You should skip this long and rambling post that goes nowhere fast
Just listened to some game yesterday (Bluejays?) and the announcer was lamenting how fans and general managers have come to love their prospects too much. How so many don’t work out and that why just a few years ago Dominic Brown was considered a can’t miss and now he’s simply AAA fodder.
And he has a point. But the flip side of his point is:
There are 28 position players 24 years or younger with an OPS+ > 100 with at least 200 PA in 2016. For context players with an OPS+ > 100 with at least 200 PA are 133.
How many players are 24 and under with at least 200 PA? 46
How many players are 24 and over with at least 200 PA? 274
I lost my point somewhere up there
The players who have been traded or released on this list are:
- Trea Turner
- Addison Russell
- Tommy Joseph
- Randall Grichuk
- Odubel Herrera
The rest of the list is a virtual who’s who of the best young players in baseball.
| Player | OPS+ | PA | Age | Tm |
| Mike Trout | 180 | 578 | 24 | LAA |
| Kris Bryant | 158 | 608 | 24 | CHC |
| Corey Seager | 146 | 584 | 22 | LAD |
| Manny Machado | 137 | 587 | 23 | BAL |
| Christian Yelich | 135 | 564 | 24 | MIA |
| Trea Turner | 134 | 213 | 23 | WSN |
| Mookie Betts | 133 | 623 | 23 | BOS |
| Carlos Correa | 126 | 582 | 21 | HOU |
| Bryce Harper | 123 | 541 | 23 | WSN |
| Nick Castellanos | 122 | 432 | 24 | DET |
| Joc Pederson | 120 | 408 | 24 | LAD |
| Trevor Story | 119 | 415 | 23 | COL |
| Gregory Polanco | 117 | 500 | 24 | PIT |
| Jorge Soler | 113 | 229 | 24 | CHC |
| Willson Contreras | 112 | 237 | 24 | CHC |
| Rougned Odor | 110 | 548 | 22 | TEX |
| Wilmer Flores | 110 | 322 | 24 | NYM |
| Francisco Lindor | 110 | 587 | 22 | CLE |
| Miguel Sano | 109 | 437 | 23 | MIN |
| Xander Bogaerts | 109 | 610 | 23 | BOS |
| Jose Ramirez | 109 | 516 | 23 | CLE |
| Max Kepler | 108 | 369 | 23 | MIN |
| Odubel Herrera | 104 | 561 | 24 | PHI |
| Addison Russell | 102 | 525 | 22 | CHC |
| Randal Grichuk | 101 | 378 | 24 | STL |
| Tommy Joseph | 101 | 283 | 24 | PHI |
| Tim Anderson | 101 | 324 | 23 | CHW |
I’m pretty sure the fans and general managers of those teams are quite happy they did not trade those players. And I’m pretty sure that the Padres would love to have Trea Turner back no matter how much they like Myers. I know Billy Beane would like to have Addison Russell back.
The Giants, however, made the right move, they parted ways with Tommy Joseph as part of the package for Hunter Pence.
I do think Trea Turner, Addison Russell, and Randall Grichuk could have a big say in the post season but it won’t be for the teams who traded them, it will be for the teams who traded for them.
Odubel Herrera gets his own little paragraph. Herrera was picked up as a rule five player from the Texas Rangers. I like Herrera because he reminds me of a past rule five pickup by the Phillies, someone named Shane Victorino who was plucked from the Dodgers as a rule five player during the brief Paul Depodesta reign. They are both CF, both have/had plus speed, and just enough power you have to play them honest. Both become starting CF in short order and were acquired as cheap as one can get acquired in major league baseball.
It would seem that teams who are keeping their young talent are keeping the right young talent.
But I’ll admit this article got a little too big for me and is going in circles. However, it is my circle so who cares.
