Is Alex Verdugo breaking down the door?
It is no secret that Joc Pederson is struggling with the Dodgers. The part-time outfielder is getting plenty of playing time subbing in for Matt Kemp not long after the national anthem is finished playing but he isn’t doing much to combat the argument that he might be better off playing every day in AAA to work on his swing.
Meanwhile, top position prospect Alex Verdugo is doing everything he can to make the Dodgers take notice of him. Just like Joc, Alex is a left hand hitting outfielder who can play centerfield and the corners. You don’t want to bring up Alex Verdugo to simply sit on the bench but given that the backup outfielder on the Dodgers will play every game as a defensive sub for Matt Kemp as well as starting once in a while for Kemp/Taylor/Puig he would get plenty of burn. The question is, should he?
I don’t know. What I do know is that Joc is struggling and Verdugo is on friggin fire. For the season Alex is doing this:
| AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS | AB | 2B | HR |
| 0.34 | 0.353 | 0.58 | 0.933 | 50 | 3 | 3 |
but in his last five games, he is nine for eighteen with three home runs. If Alex isn’t knocking down the door he is at least putting some serious cracks in it. Joc still has time to show he’s the best option to be the Kemp caddy but how much time do the Dodgers have?
Meanwhile, Henry Ramos is lighting up AAA. Ramos has an OPS of 1.082 and has driven in at least three runs in four of his last eight starts. If he hadn’t gone 0 – 5 last night I might have devoted a whole column to him instead of a paragraph.
Brock or Walker?
With Max Muncy joining the team on Tuesday night, and Adam Liberatore on Wednesday Night, which other Dodger minor leaguers are at the cusp of getting a call?
Rich Hill has hit the 10 Day disabled list so the Dodgers have a need for a starting pitcher for at least one game sometime next week. At that time I guess Adam Liberatore will be sent back to AAA but who will come back up in his place?
Everyone wants to see the minor league crown jewel Walker Buehler but it probably makes more sense for Brock Stewart to get the call. Brock pitched on 4/18/18 (last night) and would be ready to take the call on Monday or Tuesday against the Marlins depending if they want to give Kenta an extra day of rest. Brock has made three starts so far for Oklahoma and acquitted himself very well.
| DATE | ERA | IP | H | ER | BB | SO |
| 4/7/2018 | 0 | 5.2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| 4/13/2018 | 2.38 | 5.2 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 8 |
| 4/18/2018 | 2.65 | 5.2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| TOTALS | 2.65 | 17 | 10 | 5 | 4 | 17 |
Walker Buehler has been a tad better but do they want to play yo-yo with this arm? Brock has gotten at least seventeen outs in each start while Walker has gotten at least fifteen outs only once.
| DATE | ERA | IP | H | ER | BB | SO |
| 4/5/2018 | 2.25 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| 4/11/2018 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| 4/16/2018 | 2.08 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| TOTALS | 2.08 | 13 | 10 | 3 | 4 | 16 |
Manny Banuelos has also pitched well so far but I don’t think he’s an option yet even though he is the only one of the three to get at least eighteen outs in a start so far.
| DATE | ERA | IP | H | ER | BB | SO |
| 4/5/2018 | 2.25 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 4/12/2018 | 1.8 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 4/17/2018 | 1.69 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| TOTALS | 1.69 | 16 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 14 |
Compare those three options to the Diamondbacks who have to give their open rotation spot to Matt Koch who probably isn’t a full season answer now that Walker is gone for the season.
Max Muncy continues a Dodger tradition of sterling Dodger 24 hour debuts
Last night Max Muncy made his first start for the Dodgers and did about as well as you could do blasting a home run in his second at-bat and making a highlight reel play at 3rd base when he crossed over foul territory and fired a rocket to nail the runner at 1st base. The home run was not a surprise as Max Muncy is a hulking looking baseball player but the play at 3rd did surprise because Max Muncy is a hulking looking baseball player.
