Urias scoreless streak ends and Baseball America notes on Mitch Hansen, Johan Mieses
Julio Urias AAA scoreless streak came to an end last night when he pitched in relief and gave up two runs in two innings. The streak started on April 28th and ended on July 26th. Even though the streak lasted almost three months it was only 29 innings because of the time he spent with the Dodgers. In his 30th inning in the bottom of the 8th, he got hit hard and gave up the two runs to tie the game. OKC still won the game with a run in the top of the 9th to make Urias the winner. Top Cardinal pitching prospect Alex Reyes started against the OKC Dodgers but only went three innings, giving up two runs, including a home run to Rob Segedin, which was his 19th of the year. Career minor leaguer Logan Bawcom pitched six scoreless innings and continues to confound the PCL hitters. Grant Dayton relieved Urias and pitched the ninth for the save.
The Tulsa trio did nothing to write about, as Tulsa lost 4 – 3 in 10. Rios collected three more hits for the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes and Grant Holmes pitched five innings for the win. Holmes collected his 8th win while striking out three and walking no one. It took Holmes 99 pitches to get 15 outs.
Mitch Hansen hit a triple / home run for short season Odgen and got his name in the Baseball America scouting report:
Mitch Hansen, rf, Dodgers. A two-sport star in high school, Hansen could have been slinging the pigskin on The Farm right about now if he hadn’t turned down Stanford for a bonus of a nearly $1 million as a second-round pick in 2015. After a disappointing debut in 2015, Hansen probably believes he made the right choice now. He had three hits Tuesday, including a triple and his eighth homer, which ranks second in the Pioneer League. Hanson, who is slashing .331/.373/.540, has a quick bat and a smooth swing with natural loft.
On Monday, Johan Mieses got in the Baseball America Tuesday morning scouting report:
Johan Mieses, dh, Dodgers. The 21-year-old Dominican has struggled this season, striking out 105 times in 325 at-bats. But on Monday, he showed his plus power, blasting two homers and driving in six runs in high Class A Rancho Cucamonga’s 12-1 win over Inland Empire (Angels). Mieses now has 16 homers, second in the California League. The Dodgers consider Mieses a five-tool talent but he has some inefficiencies in his batting stance that get him out of position to hit.
Rays swim into the Ravine amidst trade rumors
Evidently the Dodgers are interested in just about everyone who plays for the last-place Tampa Bay Rays. Names being bandied about are Logan Forsythe, Evan Longoria, Chris Archer, Jake Odorizzi, Matt Moore, and Alex Colome.
The timing couldn’t be more perfect for Dodger fans to get acquainted with possible future Dodgers as the Rays will be playing a two-game set at the Ravine starting tonight. Even better two of the names Chris Archer and Matt Moore will be starting the games. Dodger fans hope they don’t see Alex Colome because that would mean the Rays are going for the win.
The Rays play in the tough AL East and have been the punching bag this year for the division. At 38 – 60 only two teams have fewer wins and both of those teams were expected to be horrible. The Rays had hopes entering this season but they have been dashed.
They have had some injuries but no key players right now. Players like Justin O’Conner, Logan Morrison, Mikie Mahtook, Brandon Koch, Desmond Jennings, and Orlando Arcia who aren’t the stuff of legends. The one key injury that Tampa has had to deal with was one time closer Brad Boxberger, but Alex Colome has filled in so well, hard to pin the loss of Boxberger on the teams tribulations.
So why are the Rays so bad if they have so many players that teams covet? I don’t know, I’m just here to talk about who they do have.
C – Casali, Conger, Maile. Interchangeably horrible. Austin Barnes would be such an upgrade.
1st Base – Logan Morrison was getting this gig, but he’s been horrible, and now he’s hurt. Luckily Steve Pearce has returned from the DL and Pearce can hit a little. He can hit a lot against LHP and might be the best hitter in 2016 against LHP with his 1.209 OPS. Overall Pearce has been the Rays best hitter even with the revival of Evan Longoria as he brings a 145 OPS+ into this series. This might be a surprise if not for the fact that Pearce did this for the Orioles in 2014.
