MLB Dodger top 30 prospect reveal
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
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
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
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
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
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.
- Camilli – 105 at bats / 18 hits / 6 walks
- Mike Scioscia – 96 at bats / 20 hits / 8 walks
- Len Gabrielson -95 at bats / 20 hits / 4 walks
- Steve Yeager-86 at bat / 17 hits / 3 walks
- A.J. Ellis – 83 at bats / 14 hits / 10 walks
- John Hale-80 at bats / 10 hits / 12 walks
- Wally Moon-78 at bats / 15 hits / 3 walks
- Jeff Torborg-73 at bats / 10 hits / 7 walks
- Juan Samuel– 73 at bats / 19 hits / 2 walks
- Don LeJohn – 72 at bats / 18 hits / 4 walks
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.
Dodgers, Yesterday and Today 