Max Muncy didn’t just hit his first home run as a Dodger, he pimped the hell out of it reminiscence of the bat flip home by Hong-Chih Kuo.
Just in case you never saw or forgot about the Kuo bat flip here you go. Hard to believe it was eleven years ago.
Even though Max Muncy is a non-pedigreed player making his Dodger debut it should not have surprised you that he was successful.
Heck, just in the past two years we have seen:
Kyle Farmer show up and deliver a game-winning hit in his Dodger debut
Chris Taylor showed up after a minor trade with the Mariners and slammed a triple
We have been here before
Some things are different about this Dodger team in April, such as no Justin Turner, Matt Kemp in left field, Chris Taylor in centerfield, but as Jon Weisman noted the record is very similar:
And here we are. After 17 games:
2017 Dodgers: 8-9 3rd 3 GB
2018 Dodgers: 8-9 3rd 4 GB— Jon Weisman (@jonweisman) April 19, 2018
Luckily for the Dodgers in both 2017 and 2018, they got to play the Padres early in April. In 2017 the Dodgers opened with the Padres and played them four games winning three of the four. This year the reeling Dodgers just finished a three-game sweep of the Padres.
Last year after starting 8 – 9 they played Arizona, SF, and the Phillies finishing the month 14 – 12. This year they get the Nationals, Miami, Giants, and one game with Arizona. That is one good team, two very bad teams, and their main competition for the NL West title. The odds are good that the Dodgers will match the 14 – 12 of last year. The odds aren’t as good that they will reel off a 19 – 9 May on the way to 104 wins but the odds are still good that they can overtake the Diamondbacks/Rockies and win another NL West Title.
Old men keeping Dodgers afloat
Baseball is a young man’s game but right now, but when you sort by descending age you find the best hitters at the top of the list. Logan Forsythe gets in the way but Chase, Matt, and Yaz are three of the four oldest position Dodgers and they are the top three hitters on the team as of April 18th.
Name Age PA HR RBI BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ Chase Utley* 39 42 1 6 .333 .452 .485 .937 166 Matt Kemp 33 50 3 10 .333 .380 .600 .980 173 Logan Forsythe (10-day dl) 31 49 1 4 .174 .224 .283 .507 43 Yasmani Grandal# 29 56 3 12 .347 .429 .612 1.041 191 Austin Barnes 28 26 0 1 .238 .385 .286 .670 94 Chris Taylor 27 75 3 8 .211 .240 .394 .634 76 Yasiel Puig 27 71 0 4 .206 .282 .270 .552 57 Kyle Farmer 27 25 0 3 .273 .360 .364 .724 106 Max Muncy* 27 1 0 0 1.000 1.000 1.000 2.000 469 Enrique Hernandez 26 50 1 7 .190 .280 .333 .613 73 Joc Pederson* 26 32 0 3 .148 .281 .222 .503 45 Breyvic Valera# (40-man) 26 2 0 0 .000 .500 .000 .500 56 Corey Seager* 24 72 1 4 .212 .278 .273 .551 57 Cody Bellinger* 22 68 2 4 .297 .338 .453 .791 122
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/18/2018.
Dodger catchers crushing home runs up and down the system
Starting on Saturday, the Dodger catching prospects and now the Dodger catcher have been on a home run tear mashing seven home runs in just five games.
It all started innocently enough when Connor Wong hit a home run on Friday the 13th. Connor is the starting catcher for the Rancho Cucamonga in A+ ball. Will Smith blasted a home run on Saturday Night. Will shares time with Keibert Ruiz in AA. On Sunday, Connor Wong blasted two more home runs. It culminated today and tonight with Keibert Ruiz hitting two home runs for Tulsa. These were the first two home runs of the year for Keibert who had been in a one for twenty slump before the blasts. Yazmani Grandal capped it off with a grand slam tonight against the Padres.
It isn’t all about home runs.
