Is AAA/OKC where Dodger outfielders go to die?
Normally when a proven major league outfielder struggles and gets sent to AAA they blow back up and are quickly promoted back to the major leagues.
Case in point Keon Broxton of the Brewers was their starting CF for most of the season. In an extended slump, Broxton was sent to AAA on July 21st with an OPS of .725. which isn’t bad, however, he had just three hits in July giving him a July OPS of .310. Yup, that is .310. Broxton wasted no time in getting his swing together in AAA putting up an OPS north of 1.000 and thus, seven games later he was back playing CF for the Brewers. Broxton didn’t waste all his hitting at AAA, as he put up an OPS of .794 in August for the Brewers.
Or the 2016 version of Scott Schebler who was so bad at the start of 2016 he was demoted to AAA but crushed AAA and has hit 34 home runs since returning to the majors at the start of August 2016.
Or the 2016 version of Yasiel Puig. We all know what he did to AAA during his exile.
Joc Pederson did not go the Keon Broxton route.
Trayce Thompson did not go the Keon Broxton route.
Scott Van Slyke did not go the Keon Broxton route.
With varying degrees, all three struggled at the major league level and were sent to the minors to work on getting back on track. None of them did. They got worse.
Scott Van Slyke is now in the Cincinnati system and still struggling. SVS hasn’t had real major league success since 2015 but you’d think he would still destroy AAA pitching instead of looking like someone whose career is over. At best SVS was going to be a bench player who could hit left hand pitching. Those days may be behind him. It went to hell in a hand basket for SVS when Wade Miley was traded out of the NL Western Divison.
Trayce Thompson was so good in April/May of 2016 that no one was missing Andre Ethier. Eventually, Thompson cooled off in 2016 and then hurt his back. Working his way back from his back injury Thompson had little chance of making the 2017 roster but when he stopped hitting in AAA that put a damper on any chance. He got a few major league at-bats this year only because of some injuries, at no point had he earned any major league time in 2017 based on his production. We are now 339 at-bats into his 2017 season and he’s not getting any better. His August OPS was .699. In AAA. For a 26-year-old. Save to say, he is no Scott Schebler.
Joc Pederson is different than the others. Joc was supposed to be the Dodgers starting CF, and eventually, start getting at-bats against left hand pitching to cement his hold on being the everyday centerfielder. When he wasn’t hurt he has been the Dodgers starting CF since April of 2015 against almost all right-hand pitching. Even in 2017 he still had an OPS of over .800 when he was demoted to AAA. He struggled in April and ended the month with an OPS of only .662. He struggled more in May and ended the month with a cumulative OPS of .623. If Adrian Gonzalez had not been hurt it was very likely that he would have lost his job back in May but Bellinger was needed at 1st base and not the outfield. Joc got it together in June and put up an OPS of 1.149 moving his cumulative OPS north of .800. He followed that with a good July OPS of .878. At the end of the trading deadline, he looked cemented as the Dodger CF for the rest of the year. The team was winning at a breakneck pace and he was a big part of it. Until August showed up. In August Joc went 2 for 37 and the Dodgers decided not to wait for him to come out of the slump and traded for Curtis Granderson, moved Chris Taylor to CF and sent Joc to AAA to work on his swing. I’m not sure how that is working out. Joc ended his AAA season yesterday with a .548 OPS. For perspective, in 2014 in AAA, three years ago he had an OPS over 1.000. Of course that was in Alburqurque not Oklahoma but still. What the hell has happened to Joc? Depression? Can’t get into the new swing? Something more fundamental? Either way, after being the Dodger starting CF for 16 out of 18 months over the past three years, Joc will have no role for the Dodgers for the rest of 2017.
I’m not sure right now if Joc will even have a role in 2018. His time may have already come and gone for the Dodgers. Heading into 2018 he will no longer being fending off competitors for his job but actually trying to win his job back. From Chris Taylor. From Alex Verdugo. Or from some outside player whose name we don’t know yet. Plus, even more telling is that maybe the Dodgers don’t consider him a CF anymore. He only played CF four of the fourteen games he played in the outfield in OKC. In which case his competition might be the same two, plus Andrew Toles, plus any possible outsider they bring in.
