All the young dudes
Much like the Cubs of 2016, the Dodgers great season is being fueled by youth. The team is 50 games over .500 and the lineup is loaded with players 26 or younger.
Chris Taylor and Yasiel Puig are both 26
Joc Pederson is 25
Corey Seager is 23
Cody Bellinger is 21
Five of the regular lineup is 26 or younger. The two catchers are 28 and 27 and Barnes is enjoying his first full season in the majors at 27.
The outliers are at 2nd base where either greybeards like Logan Forsythe or Chase Utley hold court, or the redbeard at 3rd base.
For example. At age 21 Cody Bellinger has the most home runs for any Dodger at the age of 21. He could double the previous record of 20 by future HOF Adrian Beltre.
Player HR Year Age Tm PA OPS Cody Bellinger 34 2017 21 LAD 411 .975 Adrian Beltre 20 2000 21 LAD 575 .835 Willie Davis 12 1961 21 LAD 380 .767 Tommy Davis 11 1960 21 LAD 374 .728 Howie Schultz 11 1944 21 BRO 556 .680 Ed Stevens 10 1946 21 BRO 340 .728
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/16/2017.
At age 22, Corey Seager had the most home runs by a Dodger at the age of 22. I’d expect Cody Bellinger to smash that record in 2018. Along with every other Dodger home run record. Yasiel Puig is also on the list with his nineteen home runs in only 432 plate appearances in 2013.
Player HR Year Age PA OPS Corey Seager 26 2016 22 687 .877 Duke Snider 23 1949 22 615 .854 Willie Davis 21 1962 22 666 .787 Yasiel Puig 19 2013 22 432 .925 Tommy Davis 15 1961 22 508 .738 Pete Reiser 14 1941 22 601 .964 Adrian Beltre 13 2001 22 515 .720 Willie Crawford 11 1969 22 440 .732 Wayne Belardi 11 1953 22 180 .796 Jimmy Sheckard 11 1901 22 609 .944 Matt Kemp 10 2007 22 311 .894 Ron Fairly 10 1961 22 301 .956
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/16/2017.
Three current Dodgers on the list for most home runs by a Dodger at the age of 23. Corey Seager still has eight weeks to climb up this ladder. He won’t catch HOF Duke Snider but he might catch the all-time LAD home run leader Tommy Davis at 27.
Player HR Year Age PA OPS Duke Snider 31 1950 23 684 .932 Tommy Davis 27 1962 23 711 .910 Joc Pederson 26 2015 23 585 .763 Frank Howard 23 1960 23 487 .784 Adrian Beltre 21 2002 23 635 .729 Corey Seager 19 2017 23 475 .917 Matt Kemp 18 2008 23 657 .799 Mike Marshall 17 1983 23 518 .782 Yasiel Puig 16 2014 23 640 .863 Raul Mondesi 16 1994 23 454 .849 James Loney 15 2007 23 375 .919
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/16/2017.
I could go on and on with leaderboard after leaderboard, but I’ll leave that for November.
Chavez Ravine domination
If you have been going to the Ravine to watch the Dodgers since Cody Bellinger joined the team the odds have been in your favor that you will have watched another Dodger home victory. Overall the Dodgers are fifty games over .500 with a winning percentage of .712 which is insane, but at home they take that up a notch with a record of 50 – 14 for a home winning percentage of .781.
Dodger fans in Los Angeles are witnessing something no other Los Angeles fans have ever seen, and this franchise has five World Championships since moving to Los Angeles.
When you look at the offensive splits, it is very clear why the team wins at home.
- They have two full time players with an OPS over 1.000
- They have five players with an OPS over .900 including both catchers
- The only regular who does not have an OPS over .800 is Logan Forsythe.
Player Split Year OPS PA BA OBP SLG Justin Turner Home 2017 1.042 195 .348 .446 .596 Cody Bellinger Home 2017 1.004 217 .289 .378 .626 Corey Seager Home 2017 .919 253 .305 .391 .527 Austin Barnes Home 2017 .917 92 .274 .424 .493 Yasmani Grandal Home 2017 .911 195 .317 .354 .557 Andrew Toles Home 2017 .874 59 .321 .356 .518 Chris Taylor Home 2017 .833 214 .277 .341 .492 Joc Pederson Home 2017 .828 144 .223 .340 .488 Chase Utley Home 2017 .825 148 .268 .361 .465 Yasiel Puig Home 2017 .806 218 .243 .335 .471 Enrique Hernandez Home 2017 .777 150 .215 .315 .462 Adrian Gonzalez Home 2017 .656 111 .262 .306 .350 Logan Forsythe Home 2017 .591 167 .209 .317 .273
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/16/2017.
