Brandon Davis gets a little Baseball America love, while Omar Estevez hopes July never ends

♦ July 30, 2016 ♦ Leave a comment

The Great Lake Loons waltzed to a 13 – 1 win last night led by the double play combination of Brandon Davis and Omar Estevez.  Not often you will feel the need to write about two players in low A ball hitting .233 and .237 respectively but these aren’t ordinary players.

Estevez is only eighteen years old, and Davis just a year older at nineteen. Davis got a little write-up today in the Baseball America daily prospect link:

Brendon Davis, 3b, Dodgers: Davis is hitting only .233/.292/.331 this year. But he’s one of the most interesting prospects in the Midwest League anyway because of his tools and the glimpses of potential he shows. Davis slides between shortstop and third base, although he probably will end up at the hot corner full-time eventually. He was 2-for-4 with a home run, a stolen base and 4 RBIs last night.

I will admit to finding it a bit curious that BA choose to write about Davis and not Estevez because Estevez had just as big a night, is a 1/2 year younger, and is just tearing up July. As noted Estevez is only hitting .237 overall, but in July he is hitting .326 | .371 | .573 with five home runs.  Omar hit zero home runs in April, one in May, and one in June, so this outburst of power by an eighteen-year-old in a  pitchers league is something to keep an eye on.

Other Notes:

  • The Tulsa Trio went zero for ten, and newly promoted Edwin Rios went hitless as well
  • No one is hotter than Rob Segedin who rocked three more hits, and now has seventeen hits in his last thirty-eight at-bats, including four home runs.
  • Just turned 21-year-old Johan Mieses hit his seventeeth home run, tying him for second in the California League.

The writer finally gets his wish

♦ July 30, 2016 ♦ Leave a comment

Back in 2008 when Jay Bruce was the hottest thing in baseball and Matt Kemp was underappreciated in Los Angeles by just about every mainstream writer, I took exception to a column written on the now defunct SportshubLA run by the Kamentzky brothers.  That particular writer (not the brothers) wrote about how the Dodgers needed someone like Jay Bruce who had just come up for the Reds and was making a big splash. This was circa 2008. I think the writer’s last name was Green but can’t be sure.

It annoyed me at the time because we had Matt Kemp and no one outside of the blogging world seemed to appreciate what a talent he was. I wrote my rebuttal column, and wish like hell I could link to it, but it has disappeared into the netherworld of defunct blogs.

So it cracks me up that eight years later, Matt Kemp is a shell of his past self, with just one skill left, the ability to hit home runs. Jay Bruce has continued to do the one thing that he’s always done, hit home runs.

Jay Bruce started his career in 2008 at the age of 21 and promptly hit 21 home runs his rookie season. Matt Kemp started his career two years earlier in 2006 at age 21 but was not a regular until 2008. Matt Kemp for much of his career has always been the superior player but what struck me as odd is just how similar they are in certain areas of their long careers.

Matt Kemp – 5581 Plate Appearances, 228 home runs, .286 batting average , .340 OBP, .488 slug %, 124 OPS+

Jay Bruce – 4993 Plate Appearances, 233 home runs, .249 BA, .320 OBP, 471 slug%, 111 OPS+

The Dodgers traded Matt Kemp almost two years ago, and now they are supposedly going to trade for Jay Bruce.

Just makes me laugh how things work out in baseball. The writer finally gets his wish.

 

Tradeable assets

♦ July 29, 2016 ♦ 2 Comments

Heading into the trading deadline weekend here are the currently tradeable assets that are not on the major league roster plus Ross Stripling.  The MLB Ranking column is how major league baseball recently ranked the Dodger prospects.

The Dodger farm system is loaded from top to bottom, with quality and quantity, so the Dodger front office has plenty to work with.

I’ll admit to being on the fence when it comes to trading Julio Urias. I can see both sides, but unless he brings back something like Chris Sale or an elite bat, I’m hoping he stays put.

This is really just an informational post so that when trades go down we can reference where the prospects are in the pecking order. Those of us who write about the prospects develop an affinity for them. At least I do, I guess I should only speak for myself.

Players who I’d regret not wearing Dodger blue are:

Julio Urias – Fernandomania was so much fun, I was looking forward to the second coming. I think this kid is special and if he remains a Dodger I could see a relationship with the Dodger fans rivaling Fernando.

Alex Verdugo – this was is simply because I used to live off of Verdugo road in Glendale and would enjoy a Verdugo playing at the Ravine. Also because Verdugo looks like someone who could anchor an outfielder corner for a long time.

Frankie Montas – the 2nd rib injury was problematic, he’d probably be  untouchable if not for the second rib injury, and the Dodgers probably wouldn’t have to look so hard for pitching help because he’d be supplying it.

