Matt Kemp your NL Batting Average Leader
Even if you don’t subscribe to batting average being part of the cool club, it is still something to marvel at when Matt Kemp leads the National League in batting average after two months of the season are in the books.
Notice I did not say he leads the NL in hitting as that is a completely different thing but hey his wRC+ is also quite lofty. For now let us put this stat to paper so it will remain forever logged.
As I was writing this Matt Kemp just slugged a home run and is now completely in front of Scooter Gennett.
| Name | PA | AVG | OBP | SLG | wRC+ | WAR |
| Matt Kemp | 181 | 0.343 | 0.37 | 0.55 | 152 | 1.4 |
| Scooter Gennett | 222 | 0.343 | 0.377 | 0.551 | 152 | 1.9 |
| Freddie Freeman | 253 | 0.335 | 0.435 | 0.538 | 162 | 2.5 |
| Nick Markakis | 252 | 0.333 | 0.401 | 0.505 | 147 | 2 |
| Nolan Arenado | 221 | 0.319 | 0.416 | 0.58 | 152 | 2.3 |
| Odubel Herrera | 220 | 0.313 | 0.377 | 0.485 | 137 | 1.7 |
| Albert Almora Jr. | 165 | 0.313 | 0.366 | 0.44 | 121 | 1.6 |
| Corey Dickerson | 214 | 0.31 | 0.346 | 0.49 | 124 | 1.4 |
| Brandon Belt | 225 | 0.309 | 0.404 | 0.55 | 162 | 2.4 |
| Brandon Crawford | 209 | 0.307 | 0.349 | 0.469 | 122 | 1.4 |
| Christian Yelich | 199 | 0.307 | 0.372 | 0.492 | 133 | 1.4 |
| Starling Marte | 196 | 0.306 | 0.357 | 0.506 | 135 | 1.7 |
| Asdrubal Cabrera | 224 | 0.303 | 0.344 | 0.529 | 140 | 1.9 |
Dodger debuts are always special
Position player debuts are exciting but there is something different when it is a starting pitcher. Especially a starting pitcher who is considered a bonafide prospect and not someone just filling in like let’s say, Stephen Fife.
Yeah, this is going to be a long list.
Not as long as I thought it was going to be. The criteria were very simple. Making their first appearance must be a start, for the Los Angeles Dodgers. So if the first appearance was a relief appearance like Walker Buehler last summer his first start will not show up on this list.
I’m going to sort it by game score.
Yeah, Pedro Astacio was on top. I thought Ross Stripling would be near the top and he clocks in at number 5. Doug Rau who seems to be quite undervalued as a Dodger pitcher had the 3rd best debut ever.
Does anyone even remember that Jose De Leon struck out more in his first start than any other LAD when he fanned nine on Sept 4th, 2016? Well, it turns out I can’t even read my own list. Ishii and Astacio both fanned ten, but still that Jose De Leon debut was awesome.
The worst first start ever belongs to Zach Lee. That is not a surprise. What is a surprise is that Julio Urias had the 4th worst start. The last time I got together with the TBLA gang was to watch his debut at a bar in Hollywood.
I think the most famous first start debut was Edwin Jackson defeating Randy Johnson on his 20th birthday.
The starts that I can remember:
Pedro Astacio, Doug Rau, Eric Gagne, Ross Stripling, Kazuhisa Ishii, Kuroda….oh hell, who am I kidding, I saw them all except for Sutton and Singer, and these guys who I never heard of – Nick Willhite, Larry Miller, John Duffie, Jim Golden, Ralph Mauriello, and Bob Giallombardo.
So many of these were gone so fast like Matt Magill, Stephen Fife, Jim Neidlinger, Derek Thompson, Red Patterson, and Terry Wells
Where will Dennis Santana fit on this list? In about eight hours we will know.
Player Date Tm Opp Rslt IP H ER BB SO GSc Pedro Astacio 1992-07-03(2) LAD PHI W 2-0 9.0 3 0 4 10 87 Nick Willhite 1963-06-16(2) LAD CHC W 2-0 9.0 5 0 1 6 82 Doug Rau 1972-09-02 LAD STL W 5-1 9.0 3 1 2 2 77 Eric Gagne 1999-09-07 LAD FLA L 1-2 6.0 2 0 1 8 75 Ross Stripling 2016-04-08 LAD SFG L 2-3 7.1 0 1 4 4 74 Kazuhisa Ishii 2002-04-06 LAD COL W 9-2 5.2 2 0 3 10 72 Hiroki Kuroda 2008-04-04 LAD SDP W 7-1 7.0 3 1 0 4 71 Hideo Nomo 1995-05-02 LAD SFG L 3-4 5.0 1 0 4 7 68 Ramon Martinez 1988-08-13 LAD SFG W 2-1 7.2 4 1 4 5 68 Kenta Maeda 2016-04-06 LAD SDP W 7-0 6.0 5 0 0 4 66 Shawn Hillegas 1987-08-09 LAD ATL W 5-2 8.2 7 2 3 6 65 Rick Sutcliffe 1976-09-29 LAD HOU W 1-0 5.0 2 0 1 3 65 Edwin Jackson 2003-09-09 LAD ARI W 4-1 6.0 4 1 0 4 64 Matt Magill 2013-04-27 LAD MIL L 4-6 6.2 4 2 2 7 63 Doyle Alexander 1971-06-26(2) LAD SDP W 4-3 8.0 7 2 0 3 63 Clayton Kershaw 2008-05-25 LAD STL W 4-3 6.0 5 2 1 7 60 Don Sutton 1966-04-14 LAD HOU L 2-4 7.0 7 2 1 7 59 Stephen Fife 2012-07-17 LAD PHI L 2-3 6.0 4 1 3 1 58 Jose De Leon 2016-09-04 LAD SDP W 7-4 6.0 5 3 0 9 57 Bill Singer 1964-09-24 LAD CHC L 3-4 6.1 4 1 5 1 57 Nathan Eovaldi 2011-08-06 LAD ARI W 5-3 5.0 4 2 2 7 56 Jim Neidlinger 1990-08-01 LAD SFG L 1-2 6.0 7 1 1 3 56 Larry Miller 1964-06-21(2) LAD CIN L 1-2 6.1 5 2 5 5 55 Derek Thompson 2005-05-28 LAD ARI L 4-5 5.0 2 2 4 4 55 Dennys Reyes 1997-07-13 LAD SFG W 9-3 6.0 4 3 4 6 54 Red Patterson 2014-05-01(2) LAD MIN W 4-3 4.2 2 1 3 1 54 John Duffie 1967-09-18 LAD NYM L 2-7 5.0 3 1 3 4 52 Sandy Vance 1970-04-26 LAD NYM L 1-3 6.0 4 3 1 0 51 Hyun-Jin Ryu 2013-04-02 LAD SFG L 0-3 6.1 10 1 0 5 50 Chad Billingsley 2006-06-15 LAD SDP W 7-3 5.1 6 2 2 3 49 Jim Golden 1960-09-30 LAD CHC W 7-5 7.0 6 5 4 4 45 Terry Wells 1990-07-03 LAD CHC W 7-6 6.0 8 4 1 6 41 John Ely 2010-04-28 LAD NYM L 3-7 6.0 6 5 3 4 41 Mike Kekich 1965-06-09 LAD PHI L 3-7 3.1 2 4 5 5 40 William Brennan 1988-07-19 LAD STL L 2-3 4.2 6 3 3 2 39 Brock Stewart 2016-06-29 LAD MIL L 0-7 5.0 8 5 2 7 36 Julio Urias 2016-05-27 LAD NYM L 5-6 2.2 5 3 4 3 35 Ralph Mauriello 1958-09-13 LAD PIT L 4-9 0.1 3 3 1 1 33 Bob Giallombardo 1958-06-21 LAD PIT L 7-11 4.0 7 5 3 2 27 Zach Lee 2015-07-25 LAD NYM L 2-15 4.2 11 7 1 3 16
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 6/1/2018.