Let’s compare that to the road splits:
Geezus, the top of the lineup is filled with hitting monsters. Very little difference really in the big four plus Puig. Logan hits better on the road, while Grandal/Joc/Chase have struggled on the road.
Player Split Year OPS PA Chris Taylor Away 2017 1.020 186 Justin Turner Away 2017 .970 194 Austin Barnes Away 2017 .953 84 Cody Bellinger Away 2017 .944 194 Corey Seager Away 2017 .916 222 Yasiel Puig Away 2017 .794 204 Logan Forsythe Away 2017 .772 143 Enrique Hernandez Away 2017 .748 119 Joc Pederson Away 2017 .664 148 Yasmani Grandal Away 2017 .628 162 Adrian Gonzalez Away 2017 .623 71 Chase Utley Away 2017 .622 124
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/16/2017.
OTDIB – 08/16/1964 – Sandy Koufax ruptures elbow
The Dodgers were playing the Cardinals in a double header and ran into double trouble. Sandy Koufax was once again the best pitcher in the NL but had his season cut short because of a play as a baserunner in the 7th inning. Koufax had walked and slid safely into second base as Maury Wills was forced at 1st base. He would rupture his elbow on a pickup play but stay in the game, not knowing he had received an injury that would plague him the rest of his career.
He would finish the game with thirteen strikeouts and a 3 – 0 shutout. As I recall from his bio he woke up the next day with his elbow this size of a softball and would not pitch again the rest of the year. This kind of bears this out:
nor a badly ruptured elbow when he dove back to second base in a Tony Cloninger pick-off attempt in 1964, after which he had “to drag my arm out of bed like a log.”
The problem with this link is that Tony Cloninger did not pitch in this game.
So, let that sink in.
He had an injury that would finish his season, but he still pitched the final two innings to complete the game and shutout.
He would still lead the NL in ERA, ERA+, FIP, WHIP, and SO9. It didn’t have any impact on the postseason aspirations of the current World Champions as the Cardinals had a double digit lead on them.
The Cardinals were loaded that year with 1964 MVP Ken Boyer and a center fielder named Curt Flood. Flood would have eight straight hits in the double header. He collected four hits in the first game against Koufax, and four more straight hits in the second game. Flood had eight straight hits in the double header before Ron Perranoski struck him out in the 9th inning.
Not only did Flood refuse to go, but he went to his personal lawyer and then to Marvin Miller, founder and executive director of the Players Association, and told them he wanted to sue Major League Baseball. The decision sent shock waves not only through baseball but ultimately through all professional sports. Those waves reverberate even to this day. And though he was aware that it would cost him dearly, he never wavered.
Corey Seager is double trouble
Only future HOF Adrian Beltre has had more doubles than Corey Seager at age 23 in a Los Angeles Dodger uniform. However, for every thing Corey Seager is going to do, Cody Bellinger is probably eventually going to pass him.
Player 2B From To Age PA OPS Adrian Beltre 114 1998 2002 19-23 2553 .756 Corey Seager 78 2015 2017 21-23 1272 .901 Willie Davis 62 1960 1963 20-23 1695 .738 Yasiel Puig 58 2013 2014 22-23 1072 .888 Tommy Davis 58 1959 1962 20-23 1594 .812 Matt Kemp 57 2006 2008 21-23 1134 .816 Bill Buckner 52 1969 1973 19-23 1466 .676
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/15/2017.
Ike Davis is the son of 1981 LAD World Series hero Ron Davis?
Ike Davis is getting some play today because of the news from Bill Shaikin that Ike is transitioning from a 1st baseman to a pitcher while in the Dodger organization. For months I’ve been asking why is Ike Davis in the Dodger organization? His days as a slugging 1st baseman were long gone, and the Dodgers had a plethora of 1st base types in the system. Now I know why?
“Ike has been a tremendous teammate,” Dodgers minor league director Gabe Kapler said. “He’s demonstrated humility and flexibility by taking this first step. We’re watching his mound progress very carefully. Before we take further action, we want to ensure he stays healthy. He has our enthusiastic support in this journey.”
This is a huge longshot but you never know. Either I had forgotten when Ike was a slugging 1st baseman with the Mets or simply never knew but Ike is the son of ex NYY and Dodger Ron Davis.
Most of you are saying who cares. As a Dodger Ron Davis was at the end of his career. However, in his own way, he still did as much as anyone when it came to the Dodgers winning the 1981 World Series.
