Dodger Briefs – Aug 20th, 2014
- Prospect Jose De Leon hurled a game score gem of 78 last night. In what might have been the best minor league game pitched all season, De Leon hurled six shutout innings, struck out fourteen, nary a walk, only four hits. In two starts since being promoted to the Loons of the Midwest League, De Leon has struck out twenty-one without a single walk in only twelve innings. A tad incredible.
- Carl Crawford is hot hot hot with sixteen hits in his last eight starts, hitting a cool .500 over his last nine games. He has also quietly stolen nineteen out of twenty-three base attempts which harken back to his hey day with the Rays.
- Dodger discount hurlers have now made multiple starts without embarrassing anyone
- Prospect Scott Schebler slugged his Southern league leading 25th home run
- Uber prospect Corey Seager is toying with AA with a quintuple stat line of 357 /.375/.531/.906/.423
- Future Dodger backup catcher Fedex has hit eleven home runs in only 219 plate appearances since being demoted to AAA in June
- If Grienke cannot go on Thursday that would leave temporarily leave Kershaw as the last man standing with Ryu on the DL, Beckett on the DL and gone, and Haren blowing in the wind. Luckily I was able to use the word temporarily.
Series Preview – New look 3rd place Padres visit the Ravine
I’ve been itching to write about the Padres for a while because who the hell are these guys? Ever since they traded Chase Headley the Padres have gone 16 – 10 which is how they are currently in 3rd place. The team has so many new names it will be a revelation to myself, and you who they are.
1st Base – Yonder Alonzo came back from his first injury, got hot for a week, and then suffered a season ending injury so he be gone. In his place are Tommy Medica and Jake Goebbert. Goebbert and Gyorko what a combo on the right side when they start together. Both Medica and Goebbert are 26-year-old rookies without much of a pedigree. It helps that one is right-handed and the other left-handed (Goebbert). Both have actually hit the ball well in limited time so far. Medica has an OPS+ of 115, while Goebbert is sitting at 127. Medica has done his damage in 200 plate appearances so he has been getting plenty of burn. Goebbert basically had last week to work with when Yonder went missing and so far his come up big.
2nd Base – Gyorko is finally back, and is finally hitting like the jerk who played 2nd base in 2013. For most of 2014 Gyorko was probably the worst offensive starter in baseball, but since returning from the DL on July 28th, he has an OPS of .867 including a five RBI game on Saturday.
SS – With Everth Cabrera on the DL, Alexi Amarista is manning SS most of the time. And yes he still can’t hit, even a little.
3rd – Yangervis Solarte was the prize in the Chase Headley deal, and while I did not think he was much of a prize he has done solid work for the Padres. In the beginning he played 2nd while Gyorko was hurt but has now moved over to 3rd base. As a Padre he has been showing excellent OB skills (.379) and some surprising power with three home runs in 86 at bats.
C – Yasmani Grandal and Rene Rivera share this spot and compared to the Dodgers offensive catchers they could be considered juggernauts with an OPS+ of 94 and 110 respectively.
LF – Seth Smith is having a monstrous year. Just monstrous. OPS+ of 160 ranks among the elite of the NL. Also 38 points then his best season. I could go on but I won’t.
CF – Abraham Almonte came over in the Denorfia trade. He was the Mariner starting CF on opening day this year, and is now the Padre CF while Maybin wonders why his career never followed the path of fellow 2005 draftees like Tulo, Braun, and Cutch.
RF – Rymer Liriano – the Padres best position prospect came up last week and possesses power and speed. Rymer missed all of 2013 so he fell off the prospect radar but has moved up three level this year from AA to AAA to the major leagues. It has been a long wait for Padre fans to get a look at Rymer, he was signed with much fanfare back in 2007.
How about that 2005 draft – holy hell some great players were drafted that year.
Year Rnd OvPck Tm Name Pos WAR Type 2005 1 1 Diamondbacks Justin Upton(minors) SS 20.2 HS 2005 1 2 Royals Alex Gordon(minors) 3B 27.2 4Yr 2005 1 4 Nationals Ryan Zimmerman(minors) 3B 34.5 4Yr 2005 1 5 Brewers Ryan Braun(minors) 3B 36.8 4Yr 2005 1 7 Rockies Troy Tulowitzki(minors) SS 37.8 4Yr 2005 1 10 Tigers Cameron Maybin(minors) OF 9.0 HS 2005 1 11 Pirates Andrew McCutchen(minors) OF 31.7 HS 2005 1 12 Reds Jay Bruce(minors) OF 15.3 HS 2005 1 23 Red Sox via Angels *Jacoby Ellsbury(minors) OF 23.5 4Yr 2005 1 25 Twins Matt Garza(minors) RHP 14.9 4Yr 2005 1 28 Cardinals via Red Sox *Colby Rasmus(minors) OF 12.9 HS 2005 1s 42 Red Sox *Clay Buchholz(minors) RHP 13.0 JC 2005 1s 45 Red Sox *Jed Lowrie(minors) 2B 8.2 4Yr
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 8/19/2014.
