Are the Dodgers starting the best catcher?
Yesterday I wondered if Austin Barnes might be the best second base option for the Dodgers between Logan Forsythe, Chase Utley, and Enrique Hernandez.
Today, Austin Barnes is starting as the catcher for the fourth time in Sept and against an RHP. With Yazmani Grandal continuing to struggle offensively is Dave Roberts starting to think of Austin Barnes as more of a starting catcher than a backup catcher?
Here is the breakdown for the two catchers:
Full Season:
Name Age G PA BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ Yasmani Grandal# 28 113 431 .249 .302 .456 .758 97 Austin Barnes 27 85 217 .297 .410 .478 .888 135
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 9/10/2017.
2nd Half:
Player Split Year OPS GS PA BA OBP SLG Austin Barnes 2nd Half 2017 .823 17 91 .316 .429 .395 Yasmani Grandal 2nd Half 2017 .703 36 151 .216 .272 .432
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 9/10/2017.
September:
Player Split Year PA GS BA OBP SLG OPS Yasmani Grandal Sept/Oct 2017 27 7 .042 .111 .167 .278 Austin Barnes Sept/Oct 2017 17 3 .286 .412 .286 .697
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 9/10/2017.
Barnes is starting about 1/2 the games that Grandal starts but with the start today against a RHP, that might change going forward. Grandal is known for large cold streaks and that is what he is in right now. He has one hit in Sept, a home run. Barnes is not doing a lot in Sept but he is making contact something that Grandal is not doing. Grandal has 12 strikeouts in 27 plate appearances in Sept.
Barnes has outhit Grandal all year and seems to have the defensive chops to handle the starting gig. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. With a big day today, Barnes could go a long way toward laying the claim for more starts.
I will say, for a team that at one time was being the called best team in LAD history they sure have a lot of question marks as they try to end an eight game losing streak.
Not a good sign
When you score four runs in the first inning and have the pitcher on the mound who is supposed to match up with Strasburg or Ray or whatever the Cubs are using as their second best pitcher you should expect to end a seven game losing streak.
Didn’t happen.
Yu Darvish once again is making me and the Dodgers look bad as he continues to pitch worse than any other starter in the Dodger rotation. In his last four starts, Yu has pitched only eighteen innings while giving up sixteen runs. Included in that are six home runs in just eighteen innings. That kind of performance usually gets you sent to the bullpen to work out the kinks or in the Dodgers case, the 10 Day DL but they already tried that gig with Yu.
Also didn’t help that the Dodgers did not score after the first inning. At least the bullpen had a good game. That was the only good takeaway from Friday’s game.
This Dodger team was on the verge of winning 100 games, possibly 105 games, and even had a shot at 110 plus wins. Now they setting losing records left and right.
Eric Stephen summed it up with this tweet a few minutes ago.
There is a perverse potential pursuit of potentially the same team owning the worst Dodger Stadium losing streak and best home record
— Eric Stephen (@truebluela) September 9, 2017
Minor League Notes:
Trevor Oaks finally showed up after missing most of the summer. Trevor pitched for Odgen in an important game, pitching Odgen to the victory and helping them claim a postseason berth. I’m sure the opposing team appreciated seeing a AAA veteran on the cusp of a major league career carving up the teenagers in the Pioneer Leauge. I’m not sure what Trevor Oaks and the Dodgers get out of this. A few innings in Sept?
Brandon McCarthy made his rehab pitching for the Quakes in their playoff game. He did well but could not keep them from losing. Mr. May will try to extend the Quakes season today. He has been brilliant so far in his two starts for the Quakes.
Dodger prospects get shutout on Baseball America MiLB All-Star teams
Been a tough month for the Dodgers. Not only are the Dodgers whiffing in Sept, but their prospects are as well. Baseball America announced their season ending minor league all-star teams and…
No Dodger prospect made the All-Star first team
No Dodger prospect made the All-Star second team
One ex-Dodger prospect made the All-Star 2nd team as a DH
I guess Alex Verdugo isn’t as exciting a prospect for Baseball America as he is for those Dodger prospect hounds who were afraid of losing him this past summer.