Yup, the winter of 2017 is not going to be anything like the past two winters for Joc Pederson. I suspect he’ll be working his ass off, and I hope it pays off because good Joc was a fun baseball player to watch.
Damn, baseball is a tough game.
Unless your name is Clayton Kershaw
FFA August 28th – Sept 4th
The minor league regular season ended last night so I thought I’d wait a day and get a final Farm Factory Award in with eight days instead of seven. The final eight days had quite a few notable performers so without further ado
The Contenders:
Yusniel Diaz – AA/Tulsa – Diaz had four multi-hit games, collecting thirteen hits, two doubles, and two home runs. Baseball America took notice last Wednesday.
Yusniel Diaz, rf, Dodgers. The Dodgers’ No. 5 prospect at midseason is making this Double-A thing look easy. Diaz had four hits Tuesday in Double-A Tulsa’s 9-3 win over Northwest Arkansas. After slashing .278/.343/.414 in high Class A, the Cuban is hitting .333/.398/.464 in 25 games in the Texas League.
Mitch White – AA/Tulsa – in his last regular season game, Mitch threw 5 scoreless innings, giving up only two hits. He did walk three, with four strikeouts.
Edwin Rios – AAA/OKC – Rios ended the regular season on fire with one huge game in which he drove in a career high six runs with four hits. Rios didn’t stop there, as he also collected six other hits and ended the time period with ten hits, two home runs, ten RBI, and five walks. Previously Rios had only walked thirteen times in 144 at bats, so five walks in twenty-four at bats is the kind of plate discipline progress you hope for. Rios would end the season with an OPS of .901 and an OBP of .368. MILB took notice.
Edwin Rios capped off an amazing night at the plate with a grand slam! It’s your Play of the Game presented by @FollowSNU! pic.twitter.com/MtZVSacah3
— OKC 89ers (@okc_dodgers) August 31, 2017
The four-hit night came after the Florida International product went through a 4-for-30 (.133) stretch over his previous 10 games.
Sandra E. Garcia“A lot of people can blame it on being the end of the year and just being tired or stuff like that. But it happens, it’s baseball,” he said. “People are always going through slumps, so I just kept my head up every day and be the same guy coming to the clubhouse. I knew it was only a matter of time it all turned around and today was the day.”
DJ Peters – A+/Rancho – Peters hit three home runs to end the year with 27, but Seth Brown hit four and won the California League Home Run crown with 30. Peters has great power but it comes with a price as he has struck out 189 times in A+ ball. Rotowire name DJ Peters the most impressive position player in the California League. Rotowire loves what DJ Peters did this year and isn’t scared off by the strikeout rate.
California League
Most Impressive: DJ Peters (Dodgers)
It is quite the indictment on the Cal League that Peters is pretty easily the most interesting offensive prospect who spent a full season in the league this year. Brendan Rodgers took full advantage of Lancaster en route to a quick promotion to Double-A, and Jahmai Joneshas been excellent in less than 200 plate appearances after a promotion from Low-A, but Peters has been the constant. His 32.3 percent strikeout rate will rightfully scare some owners off, but he has legitimate tools. He finished third in the league with 24 home runs, and among the hitters in the league with 15-plus homers, his .374 OBP ranks highest. The highlight of Peters’ season was when he took Madison Bumgarner deep twice in a rehab start. He bypassed Low-A entirely, and when he heads to Double-A next year, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see his strikeout rate drop and his overall offensive performance remain constant.
Dustin May – A+/Rancho – May made his first and only start for the Rancho yesterday and was brilliant. May threw five shutout innings, giving up only one hit, one walk, and striking out eight. It was a fine way to punctuate a great first full season. The 3rd round pick from 2016 turns 20 on Wednesday.
And the winner is………..
Edwin Rios because his OBP for the time period was .517 and I’m loving the seven walks in his last ten games while keeping the hits coming.
Other Minor League Notes:
One of my favorites this year was Dennis Santana but Santana didn’t pitch well in his last start, but he did hit a bomb. Santana is a converted position player so I’m sure he still loves to hit.