Dennis Santana about to go where no Dodger has ever gone before.
The pressure over making your first major league start must be heady stuff, but imagine making your first major league start at Coors Field? That is what Dennis Santana is going to do tonight and no Dodger has ever done this.
Below are the Dodger who have made starts at Coors within their first five major league starts. The last to be tasked with this was Brock Stewart and that did not go well as Dave Roberts left him out to be beaten like a drum and his career ERA has yet to recover.
The only starter to have any success at all was Kenta Maeda who made his fourth major league start at Coors on April 23rd, 2016 and made a quality start. It is the nature of Coors that Nomo gave up seven runs and the Dodgers still won.
Ishii, Gorecki, Magill, and Rubby were all here today, gone tomorrow types. Rubby was at least the Dodgers top pitching prospect when he got the call. He would make only a few more starts before his arm blew along with his career.
Here is hoping that somehow Dennis Santana can navigate the white waters of Coors Field and make some history. The Dodgers could use a big game as they try to chase down the Rockies on the Rockies home court.
Gcar Player Date Tm Opp Rslt IP H ER BB SO Str GSc 2 Brock Stewart 2016-08-03 LAD COL L 2-12 4.0 10 9 1 1 46 6 2 Hideo Nomo 1995-05-07 LAD COL W 12-10 4.2 9 7 2 7 60 23 3 Kazuhisa Ishii 2002-04-17 LAD COL W 6-3 6.0 8 3 3 6 54 47 4 Rick Gorecki 1997-09-28 LAD COL L 9-13 2.1 7 9 4 4 37 7 4 Kenta Maeda 2016-04-23 LAD COL W 4-1 6.1 3 0 1 8 65 74 5 Matt Magill 2013-06-02 LAD COL L 2-7 6.0 5 6 9 5 55 32 5 Rubby De La Rosa 2011-06-12 LAD COL W 10-8 5.0 3 3 3 6 44 52
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 6/1/2018.
Ross, Walker, Kenta, and KJ lift the heavy load in May
The Dodgers were one game into May when they lost Clayton Kershaw for the whole month except for one start on May 31st. They lost Ryu two games into May. Later they lost Rich Hill. Kenley Jansen came into May staggering but left swaggering. With 3/5 of the starting rotation on the disabled list for most of the month of May, the Dodgers turned to wonderkid Walker Buehler and bullpen piece Ross Stripling who both pitched so well that nobody was missed.
Walker and Ross were not only plugs in the rotation dike, they put up some of the best numbers of any starting pitcher in the month of May across all of the National League.
Ross is not doing it with mirrors. Look at the ground ball percentage, the FIP, the xFIP, the K/9 rate, the BB/9 rate. This is elite pitching and sure it is only 29 innings but the underlying skills support the success.
Walker Buehler has done everything you want your top pitching prospect to do, and more. He may not have been ready last Sept for his audition for the postseason, but he is doing everything he can to keep the Dodgers in contention for this postseason.
| Rank | Name | WAR | IP | K/9 | BB/9 | GB% | ERA | FIP | xFIP |
| 1 | Max Scherzer | 1.6 | 40.2 | 13.94 | 2.21 | 30.10% | 2.21 | 2.19 | 2.42 |
| 2 | Aaron Nola | 1.5 | 40 | 10.35 | 1.8 | 53.20% | 1.8 | 2.07 | 2.35 |
| 3 | Ross Stripling | 1.4 | 29 | 12.41 | 1.24 | 54.40% | 1.24 | 1.23 | 1.73 |
| 4 | Walker Buehler | 1 | 31 | 10.74 | 1.45 | 50.00% | 2.32 | 2.15 | 2.36 |
| 5 | Jon Gray | 1 | 32.1 | 11.41 | 2.78 | 55.30% | 5.57 | 2.81 | 2.76 |
| 6 | Sean Newcomb | 1 | 35 | 7.71 | 4.11 | 51.60% | 1.54 | 2.78 | 4.21 |
| 7 | Miles Mikolas | 0.9 | 33.1 | 6.48 | 1.35 | 50.00% | 1.89 | 2.61 | 3.34 |
| 10 | Jake Arrieta | 0.8 | 30 | 6 | 2.7 | 52.30% | 0.9 | 3.12 | 4.04 |
| 12 | Stephen Strasburg | 0.8 | 32.1 | 11.13 | 2.51 | 44.90% | 2.51 | 2.87 | 3.02 |
| 15 | Noah Syndergaard | 0.7 | 30 | 9 | 2.4 | 50.00% | 3.3 | 3.09 | 3.52 |
| 19 | Zack Greinke | 0.5 | 30.2 | 8.8 | 1.76 | 41.70% | 2.64 | 3.87 | 3.6 |
| 29 | Jon Lester | 0.3 | 30 | 8.1 | 2.7 | 31.60% | 2.7 | 4.06 | 4.15 |
| 35 | Jose Quintana | 0.1 | 32 | 9.56 | 4.78 | 43.00% | 3.09 | 4.62 | 4.26 |
Here are the Dodger numbers for the month of May courtesy of Fangraphs:
One stat that stands out is the ground ball rate of Scott Alexander at 83%. The return of Alexander gave a much-needed boost to the bullpen.
