Chasing Piazza / Robinson / Green / McGwire with number 28
While doing this chase segment for Cody Bellinger I’ve been remiss in leaving out Frank Robinson and Wally Berger who both hold the NL rookie home run single season record of 38.
With Joc Pederson and Corey Seager dropping off after Cody Bellinger hit his 27th home run on Sunday, I’ll add Frank Robinson to the chart to see how Cody is doing at his current pace.
With two home runs in two days, Cody has picked the pace back up. He’s well ahead of the Piazza pace to break the all time Dodger rookie home run record of 35. He is also well ahead of the Frank Robinson pace to break the all time NL rookie home run record of 38. He is well behind the pace to break the all time AL and Major league rookie home run record of 49. He is exactly on pace to tie or break the Dodger all time home run record set by Shawn Green at 49.
| Player | PA | HR | HR/PA | July 24th | Total | Leader | Year |
| Mike Piazza | 486 | 28 | 17.36 | 20 | 35 | LAD Rookie HR | 1993 |
| Frank Robinson | 500 | 28 | 17.86 | 21 | 38 | NL Rookie HR | 1956 |
| Mark McGwire | 280 | 28 | 10.00 | 36 | 49 | AL Rookie HR | 1987 |
| Shawn Green | 440 | 28 | 15.71 | 28 | 49 | LAD All-time HR | 2001 |
| Cody Bellinger | 334 | 28 | 11.93 | 28 | ??? | Chasing | 2017 |
If this confusing here is a quick legend.
PA – this is the number of plate appearances it took for each player to reach 28 home runs. We used 28 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 28 home runs.
HR/PA – this is the home runs per plate appearance pace when they each hit their 28th home run.
Total HR though July 24th
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
Crap, Kershaw goes down
Just a few days ago I was about to write about how the NL league leader in games started had bounced back quite nicely from his back troubles of a year ago.
So much for that column. Guess we won’t have a Clayton Kershaw CYA debate again this year.
Shooting from the hip I really felt this was just a tweak and that he would miss one or two starts so the news that he is out for four – six weeks is bad news. If he can come back as healthy as he left, or as healthy as he was last October, this should not be a big deal in the short term.
In the long term though, meaning October, this is a blow. At least his arm will be fresh which is what we told ourselves last year but that didn’t help him as he struggled with his starts against the Nationals. He made four starts last year in the postseason and pitched one gem but again came up short in his final start of the season.
The problem is the six weeks brings up to Sept, and October is only one month after that. Quite dicey to expect Clayton to be at his best one month after coming back from this current back ailment. We won’t know for six weeks so we will just have to wait.
The rotation clog is about to be tested. You can only hope that the blip that Alex Wood hit on Friday was just a blip. Rich Hill has come up huge, and he may have to handle a large load until Sept. Kenta / Ryu need to prove they are bonafide major league rotation options for a team with post season aspirations.
Not many teams could handle losing Urias and now Kershaw. We will find out if the Dodgers are one of them. Good thing they went on that crazy run and have built a ten game lead.
Might be time for Brock Stewart to get his shot in the rotation this year but damn, he’s been so good out of the bullpen you hate to lose that piece.
FREE WILMER, uh, probably not.
I wouldn’t consider trading for Darvish a panicky trade, but I would consider it a good baseball sense trade depending on the price. If Texas tries to hold us up because they think we have to have Darvish, screw em.
Anyway, get well soon Clayton. A World Series MVP is better than a CYA any day of the week.
Damn, I agree with Dylan
Dylan Hernandez has mostly become an annoying columnist following in the vein of TJ Simers since leaving the Dodger beat, but he does make a valid point in this column.
The Dodgers should trade for Yu Darvish if he is available.
I know that getting a relief pitcher like Andrew Miller is all the rage right now but I’ve always been a fan of zigging when everyone else is zagging.
Being a rental who knows what the price would be but right now I’m not married to any particular prospect. Unlike Seager/Urias/Bellinger I could part with any of them and not feel much remorse.