The other teams in the NL West had four players make the teams. The Padres had Tatis make the first team as a shortstop and Joey Lucchesi made the second team as a starting pitcher. The Diamondbacks had Jon Duplantier make the first team as a starting pitcher. The Rockies had Ryan McMahon make the second team as a 1st baseman.
I picked the wrong day to go to Lancaster
For years I wanted to visit the home of the Lancaster Jethawks and with the Rancho Quakes starting their playoff run in Lancaster, I decided that Wednesday Night would be the best time to finally make the trip.
I picked the wrong night.
On Wednesday night the Quakes offense couldn’t register on the seismic scale and the defense didn’t exactly play well. Caleb Ferguson for all his sterling numbers is just a crafty left hander who couldn’t dent the jug gun. Considering I spent about five hours making the round trip, I can’t say it was worth it.
Kaybear looked like a man, belying his nineteen years of age. He didn’t have much luck throwing out any runners but he looked good behind the plate and had an interesting setup as a left hand hitter. I did get to see the debut of Cristian Santana who played 1st base. He got some nice hits, hit the ball harder than anyone else on the team.
I stayed home on Thursday Night and the Quakes put a 7.0 on the seismic scale winning 17 – 8. I’m going to assume the wind was blowing out as the Quakes hit six home runs.
- Kaybear had five hits
- DJ Peters had three hits and a home run
- Brandon Montgomery hit two home runs
- Ariel Sandoval hit a home run
Dodgers becoming a punching bag for NL West
On Sunday, August 27th, the Dodgers played their last game against the NL Central losing to the Brewers 3 – 2. On August 25th the Dodgers had a 21 game lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Since August 27th the Dodgers have only played NL West teams:
- The Diamondbacks swept the Dodgers in Arizona outscoring the Dodgers 21 – 11 and cutting the lead to 16 games. No big deal.
- Next up were the Padres and the Dodgers beat the 1 – 0 in Kershaw’s first game in months. Arizona also won so the lead was still 16 games.
- The Dodgers would lose the next three games to the Padres giving up at least six runs in each game. The previous seven games the Dodger pitching had given up at least six runs in each game, except for the Kershaw game.
- The lead over the Diamondbacks was now 13.5. Still no big deal.
- The Dodgers headed home for a three game series with Arizona. They lost every game getting outscored 19 – 2. The Diamondbacks had beat the Dodgers six in a row in a nine game period and outscored them 40 – 12. Included in that was a beat down of epic proportions when they won 13 – 0. The lead was now 10.5 games.
- Colorado came to town but Kershaw was on the mound. No matter, the Rockies made short work of Kershaw and crushed the Dodgers 9 – 1. Diamondbacks took the day off but still gained 1/2 a game. They are now 10 games back.
- The Dodgers have now lost 12 of 13 games
- The Dodgers have lost 10 of 11 games against the NL West since August 29th
- The Dodgers have four times only scored more than four runs while losing those 12 of 13 games.
We should be clear, with only 22 games left and a 10 game lead if would be virtually impossible for the Dodgers to not win the NL West.
Let us also be clear, I’m not panicking but this is also a meltdown of historical proportions. The Dodgers have had 11 games wiped off their lead in a matter of 13 games. The combination of the Dodgers losing 12 of 13 games, and Diamondbacks winning every game. I’ll let someone run the numbers but I’ll conjecture that no Dodger team that was ever in 1st place in August lost 12 of 13 games.
Everyone says not to worry, but right now this team is in disarray and while Dave Roberts can promise the fans the team will win the NL West, that does little to quiet the concern they see for a team being used as a punching bag.
Where are the Giants when you need them?
They have no starting CF. They tried an AAA prospect who failed to impress in very limited starts. They have currently gone back to the CF they sent to AAA and who performed miserably while in AAA. I was wrong in that I didn’t think Joc would get much play in Sept, but things must be a little alarming in that they have given him a tryout in Sept to win back his CF job.
Walker Buehler made his debut and looked great in two innings in a game that was already out of reach. I can’t wait to see him in a high leverage situation because he might need to join Jansen/Morrow/Cingrani/Watson. Though I worry he’s not ready for that role if they decide to use him in October.