Alex Wood was overshadowed by the work of Ross, Walker, and Kenta but he held his own making five starts and putting up decent numbers.
| Name | WAR | G | GS | IP | K/9 | BB/9 | GB% | ERA | FIP | xFIP |
| Ross Stripling | 1.5 | 6 | 5 | 30 | 12.3 | 1.2 | 55.70% | 1.2 | 1.22 | 1.71 |
| Walker Buehler | 1 | 5 | 5 | 31 | 10.74 | 1.45 | 50.00% | 2.32 | 2.15 | 2.36 |
| Kenta Maeda | 0.6 | 5 | 5 | 26 | 11.77 | 2.77 | 32.30% | 3.46 | 2.93 | 2.92 |
| Kenley Jansen | 0.6 | 14 | 0 | 15 | 9.6 | 1.2 | 38.90% | 0.6 | 1.39 | 3.01 |
| Alex Wood | 0.2 | 5 | 5 | 27.1 | 9.22 | 2.3 | 40.50% | 3.29 | 4.22 | 3.26 |
| Tony Cingrani | 0.2 | 11 | 0 | 10.1 | 13.06 | 2.61 | 42.90% | 4.35 | 2.64 | 2.94 |
| Pedro Baez | 0.2 | 13 | 0 | 13.2 | 11.85 | 3.95 | 34.30% | 2.63 | 2.98 | 3.68 |
| Scott Alexander | 0.1 | 9 | 0 | 8.2 | 6.23 | 3.12 | 83.30% | 1.04 | 3.12 | 3.68 |
| Clayton Kershaw | 0.1 | 2 | 2 | 11 | 9 | 1.64 | 38.70% | 2.45 | 4.03 | 3.28 |
| Daniel Hudson | 0.1 | 10 | 0 | 13.1 | 6.08 | 4.05 | 40.50% | 4.05 | 4.1 | 4.94 |
| Yimi Garcia | 0.1 | 7 | 0 | 7.2 | 8.22 | 1.17 | 29.20% | 4.7 | 3.77 | 4.4 |
| Adam Liberatore | 0 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 6 | 44.40% | 9 | 2.46 | 4.07 |
| Hyun-Jin Ryu | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1.1 | 13.5 | 6.75 | 66.70% | 0 | 2.37 | 2.37 |
| Erik Goeddel | 0 | 6 | 0 | 5.2 | 9.53 | 7.94 | 46.20% | 0 | 3.65 | 5.65 |
| Pat Venditte | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3.2 | 9.82 | 0 | 38.50% | 7.36 | 5.3 | 3.52 |
| Edward Paredes | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00% | 0 | 7.62 | 10.05 |
| Josh Fields | -0.1 | 13 | 0 | 13.1 | 6.08 | 2.7 | 35.10% | 2.7 | 4.62 | 4.49 |
| Brock Stewart | -0.1 | 4 | 2 | 12 | 6 | 3.75 | 42.10% | 4.5 | 5.46 | 5.04 |
| J.T. Chargois | -0.1 | 8 | 0 | 6.2 | 12.15 | 9.45 | 52.60% | 9.45 | 5.52 | 4.78 |
| Rich Hill | -0.4 | 3 | 3 | 9.2 | 8.38 | 5.59 | 38.70% | 6.52 | 8.5 | 5.63 |
Dodger offense in May provided by two unlikely sources and one that Dave Roberts seems oblivous too
The Dodgers didn’t have a great offensive month in May as they were ranked 11th in wRC+ at 90 but they did have some solid performances, with most of the production coming from their 1st baseman but not the one you would have expected.
I sort this by plate appearances because I think it gives a great look at who is playing. Cody Bellinger led the team in May plate appearances while having the worst offensive month of his career.
Yasiel Puig led the team in wRC+ at 166 but could be found sitting whenever Dave Roberts felt the need to get the anemic bat of Joc Pederson in the lineup. Joc had a wRC+ of 64 for the Month, which was the lowest for any of the so called starters. Joc not only gets to start more than he should but he gets to hit leadoff where his May OBP of .278 was found to be more attactive than the Puig OBP of .367.
Matt Kemp garnered over 100 plate appearances and posted an absurd May wRC+ of 156. I’m not shorting Matt Kemp here, he will get own own May writeup.
Chris Taylor took to shortstop and hit like Corey Seager putting up an outstanding wRC+ of 140.
However, the name we should all be in awe of was Max Muncy who took over the 1st base gig against all right-handed pitchers with a shocking wRC+ of 151 in 84 plate appearances for the month of May. I tweeted this when Muncy was starting against a left-hand pitcher instead of Cody Bellinger.
Have we really reached the point where Max Muncy is a better alternative against a left-hand pitcher than Cody Bellinger?
— Phil Gurnee (@meercatjohn) May 23, 2018
Jon Weisman rightfully spanked me with the news that Cody had yet to have a day off.
The catchers who had been so productive in April, wilted in May with neither Grandal or Barnes able to put up a wRC+ greater than 100.
The long-anticipated return of Justin Turner has yet to turn into much production but he continues to bat 3rd in the lineup while the best hitter for the month is usually found hitting 7th, 8th, or on the bench. I’m not saying Justin Turner shouldn’t be batting 3rd but I am saying that maybe Puig should stop hitting eighth. Not like the guy doesn’t have a career OPS+ of 126 in almost 2500 major league at-bats.
Breyvic Valera got his first major league hit this month, and he did it just in the nick of time.
The stats below were provided by the Fangraphs Monthly Split Tool:
| Name | PA | wOBA | wRC+ | HR |
| Cody Bellinger | 113 | 0.285 | 81 | 5 |
| Chris Taylor | 112 | 0.372 | 140 | 3 |
| Matt Kemp | 103 | 0.396 | 156 | 3 |
| Yasmani Grandal | 89 | 0.297 | 89 | 4 |
| Max Muncy | 84 | 0.388 | 151 | 5 |
| Joc Pederson | 79 | 0.26 | 64 | 0 |
| Yasiel Puig | 60 | 0.41 | 166 | 5 |
| Enrique Hernandez | 60 | 0.285 | 81 | 4 |
| Justin Turner | 60 | 0.295 | 88 | 1 |
| Chase Utley | 54 | 0.172 | 4 | 0 |
| Austin Barnes | 50 | 0.276 | 75 | 1 |
| Logan Forsythe | 45 | 0.257 | 62 | 0 |
| Alex Verdugo | 30 | 0.264 | 66 | 0 |
| Kyle Farmer | 23 | 0.183 | 12 | 0 |
| Tim Locastro | 14 | 0.302 | 93 | 0 |
| Breyvic Valera | 10 | 0.157 | -6 | 0 |
Now for the Baseball Ref stats:
Most doubles in May belongs to Matt Kemp who hit 10, followed by Joc Pederson with six. Joc had fifteen hits in May, and six of those were doubles.
Max Muncy, Cody Bellinger, and Yasiel Puig all hit five home runs for the month.
Matt Kemp drove in 17 runs to lead the team followed by Max Muncy with 15.
Four Dodgers had double-digit walks in May (Bellinger, Taylor, Grandal, and Muncy).
Chase Utley had a bad bad month but his replacement Logan Forsythe wasn’t much better. Chase had an OPS of .381 and Logan had an OPS of .598.