2nd Base – Logan Forsythe did miss a chunk of time and early on this season was a huge offensive contributor to the Rays, but since coming off the DL on June 10th, he has been a liability. Overall Forsythe can brag about his 115 OPS+ but in July the OPS+ is at 65. Been an every other month for Logan so far. April – 1.035 OPS, May – .550, June – .814, July – 608
Shortstop – Brad Miller started so poorly it is a surprise he kept his job. On May 4th, against the Dodger Miller was hitting .174 with two home runs. Since that date, Miller has put up a .798 OPS with 13 long balls.
3rd Base – Evan Longoria finally found his missing power stroke. The face of the franchise has already hit more home runs (22) this year than he did all of last year (21) and as many as the year before (22). As recently as 2013 Longoria was considered one of the great young hitters in the AL and finished sixth in MVP voting. That completed a string of six straight seasons with an OPS+ > 127, but tough years followed in 2014 and 2015, and headed into this year it was a valid question “Was Longoria on the downside of his career”? He seems to have answered the question with a resounding no. The former Long Beach State star used to go to many a game at Dodger stadium and could find himself back here as a Dodger if the Dodgers are unable to sign free agent to be Justin Turner. Longoria would have big shoes to fill as Turner is the Dodger engine.
Right Field – Sometimes trades work out, sometimes they don’t. The Rays had a huge trade chip in Wil Myers but shipped him off to San Diego as part of a crazy 10 player three team trade. Everyone got something good out of it except the Rays. What the Rays got was Steven Souza who has some pop and speed but the strikeout rates suggest he’s got a long way to go. He already has 104 K’s in only 295 PA. His career K rate is 34%. Orlando Arcia was picked up from the Twins for nothing and at least hit for league average while subbing for Sousa. Still that sentence, that Arcia was acquired from the Twins for nothing should tell you all you need to know about his ability. Unless of course, he becomes David Ortiz.
Center Field – This was supposed to be the domain of Kevin Kiermaier the defensive whiz but he did get hurt, and since coming back has been horrible. Horrible seems to get used a tad in this review.
Left Field – Corey Dickerson was acquired from the Rockies for their previous closer Jake McGee. Dickerson as recently as 2014 looked like a future young star but it appears he was just a Coors mirage. Dickerson is hitting in July which is good because it is the only month he’s hit in with much authority. He can’t hit left handers at all and will always need a platoon partner. Which for the moment happens to be Brandon Guyer. Overall Guyer is doing ok work but in July he’s been horrible.
July Stats for Tampa Bay:
| Name | wRC+ | AVG | OBP | SLG | wOBA |
| Logan Forsythe | 64 | 0.212 | 0.256 | 0.353 | 0.264 |
| Evan Longoria | 129 | 0.3 | 0.329 | 0.538 | 0.359 |
| Brad Miller | 101 | 0.232 | 0.27 | 0.493 | 0.319 |
| Corey Dickerson | 141 | 0.333 | 0.375 | 0.515 | 0.377 |
| Brandon Guyer | 53 | 0.164 | 0.303 | 0.2 | 0.248 |
| Steven Souza Jr. | 24 | 0.197 | 0.222 | 0.246 | 0.206 |
| Logan Morrison | 79 | 0.22 | 0.273 | 0.4 | 0.286 |
| Oswaldo Arcia | 40 | 0.125 | 0.243 | 0.25 | 0.229 |
| Kevin Kiermaier | 40 | 0.138 | 0.286 | 0.172 | 0.229 |
| Nick Franklin | 132 | 0.357 | 0.4 | 0.429 | 0.364 |
| Curt Casali | 45 | 0.167 | 0.286 | 0.208 | 0.237 |
| Luke Maile | 25 | 0.217 | 0.217 | 0.261 | 0.207 |
| Tim Beckham | 204 | 0.409 | 0.435 | 0.682 | 0.469 |
| Steve Pearce | 79 | 0.227 | 0.261 | 0.409 | 0.286 |
| Hank Conger | -27 | 0.15 | 0.15 | 0.15 | 0.132 |
| Name | PA | HR | R | RBI |
| Logan Forsythe | 90 | 3 | 13 | 9 |
| Evan Longoria | 85 | 4 | 6 | 11 |
| Brad Miller | 74 | 5 | 10 | 10 |
| Corey Dickerson | 72 | 1 | 9 | 5 |
| Brandon Guyer | 66 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| Steven Souza Jr. | 63 | 0 | 5 | 6 |
| Logan Morrison | 55 | 2 | 4 | 4 |
| Oswaldo Arcia | 37 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| Kevin Kiermaier | 35 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| Nick Franklin | 30 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Curt Casali | 28 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Luke Maile | 24 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Tim Beckham | 23 | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| Steve Pearce | 23 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Hank Conger | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Now I know why they are horrible, they have alot of horrible players.
