Alex Wood about to pounce on the Vulture
In 1966 Phil Regan won fourteen games as a relief pitcher for the NL Champion Dodgers and earned the nickname “The Vulture” for pilfering wins from the starting pitchers. He also only lost one game and has the greatest winning percentage of any Los Angeles Dodger with at least twelve wins. Eric Stephen explains how he earned the nickname.
But what stood out was his 14-1 record.
In eight of those wins, Regan entered a tie game, and four times he came in when the Dodgers were trailing. Only twice did he earn a win after blowing a lead, each time surrendering a one-run lead by allowing an inherited run to score.
But he earned the nickname “The Vulture” from teammates, one he and the team embraced.
Alex Wood won his thirteenth game last night and with only one loss now has a winning % of .929 putting him within one more win of matching Phil Regan’s amazing record in 1966.
Only Phil Regan and Ron Perranoski were relief pitchers on the list below which shows every Los Angeles Dodger with at least twelve wins and a winning percentage of over .800%. You can see by the ERA+, these were not fluke years, these pitchers earned those wins. Well most of them anyway, Rick Rhoden’s record was a bit flukish.
Player W-L% W Year GS L ERA+ Phil Regan .933 14 1966 0 1 203 Alex Wood .929 13 2017 17 1 179 Clayton Kershaw .882 15 2017 21 2 204 Clayton Kershaw .875 21 2014 27 3 197 Zack Greinke .864 19 2015 32 3 222 Orel Hershiser .864 19 1985 34 3 171 Ron Perranoski .842 16 1963 0 3 179 Sandy Koufax .833 25 1963 40 5 159 Tommy John .813 13 1974 22 3 132 Clayton Kershaw .808 21 2011 33 5 161 Brad Penny .800 16 2007 33 4 147 Rick Rhoden .800 12 1976 26 3 113
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/4/2017.
Cody Bellinger catches a Trout and a Nomar
With his 30th home run last night, Cody Bellinger has now joined a select list of rookies who have hit at least 30 home runs. Cody caught future HOF Mike Trout, Boston great Nomar Garciaparra, Twin great Bobby Allison, and Pete Incaviglia.
Next on his list is HOF Ted Williams at 31. If you have been following our Chasing Piazza series you know Cody is on pace to easily break the Dodger rookie home run record of 35. That 35 home runs is also the major league record for a left handed rookie hitter set by Hal Trosky back in 1934. Only seven left handed rookies have ever hit at least 30 home runs. I thought for years that Jimmie Hall had the record at 33. I’ll talk about Jimmie Hall more when Cody hits number 33. Probably this Sunday at this rate.
Trosky had an interesting career. When you look at his baseball reference page you see a player who started with a bang but stopped playing at age 28 in 1941. I thought the war interrupted his career but the baseball sabr bio says it was migraines.
his career reached its apex in 1936, when he led the American League in runs batted in with 162, yet he has largely been consigned to historical obscurity. This anonymity is not only due to the reality that his career overlapped a triumvirate of Jimmie Foxx, Hank Greenberg, and Lou Gehrig, a triumvirate of future Hall of Fame first basemen who held a virtual lock on the position on the American League All Star teams of the mid-’30s, but also because, at what should have been the peak of his career, Trosky was sidelined with two years of severe migraine headaches, pain so debilitating that he became unable to take the field for days in a row.
From age 21 – 28 Trosky hit 215 home runs. He tried to come back in 1944 and 1946 but it didn’t work out and he ended his career with only 5748 plate appearances and 228 home runs with an OPS+ of 130. He had a short but brilliant career. The man once hit 42 home runs, drove in 162 runs, had an OPS of 146, led the league in TB with 405 and finished 10th in MVP voting.