Player Split PA 2B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS Cody Bellinger May 113 4 5 13 11 30 .180 .265 .390 .655 Chris Taylor May 112 5 3 10 16 29 .253 .393 .451 .843 Matt Kemp May 103 10 3 17 4 19 .361 .379 .557 .935 Yasmani Grandal May 89 0 4 9 15 22 .181 .315 .347 .662 Max Muncy May 84 5 5 15 13 19 .261 .381 .551 .932 Joc Pederson May 79 6 0 5 6 12 .211 .278 .324 .602 Justin Turner May 60 3 1 8 4 6 .255 .317 .364 .680 Yasiel Puig May 60 2 5 8 7 12 .283 .367 .604 .970 Enrique Hernandez May 60 0 4 7 4 15 .196 .250 .411 .661 Chase Utley May 54 1 0 3 3 12 .137 .185 .196 .381 Austin Barnes May 50 0 1 1 7 11 .214 .340 .286 .626 Logan Forsythe May 45 3 0 2 3 5 .238 .289 .310 .598 Alex Verdugo May 30 4 0 1 0 5 .241 .241 .379 .621 Kyle Farmer May 23 0 0 2 1 5 .190 .217 .190 .408 Tim Locastro May 14 1 0 0 2 5 .182 .357 .273 .630
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 6/1/2018.
May starts and ends the same way
The Dodgers recovered some of their moxie in May with a boatload of surprise performances but in a month of bad news, they finished the month with even more.
On May 1st Clayton Kershaw pitched six innings and left the game with bicep tenderness and would miss the rest of the month until he made his next start on May 31st. Dodger fans waited all month for Clayton to make this start and Clayton lasted just five innings before leaving with “back tightness” and is now scheduled for an MRI. If Clayton hits the DL with his back issue it will be the third year in a row that Clayton has hit the DL with back issues. Will the Dodgers even see Clayton in the month of June?
But enough about Clayton, this is about the month of May which was a bit unusual even for Dodger standards.
The Dodgers ended April at 12 – 16 and eight full games back of the Diamondbacks.
The good news – they made up almost all the ground on the Diamondbacks and finished May just 2 1/ 2 games back of the Diamondbacks mostly thanks to the Diamondbacks going 8 – 19 for the month.
The bad news – the Rockies are now in 1st place and the Dodgers trail the Rockies by four games.
The Dodgers went 14 – 14 for the month of May but considering at one point in May they were only 4 – 10 in May and are on the verge of last place they had a remarkable comeback by winning nine of their next eleven games to surge into 3rd place.
Let’s talk about Caleb Ferguson
Last week Caleb Ferguson was promoted to AAA to pitch for the Oklahoma Dodgers at the age of twenty-one. Caleb earned this promotion by being the best pitcher stat-wise for the Dodger AA affiliate Tulsa team. You could argue he was the best pitcher in the Texas League and I would not disagree if we are simply talking the numbers and not the stuff. Caleb led the league in ERA with a paltry 1.38, was 4th in WHIP at 1.051, and 6th in SO/W at 4. Based on at least 30 innings, and being a full-time starter.
| Name | Aff | ERA ▲ | GS | IP | WHIP | BB9 | SO9 | SO/W |
| Caleb Ferguson* | LAD | 1.38 | 8 | 39 | 1.051 | 2.3 | 9.2 | 4 |
| Cionel Perez* | HOU | 1.88 | 7 | 38.1 | 1.174 | 3.5 | 11 | 3.13 |
| Ryan Hartman* | HOU | 1.96 | 6 | 41.1 | 1.065 | 1.5 | 10.7 | 7 |
| Ariel Jurado | TEX | 2.05 | 7 | 44 | 1 | 1.6 | 3.9 | 2.38 |
| Jesse Scholtens | SDP | 2.8 | 6 | 35.1 | 0.792 | 1.8 | 11.5 | 6.43 |
| Glenn Sparkman | KCR | 2.94 | 6 | 33.2 | 1.069 | 0.3 | 7 | 26 |
| Andrew Moore | SEA | 3.04 | 9 | 50.1 | 1.033 | 2.5 | 8.4 | 3.36 |
| Brock Dykxhoorn | HOU | 3.16 | 6 | 37 | 1.189 | 3.6 | 7.5 | 2.07 |
| Richelson Pena | TEX | 3.22 | 8 | 44.2 | 1.276 | 2 | 7.9 | 3.9 |
In his AAA debut last week Caleb kind of announced himself to those who had never heard of him. He went five innings, gave up 3 hits, zero earned runs, zero walks, and struck out ten. The kind of game that if Walker Buehler or Dennis Santana had thrown would have gotten all sorts of oohs and aahs.
One prospect list that I use has 400 players on the list. It is created by Rotowire so the list is geared toward roto players but you can’t be a good roto player without good base skills. On this list I wondered how many 21-year-old pitchers who are in AAA are on the list. Not very many. The list below is sorted by age (21 years or older) by Current level. Only four 21-year-old pitchers are in AAA or higher (major leagues). Of those four they are ranked 59th, 78th, 198, and 400th. Caleb Ferguson is number 400 even though he has advanced to the highest level of the minor leagues at an age where most prospects are still in AA or below.
After the major league draft on Monday, Rotowire will be updating their top 400 list, I expect Caleb Ferguson to make quite the jump from the 400 he currently sits at. This is a bit reminiscent of Dennis Santana who entered 2017 are an unheralded prospect and is now the Dodgers top pitching prospect with the promotion of Walker Buehler to the major leagues. Dennis Santana is also now in the major leagues but probably just for a week or so.
I have to admit, I saw Caleb pitch last year in the postseason and came away unimpressed so I can why the scouts aren’t enamored with his stuff. Still, he had a great 2017 season and an even better 2018 so far so something is working well for the youngster. I’m not even going to post the old scouting report on Caleb until we get a new one because I’m guessing something has changed for this kind of success.
Meanwhile the young guns Yadier Alvarez and Mitchell White continue to live on hype alone, as they have had little success at the same level that Caleb dominated.
