Corey Seager leads TB Leaderboard against Braves at DS
Corey Seager is already making his mark on the LAD record books. Earlier this week Corey hit his 45th home run, giving him the most home runs by a LAD shortstop.
As the Dodgers prepare to play host to the Braves, Corey Seager is already on top of the total base leaderboard by a LAD against the Braves at home. This was the first time Corey Seager hit three home runs in a game but as we would soon learn, it would not be the last.
Good ole bonus baby Willie Crawford had a great day against the Braves back in 1973 when the Braves were still in the NL Western Division. Future HOF Adrian Beltre had his great game back in 2004.
I was kind of hoping to see Matt Kemp on this list against his current teammates.
Player Date Opp Rslt PA H 2B HR TB Corey Seager 2016-06-03 ATL W 4-2 4 3 0 3 12 Adrian Beltre 2004-08-20 ATL W 3-2 5 3 1 2 10 Willie Crawford 1973-09-20 ATL W 5-3 5 3 1 2 10
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Generated 7/20/2017.
On the flip side Felipe Alou is the only Brave to ever tally at least 10 total bases. No Chipper Jones, Freddie Freeman, Andru Jones, Javy Lopez, Eddie Mathews, Hank Aaron, Brian McCann, Bob Horner, Dale Murphy, Darrell Evans, Dan Uggla.
Player Date Tm Opp Rslt PA H 2B HR TB Felipe Alou 1966-07-09 ATL LAD W 5-2 5 3 1 2 10
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Generated 7/20/2017.
So……………I decided to go down to eight total bases just to seen all those names I mentioned above. My favorite name on the list. Lew Burdette the 1957 WOrld Series MVP hurler who went 3 – 0 with 3 complete games in the World Series. Lew hit 12 major league home runs
Anyone remember what Tony Tarasco was famous for?
Player Date Tm Opp PA H 2B 3B HR TB Andruw Jones 2005-05-14 ATL LAD 4 2 0 0 2 8 Bob Horner 1980-06-01 ATL LAD 4 2 0 0 2 8 Brian Jordan 1999-08-15 ATL LAD 5 3 0 0 2 9 Brian McCann 2008-07-08 ATL LAD 5 2 0 0 2 8 Chipper Jones 1999-08-13 ATL LAD 5 2 0 0 2 8 Chipper Jones 2007-07-05 ATL LAD 5 2 0 0 2 8 Clete Boyer 1970-05-23 ATL LAD 4 2 0 0 2 8 Dale Murphy 1989-08-09 ATL LAD 4 2 0 0 2 8 Dale Murphy 1987-08-08 ATL LAD 5 3 0 0 2 9 Dan Uggla 2013-06-09 ATL LAD 4 2 0 0 2 8 Darrell Evans 1971-09-18 ATL LAD 5 3 0 0 2 9 Earl Williams 1971-07-23 ATL LAD 5 2 0 0 2 8 Eddie Mathews 1961-05-15 MLN LAD 5 2 0 0 2 8 Felipe Alou 1966-07-09 ATL LAD 5 3 1 0 2 10 Gary Matthews 1980-05-30 ATL LAD 4 2 0 0 2 8 Hank Aaron 1959-05-16 MLN LAD 5 2 0 0 2 8 Hank Aaron 1972-06-24(2) ATL LAD 5 4 1 0 1 8 Javy Lopez 1999-04-21 ATL LAD 6 3 0 0 2 9 Jeff Burroughs 1979-06-30 ATL LAD 5 2 0 0 2 8 Joe Adcock 1961-06-18 MLN LAD 5 2 0 0 2 8 Joe Adcock 1961-08-09 MLN LAD 4 2 0 0 2 8 Johnny Estrada 2004-08-19 ATL LAD 4 4 1 0 1 8 Lew Burdette 1958-07-10 MLN LAD 5 2 0 0 2 8 Mike Lum 1971-09-17 ATL LAD 5 3 0 0 2 9 Orlando Cepeda 1970-05-21 ATL LAD 4 3 0 0 2 9 Terry Pendleton 1994-04-08 ATL LAD 4 3 1 1 1 9 Tony Tarasco 1994-04-10 ATL LAD 4 3 2 0 1 8
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 7/20/2017.