Dennis Santana Home Run @TrueBlueDoyers @Think_BlueLA @JaredJMassey @meercatjohn @YOHANNA_NUNEZ @truebluela @ElFanaticoDom @FutureDodgers pic.twitter.com/0QNgsvPKqd
— BIGDADDYOUU (@BIGDADDYOUU) September 3, 2017
Baseball America checks in on Walker Buehler
Walker Buehler, rhp, Dodgers. L.A.’s top prospect at midseason is coming to the majors. The Dodgers are expected to call up the former Vanderbilt ace today and he’ll work out of the bullpen. Buehler was 3-3, 3.35 with 125 strikeouts and 31 walks in 88.2 innings at three levels. He struck out 26.3 percent of hitters. The Dodgers were careful with Buehler’s innings in his first full season following Tommy John surgery and he showed a dynamic four-pitch mix, including a fastball up to 99 mph.
Stetson Allie is having quite a minor league career. Drafted as a pitcher he couldn’t find the plate walking 29 in 26 innings and decided to become a hitter. This was back in 2012 and by 2016 he was still a mediocre AA/AAA hitter. So a few weeks ago he decided to try pitching again. Can’t imagine this working out, and will probably join Brett Eibner when he blows out his elbow and is released by the Dodgers. Unlike Brett who looked to have a career as a backup major league outfielder, Allie had no real choice but to try pitching again since his hitting career had hit a dead end.
About that Pythag!!!
That record breaking season the Dodgers were headed for has hit a brick wall named Arizona. When the Dodgers won their 90th game on August 24th, you saw plenty of tweets about how the Dodgers only needed to go 10 – 26 to reach 100 wins. Or 15 – 21 to reach 105 wins, or 20 – 16 to win 110 games, or 25 – 11 to win 116 games.
Seemed easy peasy.
Ten games later the Dodgers only have 92 wins as they have gone 2 – 8 over their past ten games. Now that 115 looks a bit more out of reach. Pythag has taken a beating with the 13 – 0 beatdown by the Diamondbacks.
Just imagine how bad it would look if Kershaw had not shown up to win his game 1 – 0. Instead of five and four game losing streaks, it might be a ten game losing streak.
Still, we knew they had to have a bad streak, every team, every season has one of them. You can only hope this is just that, and it will be all out their system soon.
This game was different than the rest. This game the starting pitcher actually kept the team from scoring in the 1st inning. They just couldn’t keep them from scoring 13 runs after the 3rd inning.
JD Martinez not only four home runs in the same game, he
was the first Diamondback to hit four home runs in a game
he hit a home run against four different pitchers, Hill, Baez, Fields, and Font
Martinez is supposed to be the lefty killer but he went boom boom boom against three right handers.
And man, maybe the Diamondbacks should consider using Robbie Ray pitch the play-in game. He’s pretty damn good. According to the Dodger post game notes:
According to Elias Sports Bureau, Ray becomes the first pitcher in ML history with four games of 10+ strikeouts in a single season vs. the Dodgers. His 14 strikeouts tonight are the most by a D-backs pitcher since Randy Johnson, who had 15 on Aug. 31, 2004 against the Dodgers.
Since May 20, Ray has gone 10-2 with a 1.94 ERA (20 ER/92.2 IP) and has held hitters to a .177 average, while striking out 125 hitters against just 36 walks.
Catching and passing Piazza, still chasing Frank Robinson
It took longer than expected but Cody Bellinger finally caught Mike Piazza with his 35th home run on Saturday and passed him yesterday with his 36th home run. It was just a matter of time, and now Cody Bellinger holds the Dodgers Rookie home run record in a single season with 36.
Rk Player HR Year Age Tm PA OPS Pos 1 Cody Bellinger 36 2017 21 LAD 440 .967 *37/9HD 2 Mike Piazza (RoY-1st) 35 1993 24 LAD 602 .932 *2/H3 3 Corey Seager (RoY-1st) 26 2016 22 LAD 687 .877 *6/H 4 Joc Pederson (RoY-6th) 26 2015 23 LAD 585 .763 *8H 8 Frank Howard (RoY-1st) 23 1960 23 LAD 487 .784 *97/3H 9 Eric Karros (RoY-1st) 20 1992 24 LAD 589 .730 *3/H 10 Greg Brock (RoY-7th) 20 1983 26 LAD 543 .738 *3/H
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 9/4/2017.