| Ran | Player | Team | Pos | Age | CurrentLevel |
| 281 | Spencer Howard | PHI | P | 21 | A |
| 289 | J.B. Bukauskas | HOU | P | 21 | A |
| 293 | Carlos Hernandez | KC | P | 21 | A |
| 81 | Nate Pearson | TOR | P | 21 | A+ |
| 108 | Adonis Medina | PHI | P | 21 | A+ |
| 177 | Tony Santillan | CIN | P | 21 | A+ |
| 180 | Sam Hentges | CLE | P | 21 | A+ |
| 307 | Hector Perez | HOU | P | 21 | A+ |
| 345 | Jonathan Hernandez | TEX | P | 21 | A+ |
| 131 | Logan Allen | SD | P | 21 | AA |
| 236 | Touki Toussaint | ATL | P | 21 | AA |
| 334 | Beau Burrows | DET | P | 21 | AA |
| 378 | Genesis Cabrera | TB | P | 21 | AA |
| 78 | Freddy Peralta | MIL | P | 21 | AAA |
| 400 | Caleb Ferguson | LAD | P | 21 | AAA |
| 59 | Luiz Gohara | ATL | P | 21 | MLB |
| 198 | Jordan Hicks | STL | P | 21 | MLB |
| 273 | David Peterson | NYM | P | 22 | A |
| 69 | Chris Paddack | SD | P | 22 | A+ |
| 90 | Albert Abreu | NYY | P | 22 | A+ |
| 91 | Michel Baez | SD | P | 22 | A+ |
| 139 | Dylan Cease | CWS | P | 22 | A+ |
| 141 | Alex Faedo | DET | P | 22 | A+ |
| 230 | Jorge Guzman | MIA | P | 22 | A+ |
| 246 | Sam McWilliams | TB | P | 22 | A+ |
| 265 | Justin Dunn | NYM | P | 22 | A+ |
| 266 | Daulton Jefferies | OAK | P | 22 | A+ |
| 267 | Luis Escobar | PIT | P | 22 | A+ |
| 318 | Alex Lange | CHC | P | 22 | A+ |
| 349 | Freicer Perez | NYY | P | 22 | A+ |
| 364 | Zac Lowther | BAL | P | 22 | A+ |
| 383 | Jorge Alcala | HOU | P | 22 | A+ |
| 391 | Elijah Morgan | CLE | P | 22 | A+ |
| 395 | Mike Baumann | BAL | P | 22 | A+ |
| 53 | Kyle Wright | ATL | P | 22 | AA |
| 74 | Mitch Keller | PIT | P | 22 | AA |
| 137 | Corbin Martin | HOU | P | 22 | AA |
| 144 | Cal Quantrill | SD | P | 22 | AA |
| 176 | Griffin Canning | LAA | P | 22 | AA |
| 188 | Trevor Stephan | NYY | P | 22 | AA |
| 197 | Luis Ortiz | MIL | P | 22 | AA |
| 279 | Lewis Thorpe | MIN | P | 22 | AA |
| 286 | Yadier Alvarez | LAD | P | 22 | AA |
| 333 | Aaron Civale | CLE | P | 22 | AA |
| 371 | Franklyn Kilome | PHI | P | 22 | AA |
| 380 | Ranger Suarez | PHI | P | 22 | AA |
| 26 | Michael Kopech | CWS | P | 22 | AAA |
| 72 | Enyel De Los Santos | PHI | P | 22 | AAA |
| 75 | Sandy Alcantara | MIA | P | 22 | AAA |
| 113 | Justus Sheffield | NYY | P | 22 | AAA |
| 204 | Sean Reid-Foley | TOR | P | 22 | AAA |
| 27 | Jack Flaherty | STL | P | 22 | MLB |
| 200 | Dennis Santana | LAD | P | 22 | MLB |
| 298 | Eric Lauer | SD | P | 22 | MLB |
| 353 | Seth Romero | WAS | P | 22 | Rookie |
| 181 | Jonathan Loaisiga | NYY | P | 23 | A+ |
| 50 | A.J. Puk | OAK | P | 23 | AA |
| 70 | Jon Duplantier | ARI | P | 23 | AA |
| 120 | Mitchell White | LAD | P | 23 | AA |
| 149 | Hunter Harvey | BAL | P | 23 | AA |
| 154 | Dane Dunning | CWS | P | 23 | AA |
| 163 | Alec Hansen | CWS | P | 23 | AA |
| 202 | Taylor Widener | ARI | P | 23 | AA |
| 237 | Taylor Hearn | PIT | P | 23 | AA |
| 362 | Mike Shawaryn | BOS | P | 23 | AA |
| 384 | Shaun Anderson | SF | P | 23 | AA |
| 51 | Brent Honeywell | TB | P | 23 | AAA |
| 56 | Corbin Burnes | MIL | P | 23 | AAA |
| 98 | Shane Bieber | CLE | P | 23 | AAA |
| 196 | Chance Adams | NYY | P | 23 | AAA |
| 201 | Adbert Alzolay | CHC | P | 23 | AAA |
| 205 | Stephen Gonsalves | MIN | P | 23 | AAA |
| 231 | Zack Burdi | CWS | P | 23 | AAA |
| 340 | Ryan Helsley | STL | P | 23 | AAA |
| 341 | Rogelio Armenteros | HOU | P | 23 | AAA |
| 394 | Duane Underwood | CHC | P | 23 | AAA |
| 399 | Patrick Weigel | ATL | P | 23 | AAA |
| 12 | Walker Buehler | LAD | P | 23 | MLB |
| 14 | Alex Reyes | STL | P | 23 | MLB |
| 63 | Fernando Romero | MIN | P | 23 | MLB |
| 116 | Seranthony Dominguez | PHI | P | 23 | MLB |
| 208 | Joe Palumbo | TEX | P | 23 | MLB |
| 339 | Tanner Scott | BAL | P | 23 | MLB |
| 152 | James Kaprielian | OAK | P | 24 | A+ |
| 186 | Erik Swanson | NYY | P | 24 | A+ |
| 172 | Dillon Tate | NYY | P | 24 | AA |
| 330 | Keury Mella | CIN | P | 24 | AA |
| 379 | Kyle Funkhouser | DET | P | 24 | AA |
| 130 | Anthony Banda | TB | P | 24 | AAA |
| 179 | Jalen Beeks | BOS | P | 24 | AAA |
| 191 | Josh Staumont | KC | P | 24 | AAA |
| 283 | Corey Oswalt | NYM | P | 24 | AAA |
| 338 | Max Fried | ATL | P | 24 | AAA |
| 342 | Ryan Borucki | TOR | P | 24 | AAA |
| 278 | Yonny Chirinos | TB | P | 24 | MLB |
| 252 | Josh James | HOU | P | 25 | AAA |
| 264 | Erick Fedde | WAS | P | 25 | AAA |
| 155 | Domingo German | NYY | P | 25 | MLB |
| 94 | Nick Kingham | PIT | P | 26 | MLB |
Dodger Draft fun, 2013 version
The 2018 major league draft is just a few days away and everywhere you look you can see a draft story so instead of swimming against the tide, we will just flow with it.
CBS Sports did a breakdown of the 2013 major league draft in which both 2017 Rookies of the Year came from. They broke the list down by simply using WAR and it is an impressive draft with Kris Byrant, Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, Sean Manaea, Tim Anderson, and Jon Gray headlining the list.
The most fascinating part of the draft is that Houston had the number one pick and busted with Mark Appel. They could have picked Kris Byrant who many felt was the top pick in the draft. Imagine, busting on the number one overall pick and still winning a World Championship with mostly a home built team just four years later. They listed three big busts from the first round, Number one overall pick Mark Appel, 12th pick overall DJ Peterson by the Reds, and our Dodgers with the 18th pick overall, Chris Anderson.