- The LF they traded for has been as bad as the RF they traded for last summer.
- The 2nd base duo are not hitting
- The bullpen is getting tattooed.
- The 2nd ace they traded for has failed to pitch like someone who will match up well in October.
- The MVP candidate and all-star Shortstop has a bum wing.
- Baez blew up in Sept instead of waiting for October
They have 22 games to get his sorted out and the odds are that they will get it straightened out.
- Seager will be back, which will put Chris Taylor back in CF.
- Darvish will probably start pitching like that ace starting tonight
- Logan or Chase might start hitting again
- Granderson might start hitting again
- Most of the bullpen that is getting hurt, will not be on the staff in October.
Might, they need alot of mights right now. There are only good to great teams in their in their future in October if the Diamondbacks win the play-in game.
Time to start getting it back together.
Pedro Guerrero tops this leaderboard
If Jimmy Wynn tops the Dodger leaderboard for consecutive games with a walk, who tops the leaderboard with at least one walk and one hit?
Pedro Guerrero
Seems the only Brooklyn Dodgers to crack the top ten leaderboard are Jim Gilliam and Roy Campanella. Junior did it seven times in a row as a Brooklyn Dodger and six times in a row twice as a LAD.
Rk Name Strk Start End Games AB H HR BB OPS 1 Pedro Guerrero 1982-08-03 1982-08-10 8 32 12 2 8 1.063 2 Willie Crawford 1973-09-15 1973-09-21 7 21 10 2 8 1.478 3 Jim Gilliam 1953-04-26 1953-05-04 7 23 11 0 11 1.125 4 Matt Kemp 2009-07-03 2009-07-09 6 22 12 0 6 1.325 5 Russell Martin 2007-07-06 2007-07-15 6 22 12 2 6 1.519 6 Davey Lopes 1977-04-11 1977-04-17 6 21 8 0 8 .962 7 Jim Wynn 1975-04-07 1975-04-13 6 21 8 1 9 1.263 8 Jim Gilliam 1962-06-27 1962-07-02 6 22 8 0 7 .926 9 Jim Gilliam 1959-06-27 1959-07-03 6 20 11 0 8 1.429 10 Roy Campanella 1953-08-09 1953-08-16 6 19 12 3 6 1.878 11 Bobby Morgan 1952-06-08 1952-06-12 6 21 8 1 8 1.233 12 Pee Wee Reese 1951-04-28 1951-05-03 6 18 9 0 7 1.307 13 Jackie Robinson 1950-05-02 1950-05-07 6 20 9 2 8 1.607 14 George Shuba 1948-07-02 1948-07-06 6 22 10 1 7 1.223 15 Pee Wee Reese 1947-06-01 1947-06-05 6 18 10 2 7 1.624 16 Cookie Lavagetto 1940-06-18 1940-06-23 6 24 8 1 8 1.083 17 Sam Leslie 1934-05-01 1934-05-07 6 19 12 1 8 1.583
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 9/6/2017.
Trout and Wynn
Mike Trout walked for the 14th game in a row setting the Angel franchise record, which made me wonder who has the record for the Dodgers.
Even before I did the search I would have bet on Jimmy Wynn even though he only played for the Dodgers for two years, and sure enough, there he is on top.
Have to admit I never heard of Roy Cullenbine before.
Did not expect to see Raul Mondesi but did expect to see Gary Sheffield have at least ten games in a row.
Rk Name Strk Start End Games BB 1 Jim Wynn 1975-08-09 1975-08-28 12 16 2 Dick Allen 1971-08-03 1971-08-16 11 19 3 Pee Wee Reese 1942-04-15 1942-04-25 11 14 4 Roy Cullenbine 1940-04-16 1940-05-05 11 17 5 Raul Mondesi 1999-04-07 1999-04-17 10 11 6 Davey Lopes 1975-04-07 1975-04-17 10 14 7 Bobby Morgan 1952-06-04 1952-06-12 10 14
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 9/6/2017.
September fools
I don’t know why the Dodgers decided to stop hitting as a team but this is why the team has won only one game in Sept and that was the 1 – 0 game on Sept 1st.