What did Keibert Ruiz accomplish before turning 19 today?
Just about everything you could have asked for.
At age 16 Ruiz played one year in the Dodger Dominican Summer League putting up an OPS of 726
At age 17 Ruiz was brought over to the states to play in the Arizona Summer League but lasted only eight games because he was clearly heads and tails better than the competition. In a very SSS, Ruiz had an OPS of 1.179.
Still 17, Ruiz was promoted to the Pioneer League. For the rest of the summer, Ruiz showed advanced contact skills striking out only 23 times in 206 plate appearances. He put up an OPS of .896. By the end of summer, Ruiz had turned 18 and was now on the prospect map.
Entering his age 18 season, the Dodgers moved Ruiz to the tough Midwest League where many a Dodger prospect has found the league an obstacle to success. Ruiz originally faltered putting up an OPS of just .568 in April. He also struck out 13 times in just 64 plate appearances in April. He was pulling a Carlos Santana, but just like Carlos Santana as the weather warmed in Michigan so did his bat. In May he improved his OPS to .824 and reduced his strikeouts to only ten in 90 plate appearances. Ruiz was just getting warmed up. In June Ruiz had a robust .926 OPS. The real key is his plate discipline and power. In June Ruiz struck out only four times with ten walks in seventy plate appearances. While the older 2016 number one pick Gavin Lux was still trying to figure out the Midwest league, Keibert Ruiz had mastered it so there was only one thing left to do.
The Dodgers promoted the 18-year-old catcher to the California League. Ruiz was now being asked to handle the most promising pitchers in the Dodger system. Yadier Alveraz, Dennis Santana, Caleb Ferguson. Would he be up to the task? His bat has been. Since joining Rancho, Ruiz has been the toast of the town with his bat leading the way. It has only been six games, but he has been on base in every game. How is he handling the pitching staff? I don’t know yet but the scouting reports on his catching game say he’s advanced with the only negative being an average throwing arm.
Keibert is a switch-hitter and in 2017 is showing a disturbing split when hitting right handed against left handed pitching. In 2016 that split was not as large but in 2017 it is a chasm of almost four hundred OPS points. I’ve always found switch-hitters who can’t hit a lick from one side of the plate to be useless as a switch hitter. At just 19, he has plenty of time at the minor league level to find out if he can hit left hand pitching. He has
He has alot on his plate. Trying to learn to hit from both sides of the plate, managing a rotation loaded with legitimate major league prospects, continuing to learn the nuances of the most demanding position in baseball, and making the adjustments on the fly as his body continues to mature into a man.
Keibert has one more year as a teen-ager, what will he accomplish in the next year?
The sky might be the limit.
Braves face Dodgers with old and new
The Braves have a strange little team. They are kind of in a rebuild but in an effort to bring fans to their new park they added a slew of veterans who might or might not be around by August 1st.
Bartolo Colon is gone, and strange enough the Dodgers will face him Monday Night in what could be the last start of his illustrious career.
Brandon Phillips, Matt Kemp, Jamie Garcia, and RA Dickey are the veterans keeping the seats warm for the next phase of Brave prospects named Ozzie, Acuna, Allard, Soroka, and Wright.
The Dodgers will face the young and old of the rotation with the young in Mike Foltynewicz starting in game one, followed by Jamie Garcia, Julio Teheran, and Sean Newcomb.
Foltynewicz has shown enough that he’ll probably be part of the next Atlanta rotation. Jamie Garcia is probably just waving his way through Atlanta. Julio Teheran has been the Brave ace for years but that isn’t saying much. Sean Newcomb has yet to establish if he’ll be part of the future or not. Plenty of young arms will be nipping at the heels of Newcomb. The Braves currently have five pitchers ranked in the revised Baseball America top 100.
