SVS watches the Dodger offense do nothing

♦ June 13, 2016 ♦ 3 Comments

A rookie manager not only has to learn about his team and their strengths, the fans of the team get to learn the same about the rookie manager.

The one thing I’ve learned so far this year, is that David Roberts has a strange affinity for Howie Kendrick in LF. With Carl Crawford finally being purged from the LAD roster, Howie Kendrick is by far the worst defensive outfielder on the team. It is also very possible that Howie Kendrick is also the worst offensive outfielder on the team.

Howie Kendrick should still give the LAD plenty of value as someone who can spell Chase or Turner, or even take over for Chase when he suffers some type of injury, but it is hard to see how he offers any value in LF with SVS back on the roster.

Puig will be back sometime this week if he does not suffer any setbacks during his rehab outings, but until then,  this team could probably use Scott Van Slyke in the lineup. Not because SVS will change the offense, but he probably gives the team at the minimum the same offense in LF while providing much better defense. Yesterday Howie made a fine play going to his right and reaching as high as he could to snag a drive that appeared headed over his head. It made a nice highlight shot, but if SVS had been in the game, he would have aptly ambled over, and with his big paw simply snatched that shot without having to extend his arm over his head.

I could understand all this love for Howie if he was banging at the plate, but when you look at what Howie is doing you don’t see nothing. Nothing.  In April Howie probably had the worst month of his career, putting up an OPS of .333 in 55 plate appearances playing sparingly.  May saw some revitalization of his bat but it was short-lived. In June Howie has four singles. And that is it for the month.

Scott Van Slyke came back to the team on June 3rd. Since June 3rd SVS has garnered two starts and ten plate appearances. Yes, I’ll grant you he is hitless in those ten plate appearances but I’d rather see if he can get his bat going instead of watching to much of Howie Kendrick. Howie has started five games in LF since SVS came back, and Howie has all of one single in those five games.

I don’t get it.  He’s a life time infielder playing LF, and he can’t hit at all right now. You would think that when the team is struggling to score, you might try the big guy on the bench who is the only real left fielder on the team.

Trayce Thompson – Steal of the Deal

♦ June 8, 2016 ♦ Leave a comment

With Andre hurt, Puig struggling, and Crawford now gone, it is a good thing the Dodgers pulled the trigger on the three-way trade that brought Thompson to the Dodgers. Frankie Montas was supposed to be the key to this deal and may still be, but right now Thompson has been the steal of the deal.  Given how moribund the Dodger offense has been, I can’t imagine what it would be without Trayce Thompson.

Cory Seager is getting most of the press for good reason, but his roommate Trayce Thompson is actually doing better work. Cory has all the home runs and a glittering OPS of .872 but Thompson has an OPS of .922 and it is Thompson who sits on the top of the NL Rookie OPS+ leaderboard.

Last night Thompson hit his second walk off of the year, but more surprisingly he hit it against a right hand pitcher. Coming into 2016 Thompson had shown the ability with the White Sox to hit left hand pitching but it was up in the air if he could hit right hand pitching well enough to be considered a full-time outfielder.  It is still early but Thompson is putting the big hurt on RHP so far in 2016.  In fact as of this moment Thompson has a consistent split against both RHP/LHP .

When I visited the Dodgers this spring, I mentioned on TBLA that Thompson was the best athlete I saw at camp. I think the only thing anyone can be disappointed about with Thompson is his less than stellar defense. He had a reputation as an above average outfielder, but with the eyes he seems average at best. Doesn’t get great jumps and his instincts seem a bit off.  But that is being trite.

Thompson has been great, so great I had to create a little National League Rookie leaderboard for him just to show how great.