Which takes us to these guys: Talk about cherry picking. These are the players 24 or younger, with at least 70 PA but < 200 PA. I had to find a way to talk about Andrew Toles.
| Player | OPS+ | PA | Age | Tm |
| Gary Sanchez | 200 | 126 | 23 | NYY |
| Andrew Toles | 191 | 71 | 24 | LAD |
| Kennys Vargas | 153 | 103 | 25 | MIN |
| Mike Zunino | 139 | 125 | 25 | SEA |
| Adam Frazier | 132 | 89 | 24 | PIT |
| Nick Franklin | 130 | 137 | 25 | TBR |
| Andrew Benintendi | 119 | 74 | 21 | BOS |
| David Dahl | 118 | 159 | 22 | COL |
| Alex Bregman | 117 | 173 | 22 | HOU |
| Steven Moya | 115 | 95 | 24 | DET |
| Mac Williamson | 109 | 115 | 25 | SFG |
| Jose Peraza | 108 | 148 | 22 | CIN |
| Ryon Healy | 108 | 176 | 24 | OAK |
| Jorge Polanco | 107 | 172 | 22 | MIN |
| Ronald Torreyes | 105 | 119 | 23 | NYY |
| Domingo Santana | 103 | 186 | 23 | MIL |
And a plethora of more young talent that is either just getting started in 2016, or are part time players. I think Sanchez, Benintendi, Dahl, Bregman, Peraza, Santana can safely look at full time at bats in 2017.
Funny list because Zunino and Franklin are on it. Two failed top prospects who are still so young they have failed and rebounded before their 25 birthdays. Good work.
The Dodger connection:
Andrew Toles, Jose Peraza, Ronald Torreyes
Toles was picked up by the LAD FO almost one year ago. It may turn out to be one of the best moves by this front office.
Jose Peraza was traded along with Scott Schebler for Trayce Thompson and Frankie Montas. Montas helped get the Dodgers Rich Hill and Josh Reddick.
Ronald Torreyes was a nice LAD acquisition and then they traded him for Rob Segedin. A trade that so far has benefited both teams and players. Torreyes though might be much more. He has impressed the Yankees enough they gave him a run at 3rd base and he didn’t disappoint. Chase Headly is back at 3rd, but Yankee observers noticed how much better Torreyes produced during his brief run. It will be curious to see if Torreyes really is just a utility player or much more.
And I’m done with the hitters. Can’t wait to do the pitchers
Dave Roberts puts Toles 11 -2 starting record on the line by – gasp, starting him
It is true, it has only been five games since Toles last started and jump started the Dodger offense in Colorado. Somehow Dave Roberts couldn’t figure out a way to get his bat into the starting lineup for any of the next five games even though he ended August as the best hitter on the team. None of that seemed to matter as the Giants kept on losing and the Dodgers got to play the Padres and now the Diamondbacks.
A naysayer would say that Toles is 11 – 2 as a starter because the Dodgers are a 1st place team. I’d reply the same Dodgers are 66 – 58 when Toles does not start which is not quite the same as 77 – 60.
Anyway, five games is long enough to cool any hot streak off, so I’m not expecting much tonight.
Jerry Doggone Doggett
As Vin Scully is about to sail into the sunset many are going to pay tribute to the man who has always been here since 1958, so I thought it would be a good time to remember the man he called his partner for 32 years, Jerry Doggett.
Jerry came with Vin to Los Angeles from Brooklyn, and so for many early LAD fans, it was his voice along with Vin’s that radiated from those transistor radio’s you are hearing so much about these days.
Jerry was as much a part of early LAD lore as Vin was, even if he wasn’t as celebrated.
This LA Times story about his retirement gives you the details about his announcing days
Jerry was a workhorse who much like Vin, Chick, Bob Miller, and Ralph Lawler never missed work. In fact, until his last year with the team, he had missed only one game and that was for his daughter’s graduation.
His first Dodger game with partner Vin Scully was in September of 1956 at the Polo Grounds. Before this season, when he missed eight games because of a sore throat, Doggett had missed only 1 game in 31 seasons.