Eight years ago today the Dodgers traded the Guitar for a Beard
With trade talk swirling around, it was exactly eight years ago today when the Dodgers traded lower level prospect Carlos Santana to the Indians for Casey Blake. It was a trade that paid immediate dividends for the Dodgers as Casey Blake played a key role in the 2008 Western Division champions, but at quite a price.
Andrew Grant of TrueBlueLA wasn’t a fan and neither was I since Carlos Santana was one of my favorite prospects. At the time he was very underrated, but I had been following him since he first showed surprising power and patience for a Dominican. He had struggled for the Great West Loons but had bounced back big in the California league. Many discounted his resurgence and simply attributed it to the hitters league he was playing in. Those Santana critics would soon learn how wrong they were.
Santana continued to hit in the minors but it took until 2010 before he reached the major leagues for good. The Indians wanted him to be a catcher so he had to spend more time in the minors learning the craft of catching. Carlos had originally been a 3rd baseman, played some outfield, but it was not until 2007 that they moved the 21-year-old to catcher. When he was traded in 2008, Carlos had barely been at the position for a year and many felt he would never stick. They were wrong until they were right.
By 2011 Carlos Santana was the full-time catcher for the Indians but the critics were right and by 2013 the catcher experiment was given up on. Over his career, Carlos has played 376 games at 1st, 330 games at catcher, 26 games at 3rd base, and 186 at DH. Going forward it looks like Carlos will be splitting time between 1st base and DH. All the while that Carlos was moving around the baseball diamond, with the bat he has done two things quite well. Take a walk and hit a home run.
Though I first noticed that Santana had unusual patience as a 20-year-old prospect even I’ve been shocked at how he has turned into the most prolific walker in baseball during his career. Using 2011 as the starting point, because that is when his career started, Carlos Santana is the only player to have walked over ninety times, five times. Not Joey Votto, not anyone can make that claim. Carlos has walked more than anyone but Joey Votto during his run.
Since 2011 there are only eight players who have walked at least 400 times and hit at least 100 home runs. Every one of these players is considered one of the top players in baseball. Except one. Carlos Santana. With good reason, because those are the only two skills that Carlos Santana has. Hit a home run, take a walk. As you will note his OPS is almost 100 points below everyone else on the table.
He’s the outlier.