Player HR Year Age Tm Lg PA Mark McGwire (RoY-1st) 49 1987 23 OAK AL 641 Frank Robinson (RoY-1st) 38 1956 20 CIN NL 667 Albert Pujols (RoY-1st) 37 2001 21 STL NL 676 Al Rosen 37 1950 26 CLE AL 668 Jose Abreu (RoY-1st) 36 2014 27 CHW AL 622 Mike Piazza (RoY-1st) 35 1993 24 LAD NL 602 Ron Kittle (RoY-1st) 35 1983 25 CHW AL 570 Rudy York 35 1937 23 DET AL 417 Hal Trosky 35 1934 21 CLE AL 685 Aaron Judge 34 2017 25 NYY AL 449 Ryan Braun (RoY-1st) 34 2007 23 MIL NL 492 Walt Dropo (RoY-1st) 34 1950 27 BOS AL 609 Jose Canseco (RoY-1st) 33 1986 21 OAK AL 682 Earl Williams (RoY-1st) 33 1971 22 ATL NL 550 Jimmie Hall (RoY-3rd) 33 1963 25 MIN AL 571 Chris Young (RoY-4th) 32 2007 23 ARI NL 624 Matt Nokes (RoY-3rd) 32 1987 23 DET AL 508 Tony Oliva (RoY-1st) 32 1964 25 MIN AL 719 Tim Salmon (RoY-1st) 31 1993 24 CAL AL 610 Jim Ray Hart (RoY-2nd) 31 1964 22 SFG NL 625 Ted Williams 31 1939 20 BOS AL 675 Cody Bellinger 30 2017 21 LAD NL 363 Mike Trout (RoY-1st) 30 2012 20 LAA AL 639 Nomar Garciaparra (RoY-1st) 30 1997 23 BOS AL 734 Pete Incaviglia 30 1986 22 TEX AL 606 Willie Montanez (RoY-2nd) 30 1971 23 PHI NL 683 Bob Allison (RoY-1st) 30 1959 24 WSH AL 638
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/3/2017.
Chasing Piazza / Robinson / Green / McGwire with number 30 and catching Montanez
Leave it to Joe Davis and the Dodger research group to throw a wrinkle at me. Here I was focusing on the all time LAD Rookie home run record of 35 by Piazza, the NL Rookie Record of 38 by Frank Robinson, the major league Rookie record of 49 by Mark McGwire, and the all time Dodger home run record of 49 by Shawn Green.
Yet, it never occurred to check out the NL rookie home runs by a left handed batter.
Which was Willie Montanez with 30.
Cody Bellinger just caught him. Next on the list is someone called Ted Williams. Probably didn’t have much of a career.
Player HR Year Age Tm Lg PA Hal Trosky 35 1934 21 CLE AL 685 Jimmie Hall (RoY-3rd) 33 1963 25 MIN AL 571 Matt Nokes (RoY-3rd) 32 1987 23 DET AL 508 Tony Oliva (RoY-1st) 32 1964 25 MIN AL 719 Ted Williams 31 1939 20 BOS AL 675 Willie Montanez (RoY-2nd) 30 1971 23 PHI NL 683 Cody Bellinger 30 2017 21 LAD NL 360 Prince Fielder (RoY-7th) 28 2006 22 MIL NL 648 David Justice (RoY-1st) 28 1990 24 ATL NL 504 Luke Easter 28 1950 34 CLE AL 623 Alvin Davis (RoY-1st) 27 1984 23 SEA AL 678 Corey Seager (RoY-1st) 26 2016 22 LAD NL 687 Joc Pederson (RoY-6th) 26 2015 23 LAD NL 585 Darryl Strawberry (RoY-1st) 26 1983 21 NYM NL 473 Bobby Murcer 26 1969 23 NYY AL 625 Todd Helton (RoY-2nd) 25 1998 24 COL NL 595 Billy Williams (RoY-1st) 25 1961 23 CHC NL 584 Eddie Mathews (RoY-3rd) 25 1952 20 BSN NL 593 Del Bissonette 25 1928 28 BRO NL 668
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/2/2017.
With home runs on back to back games against the Braves, Cody Bellinger has caught the pace of Shawn Green.
| Player | PA | HR | HR/PA | Aug 2nd | Total | Leader | Year |
| Mike Piazza | 531 | 30 | 17.70 | 21 | 35 | LAD Rookie HR | 1993 |
| Frank Robinson | 505 | 30 | 16.83 | 24 | 38 | NL Rookie HR | 1956 |
| Mark McGwire | 306 | 30 | 10.20 | 37 | 49 | AL Rookie HR | 1987 |
| Shawn Green | 452 | 30 | 15.07 | 30 | 49 | LAD All time HR | 2001 |
| Cody Bellinger | 334 | 30 | 11.13 | 30 | ??? | Chasing | 2017 |
King of the Hill once again
Rich Hill won the July NL Pitcher of the Month. He had won the AL award in 2016 in May. Seems like a long time ago that Rich Hill couldn’t pitch and the Dodgers were laboring in late April.
Does it seem like the Dodgers are owning the Pitcher of the Month? Would you believe that two Dodgers have won NL Pitcher of the Month in 2017 and neither is named Kershaw?
Alex Wood won in May, and now Rich Hill has won for July.