Rookie NL Players with at least 100 at bats:

Player OPS+ PA Age Tm G HR RBI BB
Trayce Thompson 149 146 25 LAD 49 10 22 17
Corey Seager 137 257 22 LAD 59 14 35 22
Aledmys Diaz 135 211 25 STL 55 8 31 10
Trevor Story 111 253 23 COL 56 16 42 17
Jeremy Hazelbaker 108 128 28 STL 54 7 19 7
Brandon Drury 104 204 23 ARI 53 8 18 10
Mallex Smith 95 153 23 ATL 49 3 20 11
Tyler Goeddel 81 123 23 PHI 41 3 10 6
Ramon Flores 59 138 24 MIL 51 1 10 15
Tony Wolters 53 104 24 COL 31 0 11 12
Daniel Castro 17 121 23 ATL 40 0 4 6

 

 

Urias will be first LAD teen-ager to pitch at Dodger Stadium since Fernando

♦ June 7, 2016 ♦ Leave a comment

While most of the hoopla has gone out of the fact that the Dodgers have a 19-year-old pitching in their rotation,  it is still an extremely rare event. Just about every time he takes the mound he breaks ground that hasn’t been trod on in decades.

No LAD teen-ager as has pitched at Dodger Stadium since Fernando did it back in Sept of 1980. For those who don’t remember the prelude to Fernandomania, Fernando was a key component in one of the greatest regular season series in the history of the ravine.

The Houston Astros back in the day were in the NL West and held a three game lead on the Dodgers as both teams entered the final series for 1980.   Jon Weisman devotes a chapter of this heralded series in his book  100 Things Dodgers Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die . Also you can find a chapter about Fernandomania. 

It was a three games at home for the Dodgers and they needed to win every game to force a play off game on Monday.

Which they did, with each game bringing a new hero. Garvey / Cey / Ferguson were the offensive hero’s but the unsung hero during this stretch was the teen-aged Fernando who would pitch in relief in two of the three games. Fernando would throw a combined four innings of shutout relief in two one run games. Alas it was all for naught, as Dave Goltz gave away the play off game, but for anyone who was around in 1980, they all remember the epic series that got the Dodgers into that play off game.

Decades ago a LAD Mexican teen-ager stood tall on the mound at Dodger Stadium. I’ll be there tonight hoping the Julio Urias can make Fernando proud as he toes the mound for his start ever at the place he’ll call home for years to come.

 

 

Corey Seager holding court

♦ June 6, 2016 ♦ Leave a comment

Five days ago Corey Seager had hit nine home runs and was just about to crack the LAD leaderboard for home runs by a shortstop. Since then, Corey blasted five more home runs and is poised to break all sorts of records this June. For now he can be satisfied with having the fourth most home runs by any LAD SS ever.

Player HR Year Age PA SLG OPS
Hanley Ramirez 20 2013 29 336 0.638 1.040
Don Zimmer 17 1958 27 495 0.415 0.720
Rafael Furcal 15 2006 28 736 0.445 0.814
Corey Seager 14 2016 22 249 0.533 0.874
Kevin Elster 14 2000 35 259 0.455 0.796
Hanley Ramirez 13 2014 30 512 0.448 0.817
Jimmy Rollins 13 2015 36 563 0.358 0.643
Hanley Ramirez 10 2012 28 272 0.450 0.774
Greg Gagne 10 1996 34 487 0.364 0.698

Since Corey now has double-digit home runs, this would be a good time to add the LAD rookie home run leaderboard. This leaderboard includes every LAD rookie who ever had double digit home runs.  A list dominated by Mike Piazza, and last years rookie, Joc Pederson. Twenty six players have hit at least ten home runs as a LAD rookie. Many of them were my favorite players so I think I’ll write about each player that Corey passes over the next few months. He just tied Bill Sudakis,  and with his next home run will tie Ron Cey and James Loney.  A few years ago I wrote about Bill Sudakis and the impact he had on me during his Sept callup. 

Corey blew by Jim Lefebvre and Willie Davis so fast I had nothing prepared, but I’ll get to them soon. UPDATE – Joe Ferguson and Mike Marshall were removed from the original list. David Young of TBLA did some research and even though Baseball Reference has them listed as Rookies in 1973 and 1983 they were not rookies.

