two are for extra bases.

Cody Thomas isn’t quite the prospect the others are on this list. Thomas tore the cover off the ball for Ogden in 2016. Many hitters do that, and many of the same hitters struggle when promoted to the Midwest league. Cody Thomas is following that path.  He hasn’t been as bad as the others on this list but he’s much older than they are.  At this point, Thomas has a TSL of .183 / .272 / .366 but his biggest problem continues to be making contact. 30 strikeouts in 86 at-bats which is in line with what he did in 2016.  I guess that is why David Hood felt he was a long shot. Rightly so.

MLB Prospect Rank:

• Gavin Lux – 7th
• Oneil Cruz – 21st
• Mitch Hanson – not ranked by MLB in 2017, but he was ranked 16th by TBLA prospect writer David Hood and was ranked 25th in 2017 by MLB

One final note. AJ Alexy who wowed everyone in April and won our Monthly Farm Factory award, rewarded our confidence by not being able to get three outs in his first start in May.  Crap