With Mike Piazza now in his rear view mirror, the only reasonable record in sight is the NL Rookie home run record of 38 set by Frank Robinson. Frank hit eleven home runs from Aug 13th – Sept 3rd to get to his 36 home runs on this date. That was quite a run for Frank but he shot most of his bullets during that stretch. From Sept 4th on he only hit two more home runs and ended with the NL rookie record at 38. That was the major league rookie record until Mark McGwire came to town.
| Player | PA | HR | HR/PA | Sept 3rd | Total | Leader | Year |
| Frank Robinson | 575 | 36 | 15.97 | 36 | 38 | NL Rookie HR | 1956 |
| Mark McGwire | 368 | 36 | 10.22 | 40 | 49 | AL Rookie HR | 1987 |
| Shawn Green | 531 | 36 | 14.75 | 42 | 49 | LAD Alltime HR | 2001 |
| Cody Bellinger | 440 | 36 | 12.22 | 36 | ??? | Chasing | 2017 |
| Aaron Judge | 489 | 36 | 13.58 | 38 | ??? | Chasing | 2017 |
PA – this is the number of plate appearances it took for each player to reach 36 home runs. We used 36 home runs because that is where Bellinger is right now. This would be within 4 PA of accuracy as I didn’t check the game log for the specific plate appearance they hit the home run.
HR – This is a marker showing you 36 home runs.
HR/PA – this is the home runs per plate appearance pace when they each hit their 36th home run.
Total HR through August Sept 3rd
Total – season home run total
Leader – this is why they are on the list. For example Mike Piazza is the LAD Rookie Home Run Leader
Year – this is the year they accomplished the home run record that Cody Bellinger is chasing
Dodgers reward Brett Eibner
with his release. The AAA outfielder was asked to pitch by the Dodgers this summer and did so, eventually blowing out his arm and requiring Tommy John surgery. Today the Dodger designated him for assignment. They could have put him on the 60 Day Dl, but they choose not to.
I guess to make up for not treating Brett correctly, they decided to reward O’Koyea Dickson for his mediocre season at age 27 in the PCL but bringing him up. I”m not sure why other than to reward a system soldier. Dickson is a nice story but hardly anyone who can help the Dodgers in 2017 and didn’t exactly knock the door down in his minor league career to deserve this reward. He hasn’t had an OPS over .800 since his hot April. He didn’t hit LHP this year. He is a defensive liability at 1st or the outfield. I don’t really get this promotion. He’s basically a lesser version of Rob Segedin who was also recalled today. Why do they need two Rob Segedin’s?
Split PA HR BA OBP SLG OPS Total 458 24 .246 .328 .484 .811 Last 7 days 7 0 .143 .143 .143 .286 Last 28 days 70 2 .254 .329 .381 .710 Last 90 days 252 9 .243 .329 .414 .744 Home 233 14 .284 .373 .572 .946 Away 225 10 .208 .280 .396 .676 vs RHP as RHB 351 21 .256 .342 .529 .871 vs LHP as RHB 107 3 .211 .280 .337 .617 April 81 6 .320 .346 .653 .999 May 116 8 .192 .302 .485 .787 June 94 3 .234 .362 .416 .777 July 90 5 .244 .311 .488 .799 August 77 2 .257 .325 .371 .696 2 outs RISP 84 5 .338 .417 .595 1.011 vs. Younger Pitchers 291 13 .233 .313 .447 .760 vs. Older Pitchers 167 11 .267 .353 .548 .901
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 9/1/2017.
I guess I’m just annoyed that they didn’t take care of Brett Eibner though I’m not sure what they should have done. Maybe not ask him to pitch to make him more versatile since it may have ended his career, and he at least had a fourth/fifth outfielder career going forward.
Baseball America checks in on Verdugo and Font
Verdugo is not expected to be on the postseason roster, but the Dodgers are eager to see him against big league pitching in hopes of getting him acclimated to compete for a job in 2018. He might share time with Chris Taylor in center field or play in a rotation that involves Taylor and Granderson. But the Dodgers are not expecting him to contribute in a big role right away.
Read more at http://www.baseballamerica.com/majors/expect-alex-verdugo/#LUoK5YiAYFEwJqhy.99
Stranger things have happened but what if Verdugo does impress in CF and Forsythe continues to struggle at 2nd base. Could a scenario develop against RHP in the postseason of Verdugo in CF, Granderson in LF, Bellinger at 1st base, with Chris Taylor taking 2nd base? Doubtfully, but I wouldn’t rule it off the table. This is the same kind of scenario you might have expected if Joc Pederson had not shit the bed.