This is the best team the Dodgers have had over their recent run of Western division dominance so getting to October should not be the point of acquiring Darvish, the point of acquiring Darvish would be to advance to the World Series. Darvish is the type of pitcher that would seem to give teams who don’t seem him often particular trouble.
For example, the top seven teams in lowest OPS against are all NL teams. This is all small sample size but you will note in the table below that they aggregate Inter-League which is 15 starts and he’s been great against NL opponents.
He’s also been great against the Houston Astros even though he has faced them fourteen times, and Houston is the odds on favorite to advance for the AL to the World Series.
While a rental, Yu may find that pitching for the Dodgers in Los Angeles in August beats the hell out of pitching in Dallas in August. Plus he’ll find that he loves Los Angeles just as Nomo/Kuroda/Saito did before him.
Of course, I doubt the Rangers trade him, they are after all still in the wild card hunt in the AL. Just saying if they do trade him, it would behoove the Dodgers to be the team that acquires him.
I Split G PA BB SO SO/W OPS tOPS+
Philadelphia Phillies 1 27 2 9 4.50 .422 32
Washington Nationals 1 31 2 12 6.00 .433 35
Pittsburgh Pirates 2 44 2 13 6.50 .447 39
Miami Marlins 1 32 3 10 3.33 .488 54
Chicago Cubs 1 20 4 9 2.25 .488 55
Cincinnati Reds 2 55 9 13 1.44 .532 69
Arizona Diamondbacks 2 56 0 28 .560 70
Tampa Bay Rays 6 163 13 52 4.00 .557 72
Inter-League 15 400 30 134 4.47 .555 72
Kansas City Royals 5 135 6 37 6.17 .573 76
Houston Astros 14 358 30 118 3.93 .603 86
Toronto Blue Jays 8 220 20 65 3.25 .608 88
Minnesota Twins 3 83 7 25 3.57 .622 92
New York Yankees 6 153 7 43 6.14 .648 98
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 16 420 45 132 2.93 .643 99
San Diego Padres 2 55 3 14 4.67 .657 102
Detroit Tigers 7 196 20 47 2.35 .657 102
NY Mets 2 49 3 15 5.00 .682 107
Seattle Mariners 12 325 34 81 2.38 .667 108
Cleveland Indians 6 166 19 48 2.53 .704 117
Boston Red Sox 4 115 8 39 4.88 .747 129
Oakland Athletics 16 407 45 110 2.44 .750 131
Chicago White Sox 3 86 9 26 2.89 .809 149
Baltimore Orioles 1 24 1 9 9.00 .944 183
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/24/2017.
LAD offensive July snapshot on July 24th, 2017
How about those catchers? More on that later today.
Quick July offensive notes:
- Two players with an OPS over 1.000. The T & T boys
- Five players with an OPS over .900
- Six starters with an OPS over .850
- Puig and Pederson holding back the offense
- Four players with an OBP over .400
- Trayce Thompson is not doing a good job in trying to keep his job.
Player PA 2B 3B HR RBI BA OBP SLG OPS Corey Seager 71 5 0 4 11 .292 .352 .554 .906 Chris Taylor 70 6 3 3 10 .426 .443 .735 1.178 Cody Bellinger 69 2 1 3 8 .276 .391 .500 .891 Justin Turner 67 3 0 5 10 .275 .418 .627 1.045 Logan Forsythe 65 5 0 1 7 .288 .415 .442 .858 Yasiel Puig 54 1 0 3 6 .220 .278 .420 .698 Yasmani Grandal 46 5 0 3 10 .318 .348 .636 .984 Joc Pederson 43 3 0 1 2 .237 .326 .395 .720 Enrique Hernandez 41 0 1 2 3 .188 .366 .438 .803 Chase Utley 32 2 0 1 2 .207 .281 .379 .661 Austin Barnes 31 0 0 2 5 .333 .419 .556 .975 Trayce Thompson 25 1 1 0 1 .087 .160 .217 .377
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 7/24/2017.