Joc Pederson and Scott Schebler might be doing something quite unique
Pederson on the season is hitting .302/.425/.568 with 27 home runs and 26 stolen bases in 105 games for the Isotopes. With 19 games remaining in the minor league season, he has a good chance at becoming the first Pacific Coast League player in 80 years to finish with 30 home runs and 30 steals in the same season.
Eric wrote that on Aug 13th, on Aug 18th, Joc blasted his 30th home run. Joc currently leads the PCL in home runs with his 30 home runs. Adam Duvall has 26 but is currently in the major leagues so Joc would appear to be a shoe-in to win the PCL home run crown since it does not appear likely that Dodgers will be promoting him before the Sept callups.
I noted yesterday how Scott Schebler is leading the Southern League in home runs with his 25. With only two weeks left in the year Scott does not have much competition, so I feel comfortable in saying that Joc Pederson and Scott Schebler will lead their respective leagues in home runs.
Which left me wondering has this ever been done? Two Dodger prospects leading their respective leagues in home runs? Not talking John Lindsey types but actual 25 and under prospects. It isn’t easy to do, for one you need to stay in the same league for most of the year, and usually noted prospects get promoted when they are dominating a league. Joc was blocked at the major league level by the under achieving over paid left fielders currently inhabiting the major league roster. It is a little more curious why Schebler was allowed to stay in AA all year. He’s not a CF by trade so he was not blocked by Joc.
But wait, we aren’t done yet.
Justin Chigbogu (say that three times fast) is also leading the Pioneer league in home runs with 16. His main competition is Aristides Aquino who has 14 so we can’t claim him the winner just yet.
Check back in two weeks and maybe the Dodgers will have three minor league home run champions that are all considered prospects.
AA Southern League home run hitter Scott Schebler and major league 3rd baseman Jake Lamb have something in common
Yesterday Scott Schebler hit his 25th home run which leads the Southern League thanks to Kris Bryant being promoted to AAA many weeks ago. Schebler is still going relatively unnoticed among the prospect intelligentsia, but the rotisserie world is taking notice. Jesse Siegel the Rotowire minor league columnist commented on Schebler this weekend during his Upgrade spot:
Scott Schebler, OF, LAD – Schebler has been on fire lately for Double-A Chattanooga. The 23-year-old outfielder is hitting .324 with six home runs, 12 RBI and one steal over his last 10 games for the Lookouts. That brings his overall numbers to .282/.365/.557 with 24 home runs, 65 RBI and 10 steals through 116 games. The Dodgers still have a huge glut of outfielders at the big-league level, as evidenced by the fact that stud prospect Joc Pederson has remained at Triple-A for the entire season despite fantastic statistics. Schebler wasn’t making it to the majors this season anyway, though, and perhaps this offseason the Dodgers will unload the likes of Andre Ethier, Carl Crawford and even Matt Kemp. With the outfield talent coming through the minors, Los Angeles might be able to afford such a cost-cutting move without any loss of production.
I thought I’d check in on Scott via Andrew Grant’s excellent minor league central site and use his leaderboards to do some research. I knew Schebler lead the Southern League in home runs, but I wanted to see how he stacked up age wise against his competition. One thing stood out for me. Jake Lamb and Scott Schebler are the exact same baseball age at 23. 67. Jake Lamb was promoted two weeks ago to be the Diamondbacks starting 3rd baseman. Lamb had the highest wOBA in the Southern League at .433, but his BABIP was sitting at .389. Schebler has an wOBA of .403 but with a more reasonable BABIP of only .304. With an ISO of .270 a full 40 points higher than Lamb, Schebler would seem to be the better hitting prospect.
So I’ll be watching to see how Jake Lamb does against major league pitching, and maybe just maybe, the prospect intelligentsia should start taking Schebler a little more seriously.
Dodgers History – Dodgers defeat Cubs in 21 innings – August 18th, 1982
It took two days to complete the 21 inning marathon. The game was started on August 17th, and halted after 17 innings, tied at 1. It was completed on August 18th, when Dusty Baker in his ninth at bats hit a sacrifice fly to score Steve Sax who had doubled earlier in the inning. The Dodgers used eight pitchers, and six of those pitchers went multiple innings. Jerry Ruess came into to pitch the 18th on August 18th and pitched four shutout innings for the victory.