Player Split HR PA 2B RBI BB BA OBP SLG OPS Chris Taylor Sept/Oct 1 23 1 1 0 .261 .261 .435 .696 Cody Bellinger Sept/Oct 2 20 0 3 0 .250 .250 .650 .900 Justin Turner Sept/Oct 1 20 3 4 1 .368 .400 .684 1.084 Curtis Granderson Sept/Oct 0 17 0 0 1 .063 .118 .063 .180 Yasiel Puig Sept/Oct 0 16 2 0 2 .214 .313 .357 .670 Yasmani Grandal Sept/Oct 1 15 0 2 2 .083 .200 .333 .533 Logan Forsythe Sept/Oct 0 15 0 0 1 .214 .267 .214 .481 Alex Verdugo Sept/Oct 0 13 0 0 2 .182 .308 .182 .490 Enrique Hernandez Sept/Oct 0 11 0 0 0 .273 .273 .273 .545 Andre Ethier Sept/Oct 0 10 0 0 1 .111 .200 .111 .311 Chase Utley Sept/Oct 0 9 0 1 1 .125 .222 .125 .347 Austin Barnes Sept/Oct 0 9 0 1 0 .222 .222 .222 .444 Adrian Gonzalez Sept/Oct 0 6 1 1 0 .500 .500 .667 1.167 OKoyea Dickson Sept/Oct 0 6 0 0 2 .000 .333 .000 .333 Rob Segedin Sept/Oct 0 6 1 0 0 .167 .167 .333 .500 Charlie Culberson Sept/Oct 0 3 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 Corey Seager Sept/Oct 0 2 0 0 0 .500 .500 .500 1.000 Alex Wood Sept/Oct 0 2 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 9/6/2017.
Reasons:
Corey Seager has only two plate appearances
Chris Taylor does not have one single walk
Cody Bellinger does not have one single walk
Guys like Dickson, Segedin, Ethier, and Verdugo have been given plate appearances and predictably produced diddly squat
Curtis Granderson has been August 2016 Josh Reddick like in Sept
Grandal has one hit
The Dodger 2nd baseman, Logan and Chase have been less than optimal
After six games in Sept, not one Dodger has more than two walks.
Top 15 positional prospects
Take this with a grain of salt but here are my top fifteen positional prospects.
| Rank | ProspecName | BirthDate | AGE | League |
| 1 | Keibert Ruiz | 7/20/1998 | 19 | A+ |
| 2 | Alex Verdugo* | 5/15/1996 | 21 | AAA/Majors |
| 3 | Yusniel Diaz | 10/7/1996 | 20 | AA |
| 4 | Starling Heredia | 2/6/1999 | 18 | A |
| 5 | Jeren Kendall | 2/4/1996 | 21 | A |
| 6 | D.J. Peters | 12/12/1995 | 21 | A+ |
| 7 | Gavin Lux | 11/23/1997 | 19 | A |
| 8 | Edwin Rios* | 4/21/1994 | 23 | AAA |
| 9 | Will Smith | 3/28/1995 | 22 | AA |
| 10 | Connor Wong | 5/19/1996 | 21 | A |
| 11 | Omar Estevez | 2/25/1998 | 19 | A+ |
| 12 | Cristian Santana | 2/24/1997 | 20 | A |
| 13 | Kyle Farmer | 8/17/1990 | 27 | AAA/Majors |
| 14 | Carlos Rincon | 10/14/1997 | 19 | A |
| 15 | Matt Beaty | 4/28/1993 | 24 | AA |
If you read this blog at all you know that I’m all in on Keibert Ruiz. His hitting approach for such a young player, his success at the age of 18 in the very tough MWL environment, the fact he’s a catcher and the Dodgers promoted him to Rancho when they could very well have simply kept him in the MWL. I’m not sure why the Dodgers put him on such a fast track, but he met the promotion head on and crushed it at Rancho for most of his time there. Ruiz may not have a high offensive ceiling, but he probably has a very high probability of having a successful major league career.