WAT? you say
Ron Davis was the premiere setup man for the NYY in 1981, setting everything up for Goose Gossage. He was an all-star, he finished 22 of the 43 games he pitched in giving the Yankees a sweet one/two punch of Goose and Davis. He even had a great postseason for the NYY. Coming into the World Series, Davis had been in six games and thrown thirteen innings while allowing only one run. He was a big reason why the Dodgers were facing the Yankees in the World Series.
By all accounts, Ron Davis had, had a premiere season in 1981.
Until the World Series
The NYY won game one, but Ron Davis didn’t record an out giving up two runs on two hits and two walks.
In game four with the NYY leading two games to one, they had a 4 – 2 lead in the bottom of the fifth. A Ron Cey single narrowed the lead to 4 – 3 but Ron Davis came in and struck out the last two hitters to end the inning and looked like a hero. In the bottom of the sixth, the NYY were now leading 6 – 3 when Davis took the mound. At this time the Dodgers executed one of their greatest World Series comebacks. Jay Johnstone hit a two run home run off of Ron Davis to cut the lead to 6 – 4. Lopes got on an error, promptly stole second, and Mr Reliable Bill Russel tied the game with a single. That was it for Ron Davis but it was all the Dodgers needed. From the bottom of the 6th in game four the Dodgers would outscore the NYY 16 – 4 and win the series in six games.
Relief pitcher George Frazier rightly gets singled out for helping the Dodgers win the 81 World Series because of how bad he was, but Ron Davis can stand right next to him.
The NYY had a killer bullpen in 1981 of Frazier / Ron Davis / Goose Gossage. The Dodgers cut them all down, one by one until they had won four straight games after being down two games to zero. It was the greatest four game stretch by any Dodger team since 1963 when they swept the NYY.
OTDIB – 08/15/89 – Dave Dravecky makes strong men throw up
Chad Bettis made headlines last night by throwing seven fantastic innings after coming back from his cancer treatment. That was his first start.
Anyone who was watching Dave Dravecky pitching on August 15, 1989 will never forget it. He was making his second start after coming back from cancer treatment and much like Chad Bettis was the feel good story of the day in baseball. Pitching to HOF Tim Raines he broke his arm and would never pitch again. It looked horrific at the time, and twenty-eight years later, it still does.
August 15th, 1965 – The Japanese community of San Francisco holds Masanori Murakami Day
at Candlestick Park to honor the first Japanese player to have reached the American major leagues. Ordinarily a reliever, Murakami makes his first major league start as the Giants outslug the Phillies 15-9.
Baseball Reliquary has the run down on him.
“In the spring of 1964, the Nankai Hawks of Japan’s Pacific League sent nineteen-year-old Masanori Murakami to the Class A Fresno Giants to improve his skills. To nearly everyone’s surprise, Murakami, known as Mashi, dominated the American hitters. With the San Francisco Giants caught in a close pennant race and desperate for a left-handed reliever, Masanori was called up to join the big league club, becoming the first Japanese player in the Major Leagues.
Dodgers own the lineup positions
We all know that Yasiel Puig has been the best number eight hitter in baseball but when Joe Davis said that Chris Taylor has been the best leadoff hitter in baseball that made me turn to Fangraphs and use the batting position split tool to find out how the rest of the lineup stacks up.
I was fully expecting Cory Seager and Justin Turner from the two and three batting order positions to be near the top but I was not expecting Cody Bellinger to be the top cleanup hitter in all of baseball.
I used Fangraphs wRC+ for this exercise with a minimum of 150 plate appearances. It was interesting to note that many players exceeded the 150 plate appearances threshold for batting positions 1 – 5 but once we hit the number six and seven spot, not even ten hitters could reach the threshold including zero Dodgers. The Dodgers may bounce around the 5,6, and 7 spots in the order, but one – four, and eight have been consistently the same folk game after game. Chris Taylor, Corey Seager, Justin Turner, Cody Bellinger, and Puig.