Besides Cody Bellinger the only other picks that you could say have worked out were Jose De Leon way back in the 24th round. Jose may not have a future given his recent arm surgery but he had propelled himself far enough up as a prospect that the Dodgers were able to trade him in 2017 for Logan Forsythe. Kyle Farmer was an 8th round pick, and if your 8th round pick can make the major leagues you have to happy with that. We don’t know yet what Kyle Farmer is. He could simply be a backup catcher, a backup 3rd baseman, or he could continue to grow as a player and outpace either of those options.
You really hate to blow a number one pick as the Dodgers did on Chris Anderson but it also looks like they blew the number two as well by going for Tom Windle. Anderson is out of baseball, Windle is still struggling to make the major leagues. Brandon Dixon might have a future as he finally made the big leagues with Reds this season and is having a big season in AAA but at best is probably a major league utility player.
Just five years removed from this draft and most of these players have already washed out of the Dodger system.
Anderson out of baseball, Windle is in AAA with the Phillies, Dixon AAA/Majors with Reds, J.D Underwood was out of the system by 2015 (yikes), Rhame is in the Majors with the Mets but probably not for long, Trinkwon never got higher than A+ ball and has not played since 2016, Yate lasted just one professional season. Keener lasted just one professional season. So that is the rundown of the top ten picks.
Players still in the system that I recognize are Mike Ahmed and that is it.
This was the complete 2013 Dodger draft.
Year Rnd OvPck Signed Name Pos WAR G 2013 1 18 Y Chris Anderson(minors) RHP 2013 2 56 Y Tom Windle(minors) LHP 2013 3 92 Y Brandon Dixon(minors) 3B 7 2013 4 124 Y Cody Bellinger(minors) 1B 4.8 187 2013 5 154 Y J.D. Underwood(minors) 2013 6 184 Y Jacob Rhame(minors) RHP -0.5 19 2013 7 214 Y Brandon Trinkwon(minors) SS 2013 8 244 Y Kyle Farmer(minors) C 0.2 50 2013 9 274 Y Hank Yates(minors) LF 2013 10 304 Y Nick Keener(minors) RHP 2013 11 334 Y Spencer Navin(minors) C 2013 12 364 Y Adam Law(minors) 3B 2013 13 394 N Ty Damron(minors) LHP 2013 14 424 Y Michael Johnson(minors) LHP 2013 15 454 Y Billy Flamion(minors) LHP 2013 16 484 N Peter Miller(minors) RHP 2013 17 514 Y Greg Harris(minors) RHP 2013 18 544 Y James McDonald(minors) 2B 2013 19 574 Y Blake Hennessey(minors) SS 2013 20 604 Y Mike Ahmed(minors) LF 2013 21 634 Y James Baune(minors) RHP 2013 22 664 Y Jake Fisher(minors) LHP 2013 23 694 Y MJ Villegas(minors) RHP 2013 24 724 Y Jose De Leon(minors) RHP -0.8 3 2013 25 754 Y Kyle Hooper(minors) RHP 2013 26 784 Y Thomas Taylor(minors) RHP 2013 27 814 N Tanner Kiest(minors) RHP 2013 28 844 Y Crayton Bare(minors) LHP 2013 29 874 N Sam Finfer(minors) C 2013 30 904 Y Ryan Scott(minors) C 2013 31 934 N Andrew McWilliam(minors) 3B 2013 32 964 Y Rob Rogers(minors) RHP 2013 33 994 Y Tyger Pederson(minors) 2B 2013 34 1024 N Rob Cerfolio(minors) LHP 2013 35 1054 N Kaleb Holbrook(minors) C 2013 36 1084 N James Lynch(minors) RF 2013 37 1114 N Justin Dunn(minors) RHP 2013 38 1144 N Dillon Moyer(minors) SS 2013 39 1174 N Jake Sidwell(minors) C 2013 40 1204 N Matt Haggerty(minors) CF
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/31/2018.
Ex-Dodgers flourish for Tampa for one night
Three ex-Dodgers who now all pitch for Tampa and had seen nothing but tough times put all that behind them for one night as the three combined to pitch a one-hit shutout over the Oakland Athletics.
First up was Nathan Eovaldi the fireballing right-hander who was traded by the Dodgers to the Marlins almost exactly six years ago for Hanley Ramirez. One of Ned’s best deals, it gave the Dodgers a slugging presence until Hanley left via free agency. Eovaldi had been part of the Dodger rotation in 2012 at the age of twenty-two and looked to have a bright future ahead of him. That has never quite happened but he did have a record of 14 – 3 for the NYY in 2015 and appeared to be ready on the precipice of a nice career when he his arm blew out the next year. Nathan has been trying to get back to the major leagues for two years, his last start before last night was August 10th, 2016. Last night Nathan pitched six no-hit innings and was not allowed to continue since this was his first game in almost two years.
Year Age Tm W L W-L% ERA GS IP ERA+ FIP WHIP H9 BB9 SO9 2011 21 LAD 1 2 .333 3.63 6 34.2 102 4.35 1.385 7.3 5.2 6.0 2012 22 TOT 4 13 .235 4.30 22 119.1 92 4.13 1.508 10.0 3.5 5.9 2012 22 LAD 1 6 .143 4.15 10 56.1 92 4.11 1.473 10.1 3.2 5.4 2012 22 MIA 3 7 .300 4.43 12 63.0 92 4.16 1.540 10.0 3.9 6.3 2013 23 MIA 4 6 .400 3.39 18 106.1 114 3.59 1.317 8.5 3.4 6.6 2014 24 MIA 6 14 .300 4.37 33 199.2 85 3.37 1.332 10.1 1.9 6.4 2015 25 NYY 14 3 .824 4.20 27 154.1 97 3.42 1.451 10.2 2.9 7.1 2016 26 NYY 9 8 .529 4.76 21 124.2 90 4.97 1.307 8.9 2.9 7.0 2018 28 TBR 1 0 1.000 0.00 1 6.0 2.28 0.167 0.0 1.5 6.0 7 Yr 7 Yr 7 Yr 39 46 .459 4.18 128 745.0 94 3.84 1.372 9.4 2.9 6.6 MIA MIA MIA 13 27 .325 4.10 63 369.0 93 3.57 1.363 9.6 2.7 6.4 LAD LAD LAD 2 8 .200 3.96 16 91.0 96 4.20 1.440 9.0 4.0 5.6 NYY NYY NYY 23 11 .676 4.45 48 279.0 94 4.11 1.387 9.6 2.9 7.0 TBR TBR TBR 1 0 1.000 0.00 1 6.0 2.28 0.167 0.0 1.5 6.0
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/31/2018.