Player HR Year Age PA OPS Pos
Mike Piazza (RoY-1st) 35 1993 24 602 0.932 C
Joc Pederson 26 2015 23 585 0.763 CF
Frank Howard (RoY-1st) 23 1960 23 487 0.784 OF
Eric Karros (RoY-1st) 20 1992 24 589 0.73 1B
Greg Brock (RoY-7th) 20 1983 26 543 0.738 1B
Yasiel Puig (RoY-2nd) 19 2013 22 432 0.925 OF
Don Demeter 18 1959 24 401 0.731 OF
Billy Grabarkewitz 17 1970 24 640 0.852 SS/3B
Jayson Werth 16 2004 25 326 0.825 OF
Raul Mondesi (RoY-1st) 16 1994 23 454 0.849 OF
James Loney (RoY-6th) 15 2007 23 375 0.919 1B
Ron Cey (RoY-6th) 15 1973 25 595 0.723 3B
Corey Seager 14 2016 22 249 0.874 SS
Bill Sudakis 14 1969 23 507 0.678 3B
John Roseboro 14 1958 25 431 0.788 C
Matt Luke 12 1998 27 257 0.736 OF
Todd Hollandsworth (RoY-1st) 12 1996 23 526 0.785 OF
Jim Lefebvre (RoY-1st) 12 1965 23 631 0.706 2B
Willie Davis 12 1961 21 380 0.767 OF
Alex Guerrero 11 2015 28 230 0.695 OF
Andre Ethier (RoY-5th) 11 2006 24 441 0.842 OF
Tommy Davis (RoY-5th) 11 1960 21 374 0.728 OF
Russell Martin (RoY-9th) 10 2006 23 468 0.792 C
David Ross 10 2003 26 140 0.892 C

 

As always, thanks to baseball reference and their play index for all this information.  

 

Corey Seager moving up the leaderboards

♦ June 6, 2016 ♦ Leave a comment

Just five days ago we were waxing eloquently about how Corey Seager was going to be breaking into many of the record books for shortstops. Evidently Corey was not satisfied with being at the precipice of the leaderboard, so he had another crazy weekend and has now put himself squarely in those leaderboards.

On June 1st, after his May home run barrage, Corey was not in the top thirty-one home runs seasons for a shortstop age twenty-two or younger. He is now in the top twenty and on his way to having a top five home run season for any twenty two year old SS or younger.

I’ve added a new column to the table. Since Corey has only played 1/3 of a season, I thought it might be beneficial to look at his home run per at bat numbers. It is early, and of course he’s coming off a barrage of home runs, but right now Mr. Seager has the best home run per at bat ratio on the list below.  The list is now thirty-two long because Corey joined it, and it will be the last time we see all thirty two names. I kept them here to show who Seager passed in the past five days.  I didn’t expect to update this list until July 1st, but he’s simply been to hot.

Player HR Year Age Tm PA OPS HR/AB
Alex Rodriguez 42 1998 22 SEA 748 0.919 17.81
Alex Rodriguez 36 1996 20 SEA 677 1.045 18.81
Cal Ripken 28 1982 21 BAL 655 0.792 23.39
Cal Ripken 27 1983 22 BAL 726 0.888 26.89
Troy Tulowitzki 24 2007 22 COL 682 0.838 28.42
Alex Rodriguez 23 1997 21 SEA 638 0.846 27.74
Carlos Correa 22 2015 20 HOU 432 0.857 19.64
Ron Hansen 22 1960 22 BAL 606 0.781 27.55
Vern Stephens 22 1943 22 SLB 571 0.839 25.95
Jim Fregosi 18 1964 22 LAA 591 0.833 32.83
Hanley Ramirez 17 2006 22 FLA 700 0.833 41.18
Zoilo Versalles 17 1962 22 MIN 624 0.660 36.71
Wil Cordero 15 1994 22 MON 467 0.853 31.13
Chris Speier 15 1972 22 SFG 658 0.761 43.87
Corey Seager 14 2016 22 LAD 249 0.874 17.79
Vern Stephens 14 1942 21 SLB 621 0.774 44.36
Starlin Castro 14 2012 22 CHC 691 0.753 49.36
Alex Gonzalez 14 1999 22 FLA 591 0.739 42.21
Jimmy Rollins 14 2001 22 PHI 720 0.743 51.43
Rico Petrocelli 13 1965 22 BOS 363 0.721 27.92
Xander Bogaerts 12 2014 21 BOS 594 0.660 49.50
Francisco Lindor 12 2015 21 CLE 438 0.835 36.50
Arky Vaughan 12 1934 22 PIT 660 0.942 55.00
Travis Jackson 11 1924 20 NYG 633 0.754 57.55
Denis Menke 11 1963 22 MLN 572 0.632 52.00
Edgar Renteria 11 1999 22 STL 653 0.734 59.36
Starlin Castro 10 2011 21 CHC 715 0.773 71.50
Wil Cordero 10 1993 21 MON 521 0.695 52.10
Derek Jeter 10 1996 22 NYY 654 0.800 65.40
Alex Gonzalez 10 1995 22 TOR 425 0.720 42.50