Per the Dodgers Press Release:
In five July starts, Hill registered a 4-0 record with a 1.45 ERA and an impressive 40:5 strikeout-to walk ratio en route to claiming his second career monthly award, last winning the AL Pitcher of the Month Award for the Oakland Athletics in May 2016. The left-hander allowed just 19 hits and two home runs across 31.0 innings of work. Rich is the second Dodgers hurler to earn monthly honors this season, following Alex Wood’s award-winning month of May. Among qualified NL starters, Hill finished the period tied for first in wins, second in strikeouts and third in ERA.
Fangraphs dashboard shows us what all that meant.
| Name | GS | IP | K/9 | BB/9 | ERA | WAR |
| Aaron Nola | 5 | 34 | 11.38 | 2.12 | 1.32 | 1.4 |
| Michael Wacha | 5 | 32.2 | 10.19 | 1.38 | 1.93 | 1.2 |
| Clayton Kershaw | 4 | 25 | 11.88 | 1.44 | 0.72 | 1.2 |
| Rich Hill | 5 | 31 | 11.61 | 1.45 | 1.45 | 1.2 |
| Brent Suter | 5 | 30 | 7.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.1 |
| Zack Greinke | 5 | 34 | 8.74 | 1.32 | 2.12 | 1 |
| Lance Lynn | 6 | 36.2 | 5.89 | 2.45 | 1.47 | 1 |
| German Marquez | 5 | 33.1 | 10.53 | 1.89 | 3.51 | 1 |
Is this the last of Brock?
Brock Stewart will take the mound against the Braves tonight but it might be the last time we see him until September.
With the acquisitions of Yu Darvish, Tony Watson, and Tony Cingrani his hold on a spot on the Dodger pitching staff might be in jeopardy.
Starting Rotation after this start:
Wood, Darvish, Hill, Ryu, Maeda
Brock won’t see another start unless they go to a six man rotation and why would they do that? Since he can’t pitch for at least four days, it would make sense to option him and that allows them to activate the recently acquired Tony Cingrani.
Yu Darvish needs to be activated and that should take care of Josh Ravin. (just happened as I was writing)
After that McCarthy is due to come off the DL and another pitcher will need to go.
What happens when Kershaw comes back? We have a few weeks to find out who is pulling their weight or if DL moves are in the future.
Which is too bad because Stewart has been great out of the bullpen but there just doesn’t seem to be room for him if you are keeping three left handed relief pitchers.
Jansen, Baez, Morrow, Avilan, Watson, Cingrani, Fields, Stripling.
The biggest reason for the Dodgers to care about games in Sept is that so many players will be fighting for a spot on the postseason roster. I’ll tackle that tomorrow.
Great Lake Loons July Stats Snapshot & Overview
Hitters:
- Top prospects coming and going. Keibert Ruiz is now in Rancho but Jeren Kendall the 2017 number one pick is playing for the Loons
- Keibert Ruiz and Cristian Santana would appear to be the only two hitters who have overcome the pitching league and park. I feel what Ruiz did at this level is much more impressive than the crazy numbers he’s putting up with Rancho.
- Kendall, Wong, and Yarnall are new pieces, can they crack the code and put up some offensive numbers? Probably not, but Yarnall is off to a good start.
- Oneil Cruz and Brendon Davis are both on new teams.
- 2016 Number one pick Gavin Lux started flexing some muscle over the past few weeks but overall has had an abysmal offensive season. He probably just needs to get promoted to Rancho to start showing some power.
Name Age PA 2B HR BA OBP SLG OPS Cody Thomas* 22 391 14 15 .229 .286 .411 .697 Oneil Cruz 18 375 9 8 .240 .293 .342 .635 Brendon Davis 19 367 19 8 .245 .357 .403 .760 Gavin Lux* 19 366 8 6 .212 .313 .328 .641 Carlos Rincon 19 327 13 16 .199 .269 .412 .681 Mitchell Hansen* 21 299 9 5 .198 .288 .312 .599 Keibert Ruiz# 18 251 16 2 .317 .372 .423 .795 Saige Jenco* 22 250 9 3 .242 .341 .363 .704 Steve Berman 22 184 8 0 .226 .283 .274 .556 Luis Paz* 20 153 4 3 .196 .248 .301 .549 Eric Meza* 19 114 5 1 .233 .289 .311 .600 Gage Green* 24 107 8 0 .213 .271 .298 .569 Cristian Santana 20 94 6 3 .333 .340 .495 .835 Gersel Pitre 20 93 5 0 .247 .304 .306 .610 Errol Robinson 22 86 5 3 .247 .291 .455 .745 Zach McKinstry* 22 69 7 1 .308 .478 .500 .978 Zach Reks* 23 65 2 0 .309 .406 .345 .752 Darien Tubbs 22 60 1 0 .137 .233 .157 .390 Jared Walker* 21 56 1 4 .176 .250 .431 .681 Moises Perez 19 55 4 0 .163 .236 .245 .481 Nick Yarnall* 22 35 1 2 .250 .400 .500 .900 Brayan Morales 21 34 1 0 .185 .353 .222 .575 Connor Wong 21 29 1 0 .167 .276 .208 .484 Brandon Montgomery 21 26 2 0 .217 .308 .304 .612 Jeren Kendall* 21 25 0 1 .174 .240 .478 .718 Shakir Albert 20 15 2 0 .231 .333 .385 .718
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 8/1/2017.