I’ve added an asterisk to any player I think can be a real trading chip that wasn’t ranked in the top 30.

 

Prospect | MLBRanking | Age | League | POS
Julio Urias* | 1 | 19 | AAA | SP
Cody Bellinger | 2 | 21 | AA | 1st/OF
Jose De Leon | 3 | 23 | AAA | SP
Alex Verdugo* | 4 | 20 | AA | CF
Grant Holmes | 5 | 20 | A+ | SP
Willie Calhoun* | 6 | 21 | AA | 2nd
Yusniel Diaz | 7 | 19 | A+ | CF
Frankie Montas | 8 | 23 | DL | SP/RP
Yadier Alvarez | 9 | 20 | A | SP
Walker Buehler | 10 | 22 | Injured | SP
Jordan Sheffield | 11 | 21 | SS | SP
Gavin Lux* | 12 | 18 | SS | SS
Jharel Cotton | 13 | 24 | AAA | SP
Austin Barnes | 14 | 26 | Majors | C
Will Smith | 15 | 21 | A | C
Omar Estevez | 16 | 18 | A | 2b/SS
Starling Heredia | 17 | 17 | DSL | OF
Brock Stewart | 18 | 24 | AAA | SP
Josh Sborz | 19 | 22 | A+ | SP
Imani Abdullah | 20 | 19 | A | SP
Chase De Jong | 21 | 22 | AA | SP
Brendon Davis | 22 | 19 | A | SS
Jacob Rhame | 23 | 23 | AAA | RP
Jacob Scavuzzo | 24 | 22 | AA | OF
Micah Johnson* | 25 | 25 | AAA | 2nd/OF
Ronny Brito | 26 | 17 | DSL | SS
Johan Mieses | 27 | 21 | A+ | SS
Kyle Farmer | 28 | 25 | AA | C
Keibert Ruiz | 29 | 18 | SS |
Edwin Rios* | 30 | 22 | A+ | 1st/3rd
Chris Anderson | | 23 | A+ | RP
Rob Segedin | | 27 | AAA | 3rd
Zach Walters# | | 26 | AAA | Inf/OF
O’Koyea Dickson | | 26 | AAA | 1st
Andrew Toles* | | 24 | Majors | RC/CF
Grant Dayton* | | 28 | AAA | RP
Ross Stripling | * | 26 | Majors | SP/RP
Ralston Cash | | 24 | AAA | RP
Trevor Oaks | * | 23 | AAA | SP
Kyle Garlick | | 24 | AA | OF
Scott Barlow | | 22 | AA | SP
Lisalverto Bonilla | | 26 | AA | SP
Ariel Sandoval | * | 20 | A+ | OF
Andrew Sopko | * | 21 | A+ | SP
Yaisel Sierra | | 25 | A+ | RP
Mitch Hansen* | * | 20 | SS | OF
D.J. Peters | | 20 | SS | OF
Ibandel Isabel | | 21 | SS | 1st
Cody Thomas* | | 21 | SS | OF
Caleb Ferguson* | | 20 | A | SP
Carlos Rincon | | 18 | SS | OF
Dustin May | | 18 | SS | SP

 

Brock Stewart presses his case for the Dodger rotation

♦ July 29, 2016 ♦ 1 Comment

if they don’t acquire anyone of note over the next four days. Brock started the first game of a doubleheader and went six innings, giving up only two hits and one run. Brock has now made seven starts in AAA, and has not walked more than one hitter in any start.

Overall his AAA numbers are – 43 IP, 36 hits, 14 ER, 5 walks, 49 strikeouts

For the season – 110 IP, 78 hits, 22 ER, 17 walks, 121 strikeouts

Other Daily Notes:

  • Yimi Garcia was hammered in a rehab appearance for the Tulsa Drillers only getting one out while giving up three earned runs.
  • The Tulsa Trio was silent as Calhoun took a well deserved day off, and Verdugo / Bellinger could manage only a single between them.
  • 2016 first round supplemental pick Will Smith picked up three hits for Loons. After a slow start to his work in the full season league, Smith has now picked up multiple hits in three games raising his average from .237 to .288. Not showing much power with just one double and one home run in 73 at bats to date.
  • Angel German who had just been dropped off of the MLB LAD top 30 prospect mid-season list struck out the side in his one inning of work.
  • Shea Spitzbarth had another sparkling relief outing. Shea has made six appearances for the Loons and was hammered in his first outing. Since then, Shea has gotten 26 outs, giving up only six hits, zero runs, one walk and fourteen strikeouts.

