Updated LAD All-Star History
The greatest baseball franchise has a rich history in the all-star game, with multiple MVP winners. You’d be hard pressed to find a Dodger pitcher who was scored upon in 58 years of Dodger all-star appearances. Don Drysdale holds the all-star record with 19 strikeouts and won back to back games in 1967 and 1968, and for good measure also collected a save in 1963. Steve Garvey was one of the greatest all-star performers winning both the 1974 and 1978 All-Star MVP awards. Maury Wills won the 1962 All-Star MVP award and drove in the winning run in the 1966 All-Star game in his last all-star at bat. Mike Piazza slugged home runs in back to back all-star games.
The links below will give you why each player was selected and what they did once they were selected.
Every Los Angeles Dodger All-Star
LAD All-Stars, 1958 – 1961, the beginning
LAD All-Stars, 1962 – 1969, Koufax, Drysdale, and Wills era
LAD All-Stars, 1970 – 1979, Garvey – Russell – Lopes – Cey era
LAD All-Stars 1980 – 1989, the Fernando Valenzuela and Orel Hershiser decade
LAD All-Stars 1990 – 1999, the Mike Piazza era
LAD All-Stars 2000 – 2018, the Clayton Kershaw era
LAD All-Star Home Runs:
| Date | Batter | Pitcher | Score | Inn |
| 8/3/1959 | Jim Gilliam | Billy O’Dell | down 4-2 | b7 |
| 7/15/1975 | Jim Wynn | Vida Blue | ahead 0-1 | t2 |
| 7/30/1962 | John Roseboro | Milt Pappas | down 9-3 | b9 |
| 7/9/1996 | Mike Piazza | Charles Nagy | ahead 0-1 | b2 |
| 7/11/1995 | Mike Piazza | Kenny Rogers | down 2-1 | t7 |
| 7/19/1977 | Steve Garvey | Jim Palmer | ahead 0-4 | t3 |
| 7/15/1975 | Steve Garvey | Vida Blue | tied 0-0 | t2 |
| 7/24/1973 | Willie Davis | Nolan Ryan | ahead 1-5 | t6 |
Keibert Ruiz is moving up
My favorite prospect just got promoted from the MWL Loons to the California League Rancho Cucamonga Quakes making him the youngest player in the league.
These things happen all the time in minor league ball. Will Smith, the number one pick last year was promoted from Rancho to AA Tulsa which left me wondering who was going to be the primary catcher for Rancho going forward.
18=year-old Keibert Ruiz is who.
Why is this a big deal?
Can you tell me the last time an 18-year-old position prospect was playing for Rancho? Alex Verdugo had already turned 19 by the time he joined Rancho in late summer of 2015. Cody Bellinger was 19 when he started and 20 when he ended. Corey Seager might be the closest comp as he was 18 when he started the year with the Loons and turned 19 while with Rancho just as Keibert will be doing but Seager turned 19 in April while Ruiz won’t turn 19 until later this month. Seager also didn’t join the Quakes until Aug 3rd.
At only 18 it is hard to tell what kind of hitting tool that Ruiz will have but he has already shown nice contact skills to go with his growing patience. This Dodger front office has not been shy about pushing the elite prospects, and with Keibert headed to Rancho, I think we can safely add Keibert to the list.
Harold Uhlman of ThinkBlueLA has more:
What can Rancho Cucamonga Quakes fans look forward to with the young catcher in the lineup? First, he can hit and is a contact hitter not prone to striking out. Contact and driving the ball are his trademarks as a hitter. As a testament to his consistency, he hit safely in 33 of his last 40 games with the Loons. Power, at this point, is perhaps in short supply for Ruiz but MLB.com feels it will be more than adequate as his hitting skills continue to improve and he fills out his 6’0” frame.
MLB.com concludes: “Ruiz shows more pop from the left side and a more contact-oriented approach from the right side. He has precocious feel to hit and makes consistent contact rather than trying to do too much. As he gets stronger, he could develop double-digit home run power.”