 

Cory Seager is going to be a record breaking machine

♦ June 1, 2016 ♦ Leave a comment

This season will probably have a lot of posts about Cory Seager and in the beginning it will center about what he has accomplished as a 22-year-old LAD shortstop.

Sometimes however his age won’t be involved. For example with his home run last night, Jon Weisman noted that Seager tied the LAD SS May franchise home run record.

Just to go one further, Cory has nine home runs, which gives him the LAD franchise record for 22-year-old shortstops.  Cory would be a cinch to break the all time LAD SS franchise record for shortstops if not for Hanley Ramirez.  If all goes well, Seager will be sitting on top this list by the end of the year. Not bad for a rookie.

Rk Player HR Year Age Tm OPS
1 Hanley Ramirez 20 2013 29 LAD 1.04
2 Don Zimmer 17 1958 27 LAD 0.72
3 Rafael Furcal 15 2006 28 LAD 0.814
4 Kevin Elster 14 2000 35 LAD 0.796
5 Jimmy Rollins 13 2015 36 LAD 0.643
6 Hanley Ramirez 13 2014 30 LAD 0.817
7 Hanley Ramirez 10 2012 28 LAD 0.774
8 Greg Gagne 10 1996 34 LAD 0.698

How does he compare against all major league shortstops age 22 or younger? As we head into June, Seager now has nine home runs. With his next home run Seager will become the 3oth shortstop age 22 or younger to hit double-digit home runs. He does not make the list below yet, but as the season progresses he will not only join this list but also climb it quickly.  I think that eventually he’ll end the year in the top ten, but even has an outside chance at the top five,  joining two of the greatest hitting shortstops in major league history.

Player HR Year Age Tm Lg RBI OPS
Alex Rodriguez 42 1998 22 SEA AL 124 0.919
Alex Rodriguez 36 1996 20 SEA AL 123 1.045
Cal Ripken 28 1982 21 BAL AL 93 0.792
Cal Ripken 27 1983 22 BAL AL 102 0.888
Troy Tulowitzki 24 2007 22 COL NL 99 0.838
Alex Rodriguez 23 1997 21 SEA AL 84 0.846
Ron Hansen 22 1960 22 BAL AL 86 0.781
Carlos Correa 22 2015 20 HOU AL 68 0.857
Vern Stephens 22 1943 22 SLB AL 91 0.839
Jim Fregosi 18 1964 22 LAA AL 72 0.833
Hanley Ramirez 17 2006 22 FLA NL 59 0.833
Zoilo Versalles 17 1962 22 MIN AL 67 0.66
Wil Cordero 15 1994 22 MON NL 63 0.853
Chris Speier 15 1972 22 SFG NL 71 0.761
Starlin Castro 14 2012 22 CHC NL 78 0.753
Alex Gonzalez 14 1999 22 FLA NL 59 0.739
Jimmy Rollins 14 2001 22 PHI NL 54 0.743
Vern Stephens 14 1942 21 SLB AL 92 0.774
Rico Petrocelli 13 1965 22 BOS AL 33 0.721
Xander Bogaerts 12 2014 21 BOS AL 46 0.66
Francisco Lindor 12 2015 21 CLE AL 51 0.835
Arky Vaughan 12 1934 22 PIT NL 94 0.942
Denis Menke 11 1963 22 MLN NL 50 0.632
Travis Jackson 11 1924 20 NYG NL 76 0.754
Edgar Renteria 11 1999 22 STL NL 63 0.734
Starlin Castro 10 2011 21 CHC NL 66 0.773
Wil Cordero 10 1993 21 MON NL 58 0.695
Derek Jeter 10 1996 22 NYY AL 78 0.8
Alex Gonzalez 10 1995 22 TOR AL 42 0.72