Will Smith is hitting .364 while splitting time between catching and DH. His OBP is .476. There is a reason why some pundits feel he is the best catching prospect in the system.
With his two home run today, Keibert Ruiz will try to get back on the hot streak he was having before the start of last week. Keibert started last week hitting .385 and ended the week hitting .200 as he went 2 for 22.
Keibert Ruiz is showing off his 💪 for @TulsaDrillers. The #Dodgers No. 3 prospect is 2-for-3 with two homers and four RBIs through five innings.
Here’s how all @Dodgers‘ prospects are performing today: https://t.co/Yjo3eyBFMN pic.twitter.com/tWj8Us5jKv
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) April 16, 2018
Of course, Keibert had this great game right after I tweeted this in the morning.
Actually, Keibert got a hit on Sunday so make that 2 for 22 for the week with zero walks. He has zero walks in 2018. I’m not sure why he is in AA and It is possible the Dodgers rushed him. I’d be curious why they felt a 19-year-old needed to be in AA. What’s the hurry?
— Phil Gurnee (@meercatjohn) April 16, 2018
Connor Wong leads the California League in home runs with five and has a slug% of .825. Wong at this point last year was still playing college ball. Connor was named the catcher on the MLB Pipeline prospect team of the week.
C: Connor Wong, Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (Class A Advanced)
(Dodgers’ No. 15 prospect)
.361/.439/.889, 9 G ,13 R, 13 H, 4 2B, 5 HR, 11 RBI, 4 BB, 17 K, 2 SB, 1 CSIt took Wong just nine games to match his home run total from 2017, his pro debut. He homered in each of his first two games and twice on Sunday, when he showed off his athleticism and versatility by playing second base. Wong is tied with Colton Welker (see below) for the Minor League lead in runs, and he sits atop the California League in homers, extra-base hits (nine), totals bases (32), slugging percentage and RBIs.
Yazmani Grandal is letting them all know, the big league gig is his, and he plans on keeping it.
Alex Verdugo has a weekend
Sometimes how many hits you get is not nearly as important as when you get those hits. Alex Verdugo made the most of his hits this weekend as he wins the Farm Factory Prospect of the Week on the virtue of his weekend home run heroics.
Heading into 2018 the only real knock on his hitting tool was his power. In his first 35 at-bats of 2018, Verdugo had yet to hit a home run. That changed dramatically.
On his 36th at-bat in the bottom of the 8th on April 14th, he slugged a two-run home run to tie a game his team would win in the bottom of the 10th.
On his 37th at-bat in the bottom of the 10th with his team down by one run, he would pinch hit a three-run home run to win the game.
Your Play of the Game presented by @FollowSNU is Alex Verdugo’s walk-off home run in extra innings!
Step up to the plate with SNU at https://t.co/ZJHqckmahb. pic.twitter.com/jGxdeDOac6
— OKC Dodgers (@okc_dodgers) April 16, 2018
Now that is a flair for the dramatic. If Verdugo can keep this up when he hits the majors they just might name a thorofare in Glendale in his honor.
His fellow outfielder Henry Ramos thinks he was robbed of the weekly award. All Henry Ramos did this week was:
- Drive in three runs without a hit on April 10th
- Hit a grand slam on April 13th
- Hit another grand slam on April 15th
- Drive in 12 runs for the week. He had zero RBI before the week started.
Now that is a week.
On the opposite side of having a great week, Keibert Ruiz went 2 for 22, with zero walks and has yet to walk in 2018. I’m not sure why Keibert is in AA right now. It is not like the Dodgers need to rush him.
It might even make sense to switch him with Connor Wong who destroyed California League pitching this weekend. Wong went seven for twelve with two walks and three home runs. Wong currently leads the California League in home runs with five.
Logan and Kiké are not answering their questions in the affirmative
The biggest question the Dodgers had to answer this season when the season started was how much the injury to Justin Turner was going to affect the team.