When Jerry retired this is what Vin had to say:
Said Scully of his association with Doggett: “When you work every day with the same guy, it’s a marriage. The booth is very, very small, and it can stay the way it is or it can become suffocating. I always thought of Jerry as a dear friend, not just a guy I announce with.”
I can still remember when Jerry passed away and Vin had to tell the Dodger audience. We felt sad that Jerry had passed on but we felt even sadder for Vin because you could tell he had loved his announcing partner.
This LA Times story about his death tells the rest of the story.
“Jerry deserves every nice thing that can be said about him,” Scully said. “He was one of my closest friends and the best partner anyone could ever have.
“When we were on the road, we would spend all day and night together. We ate together, we played golf or walked around town together, we worked together and late at night we’d have a drink together. He was at peace with himself, and just being around him made me feel better.
“He never complained about not getting more of the limelight, he never showed any ego or any of that baloney. Jerry Doggett was just a terrific guy, and I will miss him forever.”
My memories of Jerry coincide with Vin. Many were enamored with Vin Scully but I was particularly fond of his partner. He wasn’t smooth, he was rough, he had an enthusiasm for the game much like Charley Steiner, but I don’t think he had as much trouble describing the play by play. I know many made fun of Jerry Doggett ( Larry Stewart ?) but I never thought it was fair, given how he was being compared to the best in the business. We all would suffer in comparison if we were compared to the best at what we do. I should remember that next time that Charley doesn’t quite meet my standards.
I think that Vin would call innings 1 – 3, and 7-9, with Jerry doing the middle work. Just like Vin, Jerry would call the game by himself. For those of us who grew up with a single play by play announcer handling the commercials, the color analysis, and everything else, these days of three person booths are usually two voices to many. If the right person is in the booth one voice is all you need, and for the Dodgers, it was always the right person in the booth whether it was Vin Scully or Jerry Doggett, or later Ross Porter and Don Drysdale.
I was just as happy when Jerry Doggett was calling the games as Vin. And to be honest it was nice to get a change up in styles during the game. Just as Don Drysdale and Ross Porter would add a different layer when they joined the broadcast team.
Time blurs everything, so I was surprised to find out when researching this story that Jerry retired in 1987. My mind thought it was in the late 70’s so I was pleased for whatever bizarre reason that he got to see the 1981 World Championship, and sad to see that he didn’t’ get to witness the 1988 World Championship.
When Jerry Doggett retired in 1987 and passed away in 1997 I didn’t have a way of saying thank you, so this was long overdue.
Thanks Jerry for being a good but not great announcer, for being Vin’s partner, and for being Vin’s friend.
I miss you, and man alive, I am sure going to miss your partner.
Below are some quotes from stories in the LA Times about Jerry Doggett:
This one letter to the editor mirrors my thoughts:
Dodger Fans Didn’t Forget Jerry Doggett
“Shame on The Times for burying Jerry Doggett on Page 8 of the section. Speaking for thousands of L.A. baby boomers, from 1958 all through the ’60s and ’70s, no matter what else we were listening to, Jerry Doggett was never less than the second-best announcer in baseball. In those pre-media-glut days, we may not have often heard announcers from other cities, but when we did, we always thought, “Jeez, Doggett’s better than that guy. And he’s their lead announcer? Poor fill-in-a-city.” Jerry, as Bob Hope would say, thanks for the memories.”
Four consecutive games Rookie rotation checks in once again
Per the Dodger pregame notes:
According to Stats, LLC, prior to last week, the Dodgers hadn’t pitched four consecutive rookie starters since they were in Brooklyn, Sept. 8-10, 1952 (Ken Lehman, Billy Loes, Ray Moore, Johnny Rutherford).