Chase stand alone as Cubs / Dodgers get ready to square off

♦ May 30, 2016 ♦ Leave a comment

Being Memorial Day I didn’t have time to write a preview but I did find this little nugget interesting while perusing the Cubs record.

The Cubs are 34 – 14, with seventeen wins in both April and May.  The Cubs have a losing records against three teams.

All three of those teams reside in the NL Western Division.

  • Padres one win – two losses
  • Rockies one win – two losses
  • Giants one win – two losses

Cubs and Dodgers are set to play four games, with the Cubs missing Kershaw.

Oh, one more thing.  Chase Utley is friggin awesome.

Eric Stephen at TBLA noted that Chase was just the 7th Dodger since 1980 to even drive in at least four runs in successive games.

I decided to dig a little deeper and see if any second baseman had done this, and furthermore if any had done this who were at least thirty seven years old.

In case you missed this weekend, Chase drove in four runs on Friday night, and five more runs on Saturday night.

The final criteria was 2nd baseman >= 37 years old who drove in at least four runs in successive games.

From what I can tell, Chase stands alone. Feel free to check my work and let me know.  I found twenty 2nd baseman who had driven in at least four runs that were at least 37 years old. I could not find anyone who did this in successive games except Chase Utley

Name Age Date Tm H HR RBI
Biggio 39.139 5/2/2005 HOU 3 1 4
Biggio 41.127 4/20/2007 HOU 1 1 4
Biggio 41.222 7/24/2007 HOU 2 1 4
Biggio 41.25 8/21/2007 HOU 3 1 4
Cairo 37.101 8/13/2011 CIN 2 2 4
Collins 37.057 6/28/1924 CHW 2 1 4
Collins 37.364 5/1/1925 CHW 2 1 5
Dykes 41.287 1938-08-24(1) CHW 3 1 4
Easley 37.183 5/13/2007 NYM 3 1 4
Gantner 37.184 7/8/1990 MIL 3 0 5
Gehringer 37.116 9/4/1940 DET 2 1 4
Gehringer 37.123 9/11/1940 DET 5 0 4
Gehringer 38.1 1941-08-19(1) DET 3 1 4
Grudzielanek 37.347 6/11/2008 KCR 2 1 4
Harrah 37.198 5/12/1986 TEX 2 0 4
Harrah 37.284 8/6/1986 TEX 5 1 4
Joost 39.084 8/28/1955 BOS 2 2 6
Kent 37.033 4/9/2005 LAD 3 1 5
Kent 37.06 5/6/2005 LAD 3 1 5
Kent 37.071 5/17/2005 LAD 3 0 4
Kent 37.081 5/27/2005 LAD 1 1 4
Kent 37.09 6/5/2005 LAD 4 0 4
Kent 37.091 6/6/2005 LAD 2 1 4
Kent 37.135 7/20/2005 LAD 2 1 4
Kent 37.175 8/29/2005 LAD 2 0 4
Kent 37.181 9/4/2005 LAD 3 1 4
Kent 38.027 4/3/2006 LAD 2 0 4
Kent 38.063 5/9/2006 LAD 2 1 4
Kent 39.079 5/25/2007 LAD 2 1 4
Kent 39.129 7/14/2007 LAD 2 1 4
Lopes 37.098 8/9/1982 OAK 2 1 4
Lopes 38.043 6/15/1983 OAK 3 1 7
Mora 38.168 7/20/2010 COL 3 1 5
Morgan 39.263 6/9/1983 PHI 2 2 4
Morgan 39.32 8/5/1983 PHI 3 2 4
Morgan 40 9/19/1983 PHI 4 2 4
Phillips 40.019 5/14/1999 OAK 2 1 4
Speier 37.327 5/20/1988 SFG 1 1 4
Speier 38.011 7/9/1988 SFG 5 1 5
Utley 37.162 5/27/2016 LAD 1 0 4
Utley 37.163 5/28/2016 LAD 2 2 5
Valentin 37.193 4/23/2007 NYM 1 1 4
Whitaker 37.04 6/21/1994 DET 1 1 4
Whitaker 38.092 8/12/1995 DET 2 1 4
White 37.221 4/12/1988 KCR 3 1 4