The biggest change the Braves made this summer was adding Dodger nemesis, Matt Adams, when MVP candidate Freeman went down with an injury. Matt Adams was so impressive during his trial run, that when Freeman came back they made him a 3rd baseman. So much for the old adage, you can’t learn how to play 3rd base at the major league level.
The normal line up of Adams, Philips, Swanson, Freeman, Flowers, Kemp, Inciarte, Markakis is not bad. They got reinforcements this week when super utility player Sean Rodriquez finally joined the team.
So far in July however, that group ranks 12th out 15 teams in the NL in offense. The prime culprits for the low wRC+ in July are Matt Kemp (49), Dansby Swanson (12), and Flowers (7). On June 1st, Matt Kemp had been one of the best hitting outfielders in the NL but he has hit the skids big time since that point. Swanson started off slow, picked it up a little and is back to being the worse hitting starting shortstop in baseball. Maybe Dave Stewart knew something after all.
Johan Camargo has a wRC+ of 144 in July. Yeah, I had never heard of him either. Camargo is a utility player who has played 2nd, SS, and 3rd. He would lead the team if not for super journeyman catcher Kurt Suzuki. Suzuki has gotten hot while Flowers got cold so expect to see him catch a few games.
Matt Adams had a good run subbing in for the injured Freeman but has cooled off recently with a wRC+ of 94 in July. They say they aren’t going to trade him, but they probably should. Freeman is their 1st baseman, not Matt Adams.
Brandon Philips has done everything they could have asked of him. Brandon is currently ranked as the 4th best NL second baseman by Fangraphs. He’s keeping the seat warm for Ozzie Albiers who is kind of like the last Brave prospect Jose Peraza.
Speaking of Jose Peraza, the Braves have absolutely nothing left of the Alex Wood trade. Nothing. Damn, that was a bad bad trade for the Braves.
All-Star center fielder Ender Inciarte is why the Diamondbacks had to trade for JD Martinez this past week. I guess Dave Stewart didn’t know what he was doing.
Nick Markakis might be the most boring player in baseball. Hard to believe this guy once put up a fWAR of 6 at the age of 25. He has combined for six fWAR over his last six seasons.
Matt Kemp – whatever will be will be
The Braves finished a six game home stand yesterday by losing the last three games against the Cubs. They then flew to Los Angeles without an off-day to take on the hottest team in baseball history. They will be facing Wood and Kershaw whose team has not lost a game the duo have started since May 1st.
This will not end well for the Braves, if they win just one game, they should consider it a success.
Kershaw and Wood have been unbeatable
Per the Dodger media notes, was the little tidbit that the Dodgers have won Clayton Kershaw’s last fourteen starts. They have also won the last eleven starts by Alex Wood. The Dodgers have not lost a game started by either Kershaw or Wood since May 1st.
The Kershaw victory last night was his 141st which put him into a tie with Fernando Valenzuela for fifth place among LAD pitchers for wins.
Player W From To GS W-L% Don Sutton 233 1966 1988 533 .563 Don Drysdale 187 1958 1969 424 .552 Sandy Koufax 156 1958 1966 286 .670 Claude Osteen 147 1965 1973 335 .538 Clayton Kershaw 141 2008 2017 283 .695 Fernando Valenzuela 141 1980 1990 320 .549 Orel Hershiser 135 1983 2000 309 .558 Ramon Martinez 123 1988 1998 262 .615 Bob Welch 115 1978 1987 267 .572 Burt Hooton 112 1975 1984 265 .571
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 7/19/2017.
Jon Weisman passed on the note that the Dodger duo both have an ERA+ above 200. Not since 1907 have two starting pitchers on the same team had an ERA+ above 200. That 1907 Cub team, won the World Series.
Here are all the starting pitchers who have had an ERA+ above 200. Not very many given we are going back to 1901.