In a span of two weeks, the Dodgers will have four rookies make consecutive starts. Starting on Aug 27th, Urias, Stewart, Maeda, and Stripling did it the first time. This week with Jose De Leon starting the honors from yesterday he will be followed by Maeda, Stripling, and Stewart.
So while Kershaw, McCarthy, Kazmir, Wood, and Ryu are twiddling their fingers, the boys of summer are expanding the Dodger lead over the Giants.
And of course, the four rookie run will end with Kershaw in Miami on Friday.
yeah baby
What a season.
The Tulsa Trio has become the Oklahoma Uno. Baseball America checks in once again.
Cody Bellinger left his Tulsa teammates behind but didn’t forget his bat. In his first AAA game for the Oklahoma Dodgers, Bellinger blasted two home runs.
Baseball America Prospect notes took notice of Bellinger and De Leon:
Cody Bellinger, 1b, Dodgers. Bellinger, the Dodgers’ No. 1 prospect at midseason, made his first Triple-A start one to remember. The powerful lefty swinger cracked two homers Sunday in Oklahoma City’s 8-1 win over Omaha. Bellinger, who slashed 263/.359/.484 with 23 homers in Double-A, is a plus defender at first base with plus power. He has hit seven homers in his past 11 games overall.
Jose De Leon, rhp, Dodgers. The Dodgers’ No. 2 prospect at midseason—he’d have been No. 1 if not for first-half injuries—De Leon was impressive Sunday in his big league debut. He used his fastball and plus changeup to strike out nine Padres in a 7-4 win. De Leon walked none and allowed four runs in six innings. De Leon’s fastball can get to 95 mph, but it sits 92-93 and he spots it well for swings and misses.
Julio Urias moving up the strikeout leaderboard for baseball season 19 or younger
On July 21st, Julio Urias broke Joe Moellers fifty-four-year-old record for LAD strikeouts for a teenager by fanning four in his 7/21/16 start giving him 48 compared to Joe’s 46. Since that time Julio Urias has struck out another 28 giving him 76 for the season and is now tied with Don Gullet for 8th place among National League teenagers in strikeouts after 1958. Urias is 12th overall.
As you can see, Urias also holds the 2nd highest SO9 rate of any teenager since the LAD came into existence in 1958. Just Dwight Gooden and the infamous Rick Ankiel have fanned hitters at a better rate then Julio.
As great as all these teenagers were, you don’t see any hall of fame pitchers here. Gooden didn’t fall victim to arm issues but to drugs. Gary Nolan had a massive bone spur, and the story about that will turn your gut when you see how disposable baseball felt about their greatest assets. Joe Posnanki details how Frank Jobe saved Gary Nolan’s career.
He was 18 years old when he made his first start in the big leagues — he and Feller are the only two pitchers in baseball history to strike out 10 or more big league batters in a game before they turned 19 years old.
“Pitchers have to throw with pain,” his Reds manager Sparky Anderson told him. “Bob Gibson says every pitch he’s ever thrown cut him like a knife. You gotta pitch with pain, kid.”
Larry Dierker threw 1250 major league innings by the age of 23. Mike McCormick would win a Cy Young at age 28 in 1967 for the Giants but he was never really more than an average pitcher. Ray Sadecki became famous for getting traded from the Cardinals to the Giants for Orland Cepeda in 1966. Cepeda would lead the Cardinals to the 1967 World Championship while winning the MVP and eventually hit his way into the HOF.
The AL is kinder to teenagers with HOF Bert Blyleven and Catfish Hunter in the top ten. King Felix is represented at 11 and I’d think he has a good shot at the HOF.