The above information can be found here. 

Julio Urias viewing party

♦ May 27, 2016 ♦ Leave a comment

Any Dodger fans interested in watching the teen-age phenom make his major league debut against the Mets with other like minded fans can meet up with them at 33 Taps in Hollywood. 

New York Met Series Preview 05/27/2016

♦ May 27, 2016 ♦ Leave a comment

The Mets like every other team the Dodgers have faced in October since 1988, broke their fans hearts last year in a deciding game that was in the Dodgers favor with three innings in the book.  The ultra reliable Grienke had a 2 – 1  lead, but yet another left-handed hitter did the Dodgers in again, in October, as Daniel Murphy played the previous roles of Matt Stairs, Matt Adams, and Matt Carpenter. Once Murphy had worked his magic in the deciding game, the only shock to Dodger fans was that his name was Daniel not Matt.

Fast forward to 2016 and Daniel Murphy can’t lead the Mets to victory against the Dodgers anymore as he took his magic bat to the Nationals.

The 2016 Mets are 27 – 19 and trail the Nationals by only one game.  In May the Mets have gone 12 – 12. The Mets and Dodgers have already met four times with the teams splitting the four game set at the Ravine in early May.

Injury List:

  • Lucas Duda is out for this series with a bad back
  • Travis d’Arnaud is out for this series with a bum shoulder
  • Asdrubal Cabrera is day-to-day but is expected to play this series
  • Wilmer Flores has been on the DL but is expected to be activated for this series
  • Zack Wheeler is still recuperating from Tommy John and is not expected to return until July.

Positional Breakdown:

1st Base – Wilmer Flores is expected to replace Lucas Duda when he is activated off the DL. If  not, expect to see Eric Campbell. Flores is normally a middle infielder but from what I’ve read the Mets plan to play him at 1st. He has only played 1st base two times.  Flores was horrible in April but was having some success in May before hitting the DL. Hard to put any credence in his 2016 numbers because he has had so few at bats. If Flores does not play 1st it will probably be the right-handed Eric Campbell. He has shown no history of being able to hit, but he can sure take a walk. In only 479 major league appearances he has garnered 50 walks.

2nd Base – As great as Daniel Murphy has been for the Nationals (best hitting 2nd baseman in the NL) Walker has done his best to fill the void.  The switch hitting Walker has slugged eleven home runs already. His career high is 23, but he normally hits between 12 – 16 home runs over a full season. His wRC+ is at 119 putting him 5th in the NL for 2nd baseman.  This year he has four home runs with an OPS of 1.040 against LHP in only 34 plate appearances so Urias / Kershaw best be ready.

SS – The switch hitting Asdrubal Cabrera is doing as expected. He’s a fairly consistent hitter, notching in a tad below average since his hey days back in 2011/2012. This year he’s been right about average.

3rd Base – Thirty three year old David Wright is long way from his salad days as the main cog in any Met offense earlier this century. Hard to believe he’s been around since 2004. At least he’s playing this year after playing only 38 games in 2015. He’ll surpass that number this weekend. The triple stat line headed into the weekend is .226/.352/.421. He is not hitting for average but can still take a walk and pop a home run.

Catcher – Right handed Kevin Plawecki is seeing most of the time behind the plate with the injury to Travis d’Arnaud. Plawecki is having a horrible offensive season and that may just be who he is. His career triple stat line is now .210/.282/.267.

