FFA August 28th – Sept 4th

Phil Gurnee ♦ September 5, 2017 ♦ Leave a comment

The minor league regular season ended last night so I thought I’d wait a day and get a final Farm Factory Award in with eight days instead of seven.  The final eight days had quite a few notable performers so without further ado

The Contenders:

Yusniel Diaz – AA/Tulsa – Diaz had four multi-hit games, collecting thirteen hits, two doubles, and two home runs.  Baseball America took notice last Wednesday.

Yusniel Diaz, rf, Dodgers. The Dodgers’ No. 5 prospect at midseason is making this Double-A thing look easy. Diaz had four hits Tuesday in Double-A Tulsa’s 9-3 win over Northwest Arkansas. After slashing .278/.343/.414 in high Class A, the Cuban is hitting .333/.398/.464 in 25 games in the Texas League.

Mitch White – AA/Tulsa – in his last regular season game, Mitch threw  5 scoreless innings, giving up only two hits. He did walk three, with four strikeouts.

Edwin Rios – AAA/OKC – Rios ended the regular season on fire with one huge game in which he drove in a career high six runs with four hits. Rios didn’t stop there, as he also collected six other hits and ended the time period with ten hits, two home runs, ten RBI, and five walks.  Previously Rios had only walked thirteen times in 144 at bats, so five walks in twenty-four at bats is the kind of plate discipline progress you hope for. Rios would end the season with an OPS of .901 and an OBP of .368.  MILB took notice.

Edwin Rios capped off an amazing night at the plate with a grand slam! It’s your Play of the Game presented by @FollowSNU! pic.twitter.com/MtZVSacah3

— OKC 89ers (@okc_dodgers) August 31, 2017

The four-hit night came after the Florida International product went through a 4-for-30 (.133) stretch over his previous 10 games.
Sandra E. Garcia

“A lot of people can blame it on being the end of the year and just being tired or stuff like that. But it happens, it’s baseball,” he said. “People are always going through slumps, so I just kept my head up every day and be the same guy coming to the clubhouse. I knew it was only a matter of time it all turned around and today was the day.”

DJ Peters – A+/Rancho – Peters hit three home runs to end the year with 27, but Seth Brown hit four and won the California League Home Run crown with 30.  Peters has great power but it comes with a price as he has struck out 189 times in A+ ball. Rotowire name DJ Peters the most impressive position player in the California League.  Rotowire loves what DJ Peters did this year and isn’t scared off by the strikeout rate. 

California League

Most Impressive: DJ Peters (Dodgers)

It is quite the indictment on the Cal League that Peters is pretty easily the most interesting offensive prospect who spent a full season in the league this year. Brendan Rodgers took full advantage of Lancaster en route to a quick promotion to Double-A, and Jahmai Joneshas been excellent in less than 200 plate appearances after a promotion from Low-A, but Peters has been the constant. His 32.3 percent strikeout rate will rightfully scare some owners off, but he has legitimate tools. He finished third in the league with 24 home runs, and among the hitters in the league with 15-plus homers, his .374 OBP ranks highest. The highlight of Peters’ season was when he took Madison Bumgarner deep twice in a rehab start. He bypassed Low-A entirely, and when he heads to Double-A next year, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see his strikeout rate drop and his overall offensive performance remain constant.

Dustin May – A+/Rancho – May made his first and only start for the Rancho yesterday and was brilliant. May threw five shutout innings, giving up only one hit, one walk, and striking out eight. It was a fine way to punctuate a great first full season. The 3rd round pick from 2016 turns 20 on Wednesday.

And the winner is………..

Edwin Rios because his OBP for the time period was .517 and I’m loving the seven walks in his last ten games while keeping the hits coming.

Other Minor League Notes:

One of my favorites this year was Dennis Santana but Santana didn’t pitch well in his last start, but he did hit a bomb. Santana is a converted position player so I’m sure he still loves to hit.

Dennis Santana Home Run @TrueBlueDoyers @Think_BlueLA @JaredJMassey @meercatjohn @YOHANNA_NUNEZ @truebluela @ElFanaticoDom @FutureDodgers pic.twitter.com/0QNgsvPKqd

— BIGDADDYOUU (@BIGDADDYOUU) September 3, 2017

Baseball America checks in on Walker Buehler

Walker Buehler, rhp, Dodgers. L.A.’s top prospect at midseason is coming to the majors. The Dodgers are expected to call up the former Vanderbilt ace today and he’ll work out of the bullpen. Buehler was 3-3, 3.35 with 125 strikeouts and 31 walks in 88.2 innings at three levels. He struck out 26.3 percent of hitters. The Dodgers were careful with Buehler’s innings in his first full season following Tommy John surgery and he showed a dynamic four-pitch mix, including a fastball up to 99 mph.

Stetson Allie is having quite a minor league career. Drafted as a pitcher he couldn’t find the plate walking 29 in 26 innings and decided to become a hitter.  This was back in 2012 and by 2016 he was still a mediocre AA/AAA hitter.  So a few weeks ago he decided to try pitching again. Can’t imagine this working out, and will probably join Brett Eibner when he blows out his elbow and is released by the Dodgers. Unlike Brett who looked to have a career as a backup major league outfielder, Allie had no real choice but to try pitching again since his hitting career had hit a dead end.