Alex Verdugo will be placed higher than Keibert Ruiz by just about everyone else. I’m not sure why except the group think may simply be smarter than myself. He doesn’t seem like a starting CF to me, and his lack of power could prove a problem in a league that is now dinger crazy. His hitting approach might have played better in an earlier era so it will be interesting to see which of DJ Peters or Alex Verdugo actually has the more productive major league career. I may be prejudiced by having watched Joc Pederson lack of footspeed try to handle CF these past few years, and Alex does not seem to have any better footspeed than Joc. Routes are cool, but Alex will need to prove to me his routes can make up for his footspeed. Still, want to see the gun though. Can you imagine that arm from left field?
Yusniel Diaz didn’t make much of an impression while playing two years at Rancho but he sure took to Tulsa. You don’t usually see someone hit 100 points higher in OPS moving from the offensive California League to the Texas League but that is what Diaz did. At only 20, he’s already in AA and almost put up an OPS of .900. That is why he is above the older Jeren Kendall.
Starling Heredia crushed the rookie leagues and was promoted to the Loons where he predictably struggled. Most kids do and he’s still just eighteen. I would not be surprised if Starling Heredia is the next great Dodger offensive prospect.
Jeren Kendall was the Dodgers number one pick in 2017 but he has a signficant wart in that he is already 21 and still has mighty swing and miss issues. For all his speed he has been a horrible base stealer, having been caught eight out of seventeen attemps so far in his professional career. He must have the speed because he rocketed seven triples in just 140 plate appearances for the Loons. Aren’t too many players who have more triples than doubles or home runs but he is that guy right now. And I love the triple. I look forward to watching this kid play as his tool kit spells excitement.
DJ Peters was the California League Player of the Year. He was called by Rotowire the most impressive player in the California league. He looks like he could walk right onto a movie lot and play a super hero. He has power to spare. He’s not higher because he also struck out over 30% of the time in an A ball league. At only 21 he has plenty of time to work that out, and if he does, BOOM BOOM.
The first six seemed somewhat easy to me. The next group was much tougher.
Gavin Lux was the 2016 number one pick and you would have liked to have seen him higher on the list. He actually needed a very nice second half to get this high. He was another young prospect struggling with the Loons (see why I like Ruiz so much) but he got it going and might be ready to zoom up this list. His August OPS was .885 and after not hitting a home run in April/May hit seven over the final three months. It is not easy for anyone to hit home runs with the Loons in April / May. Lux can take a walk, and stole twenty seven out of thirty seven attempts. I’d like that to be better but it works.
I choose Edwin Rios next because he continues to hit at every level, and hit with power. As a left handed hitting 1st/3rd he will have to continue to hit. I don’t seem him having a Dodger career but I think he could find his way onto a major league roster by virtue of his bat. The scouting reports say his swing is slow and that he’ll eventually find out that he’ll be outmatched at the highest level, but so far he’s handled every level just fine.
The Dodgers drafted two very similar players in Will Smith in 2016 and Connor Wong in 2017. Right now Will Smith is ranked higher as he is in AA and Wong is in A ball but it is hard for me to tell much difference between them. They are both converted athletic catchers with good speed. Smith seems to have the better plate discipline while Wong has more raw power.
Omar Estevez is only here because of his age. He has been a workhorse at a very early age, netting almost 1,000 plate appearances in just two years while still a teen-ager. He spent the whole year at Rancho and while he didn’t knock the socks off of anyone, he held his own. Once Drew Jackson was promoted to AA, Estevez took over at shortstop.
Cristian Santana may have the worse plate discipline in the system. The chances of him overcoming this problem is not very high, but when he makes contact, things happen. Even as I write this I’m having second thoughts about putting him in the top 15.
The late blooming Kyle Farmer is next, mainly because…………….he is
Carlos Rincon beat off a plethora of other prospects because of his power but I don’t hold out much hope he can do something with it.
Matt Beaty was the Tulsa League Player of the Year. Like Rios he is a left handed 1st/3rd baseman. He had a great year but no one seems to think much of him but I couldn’t deny what he did for Tulsa this year.
Other players considered were
| Ronny Brito |
| Luke Raley |
| Errol Robinson |
| Tim Locastro |
| Jared Walker |
| Erick Mejia |
| Ibandel Isabel |
| Romer Cuadrado |
| Drew Jackson |
Dodgers, Yesterday and Today 