Right Field – Curtis Granderson leads off for the Mets and given his OBP is .297 he’s not setting the table very effectively for Cespedes and Conforto. Granderson started the season in fine fashion with a solid April but has hit the skids in May with a triple stat line of .155/.245/.333. That won’t get it done for a lead off hitter. Or any kind of hitter. I’m sure he’ll get straightened out but how much does the 35-year-old outfielder have?

Center Field – Yoenis Cespedes sees the most time in CF but he will also play some LF when a left-hander is starting. Cespedes must love something about the Mets. He was always an above average player but since becoming a Met last summer he has become almost other worldly. His career OPS is .820. Since becoming a Met, in 421 plate appearances he has hit 32 home runs, slugging % of .627, and an OPS of .981.  Cespedes signed a three-year deal with the Mets but can opt out after the 2016 season.

Left Field – belongs to one of better young hitters in baseball.  The 23-year-old left handed Michael Conforto seems to be the consummate hitter against right hand pitching. Left hand pitching is another story, but the Mets haven’t let him have much opportunity yet with only 45 plate appearances so far in his career. Looks a bit like a peek Andre Ethier.

 

Utility Outfielder – Since the Dodgers are throwing the two best left handers in the NL at the Mets, you can expect to see Juan Lagares twice this weekend. He was once regarded as one of the best fielding center fielders in the game, but his offense kept him from being a regular. He does however hit left handers well enough to get burn when a southpaw faces the Mets.

Rotation:

Game One – Jacob DeGroom has seen his K rate (K per nine) drop substantially from 9.7 in 2015 to 6.6 in 2016. The walk rate (BB per nine) has increased from an optimal 1.8 to 2.4. He has also been much more hittable and thus is sporting a WHIP of 1.244 compared to last years elite .979.  In limited sample size he’s been dominant at home but can’t seem to strike out anyone on the road.  Urias will probably need to shut out the Mets for five innings for the Dodgers to have a chance to win this game 1 – 0.

Game Two – Thor (Noah Syndergaard) – for all the talk of Jake Arrieta I’d think if I was a right-handed major league hitter I’d rather face Jake than Thor. How could the Blue Jays ever trade someone like this? Career K rate double digits, career walk rate below 2. At age 23 he already is one of the elite pitchers in baseball. It is a shame this game does not match up Kershaw against Thor because it would have 1-0 written all over it.

Game Three – The ageless Bartolo Colon just keeps rolling along. He’s now 43 and it looks like he’ll throw another 190 or so innings of solid baseball. He’s joined the select company of pitchers who have thrown 3,000 innings, struck out over 2,000,  while walking only 867. Only eight major league pitchers have accomplished this.

Bullpen:

The closer is Jeurys Familia and while he’s only been at it barely more than a calendar year, he’s already one of the best in the game at closing the door. His setup man this year is Hansel Robles, along with Addison Reed, and Jim Henderson. Robles hits around 95 with his fastball. Trayce Thompson hit a walk off home run off of Robles earlier this month, the only home run Robles has given up this year. The lefties out of the bullpen are old stand byes Jerry Blevins and Antonio Bastardo. Blevins has been excellent this year, while Bastardo has the highest walk rate among Met pitchers.

Recap:

At least Urias did not draw Thor in his first major league assignment, but DeGroom at home may prove to be just as tough a draw. The Dodgers will have their work cut out with back to back starts against DeGroom and Thor, hoping to finagle a low scoring win. The best game for the Dodgers is of course any game Kershaw starts, but Colon is no easy picking. This will be a tough series for a team struggling with offense.

Alex Wood – Strikeout King?

♦ May 26, 2016 ♦ Leave a comment

When Alex Wood struck out thirteen of his eighteen outs in his last start on 5/21/2016 it seemed to get little fanfare. Probably because the Dodgers not only lost the game, but Wood only managed to get eighteen outs.

Yet for Wood it was his best strikeout performance of his career. Only four times has Alex Wood managed double-digit strikeouts, and his thirteen on May 21st was his high water mark. However I don’t want to get carried away and say this was his best game. Far from it, as he has had twelve games with a higher game score, including three with the LAD.

