Imani Abdullah continues to make strides
As Imani Abdullah continues to make progress, Baseball America is taking notice:
An 11th-round pick a year ago, the San Diego product has caught the Dodgers’ attention for his advanced feel. He pitched five shutout innings Thursday for low Class A Great Lakes in a 2-0 win over Kane County (Diamondbacks). Abdullah has struck out 43 and walked just five in 50 innings. He’s still filling out his 6-foot-4 frame, but Abdullah’s already got the fastball up to 94 mph and his curveball has shown great improvement.
Other notables games from prospects:
- Brock Stewart didn’t dazzle but did pitch six solid innings, giving up two runs on six hits, with one walk and five strikeouts.
- On the downside, Grant Holmes was crushed giving up seven runs in only five innings of work.
- On the plus side Yaisel Sierra cleaned up what Holmes started and had one of his best professional outings with a very clean two innings. One hit, no runs, and more importantly no walks.
Dodger prospect of the day – you pick it because I can’t
It is a good thing for a farm system when you have multiple top prospects all having such good days that it is hard to make a choice between them.
Yadier Alveraz struck out ten in his full-season debut
Jose DeLeon matched Yadier with ten punchouts, but also threw eight scoreless innings
Willie Calhoun clubbed his 20th home run, and third in two days
Edwin Rios hit his 14th home run and 8th in just 150 at-bats
I’d probably go with Jose DeLeon because of the potential impact. Jose went eight scoreless innings in the PCL, which could do two things. It could make the Dodgers waver about trading him as he shows he’s ready for the big show, or it could increase his trade value. Tough decisions await the Dodger front office which we will take a look at after Julio Urias pitches today.
Willie Calhoun and the historical 21st century AA LAD affiliate Home Run Leaderboard
Willie Calhoun slugged his 2oth home run last night so I thought it would be a good time to take a look at all the LAD AA affiliate home run leaders in the 21st century. It is only July 20th, and Willie looks like a good bet to at least end up the 2nd highest AA home run hitter for a LAD affiliate in the 21st century. He might catch Scott Schebler but I doubt it. For two reasons, he could simply be moved to AAA or, be traded in a few days.
I’ve included the age just so you can see if these were journeyman minor leaguers or actual prospects. The top name on this list is Joc Pederson, and Calhoun is just two home runs away from matching Joc with 22 home runs. You will notice that both Joc and Willie are/were both 21 while playing in AA. Long time Dodger prospect people will recognize Joel Guzman in 2005. At age 19 Joel made his mark by excelling in AA and entered the 2005 season as one of the top prospects in all of baseball. He even got a nickname JtD on Dodger Thoughts after appearing in the futures game and displaying “light tower power” according to one scout. JtD stood for Joel the Destroyer, but sadly he never lived up to his nickname, though he did destroy many a Dodger prospect hound heart. Particularly my heart since we shared birthdays. He didn’t set the world on fire in 2005 and basically peaked as a prospect at age 20. The 6’6 SS simply disappeared off the prospect map much like Brandon Wood who was also setting the prospect world on fire in 2005. Sometimes you should trust crazy K rates in the high minors even if they are 20 years old.
6 March 2006: Joel Guzman, infielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers, prior to a Spring Training game against the Washington Nationals. The Nationals and Dodgers played to a scoreless tie at Holeman Stadium, in Vero Beach Florida. Mandatory Photo Credit: Ed Wolfstein.
Calhoun however, is far from having a crazy K rate. The big butt 2nd baseman has one of the best K rate to home run power in the minor leagues and while we may never see him putting on a laser show at the Ravine, it is a good bet he’s going to be hitting lasers somewhere.
| Player | Year | HR | Age |
| Willie Calhoun (Top Prospect) | 2016 | 20 | 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 |
Yadier Alvarez fans ten in full season league debut
20-year-old Cuban bonus baby Yadier Alvarez finally gave Great Lake Loon fans something to cheer about with a stunning debut. Alvarez who had been fine tuning his game in Arizona this spring and summer showed everyone what all the hoopla was about striking out ten of the fifteen outs. Great Lake fans can only hope he sticks around all summer so they can get a good long look at one of the Dodgers top pitching prospects.
The Dodgers had been handing out big money to Cuban refugees for a few years with little to show for it but maybe they have something they can hang their hats on this time. Unlike these Cubans, Erisbel Arruebarrena, Alexander Guerrero, Héctor Olivera, and Yasiel Sierra who were all established Cuban professionals, Alvarez is still a project and just turned twenty this past spring. We had been hearing since he signed that he could hit 100 MP and was an elite arm, so it is nice to finally see the arm in action in full league baseball. I say full league baseball because time has taught me not to pay any attention to anything that happens until the prospects graduate from the rookie leagues to the full season leagues. It took a while, but it finally sank in.