The answer on April 16th. Quite a bit.
The two players on the hot seat because of the Turner injury are Logan Forsythe and Kiké Hernandez and both have been black holes in the anemic Dodger offense. You can look at other suspects like Puig, but Puig has simply hit into bad luck smoking many outs. Corey Seager has also been missing but unlike Logan and Kiké, Corey has nothing to prove.
Logan and Kiké both had big post seasons and you could have easily made a case that the Dodgers would miss Turner, but not much. Not like this.
Kiké was supposed to use this time to prove he was more than a utility player, someone who could hit right hand pitching enough to warrant consideration for more playing time. Instead, Kiké looks like he did in 2016 when it was hard to quantify his place on the roster. He is not hitting left-handers. He is not hitting right-handers. This was his moment to shine, instead, he has been nothing but cloud cover.
Logan Forsythe was supposed to prove that his down 2017 season was due to injuries and he would bounce back big in 2018. Instead, he’s been horrible and now is back on the DL due to shoulder problems. Was his anemic hitting due to his shoulder issues? How long has he had the shoulder issues?
Either way, when Justin Turner comes back, the Dodgers may get their 3rd base problem solved but do they have a viable second baseman? If Forsythe or Hernandez can’t cut it, they could always move Chris Taylor back to 2nd base and shift Joc back to CF. Or bring up Alex Verdugo to play CF.
They do have options, but what they don’t have is the luxury of running away with the NL West as they have done in previous years. The Diamondbacks may not be as good as their current record, but they don’t need to be, to keep the Dodgers on their toes.
Anyway, good thing they resigned Chase Utley isn’t it? He with the OPS+ of 154
Name PA BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ Chris Taylor 64 .230 .250 .443 .693 88 Corey Seager* 61 .200 .279 .255 .533 50 Yasiel Puig 60 .222 .283 .296 .580 62 Cody Bellinger* 57 .309 .333 .455 .788 117 Logan Forsythe 49 .174 .224 .283 .507 40 Yasmani Grandal# 45 .359 .444 .564 1.009 179 Matt Kemp 44 .300 .364 .450 .814 125 Enrique Hernandez 43 .167 .256 .306 .561 56 Chase Utley* 36 .333 .417 .500 .917 154 Joc Pederson* 29 .154 .241 .231 .472 33 Austin Barnes 25 .250 .400 .300 .700 99 Kyle Farmer 15 .286 .333 .357 .690 93 Breyvic Valera# 1 1.000 Rank in 15 NL teams 5 10 13 12 Non-Pitcher Totals 529 .246 .312 .374 .686 90
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/16/2018.
Just another game score of 81 for Brother in Arms, Clayton Kershaw
Usually, when a pitcher puts up a game score of 81 it is one of the best games of his career. For Clayton Kershaw is was just another brilliant game.
If you want to read more about Clayton Kershaw, past the simple numbers I’m about to show you below, I suggest you quickly connect to Amazon or your favorite bookseller and pick up Brother in Arms by Jon Weisman. If you go soon enough you will see this on the page:
#1 New Release in Western U.S. Biographies
He has had five game scores of at least 80, five times since the start of the 2017 season.
Date Rslt IP H ER BB SO GSc 2018-04-15 W 7-2 7.0 2 1 0 12 81 2017-07-09 W 5-2 9.0 6 2 0 13 80 2017-07-04 W 4-3 7.0 2 0 2 11 82 2017-06-02 W 2-1 7.0 2 1 1 14 82 2017-05-23 W 2-1 9.0 3 1 0 10 87
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/16/2018.
He has had forty-two game scores of at least 80 since the start of his career. As I wrote this line I just realized that Clayton Kershaw picked up the 42nd game score of at least 80 in his career on the day all of baseball was wearing the number 42.
Jon Weisman reminds us that we had seen this all before on Jackie Robinson day.
