Minor League Notes 07/21/17

Phil Gurnee ♦ July 21, 2017 ♦ 1 Comment

A lot of activity at the minor league level for the Dodgers with some ramifications.

Walker Buhler was promoted to AAA and made his first start last night. The number one pitching prospect for the Dodgers did not get out of the first inning, Walker faced five batters, giving up three walks and two hits and was done without recording an out. If this was his audition for helping the Dodgers in Sept or as trade bait he failed miserably. It was just one start and who knows what variables were at play and hopefully he’s healthy and bounces back quickly.  For some recent context, Julio Urias made his AAA debut on Aug 31st, 2015 and his debut was just as bad. His line was 1 IP, 3 R, 4 BB, 2 H, 44 Pitches. Of course, Urias had just turned 19:)

Mitch White finished his rehab and was promoted to AA.

Yadier Alvarez and Dennis Santana were also promoted to AA.  Tulsa went from having the least inspiring prospect rotation in the system to having the most interesting in one day.  So much for Keibert Ruiz getting to work with the best pitching prospects in the Dodger system while with Rancho.

18-year-old Oneil Cruz collected five hits yesterday and has now homered in back to back games playing for the Loons.

2017 number one pick Jeren Kendall was assigned to the Odgen team in the Pioneer League, and has collected six hits in eight at-bats. Jeren should hit well for Ogden so hard to make much of what he does there. He is 21-years old and really should be playing for the Loons in short order.  Scouts can get a good luck at both Jeren and Starling Heredia as they both man the outfield for the Pioneers and both are loaded with athletic skills. Heredia, however, is only 18 and won’t turn 19 until January.

2017 number three pick Conner Wong was assigned to the Loons and should be the primary catcher.

2017 eighth round pick Rylan Bannon was assigned to the Odgen team in the Pioneer League and is playing 3rd base. At 21 years old he should also hit well in that league. Basically, everyone hits well in the Pioneer League which doesn’t mean much if you are over 20. But if you don’t hit in the Pioneer League, that is a real red flag as I can’t think of one prospect who had trouble there and still ended up having a major league career.

28 year old outfielder Todd Cunningham was acquired from the Cardinals and has been starting in RF for the Oklahoma AAA club.

3rd baseman Edwin Rios had been promoted to AAA but has only been playing LF and 1st base. Rios destroyed AA pitching but has found AAA much tougher.