Cristian Santana might want to look at a few pitches.
At least Gavin Lux has shown excellent plate discipline, just can’t seem to hit the ball hard yet.
| Name / Age | PA | BB% | K% | wOBA / wRC+ | ISO |
| Cody Thomas / 22 | 396 | 6.60% | 29.30% | 0.315 / 95 | 0.179 |
| Oneil Cruz / 18 | 375 | 7.50% | 29.30% | 0.291 / 79 | 0.102 |
| Gavin Lux / 19 | 371 | 12.40% | 17.30% | 0.305 / 89 | 0.121 |
| Brendon Davis / 19 | 367 | 12.80% | 29.20% | 0.35 / 118 | 0.158 |
| Carlos Rincon / 19 | 332 | 8.40% | 37.70% | 0.301 / 86 | 0.209 |
| Mitchell Hansen / 21 | 299 | 10.70% | 25.10% | 0.278 / 71 | 0.114 |
| Saige Jenco / 22 | 254 | 11.40% | 20.10% | 0.33 / 105 | 0.128 |
| Keibert Ruiz / 18 | 251 | 7.20% | 12.00% | 0.363 / 127 | 0.106 |
| Luis Paz / 20 | 153 | 6.50% | 26.80% | 0.254 / 55 | 0.105 |
| Eric Meza / 19 | 114 | 6.10% | 16.70% | 0.278 / 71 | 0.078 |
| Cristian Santana / 20 | 99 | 1.00% | 22.20% | 0.374 / 134 | 0.153 |
| Gersel Pitre / 20 | 93 | 7.50% | 21.50% | 0.286 / 76 | 0.059 |
| Nick Yarnall / 22 | 40 | 22.50% | 27.50% | 0.416 / 162 | 0.226 |
| Brayan Morales / 21 | 34 | 17.60% | 17.60% | 0.296 / 82 | 0.037 |
| Brandon Montgomery / 21 | 30 | 10.00% | 23.30% | 0.343 / 114 | 0.074 |
| Jeren Kendall / 21 | 30 | 6.70% | 26.70% | 0.285 / 75 | 0.259 |
| Connor Wong / 21 | 29 | 10.30% | 24.10% | 0.24 / 46 | 0.042 |
Pitchers:
- A.J. Alexy and Angel German are gone. Alexy had swing and miss stuff but also some command issues. Lowest BA against among the starters.
- 17-year-old Melvin Jiminez and 20-year-old Imani Abdullah just showed up. Have to admit I was expecting alot from Abdullah this year but he has missed most of the year and will try to use the final month to get ready for next year.
- With A.J. Alexy gone, Dustin May is the best prospect here and pitches like it. Will be curious to see which one has the better career or if either even have a career.
- For a 22-year-old in a pitchers league in a pitchers park, Jordan Sheffield has sure been underwhelming. If I didn’t know the draft pedigree I’d look at the numbers and think Devin Smelzter was the better pitcher to bet on. Smeltzer is already at Rancho while Sheffield looks to finish the year with the Loons.
