Let’s talk about Caleb Ferguson
Last week Caleb Ferguson was promoted to AAA to pitch for the Oklahoma Dodgers at the age of twenty-one. Caleb earned this promotion by being the best pitcher stat-wise for the Dodger AA affiliate Tulsa team. You could argue he was the best pitcher in the Texas League and I would not disagree if we are simply talking the numbers and not the stuff. Caleb led the league in ERA with a paltry 1.38, was 4th in WHIP at 1.051, and 6th in SO/W at 4. Based on at least 30 innings, and being a full-time starter.
Name | Aff | ERA ▲ | GS | IP | WHIP | BB9 | SO9 | SO/W |
Caleb Ferguson* | LAD | 1.38 | 8 | 39 | 1.051 | 2.3 | 9.2 | 4 |
Cionel Perez* | HOU | 1.88 | 7 | 38.1 | 1.174 | 3.5 | 11 | 3.13 |
Ryan Hartman* | HOU | 1.96 | 6 | 41.1 | 1.065 | 1.5 | 10.7 | 7 |
Ariel Jurado | TEX | 2.05 | 7 | 44 | 1 | 1.6 | 3.9 | 2.38 |
Jesse Scholtens | SDP | 2.8 | 6 | 35.1 | 0.792 | 1.8 | 11.5 | 6.43 |
Glenn Sparkman | KCR | 2.94 | 6 | 33.2 | 1.069 | 0.3 | 7 | 26 |
Andrew Moore | SEA | 3.04 | 9 | 50.1 | 1.033 | 2.5 | 8.4 | 3.36 |
Brock Dykxhoorn | HOU | 3.16 | 6 | 37 | 1.189 | 3.6 | 7.5 | 2.07 |
Richelson Pena | TEX | 3.22 | 8 | 44.2 | 1.276 | 2 | 7.9 | 3.9 |
In his AAA debut last week Caleb kind of announced himself to those who had never heard of him. He went five innings, gave up 3 hits, zero earned runs, zero walks, and struck out ten. The kind of game that if Walker Buehler or Dennis Santana had thrown would have gotten all sorts of oohs and aahs.
One prospect list that I use has 400 players on the list. It is created by Rotowire so the list is geared toward roto players but you can’t be a good roto player without good base skills. On this list I wondered how many 21-year-old pitchers who are in AAA are on the list. Not very many. The list below is sorted by age (21 years or older) by Current level. Only four 21-year-old pitchers are in AAA or higher (major leagues). Of those four they are ranked 59th, 78th, 198, and 400th. Caleb Ferguson is number 400 even though he has advanced to the highest level of the minor leagues at an age where most prospects are still in AA or below.
After the major league draft on Monday, Rotowire will be updating their top 400 list, I expect Caleb Ferguson to make quite the jump from the 400 he currently sits at. This is a bit reminiscent of Dennis Santana who entered 2017 are an unheralded prospect and is now the Dodgers top pitching prospect with the promotion of Walker Buehler to the major leagues. Dennis Santana is also now in the major leagues but probably just for a week or so.
I have to admit, I saw Caleb pitch last year in the postseason and came away unimpressed so I can why the scouts aren’t enamored with his stuff. Still, he had a great 2017 season and an even better 2018 so far so something is working well for the youngster. I’m not even going to post the old scouting report on Caleb until we get a new one because I’m guessing something has changed for this kind of success.
Meanwhile the young guns Yadier Alvarez and Mitchell White continue to live on hype alone, as they have had little success at the same level that Caleb dominated.
Ran | Player | Team | Pos | Age | CurrentLevel |
281 | Spencer Howard | PHI | P | 21 | A |
289 | J.B. Bukauskas | HOU | P | 21 | A |
293 | Carlos Hernandez | KC | P | 21 | A |
81 | Nate Pearson | TOR | P | 21 | A+ |
108 | Adonis Medina | PHI | P | 21 | A+ |
177 | Tony Santillan | CIN | P | 21 | A+ |
180 | Sam Hentges | CLE | P | 21 | A+ |
307 | Hector Perez | HOU | P | 21 | A+ |
345 | Jonathan Hernandez | TEX | P | 21 | A+ |
131 | Logan Allen | SD | P | 21 | AA |
236 | Touki Toussaint | ATL | P | 21 | AA |
334 | Beau Burrows | DET | P | 21 | AA |
378 | Genesis Cabrera | TB | P | 21 | AA |