This is why the Dodgers are on pace to have the greatest season in Dodger history. Per wRC+
- They have the best lead off hitter in baseball (Chris Taylor)
- They have the cleanup hitter in baseball (Cody Bellinger)
- They have the best eight hitter in baseball (Yasiel Puig)
- They have the fifth best five hitter in baseball (Corey Seager)
- They have the fourth best three hitter in baseball (Justin Turner)
Lead Off:
| Name | Team | PA | wRC+ |
| Chris Taylor | Dodgers | 165 | 197 |
| George Springer | Astros | 436 | 159 |
| Michael Conforto | Mets | 317 | 148 |
| Matt Carpenter | Cardinals | 255 | 146 |
| Charlie Blackmon | Rockies | 523 | 141 |
| Matt Joyce | Athletics | 224 | 136 |
| Corey Dickerson | Rays | 251 | 132 |
| Jean Segura | Mariners | 376 | 126 |
| Shin-Soo Choo | Rangers | 269 | 120 |
Batting 2nd:
| Name | Team | PA | wRC+ |
| Mike Trout | Angels | 155 | 211 |
| Jose Altuve | Astros | 178 | 196 |
| Giancarlo Stanton | Marlins | 304 | 178 |
| Josh Donaldson | Blue Jays | 157 | 169 |
| Corey Seager | Dodgers | 466 | 144 |
| Eduardo Nunez | – – – | 158 | 144 |
| Zack Cozart | Reds | 275 | 142 |
| Kris Bryant | Cubs | 405 | 142 |
| Eric Thames | Brewers | 385 | 141 |
Batting 3rd:
| Name | Team | PA | wRC+ |
| Mike Trout | Angels | 174 | 198 |
| Freddie Freeman | Braves | 311 | 168 |
| Joey Votto | Reds | 514 | 165 |
| Bryce Harper | Nationals | 447 | 164 |
| Justin Turner | Dodgers | 379 | 164 |
| Paul Goldschmidt | Diamondbacks | 399 | 157 |
| Justin Upton | Tigers | 170 | 153 |
| Jose Altuve | Astros | 304 | 141 |
| Ryan Braun | Brewers | 244 | 136 |
Batting cleanup:
| Name | Team | PA | wRC+ |
| Cody Bellinger | Dodgers | 271 | 152 |
| Justin Smoak | Blue Jays | 202 | 149 |
| Nelson Cruz | Mariners | 418 | 148 |
| Adrian Beltre | Rangers | 260 | 140 |
| Khris Davis | Athletics | 447 | 139 |
| Ryan Zimmerman | Nationals | 355 | 138 |
| Buster Posey | Giants | 415 | 138 |
| Jay Bruce | Mets | 194 | 136 |
| Carlos Correa | Astros | 284 | 133 |
| Travis Shaw | Brewers | 406 | 132 |
| Neil Walker | – – – | 155 | 132 |
| Logan Morrison | Rays | 348 | 132 |
Batting eighth:
| Name | Team | PA | wRC+ |
| Yasiel Puig | Dodgers | 224 | 132 |
| Travis d’Arnaud | Mets | 155 | 120 |
| Alex Bregman | Astros | 195 | 118 |
| Jordy Mercer | Pirates | 198 | 98 |
| Orlando Arcia | Brewers | 346 | 93 |
| Omar Narvaez | White Sox | 168 | 86 |
| Tucker Barnhart | Reds | 287 | 85 |
| Freddy Galvis | Phillies | 154 | 82 |
This will be fun to look back on, at the end of the year.
NL Central Update
I just want to post this.
At the end of August 12th the top three teams in the NL Central have this interesting won/loss record.
Come on, how cool is that.
| Team | Wins | Losses |
| Cubs | 61 | 55 |
| Cardinals | 61 | 57 |
| Brewers | 61 | 59 |
AL Wild Wild card race
The Yankee’s did enough at the trade deadline that most figured they would not only handily win a wild card spot but overtake the Boston Red Sox and win the AL East outright. They started out that way proving the few skeptics (me) wrong and the majority correct. Several games after the big trades the Yankees were sitting in first place by 1/2 a game on July 31st. But hold on, that was as big a lead as they got, as they have fallen from being in 1st place to 5.5 games back in a span of twelve games. Turns out you need more than just a killer bullpen to win games. Who knew?
Meanwhile, the Angels were given little chance in the hectic wild card race for the second spot (everyone assumed the Yankees or Red Sox have the first one locked up) but with Trout back in the lineup the Angels came out blazing in August and won their first four games. They followed that with three straight losses and that looked like curtains. Somewhere they found another gear and have now won six games in a row, including a sweep of Seattle in Seattle as they try to douse the Mariner postseason hopes. The Angels did this with a rotation in August so far of Parker Bridwell, Rickey Nolasco, JC Ramirez, Tyler Skaggs, and someone named Troy Scribner. I can safely say I had never heard of three of those pitchers on March 1st, 2017.
If you look at the Wild Card standings right now you will see the Angels now have the same record as NYY. If the season ended today, the NYY and Angels would be playing the play-in game.
They both have 61 wins.
Four teams have 59 wins, Seattle, Twins, KC, and Tampa Bay. The Orioles have 58 wins.
Going to be a wild ride from here.
Go Angels
Dodgers, Yesterday and Today 