Dusty Baker remembers this game well:
That would be noteworthy enough, but that 21-inning game also featured some creative managerial moves from the Dodgers’ Tommy Lasorda — even if it was out of necessity. In the 20th inning, Dodger third baseman Ron Cey was ejected by umpire Dave Pallone after he was picked off. Out of position players, Lasorda moved Pedro Guerrero from right field to third base and put pitcher Fernando Valenzuela in right field, while Baker stayed in left field.
“Lasorda put Fernando in left against a left-handed hitter and then I’d move for a right-handed hitter,” Baker said on Wednesday. “That was crazy. It was like running sprints during the game, because the umpires were like, ‘c’mon, c’mon, c’mon.’ I was like, ‘damn dude, I just got over here.’”
After Ryne Sandberg struck out, Larry Bowa hit the ball to right and was retired by Valenzuela for the second out of the inning. Then Baker moved to right field as Reuss faced the left-handed hitting Bill Buckner and Leon Durham. In the 21st inning, Bob Welch replaced Valenzuela in left field as Reuss faced Cubs pitcher Jerry Ruess. Baker and Welch switch positions with Jody Davis at the plate and then again when Steve Henderson grounded out to second to end the game.
Baker remembered going 1 for 9, but in reality he was 1 for 8 with a walk. He didn’t play in the second game.
Dodger History – Kevin Gross no hits Giants 2 -0 on Aug 17th, 1992
Twenty two years ago in a season that was over before the All-Star break, Kevin Gross pitched the first Dodger no – hitter at Dodger Stadium since Fernando did the trick on June 29th, 1990, beating the Giants 2 – 0. Before Fernando you would have to go all the way back to a game I attended in the left field pavilion on July 20th, 1970. Bill Singer threw a contested no-hitter when he was given an error on a weak ground ball by Don Money that probably would have been ruled a hit if a no-hitter was not in play.
Future 1992 ROY Eric Karros hit his seventeenth home run to provide the winning margin. No -hitters seem common these days, but when Kevin Gross threw his no – hitter, it was the first one of 1992, coming a full eleven months after the last one. Gross won for the first time in over a month moving his record to 6 – 12. Gross signed a four-year deal with the Dodgers before the 1991 season, going 40 – 44 over those four years with an ERA+ of 102.
Sometimes no – hitters get too much credit. Game score feels that his shutout of the Expos on May 12th was an even better game, and I’d agree. In that game Gross struck out 13 hitters without allowing a walk. He may have given up three hits but he clearly was more dominant on May 12th. That was in fact the most strikeouts Gross would have in a game during his fourteen year career.
Date Opp Rslt AppDec IP H ER BB SO GSc 1992-05-12 MON W 2-0 SHO9 W 9.0 3 0 0 13 94 1992-08-17 SFG W 2-0 SHO9 W 9.0 0 0 2 6 91 Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used Generated 8/17/2014.
Gross was known as a work horse when the Dodgers signed him to his four year deal the winter of 1991. Since becoming a full time starter in 1985, Gross had averaged 207 IP per year with a high of 241 and low of 163. He pretty much fulfilled that for the Dodgers He was hurt in 1981 but did come back to hurl over 200 IP in both 1992 and 1993.
You never got excited going to a Kevin Gross start but on this day he joined the esteemed ranks of Dodger no hitters.
Player Date Opp Rslt IP H BB SO GSc Clayton Kershaw 2014-06-18 COL W 8-0 9.0 0 0 15 102 Josh Beckett 2014-05-25 PHI W 6-0 9.0 0 3 6 90 Hideo Nomo 1996-09-17 COL W 9-0 9.0 0 4 8 91 Ramon Martinez 1995-07-14 FLA W 7-0 9.0 0 1 8 94 Kevin Gross 1992-08-17 SFG W 2-0 9.0 0 2 6 91 Fernando Valenzuela 1990-06-29 STL W 6-0 9.0 0 3 7 91 Jerry Reuss 1980-06-27 SFG W 8-0 9.0 0 0 2 89 Bill Singer 1970-07-20 PHI W 5-0 9.0 0 0 10 97 Sandy Koufax 1965-09-09 CHC W 1-0 9.0 0 0 14 101 Sandy Koufax 1964-06-04 PHI W 3-0 9.0 0 1 12 98 Sandy Koufax 1963-05-11 SFG W 8-0 9.0 0 2 4 89 Sandy Koufax 1962-06-30 NYM W 5-0 9.0 0 5 13 95
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/17/2014.