FFA Winner for Week of July 17th – July 23rd
The contenders are……
Wilmer Font – OKC – The starting pitcher in the PCL All-Star game twirled a gem last week going seven innings, giving up seven hits, two earned runs, one walk, and eleven strikeouts. In his last ten starts Font has only walked more than two hitters once as he has displayed an excellent ability to limit the free pass while leading the PCL in strikeouts.
Oneil Cruz – Great Lake Loons – Cruz had the game of his professional career collecting five hits. Over three games Cruz had two home runs and eight hits. A week, however, is seven days and over the final three games of the week, he went 1 for 12 with six strikeouts. Still, it was good to see the 18-year-old put the wood on the ball for a few games. He is on pace for a 30 error season as he splits time between SS and 3rd base.
Keibert Ruiz – Rancho – What more could you ask of a prospect? Keibert turned 19 last week and celebrated with his biggest offensive week of the season. Ruiz hit two three run home runs including a walk off blast. Keibert only started four games but had a hit in every game, collecting seven hits overall. He drove in an astounding nine runs with those seven hits while only striking out twice in seventeen plate appearances. The only negative was the zero walks last week. In nine games with Rancho, Keibert now has a 1.199 OPS.
Jeren Kendell – Ogden – Kendall started his professional career last week and got off to a rousing start. He only played four games but made the most of it. Jeren had seven hits in seventeen at-bats and stole four bases. Zero walks stand out but he did strike out only three times, and strike outs were his big problem in college. Jeren is already 21 so if he doesn’t have his way in the Pioneer League something is amiss.
Starling Heredia – Ogden – Starling started out the week strong but faltered on the back end. He collected six hits in first three games but only one over his last two. Though he did walk three times in the last two games.
You knew where this was going as soon as you saw Keibert Ruiz on the contender list.
The Farm Factory Award Winner for the week of July 17th – July 23rd is once again Keibert Ruiz.
Several hours after I wrote this, Fangraphs weighed in with a quick update on Keibert.
Keibert Ruiz, C, Dodgers: The Dodgers boast a system that has three or four catching prospects that should play at the big league level. If I’m a team doing a deal with the Dodgers at the trade deadline, I’m asking for Ruiz. He’s done nothing but hit as a pro and, as a 19 year old, had a line of .317/.372/.423 through 63 games in low-A. That earned him a recent promotion to high-A ball where he’s produced another 12 hits — and six extra base knocks — in just eight games. Ruiz is also a switch-hitter who shows solid skills from both sides. He has a chance to be an impact hitter at the catcher’s position and his defence will be average or better at the big league level.
68 – 31, right on track after 4 – 2 week
Last Monday I ran a little exercise to see what it would take to get the Dodgers to 110 wins. I conservatively got them to 108 wins, and by going 4 – 2 this past week they are right on schedule.
We didn’t get there the same way but nonetheless ended up 4-2. I expected a split with the White Sox and three of four from the Braves. In actuality, they swept the White Sox but only took two of four from the Braves. I hadn’t counted on the meltdown by Alex Wood but I did expect them to lose the first game to the Braves after the long flight home from the Chicago series.
Course now we get to do this without Clayton Kershaw, though hopefully, it will only be one missed start. I’ve got us winning two of three from the Twins and Giants next week.
By the next Sunday, we might have found out if the Dodgers had stayed pat, went all in, or did a tweak or two. Or we may have to wait until next Monday.
Oh look, Keibert Ruiz just hit another three run home run.
Just another LAD July Triple leaderboard
When Chris Taylor hit his triple last night, that gave him three in the month of July. Which gave me an excuse to see who has hit the most LAD triples in the month of July.
No surprise that the 3-Dog is tied at the top with Maury Wills. Who can forget triple fever with Puig in July of 2014?
I never saw Charlie Neal play or John Roseboro as a Dodger only as a Senator. John Roseboro is on this list twice. Very impressive for a catcher. Johnny only had forty-four triples but he did have 39 by the age of 30. I’ll show you just how impressive that is for a LAD, especially for a catcher.
The biggest surprise on this list has to be Casey Blake. Casey only hit 18 triples in his whole career which spanned 5091 plate appearances so for him to hit three in one month in only 106 plate appearances is quite the anomaly.