But he’s still had one hell of a career and is easily the best Dodger prospect ever traded this century. Or is he?
| Player | HR | BB | From | To | PA | OPS |
| Miguel Cabrera | 180 | 449 | 2011 | 2016 | 3657 | 0.983 |
| Mike Trout | 158 | 427 | 2011 | 2016 | 3302 | 0.959 |
| David Ortiz | 178 | 414 | 2011 | 2016 | 3187 | 0.955 |
| Joey Votto | 119 | 602 | 2011 | 2016 | 3295 | 0.948 |
| Paul Goldschmidt | 133 | 430 | 2011 | 2016 | 3081 | 0.929 |
| Jose Bautista | 185 | 523 | 2011 | 2016 | 3211 | 0.923 |
| Andrew McCutchen | 137 | 454 | 2011 | 2016 | 3767 | 0.885 |
| Carlos Santana | 132 | 559 | 2011 | 2016 | 3658 | 0.799 |
As good as Santana’s career has been the fact he had to move from catcher to 3rd to 1st to DH has diminished his value. If he had been able to stay at catcher he would have been quite the valuable asset, but as a 1st/DH, he’s just holding his own. Thirty years old now, Santana has probably already seen his best years, but no one can argue they have not been effective years.
Yadier Alvarez strikes out ten of his twelve outs
As the fan base clamors for Chris Baby Sale, every Dodger prospect is hearing their name bandied about and Yadier Alvarez continues to show why he’d be one of the prospects that teams would be most interested in.
Making only his second start for the Loons today, Alveraz displayed the tools that are starting to make scouts salivate. He only got twelve outs, but he struck out ten of them while only throwing sixty-eight pitches, of which fifty-four were strikes. Showing four pitches, and 99 MPH heat, he dominated the competition.
In his two games, Alveraz now has twenty strikeouts in only nine innings. The 2o-year-old Cuban bonus baby is making his mark and giving Loon fans a reason to come to the ballpark. They better hurry, he may not be there long.
Dodger offense destroys childhood dreams
Dodger offense did good work facing two of the better teams in the NL. Both teams had to send a pitcher to the mound for their major league debut, always an exciting assignment for fans of both teams. Contrary to the often stated belief that they struggle against those types of pitchers, the Dodger offense made short work of both of them. Reynaldo Lopez and Mike Mayers won’t be able to look back at their major league debut with any fondness for the rest of their lives. Not everyone gets to be Ross Stripling.
- Justin Turner was clearly the Dodgers best hitter this week providing power/average/rbi.
- Howie Kendrick didn’t just hit in every game this past week, but also provided some opposite power going to RF twice.
- Corey hit a bunch of singles after throwing up his guts earlier in the week.
- Grandal got on base via the walk four times almost pushing his OBP to .400.
- Even Adrian got into the act with two big home runs after word surfaced that he’d become Mark Grace.
- Andrew Toles had a nice weekend filling in for Puig, and gave fans an exciting view of his speed when he went all Jackie Robinson on the bases, forcing the porous Cardinal defense into making another mistake resulting in a run.
Past seven days via fangraphs:
| Name | AVG | OBP | SLG | wOBA | wRC+ |
| Justin Turner | 0.393 | 0.433 | 0.821 | 0.518 | 236 |
| Howie Kendrick | 0.308 | 0.379 | 0.615 | 0.417 | 168 |
| Corey Seager | 0.438 | 0.438 | 0.438 | 0.384 | 145 |
| Yasmani Grandal | 0.222 | 0.391 | 0.389 | 0.354 | 124 |
| Andrew Toles | 0.385 | 0.467 | 0.462 | 0.409 | 162 |
| Chase Utley | 0.269 | 0.296 | 0.423 | 0.309 | 94 |
| Adrian Gonzalez | 0.259 | 0.286 | 0.519 | 0.339 | 114 |
| Name | PA | HR | R | RBI |
| Justin Turner | 30 | 3 | 7 | 8 |
| Howie Kendrick | 29 | 2 | 6 | 3 |
| Corey Seager | 16 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Yasmani Grandal | 23 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Andrew Toles | 15 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Chase Utley | 28 | 1 | 4 | 3 |
| Adrian Gonzalez | 28 | 2 | 5 | 7 |
Justin Turner blows through Saint Louis
On Friday, we chronicled how hot Justin Turner had been with this little ditty.