In 2009, on a Jackie Robinson Day start April 15 against the Giants,
the world first glimpsed a truly dominant Kershaw. In seven innings, he
allowed a second-inning Bengie Molina home run, a fifth-inning Rich
Brothers_in_Arms_final.indd 349 1/11/18 9:27 AM
350 brothers in arms
Aurilia walk, and nothing else, all while striking out 13, making him the
youngest to do so since Koufax was a rookie in 1955.
And yours truly wrote about the same game in one of my most personal columns.
We were headed to the 7th in a 2 – 1 game with history being made. Little did I know how much history was about to be made. Did I mention I was loving this game?
Date Rslt IP H ER BB SO GSc IR 2014-06-18 W 8-0 9.0 0 0 0 15 102 2015-09-29 W 8-0 9.0 1 0 1 13 97 2016-05-01 W 1-0 9.0 3 0 0 14 95 2011-06-20 W 4-0 9.0 2 0 1 11 93 2016-05-12 W 5-0 9.0 3 0 1 13 93 2011-05-29 W 8-0 9.0 2 0 1 10 92 2015-07-23 W 3-0 9.0 3 0 0 11 92 2015-07-18 W 4-2 8.0 3 0 0 14 90 2015-06-06 W 2-0 8.0 1 0 2 11 89 2016-05-23 W 1-0 9.0 2 0 1 7 89 2011-07-20 W 1-0 8.0 3 0 1 12 87 2013-07-02 W 8-0 9.0 4 0 0 8 87 2014-07-10 W 2-1 9.0 3 1 1 11 87 2014-07-26 W 5-0 9.0 3 0 1 7 87 2017-05-23 W 2-1 9.0 3 1 0 10 87 2013-04-01 W 4-0 9.0 4 0 0 7 86 2013-04-28 W 2-0 8.0 4 0 0 12 86 2014-07-04 W 9-0 8.0 2 0 1 8 85 2015-08-28 W 4-1 8.0 3 1 1 14 85 2015-09-02 W 2-1 9.0 6 1 1 15 85 2010-05-09 W 2-0 8.0 2 0 3 9 84 2013-05-14 W 2-0 8.2 5 0 1 11 84 2015-07-08 W 5-0 9.0 8 0 0 13 84 2015-08-01 W 3-1 8.0 2 0 1 7 84 2015-08-12 W 3-0 8.0 3 0 0 8 84 2009-04-15 W 5-4 7.0 1 1 1 13 83 2010-09-14 W 1-0 9.0 4 0 0 4 83 2012-07-29 W 4-0 9.0 5 0 1 7 83 2013-08-17 W 5-0 8.0 3 0 1 8 83 2016-04-04 W 15-0 7.0 1 0 1 9 83 2009-08-08 L 1-2 7.0 2 0 1 10 82 2011-09-09 W 2-1 8.0 3 0 1 9 82 2017-06-02 W 2-1 7.0 2 1 1 14 82 2017-07-04 W 4-3 7.0 2 0 2 11 82 2013-04-06 W 1-0 7.0 2 0 1 9 81 2013-05-20 W 3-1 9.0 3 1 1 5 81 2016-05-17 W 5-1 8.0 4 1 0 11 81 2018-04-15 W 7-2 7.0 2 1 0 12 81 2011-05-13 W 4-3 7.0 3 0 2 11 80 2012-09-28 W 8-0 8.0 5 0 2 10 80 2014-08-21 W 2-1 8.0 3 1 2 10 80 2017-07-09 W 5-2 9.0 6 2 0 13 80
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/16/2018.
He has struck out at least twelve hitters four times since the start of 2017 season.
He has struck out at least twelve hitters twenty times since the start of his career.
For some perspective on these accomplishments.
Other Dodgers pitchers since the start of 2017 with a game score of at least 80? Four, one by Alex Wood, two by Rich Hill, and one by Yu Darvish.
Other Dodger pitchers with a game score of at least 80 since Clayton Kershaw did his first one on April 15th, 2009? 26 times.