Dodger History – One year ago Clayton blanked the Phillies, making the Dodger run 42 – 8
The 2013 Dodgers started the streak on June 22nd, their record at the time was 30 – 42, 9.5 games back of 1st place, firmly entrenched in last place. In one of the greatest runs in baseball history the Dodgers climbed over four teams in just twenty-five games, and would never look back winning the 2013 Western Division by 11 games.
Clayton Kershaw shutout the Phillies 5-0, moving the Dodgers to 42 – 8 over their last 50 games. It also gave the Dodgers a 1o game winning streak, their first double-digit winning streak since 2006. Per Eric Stephen The Los Angeles Dodgers now have eight double digit winning streaks in their history. The 42 – 8 equals the 1941 Yankees and 1942 Cardinals for the best record for that span of games since 1900.
Taking a look back at that run a year later it is still mind boggling that a team with 42 losses after 72 games, could win 42 games in only fifty games. Who does that?
Nobody
Jose De Leon, 21 year old 2012 24th round draft pick makes the Baseball America Hot Sheet
Not be to confused with slugging 18 year old Julian Leon, Jose De Leon tries to make his own name.
https://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/prospect-hot-sheet-aug-15/
0. Jose De Leon, rhp, Dodgers
The Scoop: With a young pitcher, a tweak here or there, or a new pitch can often make a dramatic difference. A year ago, De Leon, a 24th-round pick out of Southern in 2013, was way over his head in the Pioneer League. But over the offseason, he got in better shape, and the Dodgers moved him from the third base side to the middle of the rubber, which allowed him to be more direct to the plate with his cross-fire delivery. Pair that with a jump in his velocity (he now pitches at 92-96 mph) and De Leon is a force to be reckoned with. He’s allowed four earned runs in his last 37 2/3 innings and dominated in his Midwest League debut, allowing one run on three hits while striking out seven in six innings.
Dodger History – August 15th, 2006 – Dodgers blank Marlins for sixth straight win, and 17th win in 18 games – Fueled by two Dodger rookies
On July 26th the 2006 Dodgers had a 47 – 55 record, were in 5th place, and 7.5 games back of 1st place. They would go on a historic run winning 17 of their next 18 games, culminating with a 4-0 whitewash of the Marlins on August 15th.
The run would come to an end on August 16th but by then the Dodgers had done what they needed to do to climb over four teams into first place with a 3.5 game lead that they would hold until the final weekend of the regular season. Chad Billingsley would win the first game of the run on July 28th, and he would win the last game of the run on August 15th.
Chad made four stats from July 28th – August 15 and won every game. 24 IP, 13 hits allowed, 24 K’s, ERA of 1.13. It was no wonder that Dodger fans expected Chad to be a mainstay of the rotation for years to come, as Chad had only turned 22 just one day after starting the streak on July 28th.
Offensively the run was fueled by another rookie, Andre Ethier who had a triple stat line of .338 / .361 / .618 with 10 extra base hits in only sixty eight at bats. At the end of the run Andre was hitting a robust .343 and Dodgers fans were wondering if he could win the batting title he could simply garner enough at bats.
Eight years later those two rookies are having little to zero effect on the current Dodger world champion aspirations. Chad never pitched this year, and it looks like he never will pitch for the Dodgers again. Andre is a fourth outfielder who has done little this year except earn money. Yet, between 2006 – 2013 these two rookies gave Dodger fans plenty to cheer about.
Discounted traded acquisitions continue to pay dividends
A week ago I asked if the acquisitions of Roberto Hernandez and Kevin Correia were a disaster waiting to happen, but so far, you could say they have been exactly what the Ned ordered.
On Friday August 8th, even though the Dodgers lost 9 – 3, Roberto Hernandez pitched six strong innings, giving up only two runs while walking zero, with five punchouts. That strikeout total was as many as he had accumulated in his previous three starts with the Phillies.
Kevin Correia followed that up Monday with what was supposed to be a spot start with another charming outing, earning a victory with six innings of one run ball. He only walked one, and also struck out five.
Today, Roberto Hernandez pitching another six innings (notice a trend), this time notching his first Dodger victory even though Brian Wilson tried to give his game away. Roberto struck out another five, but this time walked four, more in line with his history.
In the three games that these two have started here are the highlights and trends:
- Dodgers are 2 – 1
- Each pitcher has gone exactly six innings per start
- Each pitcher has struck out exactly five per start
- In Roberto’s two games the pitchers who followed him other than Kenley Jansen have given up twelve runs in five innings
Dodgers, Yesterday and Today 