Player SO ERA+ Year Tm W L W-L% IP Max Scherzer 183 216 2017 WSN 11 5 .688 134.1 Clayton Kershaw 166 201 2017 LAD 15 2 .882 139.1 Jake Arrieta 236 215 2015 CHC 22 6 .786 229.0 Zack Greinke 200 222 2015 LAD 19 3 .864 222.2 Zack Greinke 242 205 2009 KCR 16 8 .667 229.1 Roger Clemens 185 226 2005 HOU 13 8 .619 211.1 Pedro Martinez 206 211 2003 BOS 14 4 .778 186.2 Pedro Martinez 239 202 2002 BOS 20 4 .833 199.1 Pedro Martinez 284 291 2000 BOS 18 6 .750 217.0 Pedro Martinez 313 243 1999 BOS 23 4 .852 213.1 Pedro Martinez 305 219 1997 MON 17 8 .680 241.1 Roger Clemens 292 222 1997 TOR 21 7 .750 264.0 Kevin Brown 159 215 1996 FLA 17 11 .607 233.0 Greg Maddux 181 260 1995 ATL 19 2 .905 209.2 Greg Maddux 156 271 1994 ATL 16 6 .727 202.0 Roger Clemens 209 211 1990 BOS 21 6 .778 228.1 Dwight Gooden 268 229 1985 NYM 24 4 .857 276.2 Ron Guidry 248 208 1978 NYY 25 3 .893 273.2 Bob Gibson 268 258 1968 STL 22 9 .710 304.2 Dean Chance 207 200 1964 LAA 20 9 .690 278.1 Lefty Grove 175 217 1931 PHA 31 4 .886 288.2 Dolf Luque 151 201 1923 CIN 27 8 .771 322.0 Walter Johnson 147 215 1919 WSH 20 14 .588 290.1 Walter Johnson 162 214 1918 WSH 23 13 .639 326.0 Pete Alexander 241 225 1915 PHI 31 10 .756 376.1 Dutch Leonard 176 279 1914 BOS 19 5 .792 224.2 Walter Johnson 243 259 1913 WSH 36 7 .837 346.0 Walter Johnson 303 243 1912 WSH 33 12 .733 369.0 Christy Mathewson 149 222 1909 NYG 25 6 .806 275.1 Addie Joss 130 204 1908 CLE 24 11 .686 325.0 Jack Pfiester 90 216 1907 CHC 14 9 .609 195.0 Carl Lundgren 84 213 1907 CHC 18 7 .720 207.0 Mordecai Brown 144 253 1906 CHC 26 6 .813 277.1 Christy Mathewson 206 230 1905 NYG 31 9 .775 338.2 Ed Reulbach 152 209 1905 CHC 18 14 .563 291.2 Jack Taylor 88 206 1902 CHC 23 11 .676 333.2 Cy Young 158 219 1901 BOS 33 10 .767 371.1
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Generated 7/19/2017.
Scratch JD Martinez off the list
Evidently, the Dodgers didn’t want JD Martinez after all. The slugging outfielder was traded to NL West rival Arizona Diamondbacks, in what looks to be a very light package for one of the best hitting outfielders in baseball.
The Dodgers could easily have surpassed the offer from the Diamondbacks, so we have to assume he was never on their list. I’ll further extrapolate, that if JD Martinez was not on the Dodgers list, they aren’t interested in upgrading the outfield.
They might really be sold on Chris Taylor or the option of Bellinger if/when Adrian Gonzalez comes back. I don’t think we should be undervaluing what a healthy Adrian might bring to the table.
And of course, there is always Andre Ethier who evidently is only going play every Sept from now on.
The outfield depth chart looks like:
Right Field – Puig, Hernandez, Thompson, Eibner, SVS, Bellinger, (Andre)
Center Field – Pederson, Hernandez, Thompson, Eibner, Bellinger, Alex Verdugo
Left Field – Taylor, Bellinger, Hernandez, Thompson, SVS, Eibner, Alex Verdugo, (Andre)
Though I’m tending to believe that Alex Verdugo is probably in front of the Thompson, Eibner, SVS trio. I’m putting Bellinger here for the days that Dave Roberts gets creative and wants to get Chase Utley in the lineup, moving Forsythe or Chase to 1st base.