Either way, I can’t wait to see the arm I’ve heard so much about. I love a great arm.
Baseball America would also like to see Font get a shot in major leagues:
The minor leagues are full of good stories, and Font has one. He missed all of 2011 with Tommy John surgery before reaching the majors by the end of 2012 with the Rangers, who also called him up briefly in 2013. But he’s been cut (Reds, 2015) and pitched in indy ball (Can-Am League) before finding a home this year with the Dodgers. The 27-year-old has been the best pitcher in the Pacific Coast League. The 6-foot-4, 265-pound Font is 10-8, 3.42 with 178 strikeouts in 134 innings; he leads the PCL in whiffs and ERA and is second in wins, giving him an outside shot to still win the PCL pitching triple crown. He’s also pumping mid-90s gas. The Dodgers don’t need Font and don’t have room for him on their 40-man roster, but I’d love to see Font get a shot as a reward for his 2017
Read more at http://www.baseballamerica.com/majors/a-wish-list-of-10-september-callups/#YpTUO1wLL5bPhqir.99
That was ugly
The Dodgers did not end August like they started it, as the Diamondbacks swept the Dodgers all the way to San Diego. The three game barrage concluded with the Diamondbacks winning 8 – 1.
Overall
- The Diamondbacks outscored the Dodgers 21 – 11
- The Diamondbacks hit seven home runs
- The Diamondbacks scored ten runs in the first inning over the three games
- The Dodger starters gave up 19 runs in the three starts, thus providing the info for this tweet from Craig Minami.
Last time Dodger starting pitchers gave up 5+ runs in three straight games June 15th, 17th, and 18th 2011 (Billingsley, Lilly, De La Rosa)
— Craig Minami (@craigtminami) August 31, 2017
The Dodgers started August by winning five of six but finished August by losing four in a row. This is the first time the Dodgers have lost four in a row all year. The bad news is that the Dodgers look like the Giants right now, the good news is that every team is going to hit a slump, the better news is that it is happening now and not in October.
Angels go big
Last night I looked in on the Angel game and noticed Chris Hatcher pitching for the A’s. The Angels trailed in the game, but not for long, as the Angels would knock around Hatcher and go onto win the game 10 – 8. They had trailed 8 – 3 at one after giving up eight runs in the fourth inning.
The Angels were so inspired and the fact they are only one game behind the Twins for the last wild card spot that they went out and got Justin Upton today. Justin Upton has been one of the hottest hitters in the AL with the fourth best wRC+ in the second half.
You need a scorecard to know who is in the Angel rotation these days with Rickey Nolasco and JC Ramirez being the only two left from the original starting rotation. You have Rickey, Parker Birdwell, JC Ramirez, Troy Scribner, Andrew Heaney, and Tyler Skaggs taking starts in August. In April that would have been Rickey, Richards, Jesse Chavez, Matt Shoemaker, and JC Ramirez.
With an outfield of Upton / Trout / Calhoun along with a resurgent Cron, the Angels decided to outhit the opposition and it just might work.
Alex Verdugo is on his way
Alex Verdugo will be joining the team this Friday
Alex Verdugo will join #Dodgers in SD when rosters expand. Joc Pederson will not. Likely later when AAA season ends
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) August 31, 2017
, and if Corey Seager still has problems with the elbow I could see him getting some playing time.
Hernandez is in a slump and shouldn’t be playing against RHP anyway, so with Verdugo on the team you could move Chris Taylor to SS, play Verdugo in CF, with Granderson in LF against RHP until Seager gets his elbow under control.
It has to mean something that Joc Pederson is not getting the call this Friday. The starting CF for the first four months of the year does not appear to be in the Dodger plans for the rest of this year.
Brock Stewart will also join the team and is scheduled to pitch the first game of the Saturday doubleheader in San Diego. I was kind of hoping Font would get this gig but it will go to Brock. Brock better pitch better than his last start which taxed the bullpen when he couldn’t give them some decent innings.
Andre Ethier will join the team but can’t imagine it would be any more than as a pinch hitter. He and Adrian can discuss what its like to be earning $20,000,000 plus as bench pieces.
Dodgers, Yesterday and Today 