Justin Turner currently in the company of Rod Carew and Tony Gwynn
Can Justin Turner keep his batting average above .380 by the all-star game? With Alex Wood his 1st half season is done so we know we will end the first half with a perfect 10 – 0 record.
Only 15 hitters since 1958 have managed to have at least a .380 BA by the all-star break and Justin Turner currently ranks 8th. Turner has his work cut out for him, it would be very easy for him to fall below .380 in just one game, much less four games.
I would take the under myself.
Player Split Year BA PA OBP SLG OPS Rod Carew 1st Half 1983 .402 254 .457 .498 .955 Larry Walker 1st Half 1997 .398 369 .496 .741 1.237 John Olerud 1st Half 1993 .395 372 .492 .671 1.163 Rod Carew 1st Half 1977 .394 395 .463 .586 1.049 Tony Gwynn 1st Half 1997 .394 365 .431 .588 1.019 Andres Galarraga 1st Half 1993 .391 290 .424 .646 1.070 Nomar Garciaparra 1st Half 2000 .389 286 .444 .643 1.087 Justin Turner 1st Half 2017 .384 259 .473 .571 1.044 Darin Erstad 1st Half 2000 .384 414 .441 .592 1.033 Tony Gwynn 1st Half 1994 .383 352 .447 .552 .999 Frank Thomas 1st Half 1994 .383 392 .515 .795 1.311 Todd Helton 1st Half 2000 .383 361 .479 .701 1.181 Rod Carew 1st Half 1974 .382 423 .440 .465 .905 Paul ONeill 1st Half 1994 .382 326 .475 .622 1.097 Larry Walker 1st Half 1999 .382 316 .449 .738 1.188
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Generated 7/6/2017.
Old Tyme stats kicking butt
Alex Wood is 10 – 0 in the first half but starter wins aren’t supposed to mean anything anymore
Justin Turner is hitting over .380 just before the break but batting average isn’t supposed to mean anything anymore since we have wRC+ to hang with now. So why is everyone celebrating the batting average of Justin Turner? I’ve seen tweet after tweet from baseball people who are loving the batting average of Justin Turner even though they know that batting average is one of the hanger on stats from their father’s day.
What is an old man to do?
Embrace them old tyme stats is what he’ll have to do.
Only four pitchers since 1958 have gone into the all-star break with at least ten wins and zero losses. Alex Wood has done it in fewer starts than anyone. He has the lowest OPS against than anyone.
Those stats below are crazy:
Dave McNally started 25 games and threw 156 innings
Roy Face won 12 games and never started one of them
I Player Split Year G W L ERA GS IP OPS
Dave McNally 1st Half 1969 25 13 0 2.88 24 156.0 .604
Roy Face 1st Half 1959 32 12 0 1.13 0 56.0 .503
Stephen Strasburg 1st Half 2016 16 12 0 2.62 16 106.2 .584
Alex Wood 1st Half 2017 15 10 0 1.67 13 80.2 .476
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Generated 7/6/2017.
How about Los Angeles Dodgers with undefeated records at the break?
Player Split Year W L ERA GS IP SO9 SO/W Alex Wood 1st Half 2017 10 0 1.67 13 80.2 10.8 4.41 Rick Rhoden 1st Half 1976 8 0 2.91 16 108.1 3.5 1.31
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Generated 7/6/2017.
Only two Dodgers have ever hit the break with at least eight wins and zero losses.
Rick Rhoden didn’t exactly wow the hitters now did he? Contact Contact Contact must have been his game. I remember three things about Rick Rhoden
- Vin told the same story over and over about the scissors on the water slide that messed up his leg and thus had one leg longer than the other.
- He was a good hitting pitcher who could scorch a line drive to RCF.
- He was traded for Jerry Reuss in what turned out to be a brilliant trade even though at the time you were dealing a 25-year-old for a 30-year-old pitcher.
One time LAD 1 – 0 Losers
Bringing this little 1 – 0 loser arc thread to a close we now look at all the pitchers who lost one game 1 – 0. This is a fun list with many names you won’t see often, combined with two of the greatest pitchers of any era.
Several scrapheap projects. Al Downing had been part of the last great Yankee teams of the early 60’s but by the time he became a Dodger in 1971 his career was headed nowhere. Downing rediscovered his touch as a Dodger and would win 20 games for the first time. Al would finish 3rd in Cy Young voting. As a Dodger, he would go onto to throw 16 games with a game score of 75 or more, and of those 16 games, this would be the only game he would lose. He was called Gentleman Al for his gentle nature.
Who is this Kershaw guy?
Giovanni Carrara? Are you kidding me???
Nomo, Kuroda, and Maeda – how about that.
Jim Brewer – I don’t ever recall him being a starter for the Dodgers. Looks like he was pressed into service because of a Sept doubleheader and acquitted himself quite well.
Joe Moeller as a teenager
John Ely – must have been the game that got him on the sports illustrated cover.
Rubby De La Rosa – all the promise and then the surgery.