Would McCutcheon be a better fit for a World Championship run? Might check in on that later.
Willie Calhoun makes MLB Pipeline Prospect Team of the Week
This is the fourth week in a row that at least one Dodger prospect has made the MLB Prospect Team of the Week. Prior winners had been Yusniel Diaz, Keibert Ruiz, and DJ Peters.
Willie only played in four games last week because of the PCL All-Star game. Was hoping for some mention of his glove in the tidbit below but nada.
2B: Willie Calhoun, Oklahoma City Dodgers (Triple-A)
(Dodgers’ No. 3 prospect/MLB No. 69)
4 G, .545/.688/.818, 2 R, 6 H, 3 2B, 5 RBI, 5 BB, 1 SOCalhoun topped all Minor Leaguers with his .688 on-base percentage last week while reaching in 11 of his 16 plate appearances. (That doesn’t count his 2-for-3 performance with two doubles in Wednesday’s Triple-A All-Star Game.) He’s now hitting .310/.358/.584 with 19 homers in 86 games, placing second in the Pacific Coast League in extra-base hits (47) and total bases (192) and fourth in homers and slugging.
National media taking notice of Dodgers
This morning the Washington Post posted an article about how the Los Angeles Dodgers are making a mockery of the National League. It was a well-written story with some key points.
The nature of baseball prevents teams from winning nearly 80 percent of their games. But that’s what the Dodgers have done for nearly a third of a season. They’re the best team in baseball, and possibly redefining the ceiling of what that means.
Most of the story focuses on points that Dodger writers have known for several years. The key to the Dodger success is depth depth depth.
You lose your bread and butter 1st baseman – no problem we will upgrade to the younger, faster, stronger version.
You lost your 2nd baseman – no problem, we will simply insert the best 2nd basemen of his generation and let him work his magic for a month
You lose your starting left fielder – no problem, we will take this super utility player and make him one of the most productive starting left fielders in the National League
Your free agent pitcher can’t stay on the mound – no problem, we will simply insert the lefty originally destined for the bullpen and watch him become the best pitcher in the NL for a few months while the free agent figures it out and comes back strong
You have too many options for your rotation – no problem, we will simply manipulate the new 10-Day DL and find a way to make everyone happy/productive/rested
You lose your prodigy prospect for the year – no problem, we have that depth thing happening in the rotation
Basically, whatever baseball throws at the Dodgers, it is no problema.
Keibert and Santana show
In a game I should have gone to considering two of my favorite prospects were playing, Dennis Santana hurled another seven innings, while Keibert Ruiz blasted a three run walk off home run in front of the unimpressed Craig Minami.
Dennis Santana pitched seven innings again, marking the fourth time Santana has gone at least seven innings this year. Considering he’s a converted relief pitcher, his ability to go deep into games is one of the more surprising things about his season. Santana is basically the same age as Yadier Alvarez and Yadier has managed to go six innings just once this year. Yadier’s typical outing is five innings.
The legend of Keibert Ruiz got some ammunition tonight. Expect that hoard to grow.
who wants to watch @KeibertRuiz hit a GW 3R HR in slow mo? @RCQuakes @Dodgers @TulsaDrillers #MiLB @DodgersLowDown https://t.co/uTtYHMh2S0
— Steven Douglas (@wxdude22) July 18, 2017
“[Santana is] the guy, that we feel that every time he takes the mound, that if we score just a few runs, it’s going to be a win. He’s a stalwart in there, he’s just tremendous,” Saylor told Minami “As he’s grown this year, from day one to now, I think it is really exciting to see all our guys just develop and give us great outings and opportunities.”
“How quiet he is, his poise, his professionalism, even just the maturity, you have to literally do a double take at the roster to make sure he is 18 years old,” Saylor said of Rui
Can the Dodgers win 110 games?