Here is the complete list of teenagers from 1958 on who struck out at least 40 hitters:
Below are just the NL pitchers with 50 K’s before the age of 20 from 1958.
| Player | Year | Age | SO | SO9 | SO/W |
| Dwight Gooden | 1984 | 19 | 276 | 11.39 | 3.78 |
| Gary Nolan | 1967 | 19 | 206 | 8.18 | 3.32 |
| Larry Dierker | 1965 | 18 | 109 | 6.69 | 2.95 |
| Larry Dierker | 1966 | 19 | 108 | 5.2 | 2.4 |
| Ray Sadecki | 1960 | 19 | 95 | 5.43 | 1.1 |
| Billy McCool | 1964 | 19 | 87 | 8.76 | 3 |
| Mike McCormick | 1958 | 19 | 82 | 4.14 | 1.37 |
| Julio Urias | 2016 | 19 | 76 | 10.0 | 3.5 |
| Don Gullett | 1970 | 19 | 76 | 8.81 | 1.73 |
| Mike McQueen | 1970 | 19 | 54 | 7.36 | 1.74 |
| Joe Moeller | 1962 | 19 | 46 | 4.83 | 0.79 |
Jose De Leon strikes out 9 in debut, most in a Sept debut since Gagne in 1999
Jose De Leon struck out nine in his first major league start, making it the 3rd best strikeout debut by a LAD. Only Kaz Ishii and Pedro Astacio did better when they struck out ten in their respective debuts. Ishii did it on April 4th, 2002, and Astacio did it on July 3rd, 1992.
For De Leon this was the best strikeout performance for a LAD in a Sept debut. Gagne struck out eight in 1999.
Only three LAD have ever struck out at least five and walked nobody in their debuts. Ryu in 2013 and long ago Pete Richert in 1962.
I’m also willing to be that Jose De Leon is the first LAD starter to debut by striking out the side in his last inning. He was only able to do so because Grandal got thrown out at 2nd to end the 5th before De Leon could be replaced.
Below is the list of all LAD with at least five strikeouts in their debut.
| Player | Date | IP | H | ER | BB | SO |
| Jose De Leon | 9/4/2016 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 9 |
| Brock Stewart | 6/29/2016 | 5 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 7 |
| Matt Magill | 4/27/2013 | 6.2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
| Hyun-Jin Ryu | 4/2/2013 | 6.1 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| Nathan Eovaldi | 8/6/2011 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
| Clayton Kershaw | 5/25/2008 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
| Kazuhisa Ishii | 4/6/2002 | 5.2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 10 |
| Eric Gagne | 9/7/1999 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 8 |
| Dennys Reyes | 7/13/1997 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 6 |
| Hideo Nomo | 5/2/1995 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 7 |
| Pedro Astacio | 7/3/1992 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 10 |
| Terry Wells | 7/3/1990 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 6 |
| Ramon Martinez | 8/13/1988 | 7.2 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| Shawn Hillegas | 8/9/1987 | 8.2 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
| Sid Fernandez | 9/20/1983 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Ricky Wright | 7/28/1982 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Geoff Zahn | 9/2/1973 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Don Sutton | 4/14/1966 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
| Mike Kekich | 6/9/1965 | 3.1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
| Larry Miller | 6/21/1964 | 6.1 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 5 |
| Nick Willhite | 6/16/1963 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Pete Richert | 4/12/1962 | 3.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
It took a month but the deadline deal for Hill/Reddick is starting to pay dividends
Rich Hill’s blister and Josh Reddick’s month long slump were the subjects of humor and laughter in August but as the calendar turns to September the Dodger front office may get the last laugh.
Rich Hill did make one start in August, and it was a beauty, and he has followed that up with an even better second start. If the blister problems are behind him, a healthy Hill can beef up a Dodger rotation that looks to be adding the best pitcher in baseball later this coming week.
While a Kershaw/Maeda/Hill and somebody is not on the same level as Kershaw/Greinke/Ryu and Nolasco in 2013 or Kershaw/Greinke/Ryu/ in 2014 or Kershaw/Greinke/Brett Anderson in 2015, it is looking better than what it appeared to be four weeks ago which was Maeda/Kazmir and anybody’s guess.