Name Age ERA GS IP WHIP H9 BB9 SO9 SO/W Leonardo Crawford* 20 4.90 19 104.2 1.328 9.1 2.8 6.6 2.33 Dustin May 19 4.24 20 102.0 1.225 8.9 2.1 8.6 4.08 Jordan Sheffield 22 3.84 19 82.0 1.488 8.9 4.5 8.9 1.98 A.J. Alexy 19 3.67 19 73.2 1.127 5.6 4.5 10.5 2.32 Chris Mathewson 21 3.29 7 68.1 1.434 9.5 3.4 8.7 2.54 Devin Smeltzer* 21 3.78 10 52.1 0.994 6.9 2.1 9.8 4.75 Sven Schueller 21 1.49 0 48.1 1.179 7.3 3.4 5.6 1.67 Vinny Santarsiero 23 2.82 0 44.2 1.410 9.1 3.6 4.2 1.17 Christian Stolo* 23 4.31 1 39.2 1.487 10.2 3.2 8.8 2.79 Miguel Urena 22 2.14 0 33.2 1.188 7.0 3.7 6.4 1.71 Nolan Long 23 2.70 0 33.1 1.230 6.5 4.6 13.8 3.00 Angel German 21 1.91 0 33.0 1.091 6.0 3.8 10.1 2.64 Andre Scrubb 22 1.64 0 33.0 1.182 4.4 6.3 9.5 1.52 Willian Soto 21 3.03 2 29.2 1.685 12.1 3.0 8.2 2.70 Ryan Moseley 22 7.71 0 21.0 1.619 10.3 4.3 7.7 1.80 Patrick Duester 23 4.82 0 18.2 1.179 7.2 3.4 9.2 2.71 Parker Curry 23 1.88 1 14.1 0.767 5.0 1.9 10.7 5.67 Imani Abdullah 20 5.11 6 12.1 1.541 8.8 5.1 9.5 1.86 Lenix Osuna 21 9.00 1 11.0 1.818 11.5 4.9 8.2 1.67 Jay Muhammad 22 3.38 0 10.2 1.313 7.6 4.2 14.3 3.40 Austin French* 23 6.00 0 9.0 2.111 11.0 8.0 9.0 1.13
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 8/1/2017.
| Name / Age | IP | K% | BB% | K-BB% | AVG |
| Leo Crawford / 20 | 104.2 | 16.90% | 7.20% | 9.70% | 0.253 |
| Dustin May / 19 | 102 | 22.10% | 5.40% | 16.70% | 0.246 |
| Jordan Sheffield / 22 | 82 | 22.40% | 11.40% | 11.10% | 0.258 |
| A.J. Alexy / 19 | 73.2 | 28.40% | 12.20% | 16.20% | 0.178 |
| Chris Mathewson / 21 | 68.1 | 22.20% | 8.80% | 13.50% | 0.266 |
| Devin Smeltzer / 21 | 52.1 | 27.90% | 5.90% | 22.10% | 0.209 |
| Sven Schueller / 21 | 48.1 | 14.50% | 8.70% | 5.80% | 0.214 |
| Vinny Santarsiero / 23 | 44.2 | 10.50% | 9.00% | 1.50% | 0.259 |
| Christian Stolo / 23 | 39.2 | 22.70% | 8.10% | 14.50% | 0.289 |
| Miguel Urena / 22 | 33.2 | 17.00% | 9.90% | 7.10% | 0.211 |
| Nolan Long / 23 | 33.1 | 35.20% | 11.70% | 23.50% | 0.189 |
| Angel German / 21 | 33 | 27.40% | 10.40% | 17.00% | 0.186 |
| Andre Scrubb / 22 | 33 | 26.30% | 17.30% | 9.00% | 0.147 |
| Willian Soto / 21 | 29.2 | 20.30% | 7.50% | 12.80% | 0.325 |
| Ryan Moseley / 22 | 21 | 18.00% | 10.00% | 8.00% | 0.27 |
| Patrick Duester / 23 | 18.2 | 24.70% | 9.10% | 15.60% | 0.217 |
| Parker Curry / 23 | 14.1 | 30.90% | 5.50% | 25.50% | 0.154 |
| Imani Abdullah / 20 | 12.1 | 23.60% | 12.70% | 10.90% | 0.25 |
| Lenix Osuna / 21 | 11 | 17.90% | 10.70% | 7.10% | 0.286 |
| Jeremiah Muhammad / 22 | 10.2 | 36.20% | 10.60% | 25.50% | 0.214 |
| Austin French / 23 | 9 | 19.60% | 17.40% | 2.20% | 0.29 |
| Tony Gonsolin / 23 | 8 | 36.40% | 0.00% | 36.40% | 0.242 |
| Gregorio Sequera / 19 | 8 | 14.00% | 20.90% | -7.00% | 0.294 |
| Melvin Jimenez / 17 | 7 | 25.90% | 14.80% | 11.10% | 0.087 |
A+ – Rancho July Stat Snapshot & Review
Hitters:
- Top ten prospect Yusniel Diaz was just promoted to AA Tulsa. At 20 Diaz is having a solid season but nothing stands out. He is more about the scouting tools than actual production but we do have to remember he’s 20, even though he repeated the league.
- 2016 first round pick Will Smith was also promoted to AA Tulsa. As a catcher, Smith doesn’t need the hit tool as much as Diaz. Smith stands out with his plate discipline carrying a .352 OBP even with a BA at .232. A nice 120 point spread.