Wilmer Font was tasked with continuing the no-hitter. Font gave up a hit to the second hitter of the inning but then cruised through the next five outs and at least kept the shutout intact. Font should be well known to anyone who reads this blog though some of you no doubt had no idea he was now pitching for Tampa. The last time most Dodger fans heard of Font was when he was traded by the Dodgers on April 25th to Oakland. Font will be remembered if he is remembered at all for pitching his heart out in an extra-inning game on April 2nd. For four innings he kept the Dodgers in the game with four shutout innings, but in his 5th inning he gave up two runs and took the loss. From that game on Font gave up eleven earned runs in just four innings before finally throwing one clean inning on April 18th. That was his last game as a Dodger, and was traded to Oakland. In Oakland he was just as bad giving up eight earned runs in 4 2/3 innings. His combined time with the Dodgers and Oakland consisted of seventeen innings and a whopping ten home runs. He was traded by Oakland to Tampa on May 25th. The reason he was traded by both teams is that Font is out of options, so each team tried to get some value instead of simply releasing him. Three teams think he is a major league pitcher, and for the first time since April 2nd, he pitched like one last night. Font said earlier in the week that he had moved back to the spot on the rubber that he had used last year when was the PCL pitcher of Year. A spot that he had been moved from by Oakland and was never comfortable with. This might be the highlight of his career but at least he can say he was part of a one-hitter even though he was the pitcher that gave up the lone hit. One other interesting note is that the game came against the team who had just traded him a few days earlier.
The final inning went to Vidal Nuno and most Dodger fans are rightfully unaware that he was even a Dodger. That is because he never actually pitched for the Dodgers. The Dodgers acquired Nuno from the Mariners on Nov 7th, 2016 in exchange for Carlos Ruiz. Before he could ever pitch for the Dodgers he was traded to Orioles on February 19th, 2017. Nuno who had some major league success before being acquired by the Dodgers only appeared in twelve major league games last year with zero success. He was released by the Orioles and picked up by Tampa this past winter. Much like Font he had just joined the team in the past week. Nuno completed the one-hit shutout by pitching a clean ninth inning.
This combined one-hit shutout was completed by three Ex-Dodgers, and three pitchers who were not on the Tampa Bay active roster just one week ago.
Kinda cool.
Kenta Maeda has the best two game stretch in his three year career
Fresh off of his best game ever in the major leagues, Kenta followed it up with another gem giving him a two-game, game score total of 164, by far his best two games back to back. Kenta has had only five games out of sixty-six starts with a game score >= 75 and two of those five have come in his last two starts.
Date Opp Rslt IP H ER BB SO GSc 2018-05-23 COL W 3-0 6.2 2 0 4 12 78 2018-05-17 MIA W 7-0 8.0 2 0 0 8 86 2017-08-01 ATL W 3-2 7.0 2 0 1 6 78 2017-06-27 LAA W 4-0 7.0 4 0 0 6 75 2016-07-10 SDP W 3-1 7.0 2 1 0 13 82
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/24/2018.
Yikes, this was not supposed to be a massive column but the deeper I got the deeper I got.
For a little perspective on this, let’s see how other pitchers on this Dodger team besides Kershaw have done compared to this two-game stretch by Kenta. Rich Hill has had two outstanding sets of back to back games. The first set was right after his blister problems of 2016 where he pitched a one-hitter and the abbreviated no-hitter in back to back games in Sept of 2016 to total a combined 157 game score points. In 2017 Rich Hill stepped into July with back to back outstanding starts and tallied up 162 total game score points.
Rk Date Tm Opp Rslt IP H ER BB SO GSc 3 2017-07-06 LAD ARI W 5-4 7.0 2 1 0 9 78 4 2017-07-01 LAD SDP W 8-0 7.0 4 0 1 11 79 5 2016-09-10 LAD MIA W 5-0 7.0 0 0 0 9 86 6 2016-09-03 LAD SDP W 5-1 6.0 1 0 2 8 76
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/24/2018.
How about Alex Wood? Alex has had four games scores >= 75 as a Dodger and none have come in back to back games.
Hyun-Jin Ryu never had a two-game stretch that matches Kenta but earlier this year Ryu did have a three-game stretch where he put up game scores of 77, 67, and 78. In 2014 Ryu had a game score of 75 on March 30th, and a game score of 80 on April 11th, but in between those brilliant starts was one of the worse games of his career on April 4th in which he gave up eight hits and six runs in just two innings.
Now I’m going to go back to the year 2000 and forward. These are pitchers with at least one game score of 75. How many of them did it in back to back games.
Randy Wolf – one game score >= 75, did not
Jeff Weaver – six games scores >= 75 did not but he did come close with a game score start of 78 on 8/28/2005 and a game score of 89 on 9/12/2005 but in between he put up two stinkers of 30 and 41. See how hard it is.
Brett Tomko – one game score >= 75, did not
Eric Stults – two games scores >= 75, did not
Aaron Sele – one game score >= 75, did not
Odalis Perez – eleven game scores > 75, did not. I fully expected him to have done this but the closest he came was in 2002. On June 9th he had a game score of 79 and on June 25th a brilliant 90 but in between, he had two starts of 63 and 66. That might have been his best four-game stretch as a Dodger but it was bookended by a 44 and 45 which is why he drove us crazy and didn’t get his moment in the sun.
Brad Penny – five games scores >= 75, did not.
Chan Ho Park – nineteen games scores, twelve in the 21st century >= 75, and yes he did. On 9/24/2000 Chan Ho had a game score of 87, and he followed that up with a game score of 95 for a two-game total of 182. The game score of 95 is one of the greatest game scores by a right-handed LAD since 2000.
Rk Player Date Tm Opp Rslt IP H ER BB SO GSc 1 Chan Ho Park 2000-09-29 LAD SDP W 3-0 9.0 2 0 1 13 95 2 Chan Ho Park 2001-07-18 LAD MIL W 5-0 9.0 2 0 0 9 92 3 Zack Greinke 2013-07-13 LAD COL W 1-0 9.0 2 0 1 9 91 4 Hiroki Kuroda 2008-07-07 LAD ATL W 3-0 9.0 1 0 0 6 91 5 Kevin Brown 2000-09-23 LAD SDP W 2-1 9.0 2 1 1 13 91 6 Josh Beckett 2014-05-25 LAD PHI W 6-0 9.0 0 0 3 6 90 7 Vicente Padilla 2010-08-04 LAD SDP W 9-0 9.0 2 0 2 9 90 8 Hiroki Kuroda 2008-06-06 LAD CHC W 3-0 9.0 4 0 0 11 90 9 Derek Lowe 2005-08-31 LAD CHC W 7-0 9.0 1 0 2 7 90
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/24/2018.