Player Date Rslt IP H ER BB SO GSc Al Downing 1976-09-08 L 0-1 8.0 3 0 1 3 78 Andy Ashby 2003-07-26 L 0-1 7.0 5 1 2 3 64 Bob Ojeda 1992-08-28 L 0-1 7.0 4 1 3 5 67 Brad Penny 2005-06-20 L 0-1 6.0 6 1 0 4 60 Brian Bohanon 1998-09-11 L 0-1 8.0 7 1 5 8 67 Clayton Kershaw 2012-09-11 L 0-1 7.0 3 0 3 5 71 Darren Dreifort 2000-04-24 L 0-1 6.0 5 0 3 2 61 Giovanni Carrara 2001-06-08 L 0-1 5.0 4 1 0 3 58 Greg Maddux 2008-09-14 L 0-1 7.0 2 0 0 3 76 Hideo Nomo 2002-04-14 L 0-1 6.2 4 1 4 6 64 Hiroki Kuroda 2010-08-13 L 0-1 7.0 4 1 2 3 66 Ismael Valdez 1995-09-06 L 0-1 8.0 3 1 0 6 78 Jason Schmidt 2007-06-05 L 0-1 6.0 1 0 3 4 71 Jim Brewer 1967-09-10(2) L 0-1 7.0 3 0 3 4 72 Jim Neidlinger 1990-08-07 L 0-1 7.2 2 0 2 6 77 Joe Moeller 1962-04-29(2) L 0-1 7.0 3 1 3 3 67 John Ely 2010-05-27 L 0-1 7.1 4 1 2 4 68 Josh Beckett 2013-04-14 L 0-1 8.1 6 1 1 9 75 Kenta Maeda 2016-06-08 L 0-1 6.2 5 1 1 9 68 Kevin Brown 2000-04-25 L 0-1 7.0 5 1 3 4 64 Mark Hendrickson 2006-08-22 L 0-1 6.0 5 1 0 4 62 Mike Morgan 1991-04-30 L 0-1 8.0 2 1 2 5 77 Nathan Eovaldi 2012-06-08 L 0-1 6.0 5 0 2 6 66 Odalis Perez 2002-09-24 L 0-1 8.0 5 1 0 8 76 Pedro Astacio 1993-09-07 L 0-1 7.1 4 1 3 6 69 Rick Honeycutt 1984-07-31 L 0-1 6.0 5 1 3 2 57 Rubby De La Rosa 2011-06-29 L 0-1 7.0 6 1 2 4 63 Sandy Vance 1970-05-22 L 0-1 7.0 2 1 6 3 66 Shawn Hillegas 1987-08-24 L 0-1 7.0 3 1 4 6 69 Stan Williams 1960-09-19 L 0-1 7.0 5 1 0 6 69 Tim Leary 1988-10-02 L 0-1 5.0 3 1 3 3 57 Tommy John 1976-04-21 L 0-1 7.0 8 0 3 3 61
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Generated 7/5/2017.
Big and Little D dominate 1 – 0 loser list
I was right about Don Sutton leading the Dodgers in losing 1 – 0 games but he had company from his big brother Don Drysdale. They both did it a staggering nine times. This points to two things. They were both incredible pitchers, and they both pitched for some bad offensive teams.
The list below only shows pitchers who had the dirty deed done to them more than once.
Notes from the list:
- I was quite surprised to see that Orel Hershiser lost eight 1 – 0 games.
- Fernando and Burt Hooten did it seven times, showing once again just how underrated Burt Hooten was.
- Chad Billingsley had some company with his five 1- 0 losses.
- Andy Messersmith stands out because Andy lost his five games in only three years.
- Bill Singer, Bob Welch, Doug Rau, and Claude Osteen had it happen four times.
- Sandy Koufax only did it three times. Evidently, the Dodgers scored more runs for Koufax than they did for Drysdale even though Drysdale was one of the premier hitting pitchers in his time.
- Derek was the only member of the three-time loser club.