From May 20th to July 21st Justin Turner has had 221 plate appearances.In that time Justin has slugged sixteen home runs, driven in forty-six runs, and put up a triple stat line of .290 / .362 / .596 with a BABIP of only .278. Imagine a slugging percentage at almost .600 from Justin Turner in 220 plate appearances.
Justin continued that hot streak this weekend in Saint Louis matching the heat/humidity by helping the Dodgers take two of three from the Cardinals giving the Dodgers a rare road series victory against the Cardinals.
Justin collected two hits in each game, going six for sixteen, hitting two doubles, and one home run, and driving in three more runs.
Updating his numbers for the hot streak:
- 238 Plate Appearances, 62 hits, 21 walks
- 30 XBH, 13 doubles and 17 home runs
- 33 runs scored, 49 runs batted in
- Triple stat line of .297 / .366 / .603
- Those 17 home runs hit during the streak are more than his previous CAREER high for a season of 16.
On Friday I imagined a slug% of almost .600. On Monday morning that is a reality in 238 plate appearances. Many Dodgers have ripped off impressive power streaks over the years from Ron Cey to Pedro Guerrero to Mike Piazza to Shawn Green but in every case, each of those hitters was a known slugger. Justin Turner was not a known slugger, as we said his career-high in home runs was sixteen, his career high slug% was .491.
Enjoy this, we may never see it again.
Willie Calhoun ties Pederson and Sands with his 22nd home run for Tulsa
Willie Calhoun continued his power onslaught on Sunday with another home run giving him twenty-two for the year. Those twenty-two home runs ties Joc Pederson and Jerry Sands for 2nd most home runs this century for a AA LAD player. Willie has now hit eight home runs in July and five in his last seven games.
| Player | Year | HR | Age |
| Willie Calhoun (Top Prospect) | 2016 | 22 | 21 |
| Lar Anderson | 2015 | 14 | 27 |
| Scott Schebler (Prospect) | 2014 | 28 | 23 |
| Joc Pederson (Top Prospect) | 2013 | 22 | 21 |
| Blake Smith (Fringe Prospect) | 2012 | 13 | 24 |
| Scott Van Slyke (Prospect) | 2011 | 20 | 24 |
| Jerry Sands (Prospect) | 2010 | 22 | 22 |
| Russ Mitchell | 2009 | 13 | 24 |
| Russ Mitchell | 2008 | 16 | 23 |
| Anthoni Raglini | 2007 | 21 | 24 |
| Craig Brazill | 2006 | 21 | 26 |
| Joel Guzman (Top Prospect) | 2005 | 16 | 20 |
| Delwyn Young | 2005 | 16 | 23 |
| Shane Victorino (Fringe Prospect) | 2004 | 16 | 23 |
| Reggie Abercrombie | 2003 | 15 | 22 |
| Koyie Hill (Prospect) | 2002 | 11 | 23 |
| Glen Davis | 2001 | 20 | 25 |
| Geronimo Gil | 2000 | 11 | 24 |
Eighteen years ago I thought I’d be getting on a flight to NY
and head to Cooperstown right about now for the first time in my life. I could have gone when Don Sutton was inducted, but to be honest, Don never stirred my spirit. Don did pitch a 1 – 0 shutout against the Pirates in the first game I ever saw, and pitched many a brilliant game along with being one of the great compilers, but his effect on me wasn’t going to get me on a plane to NY.
Many Dodger fans who saw Steve Garvey in the 1970’s kind of expected Steve Garvey to end up at Cooperstown, but Steve saw his career plateau at age thirty-one and to make the HOF, you better be great after thirty-one or lose your eye. Plus, even if Garvey had continued to mash for more years, he was never my go-to guy on those teams, it was Ron Cey.
Mike Piazza on the other hand connected with me from the first day I started reading about him tearing up the minor leagues. The name, the ridiculous place he was drafted, no one seemed to believe in him. When he finally arrived in 1993 he was like a comic book baseball star.