A few days ago I showed how weak the Dodger 2nd half schedule was and Dan Szymborski chimed in today also showing how weak the Dodger second half schedule is. According to Dan, the Dodger 2nd half opponents have just a .476 winning percentage based on their win/losses as he wrote the article.
The Dodger record right now is 64 – 29, which is a .688 winning percentage. They have 69 games left.
- If they play one game over .500 at 35 – 34 they end up 99 – 63
- If they play five games over .500 at 37 – 32 they end up 101 – 61
- If they play eleven games over .500 at 40 – 29 they end up 104 – 58
- If they play fifteen games over .500 at 42 – 27 they end up 106 – 56
- If they play twenty-three games over .500 at 46 – 23 they end up 110 – 62
Basically, if the Dodgers can win twice as many games as they lose over the next 69 games they can win 110 games. Is an 110 win season realistic? I think it is for the following reasons.
- The team is loaded and while they won’t go 29 – 4 again, it isn’t hard to see this team continuing to play at a high level for the rest of the year. They haven’t made any trades yet to upgrade the team. They still have Adrian Gonzalez in reserve in case either Bellinger or Taylor hit a wall. I don’t even think Cory Seager or Puig have hit their peaks this year yet.
- The NL is very weak this year. I think we have already seen major stumbles by the Rockies and Diamondbacks. The Brewers lead the NL Central with a rotation of pitchers who couldn’t make the Dodgers eight man rotation except for Jimmy Nelson.
- Depth Depth Depth- everywhere
Just for fun, I finished out the season with what I thought was a possible scenario. My best guess came up with 108 wins. Do 110 wins compared to 108 wins mean anything? Nope, nothing at all. That is what we do here. Nothing at all.
| Game# | Date | Where | Team | Possible Result | Wins | Losses |
| 93 | Sunday, July 16th | @ | Miami | Win | 64 | 29 |
| 94 | Tuesday, Jul 18 | @ | CHW | Win | 65 | 29 |
| 95 | Wednesday, Jul 19 | @ | CHW | Lose | 65 | 30 |
| 96 | Thursday, Jul 20 | ATL | Lose | 65 | 31 | |
| 97 | Friday, Jul 21 | ATL | Win | 66 | 31 | |
| 98 | Saturday, Jul 22 | ATL | Win | 67 | 31 | |
| 99 | Sunday, Jul 23 | ATL | Win | 68 | 31 | |
| 100 | Monday, Jul 24 | MIN | Win | 69 | 31 | |
| 101 | Tuesday, Jul 25 | MIN | Lose | 69 | 32 | |
| 102 | Wednesday, Jul 26 | MIN | Win | 70 | 32 | |
| 103 | Friday, Jul 28 | SFG | Win | 71 | 32 | |
| 104 | Saturday, Jul 29 | SFG | Lose | 71 | 33 | |
| 105 | Sunday, Jul 30 | SFG | Win | 72 | 33 | |
| 106 | Tuesday, Aug 1 | @ | ATL | Lose | 72 | 34 |
| 107 | Wednesday, Aug 2 | @ | ATL | Win | 73 | 34 |
| 108 | Thursday, Aug 3 | @ | ATL | Win | 74 | 34 |
| 109 | Friday, Aug 4 | @ | NYM | Lose | 74 | 35 |
| 110 | Saturday, Aug 5 | @ | NYM | Win | 75 | 35 |
| 111 | Sunday, Aug 6 | @ | NYM | Win | 76 | 35 |
| 112 | Tuesday, Aug 8 | @ | ARI | Lose | 76 | 36 |