The Dodgers put Alvarez in the perfect situation to succeed. The MidWest League is a pitchers league, and now that warm weather has hit the midwest, more amenable to someone used to pitching in Cuba’s tepid weather. Hopefully this first game is just a sign of things to come for someone with huge expectations on his shoulders.
The Tulsa Trio does a one step as Willie Calhoun blasts two home runs
On any given day this summer, someone in the Tulsa Trio be it Alex Verdugo, Cody Bellinger, or Willie Calhoun usually does something to write about. Many times it has been two of the three and even three of the three.
Last night, however, it was only Willie Calhoun who stepped out and made a name winning the Prospect player of the day. Willie slugged two home runs, with one of the home runs nearly leaving the park. Casey Goldman has the call.
@Dodgers prospect @11WillieCalhoun blasted his 18th HR of the season, and it was nearly out of the park. #Dodgers pic.twitter.com/7jHu6dR8WK
— Tulsa Drillers (@TulsaDrillers) July 20, 2016
The 21-year-old Calhoun is now 2nd in the Texas league with 19 round trippers, trailing only 23-year-old Matt Chapman. More impressively Calhoun has struck out only 48 times while displaying such impressive power.
The problem for Calhoun is that he’s a 2nd baseman but not a very good one. It doesn’t take much imagination to see Willie getting moved to the AL this summer because it sure looks like that bat will play. Somewhere.
The doghouse boys, Grandal, Kendrick, and Turner dominate NL July offensive leaderboards
On July 20th, the Dodgers offensive charge is being led by three players who were in the Dodger fans doghouse back in May. Everyone wanted to trade Grandal for LuCroy, Turner for anyone who could play 3rd base, and the choice to play Howie in LF was being lambasted by a certain blogger (me).
Sometimes good things come to those with patience, and for the Dodgers, that patience has paid off.
Grandal leads all of MLB in wRC+ in July with an astounding 225. Grandal leads the NL in home runs in July with 6. Howie Kendrick leads all of MLB in batting average at .418 and is 3rd in OBP at .492. Justin Turner has listened to people clamor for Evan Longoria while slugging .608 for the month and being the main cog in the LAD offensive machine.
This link will take you to the fangraphs table for qualified hitters in July for the NL:
| Name | wRC+ | HR | RBI |
| Yasmani Grandal | 225 | 6 | 9 |
| Jake Lamb | 216 | 4 | 10 |
| Ryan Schimpf | 209 | 5 | 9 |
| Howie Kendrick | 202 | 1 | 7 |
| Joey Votto | 198 | 1 | 5 |
| Daniel Murphy | 195 | 4 | 15 |
| Yangervis Solarte | 193 | 5 | 15 |
| Stephen Piscotty | 185 | 4 | 13 |
| Giancarlo Stanton | 183 | 5 | 12 |
| Aledmys Diaz | 178 | 3 | 9 |
| Justin Turner | 172 | 4 | 11 |
| Kris Bryant | 164 | 3 | 5 |
| Jordy Mercer | 163 | 2 | 5 |
| Buster Posey | 161 | 3 | 5 |
| Curtis Granderson | 161 | 3 | 7 |
Carlos Beltran is my only trade target
As the trade deadline gets closer there is going to be lots of rumors/discussion about who the Dodgers are interested in, or who they should be interested in, but the only player who I’d like to see them acquire is Carlos Beltran.
The much-needed rotation reinforcements have arrived and unless the Dodgers are set on acquiring Chris Archer or Sonny Gray I don’t see anyone else out there better than what they currently have. If Clayton Kershaw was going to miss significant time that would change the equation but Clayton will be here sometime this week which should put Norris in the bullpen. Or Ryu. Shortly to be followed by Wood, so that again leaves Ryu or Wood headed to the bullpen. Any new starter without one being subtracted would leave one of Maeda / Kazmir / McCarthy / Wood / Ryu in the bullpen and I don’t see the names being bandied about being any better than those options. Not to mention Jose De Leon ready to help.
For once I like our bullpen. Has the trio of Liberatore / Blanton / Jansen been just as effective as the much more celebrated Betances / Miller / Chapman? Maybe? Granted Miller would be a nice addition, but given the price I’m not that interested. 2014 heck yes, 2015 again yes. 2016, not so much. Besides, I fully expect Urias to be added, and of course, Jose De Leon could bring his big arm to the bullpen.