- Drew Jackson is finally at AA. Drew repeated this league after being acquired from the Marines for Chase De Jong. At 23 I expected more from a top 10 – 20 prospect repeating this type of league. I’m not seeing anything that would suggest he’s any better than Errol Robinson or the just traded Brendon Davis.
- Luke Raley is doing what he can to put himself on the prospect map and appears to be succeeding. It does appear he has passed Scavuzzo on the prospect ladder but once he hits AA, that will determine if he keeps climbing or starts sliding.
- DJ Peters has been the hitting star for Rancho. Power/Patience, you can’t beat it for a CF.
- Ariel Sandoval is easily the biggest disappointment on this team. Maybe in the whole system when you consider the expectations that David Hood put on him.
- I told you in the Tulsa overview how bad Johan Mieses had been for Tulsa and how good he had been in Rancho. Now you can see the numbers. Johan went into beast mode for Rancho and after 100 PA is back with Tulsa hoping to keep the bat going.
- Should we talk about Keibert Ruiz or are you sick of him? 1.150 OPS. Never expected that and I was his biggest fan. Guess California really agrees with him.
Name Age PA 2B BA OBP SLG OPS DJ Peters 21 448 22 .283 .386 .541 .927 Luke Raley* 22 424 15 .284 .368 .466 .834 Ibandel Isabel 22 381 10 .256 .323 .483 .805 Omar Estevez 19 371 19 .243 .304 .344 .649 Yusniel Diaz 20 374 15 .278 .343 .414 .757 Drew Jackson 23 297 16 .254 .367 .429 .796 Will Smith 22 305 15 .232 .355 .448 .803 Brandon Montgomery 21 243 12 .248 .277 .323 .600 Zach McKinstry* 22 226 8 .232 .307 .315 .622 Ariel Sandoval 21 162 4 .190 .265 .320 .585 James Kennedy* 24 149 8 .264 .362 .419 .781 Victor Roache 25 128 8 .202 .258 .437 .695 Johan Mieses 21 129 17 .353 .411 .707 1.118 Erick Mejia# 22 97 4 .230 .292 .333 .625 Errol Robinson 22 76 4 .286 .342 .514 .856 Jared Walker* 21 77 4 .224 .325 .328 .653 Logan Landon 24 67 4 .276 .364 .500 .864 Keibert Ruiz# 18 60 4 .375 .400 .750 1.150 28 Players 21.6 4164 195 .260 .339 .437 .777
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 8/1/2017.
Now, lets take a look at the advanced metrics via Fangraphs:
- K% for DJ Peters is certainly worrisome, but how about that ISO and double digit BB%?
- Keibert Ruiz has a K% below 10 and an ISO over .300. WAT
- Will Smith looks good across the board.
| Name / Age | PA | BB% | K% | wOBA / wRC+ | ISO |
| DJ Peters / 21 | 455 | 11.40% | 31.40% | 0.404 / 148 | 0.253 |
| Luke Raley / 22 | 424 | 7.80% | 23.10% | 0.371 / 127 | 0.182 |
| Ibandel Isabel / 22 | 386 | 8.00% | 35.00% | 0.351 / 114 | 0.227 |
| Omar Estevez / 19 | 376 | 7.40% | 20.20% | 0.298 / 79 | 0.099 |
| Yusniel Diaz / 20 | 374 | 9.40% | 19.50% | 0.338 / 105 | 0.136 |
| Will Smith / 22 | 305 | 12.10% | 23.30% | 0.358 / 118 | 0.216 |
| Drew Jackson / 23 | 298 | 11.40% | 22.50% | 0.359 / 119 | 0.175 |
| Brandon Montgomery / 21 | 243 | 4.10% | 16.50% | 0.269 / 60 | 0.075 |
| Zach McKinstry / 22 | 232 | 9.10% | 25.90% | 0.288 / 72 | 0.082 |
| Ariel Sandoval / 21 | 167 | 8.40% | 36.50% | 0.265 / 57 | 0.125 |
| Garrett Kennedy / 24 | 149 | 10.70% | 26.80% | 0.354 / 116 | 0.155 |
| Johan Mieses / 21 | 129 | 7.80% | 29.50% | 0.472 / 192 | 0.353 |
| Victor Roache / 25 | 128 | 7.00% | 42.20% | 0.302 / 81 | 0.235 |
| Erick Mejia / 22 | 97 | 8.20% | 19.60% | 0.283 / 69 | 0.103 |
| Jared Walker / 21 | 77 | 13.00% | 45.50% | 0.298 / 79 | 0.104 |
| Errol Robinson / 22 | 76 | 6.60% | 22.40% | 0.372 / 127 | 0.229 |
| Logan Landon / 24 | 67 | 11.90% | 16.40% | 0.38 / 133 | 0.224 |
| Keibert Ruiz / 18 | 66 | 6.10% | 7.60% | 0.471 / 192 | 0.35 |
| Brendon Davis / 19 | 33 | 9.10% | 39.40% | 0.298 / 79 | 0.2 |
Pitchers:
- Probably being overly optimistic but a lot of great minor league pitchers seem to be flowing through Rancho this year. Alvarez, Santana, White, Buehler are all already in AA with Walker going one extra rung to AAA. Ferguson and Smeltzer are both being successful while being young for the league. Lots to like here.