I don’t remember the first game I ever saw him play at Dodger Stadium but I’ll never forget the sound the ball made when he made contact. I wish they had exit velocity back then because it was a sound I’d never heard. Maybe Dick Allen back in 1971. Maybe.
It was not like I hadn’t seen the likes of Allen, Robinson, Grabarkewitz, Sudakis, Garvey, Cey, Smith, Baker, Wynn, Gibson, Marshall, and Pedro, I had, but I honestly couldn’t recall any of them hitting the ball harder than Piazza.
All of his games lump into one faded memory except one. His rookie season in 1993, he dismantled the Giants in the last game of the year, hitting two home runs and breaking Giant fans hearts.
As Piazza’s career went on, it was clear he was headed to the HOF, by 1998 he had re-written the record books for catchers. I told my wife that when he went into the HOF, we would make our first trip to Cooperstown. A trip I should be making today, but I won’t be because in 1998 the Dodgers and Mike Piazza parted company. Eric Stephen at TBLA wrote a great article about Piazza’s accomplishments and details of the trade so I have nothing to add. It was a great baseball trade for the Dodgers, the return they got was easily value for value, but I personally lost my favorite player, and he was replaced by my least favorite player. Over time it was easy to appreciate the skills of Gary Sheffield but he had one thing always going against him. He wasn’t Mike Piazza.
I’ve been a Dodger fan for 50 years, and I’ve had favorites, but I think Mike Piazza was always my favorite Dodger. I still followed his career, enjoyed his success with Mets, wish he had tried to kick Roger Clemens ass, wish the Dodgers and his relationship had not been so acrimonious after he left.
I understand Piazza wearing a Met hat at his HOF ceremony, and it might seem silly that the fact he’s not wearing a Dodger hat is keeping me in Los Angeles, but it is what it is.
I blame all of this on Peter O Malley, he did all of Los Angeles a disservice by selling the team to a corporation like Fox. Peter at the time said that single ownership simply wasn’t the future and that most teams would end up being owned by corporations. He sure read that tea leaf wrong.
Now I have to hope I’m still alive when Clayton gets inducted.
Prospect of the day – Chase De Jong
Another day, another day of fine performances by the prospects, but ultimately Chase De Jong takes the daily title by virtue of his complete game victory. De Jong only had to go seven innings to get his complete game because Tulsa was playing a double header. In those seven innings, De Jong twirled a no-hitter for six before giving up a leadoff single in the seventh. De Jong ended up the game with a two-hitter, one earned run, two walks, and seven strikeouts.
Other notable performances:
- Cody Bellinger scored three times in the first game and blasted his 12th home run in the nightcap.
- Willie Calhoun hit his 21st home run while collecting three hits in the first game
- Andrew Sopko piggybacked off of a Yimi Garcia rehab game to pitch six great innings, giving up just one run, zero walks, and striking out nine.
- Speaking of Yimi, he started his rehab game and pitched two innings giving up one run, and striking out four of the six batters he faced
- 2015 13th round pick Michael Boyle pitched six innings of two-hit scoreless ball with zero walks, and five strikeouts to pick up a win for the Great Lake Loons
- I’m going to vary from my practice about not writing about short season players because DJ Peters is simply doing too much for me to ignore. DJ reached base 11 straight times over a two game span, and went 9 for 12, and five walks over a three-game span. Odgen is Odgen but this is awesome even for Ogden.
POTW battle explodes between Justin Turner and Jedd Gyroko
Tonight Justin Turner thought he’d KO’s Gyroko when he slammed an Oh pitch over the CF wall giving the Dodgers a 3 – 2 lead in the 9th inning. Gyorko however, was able to stay on his feet and came out swinging, hitting a laser off of Jansen into the left field seats tying the game in the bottom of the 9th. It was Gyroko’s fifth home run this week and came against a tough RHP which is something Gyroko is not known for doing.
Dodgers, Yesterday and Today 