Hideo Nomo – twenty-two game scores >= 75, but only five since 2000. Hideo did not do it in the 21st century but he did it several times in 1995 and 1996. In 1996 he preceded his no-hitter at Coors with a game score of 77. His no-hitter was a 91 for a combined two-game, game score of 168. His 1995 was ridiculous. From May 28th, 1995 until Aug 5th, Nomo made fifteen starts, and had eight-game scores of at least 75. That has to be the best fifteen game run by a right handed LAD since the days of the Bulldog.
Date Tm Opp Rslt IP H ER BB SO GSc 2003-06-25 LAD SFG W 6-0 7.0 2 0 1 7 79 2003-06-15 LAD CLE W 4-3 7.0 2 1 1 8 76 1996-09-17 LAD COL W 9-0 9.0 0 0 4 8 91 1996-09-12 LAD STL W 4-1 8.0 2 1 3 6 77 1995-08-05 LAD SFG W 3-0 9.0 1 0 3 11 93 1995-07-30 LAD CIN W 5-4 8.0 5 1 0 11 79 1995-07-15 LAD FLA W 3-1 9.0 3 1 0 10 87 1995-06-29 LAD COL W 3-0 9.0 6 0 1 13 87 1995-06-24 LAD SFG W 7-0 9.0 2 0 3 13 93 1995-06-19 LAD STL W 5-2 8.1 3 1 3 8 76 1995-06-02 LAD NYM W 2-1 8.0 2 1 3 6 77 1995-05-17 LAD PIT L 2-3 7.0 2 0 3 14 84
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/24/2018.
Ricky Nolasco – two games scores >= 75, and yes they came back to back. Who’d thunk it. If someone told me that I’d demand proof so here it is.
Date Tm Opp Rslt IP H ER BB SO GSc 2013-08-28 LAD CHC W 4-0 8.0 3 0 1 11 86 2013-08-23 LAD BOS W 2-0 8.0 2 0 0 6 84
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/24/2018.
Greg Maddox – two games scores >= 75, did not
Derek Lowe – ten game scores >=75, and yes he did. Twice. We forget just how good Derek Lowe was for us in his brief Dodger time. In fact, his two games in 2005 put up a combined total of 174 game score points which is the 2nd highest two-game total so far.
Date Tm Opp Rslt IP H ER BB SO GSc 2007-06-15 LAD LAA W 2-1 7.0 4 1 1 11 75 2007-06-09 LAD TOR L 0-1 9.0 4 1 0 3 78 2005-08-31 LAD CHC W 7-0 9.0 1 0 2 7 90 2005-07-25 LAD CIN W 4-0 8.0 1 0 1 5 84
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/24/2018.
Jose Lima – one game score >= 75
Ted Lilly – three games scores >75, he did not
Hiroki Kuroda – ten games scores >= 75, he did not
Scott Kazmir – three games scores >= 75, he did not
Kaz Ishii – three game scores >= 75, he did not
DJ Houlton – one game score >= 75, Really? Does this shock anyone else?
Dan Haren – two games scores >= 75, he did not
Aaron Harang – one game score >=75, surprisingly it was not the strikeout game
Zack Greinke – seventeen game scores >= 75, and of course he did. Twice.
Date Tm Opp Rslt IP H ER BB SO GSc 2014-07-30 LAD ATL W 3-2 8.0 5 1 1 13 80 2014-07-25 LAD SFG W 8-1 7.0 4 0 1 10 78 2013-07-13 LAD COL W 1-0 9.0 2 0 1 9 91 2013-07-08 LAD ARI W 6-1 7.0 2 0 2 7 78
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/24/2018.
Jon Garland – one game score >= 75
Eric Gagne – two game scores >= 75, he did not
John Ely – one game score >= 75, who could forget Elymania?
Darren Dreifort – eight games scores >= 75, and yes he did.
Rk Date Tm Opp Rslt IP H ER BB SO GSc IR 7 2000-07-23 LAD SFG W 5-0 7.0 2 0 1 9 81 8 2000-07-28 LAD PHI W 2-0 7.0 2 0 2 6 77
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/24/2018.
Yu Darvish – three times in one year, but none back to back.
Omar Daal – one time
Chris Capuano – five game scores >= 75, and yes he did. Chris debuted with the Dodgers in 2012 and had the interesting first five games scores as he got better and better with each start 43, 55, 54, 62, 75, and 76. And yes I know 54 is less than 55 but you get the point.
Date Tm Opp Rslt IP H ER BB SO GSc 2012-04-29 LAD WSN W 2-0 6.2 3 0 2 9 75 2012-05-05 LAD CHC W 5-1 7.0 3 0 2 7 76
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/24/2018.
Walker Frigging Buehler has already done it twice but not back to back yet. Which is amazing for a guy who was supposed to be a five inning pitcher for a while.
Kevin Brown – holy shit, 24 times in just five years and 129 starts. Of course he did. Is this the guy with the highest back to back game score total. He needs to beat 182. Shockingly he did not, but he did have a few notable back to back games. Because he’s a HOF, not just a borderline HOF, a real HOF who for some reason, the voters simply ignored. Kevin Brown had back to back game scores of at least 75, five times but never had a total combined game score in back to back games greater than 170 which is still an awesome score but doesn’t knock of Chan Ho Park and his 182 or even D Lowe and his 174.
Date Tm Opp Rslt IP H ER BB SO GSc 1999-05-19 LAD HOU W 5-2 8.0 4 1 2 8 76 1999-05-25 LAD CIN L 2-3 8.0 5 1 1 12 75 1999-08-04 LAD HOU W 2-1 9.0 4 1 2 7 80 1999-08-09 LAD NYM W 9-2 7.0 2 0 1 3 75 2000-07-19 LAD COL W 9-1 8.0 1 0 1 8 85 2000-07-24 LAD COL W 4-1 8.0 3 1 1 5 76 2001-05-07 LAD FLA W 1-0 8.0 2 0 2 10 86 2001-05-12 LAD ATL W 1-0 8.0 3 0 1 9 84 2003-05-25 LAD MIL W 5-1 8.0 4 1 1 8 77 2003-05-31 LAD MIL W 3-0 8.0 6 0 0 6 76
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/24/2018.
Mike Bolsinger – one time
Chad Billingsley – sixteen times the much maligned Chad Billingsley had a game score >= 75. Sixteen times!!!!!!! – but not once did he have back to back game scores of at least 75.
Josh Beckett – three times, and he did not
James Baldwin – one time
Andy Asby – twice
Wilson Alvarez – five times, and yes he did. Time to write a column about the Wilson Alvarez’s. The impact pitchers who were not prospects nor traded for that either came back from the dead or from nowhere.
Date Tm Opp Rslt IP H ER BB SO GSc 2004-05-07 LAD PIT W 4-0 7.0 1 0 0 5 80 2004-05-12 LAD CHC W 4-0 7.2 5 0 1 8 76
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/24/2018.
Terry Adams – one time
Whew, finally done. Did anyone get to the finish line? If so give me a holler.
Dodgers, Yesterday and Today 