- In looking at the numbers you’d never guess that Yadier Alvarez was the top pitching prospect headed into the season and that Dennis Santana couldn’t find his way onto most top 30 LAD prospect lists.
- Caleb Ferguson is having a solid season for a 20-year-old in the tough hitting league and had an exceptional game last night to start August off right.
Name Age ERA GS IP WHIP HR9 BB9 SO9 SO/W Adam Bray 24 3.51 14 97.1 1.110 1.4 1.8 8.8 5.00 Caleb Ferguson* 20 2.92 19 95.2 1.359 0.5 4.2 9.3 2.20 Dennis Santana 21 3.57 14 85.2 1.272 0.5 2.3 9.7 4.18 Dean Kremer 21 5.45 6 66.0 1.485 0.7 3.5 10.5 2.96 Devin Smeltzer* 21 4.72 11 61.0 1.443 1.0 1.5 10.6 7.20 Yadier Alvarez 21 5.31 11 59.1 1.449 0.5 3.8 9.3 2.44 Andrew Istler 24 3.16 0 51.1 1.266 0.5 2.1 9.5 4.50 Tony Gonsolin 23 4.79 0 47.0 1.362 0.8 2.7 10.0 3.71 Alex Hermeling 24 1.83 0 44.1 1.015 0.6 2.2 7.7 3.45 Mitchell White 22 3.72 9 38.2 1.086 0.0 3.7 11.4 3.06 Michael Boyle* 23 4.65 2 31.0 1.419 0.6 2.9 7.3 2.50 Parker Curry 23 4.06 0 31.0 1.387 0.3 2.9 12.2 4.20 Ryan Moseley 22 3.26 3 30.1 1.385 0.0 5.0 5.9 1.18 Chris Powell 24 4.50 0 28.0 1.321 1.0 1.6 9.6 6.00 Andrew Thurman 25 0.00 3 18.2 0.750 0.0 1.4 7.7 5.33 Walker Buehler 22 1.10 5 16.1 0.796 0.0 2.8 14.9 5.40 Shea Spitzbarth 22 0.57 0 15.2 0.894 0.0 2.9 15.5 5.40 Daniel Corcino 26 4.26 0 12.2 1.579 0.7 2.8 9.2 3.25 Kevin Brown 25 7.30 0 12.1 2.108 0.7 5.8 10.9 1.88 Wes Helsabeck* 24 1.59 0 11.1 1.324 0.0 5.6 15.1 2.71 Isaac Anderson 23 10.13 1 10.2 1.875 0.0 3.4 7.6 2.25 Sven Schueller 21 4.50 0 10.0 1.600 0.9 6.3 4.5 0.71
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 8/1/2017.
Taking a look at the advanced pitching metrics from Fangraphs:
- No wonder I like Dennis Santana. For a guy who they say doesn’t have the command he sure looks like he has command.
- You can see that the one bugaboo for Caleb Ferguson is his command, the K% is solid.
- Mitch White and Walker Buehler are hard to hit.
- Smeltzer has the lowest BB% on the team and a nice K% but when they make contact they almost put up a .300 BA.
- Nothing stands out for Yadier Alveraz here, so, for now, it is all about scouting.