Behind the plate is where the young catcher really stands out. He displays great footwork and has no real flaws defensively, which is extremely impressive for an 18-year old catcher. The one thing that Ruiz still needs to improve upon is his arm, which grades about average right now. However, at only 18, there is plenty of time for Ruiz to work on his arm strength. His speed is catcher ranked speed.
LAD First half leaderboard – Strikeouts
The Koufax and Kershaw show with a ringer named Singer. You have to fully expect Koufax to dominate this list but when you consider that Kershaw is getting about eight starts less per year than the pitchers from 1958 – 1982 it is amazing that he can get on the leaderboard using a cutoff of 150 strikeouts.
I missed the Bill Singer season in that I didn’t arrive in Los Angeles until 1970. That didn’t keep Singer from being my favorite pitcher in 1969 until he was traded to the Angels.
Player Split Year SO W L W-L% ERA IP Sandy Koufax 1st Half 1962 202 13 4 .765 2.15 167.2 Sandy Koufax 1st Half 1965 195 15 3 .833 2.13 169.0 Sandy Koufax 1st Half 1966 165 15 4 .789 1.60 168.1 Clayton Kershaw 1st Half 2015 160 6 6 .500 2.85 123.0 Bill Singer 1st Half 1969 159 13 7 .650 1.98 186.2 Clayton Kershaw 1st Half 2017 159 14 2 .875 2.18 132.1 Sandy Koufax 1st Half 1963 150 14 3 .824 1.73 156.1
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 7/10/2017.
Yusniel Diaz makes BA June Prospect Team of the Month
Yusniel Diaz had a tough start to the 2017 season and made my list as the most disappointing prospect by the end of May. Since his dreadful May, Diaz has turned his season around and Baseball America named him to their June Prospect Team of the Month.
OF Yusniel Diaz • Dodgers
High Class A Rancho Cucamonga (California)Diaz may be repeating the California League this season, but he still is just 20 years old and is in just his second season in the U.S. after leaving Cuba. He turned his season around in June, when he eliminated the pre-pitch movement in his setup, and began producing for average and power.
AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS AVG OBP SLG RAA 101 20 40 9 2 5 17 9 15 2 4 .396 .438 .673 11.5
Read more at http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/prospect-team-month-june/#PSrWZzPwtfrilKcX.99
Inside the Baseball America story we find another story that might be the reason for his turnaround.
Since then he has been on a tear. Most notably Diaz has quieted his stance and pre-pitch movement—which previously featured gratuitous bat waving, hip swaying and a big leg kick—and gone full-time into what used to be his two-strike stance, with significantly less moving parts.
“I’ve been working a lot in the cages trying to get my mechanics better,” Diaz said through a translator. “I feel really good now. I was making a lot of movement before. Now I feel more relaxed and more concentrated at the plate.”
Added Saylor: “Sometimes when guys have those real noisy hands they don’t go down into a good launch position and then all the sudden they’re trying to make up distance. Where he has it now it’s quieter and easier for him to get on plane early and stay through and get a bigger area of success on the pitch plane.”
Read more at http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/yusniel-diaz-starts-make-noise-cal-league/#oTKZdPpo4OWiFhaV.99
Keibert Ruiz and DJ Peters make MLB prospect team of the week
Keibert Ruiz was named to the MLB Prospect team of the week for the week of June 26th – July 2nd. Readers will remember that Ruiz was my June Prospect of the Month, and the Weekly Farm Factory Award winner for June 26th – July 2nd. A few days ago, Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus came out with their midseason prospect rankings, and our 18-year-old switch-hitting catcher tearing up the MWL was nowhere to be found. A few years from now they will wonder how this happened. Evidently, they aren’t paying attention to his monthly growth.