However the offense needs an upgrade and the only place to upgrade for me is the outfield. Many would prefer LuCroy over Grandal, but not me. The outfield names being bandied about are Jay Bruce and Josh Reddick. Both are decent options but not my main option.
Which brings me to my trade target. Carlos Beltran. Not much of an outfielder anymore but I’m pretty sure he can do what Howie Kendrick does in LF. What Carlos can still do is hit, hit with power, hit in the clutch, and hit good pitching. If you acquire Carlos Beltran you strengthen the lineup from top to bottom, you strengthen your bench by making Howie the super utility player, and you take some pressure off of the kids who have been carrying the offense so far. And I didn’t even mention how historically awesome Beltran is in October.
I have no idea the asking price of Carlos Beltran. He’s a free agent, so unlike Andrew Miller he’s not part of the future plans for the Yankee’s. The last time Beltran was traded was in 2011 when he was a trade deadline acquisition by the Giants for the steep price at the time of Zach Wheeler which would be equivalent to Jose De Leon. That was five years ago, he’s now 39 years old, and price should be something akin to Brock Stewart but I could be off base.
Whatever the Dodger FO decides to do, it will be interesting. If they can somehow pry Chris Archer or Sonny Gray I shan’t complain, but at the same time, I do hope they address the outfield situation with someone who will help in October not hinder. If they add a bullpen piece, cool, just not my top priority.
Abbreviated Dodger player of the week goes to Chris Taylor
The Dodgers only played three games this week, and Chris Taylor only excelled in one of those games, but what a game it was.
- 1st LAD to hit a grand slam as his first home run
- 1st LAD second baseman to drive in six runs
- 1st LAD to hit a grand slam, a double, and triple in the same game
- 1st Dodger second baseman since Jackie Robinson to drive in six runs
For good measure, Taylor had two additional singles giving him a robust triple stat line of .556 / .600 / 1.222.
In a normal week Justin Turner would have won with his two home runs, and six RBI in just three games or Howie Kendrick and his eight for seventeen but the Chris Taylor game will be fighting the Chase Utley duo of dynamite games, and the Corey Seager three home run game for games of the year.
Two hitters who were not eligible were Adrian Gonzalez who went two for thirteen and Yazmani Grandal who went one for twelve. Grandal severely impacted his case for player of the month for July.
Edwin Rios Prospect Player of the Week
Rancho Cucamonga 1st baseman Edwin Rios capped off a spectacular week with another home run on Sunday giving him five home runs for the week, ten RBI, ten hits, all in only twenty-five at-bats. Using my rocket science math calculator, Rios was hitting a home run every five at bats.
The 22-year-old was a 6th round draft pick in 2015 who started out this year with the Great Lake Loons Dodger affiliate in the Midwest League and found himself promoted in June. At the time it seemed like a strange decision because Rios wasn’t exactly smoking the much younger competition but the Dodgers must have seen something and moved him up a level to the Rancho Cucamonga affiliate. Rios has taken to California and is on his way to earning player of the month for his work in July.
In July Rios has seven home runs in sixty-one at-bats, and has a robust 1.166 OPS. Rios has also been coming through in the clutch with a sweet 1.258 OPS with RISP, collecting sixteen hits in thirty-eight at-bats, including nine XBH, and driving in 22 runs. Rios may have to stay in Rancho for a while as first base is filled at AA Tulsa with Bellinger and AAA Oklahoma with O’Koyea Dickson.
Rios and Bellinger both bat left-handed and both play 1st base. Bellinger is two years younger, one level higher, but can also play any outfield position. They are both intriguing trade chips where Bellinger would be the highlight of any deal, and Rios would be someone who could fill in the back end of a trade.
Prospect player of the day Cody Bellinger fills out the box score.
Bellinger had the big offensive day yesterday , home run, single, two walks, and two stolen bases. Cody filled out the box score yesterday.
On Saturday Verdugo slugged two home runs to pass Bellinger, but it only lasted one day, as Bellinger roared back Sunday to tie Verdugo by slugging his 11th home run. The two twenty-year-olds now have eleven home runs, leading the Southern League in home runs for twenty-year-olds. Here is the Southern League leaderboard. The best way to view this is to sort by home runs, peruse down by age. Willie Calhoun still leads all 21-year-olds with 17.
Dodgers, Yesterday and Today 