Shea was signed as an undrafted free agent in the summer of 2015. The linked column by Harold Uhlman goes into great detail about Spitzbarth so well worth a read as Shea starts making a name.

 

MLB Dodger top 30 prospect reveal

♦ July 28, 2016 ♦ 1 Comment

Edwin Rios

Always interesting to see how the prospects are ranked. MLB released their midseason top 30 today and it was cool. Worth clicking on with a small snapshot of each player.

This will be helpful when some of these prospects are traded and you can see how they were ranked at the time of the trade.

Some quick analysis. Cory Seager was ranked number one in preseason ranking but has graduated. Trayce Thompson was ranked 15 but has graduated. Zach Lee was traded, but even if he had not been traded, I’m sure he’d have fallen off the list. Chris Anderson went from 17 to not being rated. Anderson failed as a starter and hasn’t done a lot in relief yet to warrant being ranked. Angel German was ranked 27th and is now unranked.

Jumping into the ranking are the fruits of the 2016 draft with the top three picks all showing up between 11 – 15.  Brock Stewart makes the biggest jump of players already in the organization. Brock moved from NR to 18th. Other NR players were Edwin Rios moving in at 30, and Keibert Ruiz popping in at 29.

Among those already ranked Willie Calhoun moves from 18th to 6th which was easily the biggest move up.

Urias, of course, is now number one, but I suspect that Cody Bellinger is a bit of a surprise at 2.  Even with the injuries Yusniel Diaz has shown enough get moved up to 7th from 11.

Prospect | Rank | PreSeason | Age
Julio Urias* | 1 | 2 | 19
Cody Bellinger | 2 | 6 | 21
Jose De Leon | 3 | 3 | 23
Alex Verdugo* | 4 | 7 | 20
Grant Holmes | 5 | 4 | 20
Willie Calhoun* | 6 | 18 | 21
Yusniel Diaz | 7 | 11 | 19
Frankie Montas | 8 | 5 | 23
Yadier Alvarez | 9 | 10 | 20
Walker Buehler | 10 | 8 | 22
Jordan Sheffield | 11 | NR | 21
Gavin Lux* | 12 | NR | 18
Jharel Cotton | 13 | 9 | 24
Austin Barnes | 14 | 12 | 26
Will Smith | 15 | NR | 21
Omar Estevez | 16 | 19 | 18
Starling Heredia | 17 | 13 | 17
Brock Stewart | 18 | NR | 24
Josh Sborz | 19 | 21 | 22
Imani Abdullah | 20 | 26 | 19
Chase De Jong | 21 | 20 | 22
Brendon Davis | 22 | 23 | 19
Jacob Rhame | 23 | 22 | 23
Jacob Scavuzzo | 24 | 25 | 22
Micah Johnson* | 25 | 14 | 25
Ronny Brito | 26 | 28 | 17
Johan Mieses | 27 | 29 | 21
Kyle Farmer | 28 | 30 | 25
Keibert Ruiz | 29 | NR | 18
Edwin Rios* | 30 | NR | 22
Chris Anderson | NR | 17 23

I’m going to miss the hell out of Joe Biden

♦ July 28, 2016 ♦ Leave a comment

I was saddened that after serving us well as Obama’s VP during the last eight years he  was unable to bring himself to start a campaign to be the Democratic champion. His speech last night just proved to me what I’d been thinking for months, that if Biden was going against Trump he would crush Trump like a grape, showing him to be what he is.

Biden is the antithesis of Trump, humble, strong, smart enough to know his weaknesses, witty, caring,  and someone I’d love to share an Amtrak ride with for a few hours. I’m surely sugarcoating what Joe Biden is about but that is easy to do when the alternative is someone who has disgusted me since he first showed up with his pathetic Your Fired mantra.  How America embraced such a show and man back then is just as bizarre to me as America embracing him as a presidential candidate today.

I’m writing this because I want to remember the moment from yesterday. The Joe Biden speech, the Bloomberg speech (I’d vote for that guy), and finally the Obama speech. I’m not thrilled with having to vote for Hillary Clinton for our President, but I can’t for the love of God understand how anyone could entertain the idea of Donald Trump as the leader of the free world.

I guess the Donald Trump candidacy has to give everyone hope who ever bullied/lambasted/blasted/insulted any number of people via social media and felt that they would never be able to run for any kind of meaningful office. Evidently you can be a complete asshole to your fellow man, and still have a political career. Who knew, I sure didn’t.

Normally a baseball blogger should step away from the political arena because no one wants to know your political take, but this election is simply too important to use that excuse.

Life matters more than baseball, don’t whiff on this one.