C: Keibert Ruiz, Great Lakes Loons (Class A)
Dodgers No. 12 prospect
6 G, .455/.520/.773, 3 R, 2 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 3 BBThe 18-year-old Venezuelan had four multi-hit games, but his biggest performance came when he went 1-for-3 on Wednesday. The one hit? A grand slam in the ninth to turn a 0-0 tie into a 4-0 lead. Ruiz is now fifth in the Midwest League with his .321 average.
DJ Peters was named to the MLB Prospect team of the week for the week of July 3rd – July 9th.
OF: DJ Peters, Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (Class A Advanced)
(Dodgers’ No. 18 prospect)
7 G, .448/.500/.966, 7 R, 4 2B, 1 3B, 3 HR, 7 RBIs, 1 BB, 7 K, 2 HBPPeters made headlines on Wednesday when he became the first player ever to hit two home runs in the same inning against a rehabbing Madison Bumgarner. What’s more, he hit in each of his seven games to extend his hitting streak to 14 games, during which he’s hitting .429 with a 1.386 OPS and six home runs. Overall, Peters leads the California League with 19 homers.
LAD first half leadersboards – sOPS+ against
If you thought Alex Wood was having a season that could be used in the same breath as Sandy Koufax and Clayton you are correct.
12 LAD seasons from a pitcher with a first half sOPS+ against of 50 or less. Kershaw and Koufax have had six of them. Alex Wood joins Jerry Reuss as the only other left-hander on the list besides the statues.
Player Split Year sOPS+ W L W-L% ERA GS IP Clayton Kershaw 1st Half 2016 28 11 2 .846 1.79 16 121.0 Alex Wood 1st Half 2017 30 10 0 1.000 1.67 13 80.2 Jerry Reuss 1st Half 1980 37 9 2 .818 1.96 11 105.2 Sandy Koufax 1st Half 1963 38 14 3 .824 1.73 20 156.1 Hideo Nomo 1st Half 1995 38 6 1 .857 1.99 13 90.1 Sandy Koufax 1st Half 1964 42 12 4 .750 1.73 18 140.2 Clayton Kershaw 1st Half 2013 43 8 6 .571 1.98 20 145.1 Zack Greinke 1st Half 2015 43 8 2 .800 1.39 18 123.1 Sandy Koufax 1st Half 1962 44 13 4 .765 2.15 21 167.2 Don Sutton 1st Half 1972 45 12 5 .706 1.90 19 156.0 Clayton Kershaw 1st Half 2014 45 11 2 .846 1.78 14 96.1 Kevin Brown 1st Half 2000 46 8 2 .800 2.38 17 125.0
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 7/10/2017.
LAD first half leaderboards – sOPS+
Oh look, Justin Turner again. To recap, Justin Turner has the best LAD first half in Batting Average, On-Base Percentage, and sOPS+. In other words, the red-bearded wonder is well on his way to having the greatest offensive season ever by a Los Angeles Dodger.
And I thought he could be replaced!!!!!!!!
This list is punctuated with hitters from our four previous leaderboards, so I’m looking for a new name, and I found a few.
Rick Monday, Ron Cey, Gil Hodges, Yazmani Grandal, Kirk Gibson, Manny Ramirez, and Yasiel Puig (2014 season).
Cody Bellinger barely makes the arbitrary cutoff point of 150.