| 113 | Wednesday, Aug 9 | @ | ARI | Lose | 76 | 37 |
| 114 | Thursday, Aug 10 | @ | ARI | Win | 77 | 37 |
| 115 | Friday, Aug 11 | SDP | Lose | 77 | 38 | |
| 116 | Saturday, Aug 12 | SDP | Win | 78 | 38 | |
| 117 | Sunday, Aug 13 | SDP | Win | 79 | 38 | |
| 118 | Tuesday, Aug 15 | CHW | Win | 80 | 38 | |
| 119 | Wednesday, Aug 16 | CHW | Win | 81 | 38 | |
| 120 | Friday, Aug 18 | @ | DET | Lose | 81 | 39 |
| 121 | Saturday, Aug 19 | @ | DET | Win | 82 | 39 |
| 122 | Sunday, Aug 20 | @ | DET | Win | 83 | 39 |
| 123 | Monday, Aug 21 | @ | PIT | Lose | 83 | 40 |
| 124 | Tuesday, Aug 22 | @ | PIT | Win | 84 | 40 |
| 125 | Wednesday, Aug 23 | @ | PIT | Win | 85 | 40 |
| 126 | Thursday, Aug 24 | @ | PIT | Lose | 85 | 41 |
| 127 | Friday, Aug 25 | MIL | Lose | 85 | 42 | |
| 128 | Saturday, Aug 26 | MIL | Win | 86 | 42 | |
| 129 | Sunday, Aug 27 | MIL | Win | 87 | 42 | |
| 130 | Tuesday, Aug 29 | @ | ARI | Win | 88 | 42 |
| 131 | Wednesday, Aug 30 | @ | ARI | Win | 89 | 42 |
| 132 | Thursday, Aug 31 | @ | ARI | Lose | 89 | 43 |
| 133 | Friday, Sep 1 | @ | SDP | Lose | 89 | 44 |
| 134 | Saturday, Sep 2 | @ | SDP | Win | 90 | 44 |
| 135 | Saturday, Sep 2 | @ | SDP | Lose | 90 | 45 |
| 136 | Sunday, Sep 3 | @ | SDP | Win | 91 | 45 |
| 137 | Monday, Sep 4 | ARI | Win | 92 | 45 | |
| 138 | Tuesday, Sep 5 | ARI | Lose | 92 | 46 | |
| 139 | Wednesday, Sep 6 | ARI | Win | 93 | 46 | |
| 140 | Thursday, Sep 7 | COL | Win | 94 | 46 | |
| 141 | Friday, Sep 8 | COL | Win | 95 | 46 | |
| 142 | Saturday, Sep 9 | COL | Lose | 95 | 47 | |
| 143 | Sunday, Sep 10 | COL | Win | 96 | 47 | |
| 144 | Monday, Sep 11 | @ | SFG | Lose | 96 | 48 |
| 145 | Tuesday, Sep 12 | @ | SFG | Win | 97 | 48 |
| 146 | Wednesday, Sep 13 | @ | SFG | Win | 98 | 48 |
| 147 | Friday, Sep 15 | @ | WSN | Lose | 98 | 49 |
| 148 | Saturday, Sep 16 | @ | WSN | Lose | 98 | 50 |
| 149 | Sunday, Sep 17 | @ | WSN | Win | 99 | 50 |
| 150 | Monday, Sep 18 | @ | PHI | Win | 100 | 50 |
| 151 | Tuesday, Sep 19 | @ | PHI | Win | 101 | 50 |
| 152 | Wednesday, Sep 20 | @ | PHI | Win | 102 | 50 |
| 153 | Thursday, Sep 21 | @ | PHI | Lose | 102 | 51 |
| 154 | Friday, Sep 22 | SFG | Lose | 102 | 52 | |
| 155 | Saturday, Sep 23 | SFG | Win | 103 | 52 | |
| 156 | Sunday, Sep 24 | SFG | Win | 104 | 52 | |
| 157 | Monday, Sep 25 | SDP | Win | 105 | 52 | |
| 158 | Tuesday, Sep 26 | SDP | Win | 106 | 52 | |
| 159 | Wednesday, Sep 27 | SDP | Lose | 106 | 53 | |
| 160 | Friday, Sep 29 | @ | COL | Lose | 106 | 54 |
| 161 | Saturday, Sep 30 | @ | COL | Win | 107 | 54 |
| 162 | Sunday, Oct 1 | @ | COL | Win | 108 | 54 |
FFA Week of July 9th – July 16th
The contenders:
Wilmer Font – started in the PCL AAA All-Star game on Wednesday and threw one scoreless inning. Followed that up with six innings, three hits, one earned run, zero walks, and eight strikeouts on Sunday. Font continues to excel at AAA as he waits to see if his production will turn into a major league turn.