Josh Reddick endured a horrible August but his luck has turned in September with a three-hit game on Saturday including his first Dodger home run. Josh actually had hits in the last two games of August and now sports a modest four-game hitting streak. I’ve always been one to view horrible slumps by good healthy players as a harbinger of an amazing streak to follow, so it won’t shock me if Josh Reddick’s September is one to marvel at during the winter.
Now that Puig is back the Dodgers right field option against either right or left handed pitchers just got much better as did the Dodgers chances to not only make the postseason for the fourth time in four years but to make some noise.
Jose De Leon finally gets his shot
No one thought back in March that the Dodgers number two pitching prospect Jose De Leon would be finally making his first major league start, long after Ross Stripling, Julio Urias, and Brock Stewart had made their’s, but his day has finally come.
De Leon has done everything he could do to get this opportunity with perhaps the biggest obstacle simply being too many good players on the Dodgers 40 man roster.
Fantastic indeed. In his 16 starts with the OKC Dodgers De Leon posted a 7-1 record and outstanding 2.61 ERA. But what stands out most about the 24-year-old Isabel, Puerto Rico native are his strikeouts. In his 86.1 innings of work the hard-throwing right-hander struck out 111 while walking only 20 for a Kershaw-like K/BB ratio of 5.55. He also struck out 10 or more batters in five of his 16 starts, including 13 punch outs in his last outing on August 28 against the Colorado Springs Sky Sox (Brewers). The extremely polite and soft-spoken right-hander also owns an alien-like WHIP of 0.94.
As Eric Stephen noted having four rookies making their debut in the same season is new territory for the LAD. It is officially five with Kenta Maeda but come on, no one really thinks of him as a rookie except the arcane major league baseball rookie rules.
No Dodgers team has had more than two such debuts since World War II, when the 1944 Brooklyn club saw starters Ben Chapman, Frank Wurm and John Wells make their debuts.
Including Maeda what is great to me about these five rookies is that all of them might have a real future in major league baseball. Julio Urias has the all the making of a future ace, Kenta has shown to be a fine number two, De Leon could be a number three, and Stripling / Stewart could easily round out the back end of any rotation.
It is simply the greatest collection of young arms on the Dodger roster in my memory. To jog my memory I’m going to have to do a series on rookie arms just to see how good/bad my memory is. Luckily I have the whole off-season to check it out.
In a bit of a surprise Edwin Rios named LAD Minor league Player of the Year
I think I’d have gone with Andrew Toles or Cody Bellinger or Willie Calhoun but Edwin Rios takes the big prize as LAD Minor League Player of the Year.
Brock Stewart takes the LAD Minor League pitcher of the year award over the competition of Jose DeLeon.
Rios combined to hit .303 with 68 runs, 25 doubles, two triples, 27 home runs and 75 RBI along with a .344 on-base percentage and a .576 slugging percentage in 103 games for Single-A Great Lakes, Single-A Rancho Cucamonga and Double-A Tulsa this season.
Rios is 22 years old and was drafted by the Dodgers in the 6th round of the 2015 draft.
Bellinger who just turned 21 hit 23 home runs while playing the whole season in AA ball. His ops were .851 and he was able to play the outfield and 1st base. Just seems like a more impressive season.
Willie Calhoun also hit 27 home runs playing the whole season in AA and won’t turn 22 until November. Willie did his damage as a 2nd baseman and was probably the best hitting 2nd baseman in all the minor leagues.
If you don’t know the Toles story you probably aren’t a Dodger fan. Toles started out in Rancho, tore them up, moved up to Tulsa, tore them up, moved up to Oklahoma, tore them up, moved up to the Dodgers, tore up the NL. He still had 323 minor leagues at bats which should have been enough to qualify him. His minor league totals was a .884 OPS.
Brock Stewart looks like a good choice since he was dominant all year while it took a while for Jose DeLeon to get going being shut down twice during the year.
Dodgers, Yesterday and Today 