Player Split Year sOPS+ PA OPS Justin Turner 1st Half 2017 183 274 1.056 Pedro Guerrero 1st Half 1985 181 346 .990 Wally Moon 1st Half 1961 178 296 1.020 Reggie Smith 1st Half 1977 176 352 1.021 Matt Kemp 1st Half 2011 174 384 .982 Gary Sheffield 1st Half 2000 172 368 1.093 Mike Piazza 1st Half 1996 171 336 1.055 Ron Cey 1st Half 1976 168 317 .929 Jim Wynn 1st Half 1974 167 394 .942 Pedro Guerrero 1st Half 1981 165 209 .925 Reggie Smith 1st Half 1980 164 295 .950 Gil Hodges 1st Half 1959 164 287 .971 Billy Grabarkewitz 1st Half 1970 164 341 .944 Mike Piazza 1st Half 1997 163 342 1.004 Nomar Garciaparra 1st Half 2006 160 303 1.004 Yasmani Grandal 1st Half 2015 160 257 .927 Paul Lo Duca 1st Half 2001 158 225 .999 Tommy Davis 1st Half 1962 158 380 .949 Yasiel Puig 1st Half 2014 158 394 .915 Jim Wynn 1st Half 1975 157 360 .900 Shawn Green 1st Half 2002 157 365 .970 Justin Turner 1st Half 2015 156 247 .915 Kirk Gibson 1st Half 1988 155 348 .901 Rick Monday 1st Half 1978 155 233 .908 Manny Ramirez 1st Half 2010 154 216 .937 Pedro Guerrero 1st Half 1983 153 329 .908 Manny Mota 1st Half 1972 153 245 .846 Reggie Smith 1st Half 1978 152 290 .892 Pedro Guerrero 1st Half 1987 151 352 .948 Andre Ethier 1st Half 2010 151 306 .932 Cody Bellinger 1st Half 2017 151 292 .961
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 7/10/2017.
LAD First half leaderboards – Slugging Percentage
Cody Bellinger ranks 3rd at the half in slugging percentage. No surprise that Sheffield and Piazza are one and two. It is rankling that the order is not reversed. That was some trade.
Paul Lo Duca gets an appearance because of my generous criteria of only 200 plate appearances. That doesn’t negate the fact that Lo Duca had one of the great slugging first halves in LAD history. Also, completely unexpected.
Player Split Year SLG PA 2B 3B HR Gary Sheffield 1st Half 2000 .652 368 11 2 27 Mike Piazza 1st Half 1996 .623 336 6 0 24 Cody Bellinger 1st Half 2017 .619 292 15 1 25 Paul Lo Duca 1st Half 2001 .615 225 13 0 14
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 7/10/2017.
LAD First half leaderboards – Home Runs
Was kind of hoping that Cody Bellinger would knock Gary Sheffield off the top of this leaderboard but his prodigious home run power fell off in July. Bellinger ends up tied with Eric Karros for 3rd place with twenty-five home runs.
I wish I could remember the great first half that Karros had in 2000 but I can’t. You’d think that 2000 was one heck of a year with Sheffield hitting 27 and Karros 25 in the same first half. But I guess when everyone was hitting home runs it just doesn’t stand out.
Have to keep in mind that Bellinger did this in only 292 plate appearances.
Davey Lopes is the only middle infielder on this leaderboard. Impressive work.
Joc Pederson remembers when he was the golden boy of Los Angeles.
As I continue to peruse the list I can only come to one conclusion. Eric Karros hit a lot of first half home runs. For a guy who never hit more than 34 home runs in a season, three times he had at least 20 home runs by the all-star break.
Player Split Year HR PA OPS Gary Sheffield 1st Half 2000 27 368 1.093 Shawn Green 1st Half 2002 26 365 .970 Cody Bellinger 1st Half 2017 25 292 .961 Eric Karros 1st Half 2000 25 368 .909 Mike Piazza 1st Half 1996 24 336 1.055 Adrian Beltre 1st Half 2004 22 338 .935 Steve Garvey 1st Half 1977 22 411 .855 Matt Kemp 1st Half 2011 22 384 .982 Pedro Guerrero 1st Half 1985 21 346 .990 Mike Piazza 1st Half 1994 21 343 .927 Jim Wynn 1st Half 1974 21 394 .942 Eric Karros 1st Half 1997 20 372 .841 Davey Lopes 1st Half 1979 20 411 .855 Joc Pederson 1st Half 2015 20 366 .851 Shawn Green 1st Half 2001 20 377 .885 Eric Karros 1st Half 1996 20 346 .799
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 7/10/2017.
Dodgers, Yesterday and Today 