| Name / Age | IP | K% | BB% | K-BB% | AVG |
| Adam Bray / 24 | 97.1 | 23.90% | 4.80% | 19.10% | 0.236 |
| Caleb Ferguson / 20 | 95.2 | 24.20% | 11.00% | 13.20% | 0.237 |
| Dennis Santana / 21 | 85.2 | 24.70% | 5.90% | 18.80% | 0.257 |
| Dean Kremer / 21 | 66 | 26.20% | 8.80% | 17.40% | 0.272 |
| Devin Smeltzer / 21 | 61 | 26.40% | 3.70% | 22.70% | 0.299 |
| Yadier Alvarez / 21 | 59.1 | 23.30% | 9.50% | 13.70% | 0.257 |
| Andrew Istler / 24 | 51.1 | 26.00% | 5.80% | 20.20% | 0.272 |
| Tony Gonsolin / 23 | 47 | 26.30% | 7.10% | 19.20% | 0.272 |
| Alex Hermeling / 24 | 44.1 | 21.40% | 6.20% | 15.20% | 0.207 |
| Mitchell White / 22 | 38.2 | 30.80% | 10.10% | 20.80% | 0.186 |
| Parker Curry / 23 | 31 | 30.90% | 7.40% | 23.50% | 0.264 |
| Michael Boyle / 23 | 31 | 18.70% | 7.50% | 11.20% | 0.276 |
| Ryan Moseley / 22 | 30.1 | 16.10% | 13.70% | 2.40% | 0.236 |
| Chris Powell / 24 | 28 | 24.40% | 4.10% | 20.30% | 0.276 |
| Andrew Thurman / 25 | 18.2 | 23.50% | 4.40% | 19.10% | 0.169 |
| Walker Buehler / 22 | 16.1 | 42.90% | 7.90% | 34.90% | 0.14 |
| Shea Spitzbarth / 22 | 15.2 | 45.00% | 8.30% | 36.70% | 0.164 |
Kenta and Ryu add to their game score leaderboards
Kenta Maeda put up a game score of 78 last night and if you happen to think that was one of his best games ever, you’d be correct. It was the second best game of his career using game score as the criteria.
Date Opp Rslt IP H ER BB SO GSc 2016-07-10 SDP W 3-1 7.0 2 1 0 13 82 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 2016-04-23 COL W 4-1 6.1 3 0 1 8 74 2017-05-10 PIT W 5-2 8.1 5 2 0 5 70 2016-09-05 ARI W 10-2 6.1 3 1 1 8 70 2016-04-17 SFG W 3-1 7.0 4 1 3 7 69
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/2/2017.
Ryu pitched a gem last Sunday matching Bumgarner pitch for pitch. Ryu had a game score of 73, which was his 7th best game score but the first time he had cracked a game score of 70 since August 31st, 2014. I don’t think many were betting on Ryu to
- Be in the rotation in late July
- Have over 80 successful innings under his belt
- Clock in a game score over 70
What if the best is yet to come for Ryu?
Date Opp Rslt IP H ER BB SO GSc 2013-05-28 LAA W 3-0 9.0 2 0 0 7 90 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 2013-07-27 CIN W 4-1 7.0 2 1 1 9 77 2014-08-07 LAA W 7-0 7.0 2 0 1 4 76 2014-03-30 SDP L 1-3 7.0 3 0 3 7 75 2017-07-30 SFG W 3-2 7.0 5 0 1 7 73 2013-09-16 ARI L 1-2 8.0 2 2 1 4 73 2014-08-31 SDP W 7-1 7.0 4 1 0 7 72 2013-08-08 STL W 5-1 7.0 5 0 0 7 72 2013-04-25 NYM W 3-2 7.0 3 1 3 8 72 2014-04-17 SFG W 2-1 7.0 4 0 1 3 71 2013-09-24 SFG W 2-1 7.0 4 1 1 6 70
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/2/2017.
Chasing Piazza / Robinson / Green / McGwire with number 29
With that blast tonight, Cody is still way in front of the Piazza pace, somewhat in front of the Frank Robinson pace, almost right on the Shawn Green pace, but still way behind the McGwire pace. Should be noted that since both Green and McGwire hit 49 home runs, Shawn Green would hit 19 home runs over the final two months compared to only 12 for McGwire.
| Player | PA | HR | HR/PA | Aug 1st | Total | Leader | Year |
| Mike Piazza | 531 | 29 | 18.31 | 21 | 35 | LAD Rookie HR | 1993 |
| Frank Robinson | 505 | 29 | 17.41 | 24 | 38 | NL Rookie HR | 1956 |
| Mark McGwire | 302 | 29 | 10.41 | 37 | 49 | AL Rookie HR | 1987 |
| Shawn Green | 443 | 29 | 15.28 | 30 | 49 | LAD All time HR | 2001 |
| Cody Bellinger | 334 | 29 | 11.52 | 29 | ??? | Chasing | 2017 |
f this confusing here is a quick legend.
PA – this is the number of plate appearances it took for each player to reach 29 home runs. We used 20 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 29 home runs.
HR/PA – this is the home runs per plate appearance pace when they each hit their 29th home run.
Total HR through August 1st
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, Yesterday and Today 