Errol Robinson – The speedy 2nd/SS collected nine hits in his last five games, including four stolen bases. All of his hits were singles but with four stolen bases you could say some were doubles:). Errol has spent time on three teams this year running up the ladder from A- to A+ to AA. He showed some power with Rancho but has yet to have an extra base hit for Tulsa (AA). Overall Errol has 15 stolen bases with four caught stealing in just 53 games.
Jose Miguel Fernandez – Jose had nine hits in his last four games, including two three hit games. The 2nd baseman has been playing 1st and 3rd as he tries to show off his versatility because his only ticket to the majors is probably as a utility player.
Josh Sborz – Sborz made two starts last week giving up only one earned run combined. Overall he went 13 2/3 innings, gave up just six hits, one earned run, walked five and struck out eight. Since giving up six runs on June 8th, Sborz has made six straight quality starts, not giving up more than two earned runs in any of those six games. That is the good news, the bad news is that his KK/BB ratio is horrible over those six games.
Andrew Sopko – Sopko continued his fine work in June/July with a seven inning gem. Sopko threw seven innings, gave up six hits, two earned runs, zero walks, and four strikeouts. He has only given up six earned runs over his last five starts, but just like Sborz has a problem getting strikeouts, and walks too many hitters for such a low punchout rate.
Keibert Ruiz – Keibert spent his first week with Rancho showing why he’s the best position prospect in the Dodger system. The 18-year-old switch hitting catcher played in five games, collected seven hits, two walks, including his first home run in Rancho. His line so far in A+ ball is .368 / .429 / .737 with an OPS of 1.165. Did I mention he is 18-years- old playing in A Plus ball. This will be the last time because he turns 19 this week.
Dennis Santana – Dennis went eight innings, gave up seven hits, two earned runs, one walk, and had six strikeouts. You don’t see many pitchers below AAA going eight innings and it was the first time for Santana. I’m pretty sure it was the first time for any Rancho pitcher.
Ibandel Isabel – Izzy hit three home runs last week to take the league lead away from teammate DJ Peters. Isabel now has 20 home runs. He also had nine hits and if he didn’t have eight K’s to one walk he’d get more play.
Caleb Ferguson – Fergy continued his strong July run with two good starts last week. He combined to throw 11 innings, gave up only five hits, three earned runs, four walks, and eighteen strikeouts. Caleb hasn’t given up more than two earned runs since June 1st a span of nine starts.
And the winner is……..
Caleb Ferguson who wins the Weekly Farm Factory Award for the Week of July 9th – July 16th.
I really wanted to give it to Keibert Ruiz but I’ll be writing more about him and this was the first time that Caleb was in the running, and he has been on a nice run.
Top Prospects have been on the move:
- Keibert Ruiz was promoted from Great Lakes to Rancho
- Walker Buehler was promoted from Tulsa (AA) to Oklahoma (AAA). Will be interesting to see what the Dodgers do with Walker. Will they start using him in relief in over the final six weeks of the minor league system to get him ready for a possible call up to the Dodger bullpen?
- Edwin Rios was promoted from Tulsa (AA) to Oklahoma (AAA). Rios has been playing the outfield and 1st base for Oklahoma but no games at 3rd base since his promotion.
One final note, I did not include Starling Heredia in the running for FFA Player of the Week because he is playing in a Rookie league. Just so you know, the 18-year-old Starling is knocking the crap out of the Pioneer League. He had three, three hit games, and two, two hit games last week. Plus three home runs. Plus five walks.
Dodgers, Yesterday and Today 