Yet this game was historical for the Los Angeles Dodgers.  The LAD have quite a history of strikeout pitchers from Sandy Koufax to Clayton Kershaw with Drysdale/Sutton/Nomo/Fernando in between, but it is Alex Wood who currently sits on top of one particular leaderboard.

Using the criteria of getting at least fifteen outs (5 IP) Alex Wood now holds the best Strike out to Out percentage for the LAD.

Scott Kazmir was so impressed with what Wood did that he almost replicated the performance last night (05/25/17). A game that I was able to attend thanks to TBLA blogger Craig Minami who extended a ticket to me. The game last night was notable for cumulative strikeouts. Twenty Seven Dodgers/Reds struck out last night, one of the highest one game total for both teams in the LAD era.

But I digress, back to Alex Wood. Below is the leaderboard for LAD with at least 15 outs and strike out to out percentage > 60%.  I used Baseball reference for this information.

LAD pitchers with at least five innings pitched and at least ten strikeouts

To be sure, striking out eighteen in a nine inning game is way more impressive as Ramon Martinez and Sandy Koufax have done. Still Alex Wood deserves his day in the sun along with all these celebrated LAD hurlers, and here it is.

The STOP column on the far right stands for “Strikeout to out percentage”.

Player Date Opp Rslt IP H ER BB SO Outs STOP
Alex Wood 5/21/2016 SDP L 2-3 6 4 2 1 13 18 72.22%
Aaron Harang 4/13/2012 SDP W 9-8 6.1 4 4 2 13 19 68.42%
Ramon Martinez 6/4/1990 ATL W 6-0 9 3 0 1 18 27 66.67%
Sandy Koufax 4/24/1962 CHC W 10-2 9 6 2 4 18 27 66.67%
Sandy Koufax 8/31/1959 SFG W 5-2 9 7 2 2 18 27 66.67%
Hideo Nomo 6/14/1995 PIT W 8-5 8 6 2 2 16 24 66.67%
Brad Penny 5/7/2007 FLA W 6-1 7 5 0 0 14 21 66.67%
Hideo Nomo 5/17/1995 PIT L 2-3 7 2 0 3 14 21 66.67%
Chad Billingsley 4/24/2008 ARI L 4-6 6 6 5 2 12 18 66.67%
Charlie Haeger 4/11/2010 FLA L 5-6 6 3 3 4 12 18 66.67%
Clayton Kershaw 4/17/2015 COL W 7-3 6 6 1 1 12 18 66.67%
Darren Dreifort 5/22/2003 COL W 4-3 6 2 1 4 12 18 66.67%
Hyun-jin Ryu 4/30/2013 COL W 6-2 6 3 2 2 12 18 66.67%
Sandy Koufax 7/25/1963 PIT L 2-6 6 8 4 1 12 18 66.67%
Scott Kazmir 5/25/2016 CIN W 3-1 6 4 1 2 12 18 66.67%
Vicente Padilla 10/4/2009 COL W 5-3 5 4 1 0 10 15 66.67%
Hideo Nomo 4/13/1996 FLA W 3-1 9 3 1 3 17 27 62.96%
Chad Billingsley 9/26/2010 ARI L 4-5 7 4 1 1 13 21 61.90%
Chad Billingsley 7/13/2008 FLA W 9-1 7 5 1 0 13 21 61.90%
Clayton Kershaw 6/29/2014 STL W 6-0 7 5 0 2 13 21 61.90%
Clayton Kershaw 4/15/2009 SFG W 5-4 7 1 1 1 13 21 61.90%
Don Drysdale 6/3/1963 HOU L 1-2 7 7 2 1 13 21 61.90%
Hideo Nomo 8/20/1995 NYM L 3-5 7 6 5 2 13 21 61.90%
Clayton Kershaw 9/1/2010 PHI L 1-5 6 5 2 2 11 18 61.11%
Kevin Brown 9/17/2001 SDP L 4-6 6 5 1 3 11 18 61.11%