 

Tulsa Trio Update – Bellinger slams 13th home run

♦ July 28, 2016 ♦ Leave a comment

All three of the Tulsa Trio picked up hits last night, but Cody Bellinger picked up the biggest hit with a grand slam and added a double for good measure making him the easy choice for PPOTD.  Verdugo and Calhoun each had a hit to round out a productive evening for the trio.

Chase De Jong coming off his Minor League player of the week award, pitched his least effective game in months. Chase only got 15 outs, the fewest number of outs he’s gotten since June 6th. He gave up two runs, walked three, and struck out only one.  Following a string of solid starts,  this was a very pedestrian effort.

Lots of good news coming out of Rancho:

  • Andy Sopko started and for the third game in a row didn’t walk anyone, going six full innings, allowing only two runs in the offensive infused league.
  • Sopko was followed by a rejuvenated Yasiel Sierra who tossed two scoreless innings with nary a sign of his bugaboo walks. Sierra has now made five relief appearances, each lasting for two innings, and hasn’t walked anyone in his last four appearances.
  • Edwin Rios blasted his 16th home run for Rancho, giving him 22 for the season

Imani Abdullah was hit hard in his start for the Loons and for the second time in four starts was only able to get 10 outs.

Baseball America noticed Cody Thomas this morning in their prospect brief:

Cody Thomas, cf, Dodgers. The former backup Sooners quarterback turned back to baseball to this year and showed surprising power. He has carried that into a pro baseball career, slugging his sixth homer Wednesday in Rookie-level Ogden’s 6-5 loss to Helena. As good as teammate Mitch Hansen has been, Thomas has been even better, slashing .408/.470/.816 in the AZL and Pioneer League.

 

Jedd Gyorko now has five home runs in two doubleheaders

♦ July 27, 2016 ♦ Leave a comment

Last week Jedd Gyorko hit three home runs in a doubleheader. One in the first game and two in the second game. This week Gyorko once again went deep in both games of a doubleheader, giving Gyorko five home runs in two double headers.

Gyorko has now hit seven home runs in his past nine games. Overall Gyorko only has fourteen home runs in 210 plate appearances, but during this nine-game streak he has seven home runs in only thirty-seven plate appearances.

Dodgers put the best day record on the line today at noon

♦ July 27, 2016 ♦ Leave a comment

The Dodgers are a season-high 13 games over .500 and you can thank their 17 – 8 record during the day for that lofty ranking. A lot is at stake during the day today, the Dodgers day time win % is .680 but the Giants are right behind them at .676. The Giants will also be playing during the day today.

Other notes:

  • A.J. Ellis has not scored since May 2nd in 83 at-bats
  • Howie Kendrick had his 16 game hitting streak snapped, but looks to start another one today.
  • Corey Seager has another hitting streak going on, hitting in his last nine games. That makes 28 of 30 games for Corey as he continues to display amazing consistency for a rookie.
  • Justin Turner drove in another run last night and continues to drive in an average of one run per game over his last thirty-nine games.
  • Brandon McCarthy has won his first five Dodger decisions, and his looking to become only the 3rd Dodger to win their first six decisions. The other two are Kaz Ishii and Fernando Valenzuela. Fascinating that McCarthy is attempting to do this with a range of games from 04/08/2015 to current.
  • The Dodgers are only 2.5 games behind the Giants and are 2.5 games up in the wildcard.
  • Kenley Jansen became just the 3rd Dodger closer to record three seasons of at least thirty saves. Gagne and Worrell being the first two.

 

A.J. Ellis looking to score today

♦ July 27, 2016 ♦ Leave a comment

It has been twenty days since we last took a look at the amazing A.J. Ellis scoreless streak, and sadly Ellis has still yet to score a run moving up from 7th to 5th on the all time LAD leaderboard for at-bats without scoring a run.

You could blame his teammates but the truth is that Ellis has a triple stat line of .168 / .263 / .205 during his scoreless run which has is now May 2nd – July 26th. And sure he doesn’t get many at-bats, and sure he’s slow, and sure the pitcher follows him, but still.

This is amazing

  1. Camilli – 105 at bats / 18 hits / 6 walks
  2. Mike Scioscia – 96 at bats / 20 hits / 8 walks
  3. Len Gabrielson -95 at bats / 20 hits / 4 walks
  4. Steve Yeager-86 at bat / 17 hits / 3 walks
  5. A.J. Ellis – 83 at bats / 14 hits / 10 walks
  6. John Hale-80 at bats / 10 hits / 12 walks
  7. Wally Moon-78 at bats / 15 hits / 3 walks
  8. Jeff Torborg-73 at bats / 10 hits / 7 walks
  9. Juan Samuel– 73 at bats / 19 hits / 2 walks
  10. Don LeJohn – 72 at bats / 18 hits / 4 walks