78 | Freddy Peralta | MIL | P | 21 | AAA |
400 | Caleb Ferguson | LAD | P | 21 | AAA |
59 | Luiz Gohara | ATL | P | 21 | MLB |
198 | Jordan Hicks | STL | P | 21 | MLB |
273 | David Peterson | NYM | P | 22 | A |
69 | Chris Paddack | SD | P | 22 | A+ |
90 | Albert Abreu | NYY | P | 22 | A+ |
91 | Michel Baez | SD | P | 22 | A+ |
139 | Dylan Cease | CWS | P | 22 | A+ |
141 | Alex Faedo | DET | P | 22 | A+ |
230 | Jorge Guzman | MIA | P | 22 | A+ |
246 | Sam McWilliams | TB | P | 22 | A+ |
265 | Justin Dunn | NYM | P | 22 | A+ |
266 | Daulton Jefferies | OAK | P | 22 | A+ |
267 | Luis Escobar | PIT | P | 22 | A+ |
318 | Alex Lange | CHC | P | 22 | A+ |
349 | Freicer Perez | NYY | P | 22 | A+ |
364 | Zac Lowther | BAL | P | 22 | A+ |
383 | Jorge Alcala | HOU | P | 22 | A+ |
391 | Elijah Morgan | CLE | P | 22 | A+ |
395 | Mike Baumann | BAL | P | 22 | A+ |
53 | Kyle Wright | ATL | P | 22 | AA |
74 | Mitch Keller | PIT | P | 22 | AA |
137 | Corbin Martin | HOU | P | 22 | AA |
144 | Cal Quantrill | SD | P | 22 | AA |
176 | Griffin Canning | LAA | P | 22 | AA |
188 | Trevor Stephan | NYY | P | 22 | AA |
197 | Luis Ortiz | MIL | P | 22 | AA |
279 | Lewis Thorpe | MIN | P | 22 | AA |
286 | Yadier Alvarez | LAD | P | 22 | AA |
333 | Aaron Civale | CLE | P | 22 | AA |
371 | Franklyn Kilome | PHI | P | 22 | AA |
380 | Ranger Suarez | PHI | P | 22 | AA |
26 | Michael Kopech | CWS | P | 22 | AAA |
72 | Enyel De Los Santos | PHI | P | 22 | AAA |
75 | Sandy Alcantara | MIA | P | 22 | AAA |
113 | Justus Sheffield | NYY | P | 22 | AAA |
204 | Sean Reid-Foley | TOR | P | 22 | AAA |
27 | Jack Flaherty | STL | P | 22 | MLB |
200 | Dennis Santana | LAD | P | 22 | MLB |
298 | Eric Lauer | SD | P | 22 | MLB |
353 | Seth Romero | WAS | P | 22 | Rookie |
181 | Jonathan Loaisiga | NYY | P | 23 | A+ |
50 | A.J. Puk | OAK | P | 23 | AA |
70 | Jon Duplantier | ARI | P | 23 | AA |
120 | Mitchell White | LAD | P | 23 | AA |
149 | Hunter Harvey | BAL | P | 23 | AA |
154 | Dane Dunning | CWS | P | 23 | AA |
163 | Alec Hansen | CWS | P | 23 | AA |
202 | Taylor Widener | ARI | P | 23 | AA |
237 | Taylor Hearn | PIT | P | 23 | AA |
362 | Mike Shawaryn | BOS | P | 23 | AA |
384 | Shaun Anderson | SF | P | 23 | AA |
51 | Brent Honeywell | TB | P | 23 | AAA |
56 | Corbin Burnes | MIL | P | 23 | AAA |
98 | Shane Bieber | CLE | P | 23 | AAA |
196 | Chance Adams | NYY | P | 23 | AAA |
201 | Adbert Alzolay | CHC | P | 23 | AAA |
205 | Stephen Gonsalves | MIN | P | 23 | AAA |
231 | Zack Burdi | CWS | P | 23 | AAA |
340 | Ryan Helsley | STL | P | 23 | AAA |
341 | Rogelio Armenteros | HOU | P | 23 | AAA |
394 | Duane Underwood | CHC | P | 23 | AAA |
399 | Patrick Weigel | ATL | P | 23 | AAA |
12 | Walker Buehler | LAD | P | 23 | MLB |
14 | Alex Reyes | STL | P | 23 | MLB |
63 | Fernando Romero | MIN | P | 23 | MLB |
116 | Seranthony Dominguez | PHI | P | 23 | MLB |
208 | Joe Palumbo | TEX | P | 23 | MLB |
339 | Tanner Scott | BAL | P | 23 | MLB |
152 | James Kaprielian | OAK | P | 24 | A+ |
186 | Erik Swanson | NYY | P | 24 | A+ |
172 | Dillon Tate | NYY | P | 24 | AA |
330 | Keury Mella | CIN | P | 24 | AA |
379 | Kyle Funkhouser | DET | P | 24 | AA |
130 | Anthony Banda | TB | P | 24 | AAA |
179 | Jalen Beeks | BOS | P | 24 | AAA |
191 | Josh Staumont | KC | P | 24 | AAA |
283 | Corey Oswalt | NYM | P | 24 | AAA |
338 | Max Fried | ATL | P | 24 | AAA |
342 | Ryan Borucki | TOR | P | 24 | AAA |
278 | Yonny Chirinos | TB | P | 24 | MLB |
252 | Josh James | HOU | P | 25 | AAA |
264 | Erick Fedde | WAS | P | 25 | AAA |
155 | Domingo German | NYY | P | 25 | MLB |
94 | Nick Kingham | PIT | P | 26 | MLB |
- Posted in: 2018 LAD Prospects ♦ Uncategorized
- Tagged: Caleb Ferguson
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