Player Split Year 3B PA Willie Davis July 1962 5 117 Yasiel Puig July 2014 5 87 Maury Wills July 1969 5 142 Charlie Neal July 1959 4 120 Brett Butler July 1993 4 124 John Roseboro July 1962 4 90 Casey Blake July 2009 3 106 Willie Davis July 1970 3 115 Cesar Izturis July 2004 3 129 John Roseboro July 1961 3 93 Reggie Smith July 1976 3 96 Chris Taylor July 2017 3 65 Willie Davis July 1968 3 108 Rafael Furcal July 2009 3 119 Davey Lopes July 1976 3 112 Wes Parker July 1970 3 116 Maury Wills July 1965 3 131 Willie Crawford July 1971 3 91 Willie Davis July 1969 3 104 Pedro Guerrero July 1983 3 118 Raul Mondesi July 1998 3 111 Bill Russell July 1977 3 114
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 7/23/2017.
So, because John Roseboro showed up on this list twice we have to see who has the most LAD triples as a catcher.
Okay, this is crazy. No one is even close to John Roseboro. No one. Also, John Roseboro never hit another triple after leaving the Dodgers the in 1967.
Player 3B From To PA John Roseboro 44 1958 1967 4505 Steve Yeager 16 1972 1985 3869 Tom Haller 14 1968 1971 1637 Mike Scioscia 12 1980 1992 5057
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 7/23/2017.
Chasing Piazza/Green/McGwire on July 23rd
With Cody Bellinger blasting his 27th home run of the year he surpasses the rookie totals of Corey Seager and Joc Pederson and continues to chase down the rookie record of 35 home runs by Mike Piazza.
Cody has fallen far off the pace of the all time home run rookie record of 49 by Mark McGwire but is still on the same pace of 49 home runs by Shawn Green which was the all time Dodger home run record. McGwire had a blistering July but slowed down in August and Sept, while Shawn Green was just getting started.
On July 23rd, Shawn Green was in the middle of a stretch where he would hit seven home runs in eight games and by July 28th, would have 30 so Cody has his work cut out for him.
| Player | Year | PA | HR | HR/PA | Total HR Thru July 23rd | Total |
| Mike Piazza | 1993 | 482 | 27 | 17.85 | 20 | 35 |
| Shawn Green | 2001 | 435 | 27 | 16.11 | 26 | 49 |
| Mark McGwire | 1987 | 276 | 27 | 10.22 | 36 | 49 |
| Cody Bellinger | 2017 | 328 | 27 | 12.15 | 27 | ??? |
Age 26 revisited with Chris Taylor and Ian Kinsler
Before the season started I mentioned how many Dodgers had their break out seasons as a twenty-six-year-old. I was focused on Yasiel Puig but maybe I should have focused on Chris Taylor.
Watching Chris Taylor club another home run and triple last I heard that Ian Kinsler was being made available by the Tigers and the Brewers might be interested in him. It was at that time I thought about the similarities between Taylor and Kinsler.
I opened up Baseball Reference and had to laugh. Age 26 – right on the fucking button.
Taylor is really a second baseman playing left field so as far as I’m concerned in this article he’s a second baseman.
So here we go.
- They are both 2nd baseman
- Both right hand hitters
- Both have above average power and speed for a second baseman
- They both kicked ass at age 26
Age Twenty-Six for Taylor and Kinsler:
| Plahyer | Year | Age | Tm | OPS+ | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS |
| Chris Taylor | 2017 | 26 | LAD | 138 | 0.310 | 0.382 | 0.538 | 0.920 |
| Ian Kinsler | 2008 | 26 | TEX | 134 | 0.319 | 0.375 | 0.517 | 0.892 |
The downside is that was the most productive season for Kinsler in his career. The plus side is that he has been an above average second baseman for over a decade.
If the Dodgers have really fallen into an Ian Kinsler type second baseman for the next five years, they have indeed hit gold while mining for copper.
Dodgers, Yesterday and Today 