Player Date Rslt IP H ER BB SO GSc Alex Wood 2015-09-16 W 2-0 8.0 1 0 0 5 85 Alex Wood 2018-03-30 L 0-1 8.0 1 0 0 5 85 Chad Billingsley 2011-05-14 L 0-1 8.0 1 0 2 8 84 Chad Billingsley 2011-04-17 W 2-1 8.0 3 0 2 11 85 Chad Billingsley 2012-04-06 W 6-0 8.1 3 0 1 11 87 Chris Capuano 2012-08-12 W 5-0 8.0 2 0 3 10 85 Eric Stults 2009-05-09 W 8-0 9.0 4 0 0 5 84 Hiroki Kuroda 2010-08-30 W 3-0 7.2 1 0 2 7 82 Hyun-Jin Ryu 2013-05-28 W 3-0 9.0 2 0 0 7 90 Hyun-Jin Ryu 2014-04-11 W 6-0 7.0 2 0 1 8 80 Hyun-Jin Ryu 2017-08-06 W 8-0 7.0 1 0 0 8 83 Josh Beckett 2014-05-25 W 6-0 9.0 0 0 3 6 90 Kenta Maeda 2016-07-10 W 3-1 7.0 2 1 0 13 82 Mike Bolsinger 2015-05-23 W 2-0 8.0 1 0 0 8 88 Rich Hill 2016-09-10 W 5-0 7.0 0 0 0 9 86 Rich Hill 2017-08-23 L 0-1 9.0 1 1 0 10 91 Rich Hill 2017-09-27 W 10-0 7.0 2 0 2 10 81 Ricky Nolasco 2013-08-23 W 2-0 8.0 2 0 0 6 84 Ricky Nolasco 2013-08-28 W 4-0 8.0 3 0 1 11 86 Ted Lilly 2010-08-19 W 2-0 9.0 2 0 2 11 92 Vicente Padilla 2010-07-11 W 7-0 8.0 2 0 1 6 83 Vicente Padilla 2010-08-04 W 9-0 9.0 2 0 2 9 90 Yu Darvish 2017-08-04 W 6-0 7.0 3 0 1 10 80 Zack Greinke 2015-07-09 W 6-0 8.0 1 0 0 8 88 Zack Greinke 2015-09-13 W 4-3 8.0 3 0 2 8 82 Zack Greinke 2013-07-13 W 1-0 9.0 2 0 1 9 91 Zack Greinke 2015-07-19 W 5-0 8.0 3 0 1 11 86 Zack Greinke 2014-07-30 W 3-2 8.0 5 1 1 13 80
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/16/2018.
Hyun-Jin Ryu game score of 77 was fifth best in his LAD history
Baseball fans forget that when Hyun-Jin Ryu is healthy he is one of the top left handers in the National league, and last night he reminded us of that by twirling one of the best games of his career. Using game score as the criteria, his game score of 77 was the fifth best in his career tying it with a game he threw almost five years ago.
This was only the second time since 2014 that Ryu was able to crack a game score above 76, the last coming in August of 2017.
Date Opp Rslt IP H ER BB SO GSc 2013-05-28 LAA W 3-0 9.0 2 0 0 7 90 2017-08-06 NYM W 8-0 7.0 1 0 0 8 83 2014-04-11 ARI W 6-0 7.0 2 0 1 8 80 2014-07-13 SDP W 1-0 6.0 2 0 0 10 78 2018-04-10 OAK W 4-0 6.0 1 0 1 8 77 2013-07-27 CIN W 4-1 7.0 2 1 1 9 77
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/11/2018.
I went to the game last night with a Met fan, who is also a baseball fan. He kept telling me all night that the Diamondback rotation was the best in the NL West. It is a good rotation, no doubt, but they don’t have Clayton Kershaw and last night Ryu show how deep the Dodger rotation is.
Dodgers, Yesterday and Today 