- The two timers included Alan Foster, Jerry Ruess, Johnny Podres, Ramon Martinez, Tim Belcher, Tom Candiotti, and Zack Greinke
Player Date Rslt IP H ER BB SO GSc Alan Foster 1969-05-23 L 0-1 8.0 3 1 4 5 73 Alan Foster 1967-09-27 L 0-1 7.0 4 1 1 8 72 Andy Messersmith 1974-06-11 L 0-1 9.0 4 0 1 4 80 Andy Messersmith 1973-08-08 L 0-1 8.0 6 1 3 7 70 Andy Messersmith 1975-08-02 L 0-1 8.0 2 1 4 7 77 Andy Messersmith 1975-07-21 L 0-1 9.0 6 0 0 8 81 Andy Messersmith 1975-07-04 L 0-1 7.0 6 1 4 2 59 Bill Singer 1971-05-15 L 0-1 7.0 2 1 4 6 71 Bill Singer 1969-06-04 L 0-1 9.0 2 0 0 10 93 Bill Singer 1969-06-12 L 0-1 9.0 4 1 2 12 85 Bill Singer 1968-08-08 L 0-1 9.0 5 1 3 6 76 Bob Welch 1987-08-16 L 0-1 8.0 4 0 3 5 76 Bob Welch 1986-09-02 L 0-1 8.2 6 1 1 9 76 Bob Welch 1986-07-08 L 0-1 7.0 3 0 0 6 75 Bob Welch 1984-06-17 L 0-1 6.0 5 1 0 5 63 Burt Hooton 1984-09-07 L 0-1 8.0 2 0 2 4 80 Burt Hooton 1978-04-29 L 0-1 7.0 2 1 2 3 70 Burt Hooton 1978-08-01 L 0-1 8.1 5 1 2 3 70 Burt Hooton 1978-04-11 L 0-1 6.0 4 1 0 2 62 Burt Hooton 1977-08-06 L 0-1 8.2 6 1 3 6 71 Burt Hooton 1976-09-28 L 0-1 8.0 4 0 3 3 72 Burt Hooton 1976-06-25 L 0-1 9.0 4 1 2 5 78 Chad Billingsley 2010-04-25 L 0-1 6.0 4 1 2 5 63 Chad Billingsley 2008-04-13 L 0-1 5.0 4 1 2 8 61 Chad Billingsley 2007-08-03 L 0-1 7.2 5 1 2 8 71 Chad Billingsley 2007-08-08 L 0-1 5.0 6 1 4 3 50 Chad Billingsley 2011-05-14 L 0-1 8.0 1 0 2 8 84 Claude Osteen 1972-05-24 L 0-1 8.0 3 1 1 4 75 Claude Osteen 1968-07-11 L 0-1 7.0 6 1 0 3 64 Claude Osteen 1967-07-09 L 0-1 9.2 9 1 2 7 72 Claude Osteen 1965-06-21 L 0-1 9.0 2 1 3 5 81 Derek Lowe 2008-09-21 L 0-1 7.0 5 0 3 7 71 Derek Lowe 2008-06-29 L 0-1 7.0 5 1 2 7 68 Derek Lowe 2007-06-09 L 0-1 9.0 4 1 0 3 78 Don Drysdale 1968-07-24 L 0-1 8.0 4 1 2 3 71 Don Drysdale 1964-06-28 L 0-1 8.0 7 1 4 5 65 Don Drysdale 1964-06-03 L 0-1 10.1 4 0 4 10 89 Don Drysdale 1964-07-21 L 0-1 9.0 5 1 1 9 81 Don Drysdale 1964-09-27 L 0-1 10.0 3 0 2 6 90 Don Drysdale 1964-09-22 L 0-1 8.0 5 1 2 6 72 Don Drysdale 1963-06-28 L 0-1 9.0 7 1 1 7 75 Don Drysdale 1960-04-20 L 0-1 8.0 5 1 0 5 73 Don Drysdale 1960-08-17 L 0-1 8.1 4 1 2 8 77 Don Sutton 1972-05-07 L 0-1 10.0 1 0 4 3 89 Don Sutton 1972-06-24(1) L 0-1 8.0 8 1 1 6 67 Don Sutton 1970-08-28 L 0-1 9.0 5 1 3 7 77 Don Sutton 1968-06-10 L 0-1 10.0 5 1 3 10 85 Don Sutton 1968-05-16 L 0-1 7.0 7 1 1 4 62 Don Sutton 1968-07-28(2) L 0-1 7.0 6 1 0 7 68 Don Sutton 1977-06-03 L 0-1 9.0 5 0 2 2 77 Don Sutton 1976-06-17 L 0-1 9.0 6 0 2 4 77 Don Sutton 1976-09-17(1) L 0-1 11.0 6 0 3 6 88 Doug Rau 1972-10-01 L 0-1 8.0 3 0 4 4 74 Doug Rau 1977-09-05 L 0-1 7.0 4 0 1 4 70 Doug Rau 1977-07-25 L 0-1 7.0 7 1 1 2 60 Doug Rau 1976-08-04 L 0-1 8.0 4 1 2 2 70 Fernando Valenzuela 1989-06-02 L 0-1 7.0 5 1 2 5 66 Fernando Valenzuela 1987-06-11 L 0-1 9.0 7 1 5 6 70 Fernando Valenzuela 1985-04-28 L 0-1 9.0 2 1 1 10 88 Fernando Valenzuela 1983-09-16 L 0-1 7.0 5 1 2 7 68 Fernando Valenzuela 1982-09-04 L 0-1 9.0 4 1 2 11 84 Fernando Valenzuela 1981-10-01 L 0-1 8.0 5 0 2 7 75 Fernando Valenzuela 1989-04-29 L 0-1 7.0 4 0 1 1 69 Jerry Reuss 1982-07-25 L 0-1 8.0 6 1 2 5 69 Jerry Reuss 1981-04-21 L 0-1 8.0 8 1 0 2 64 Johnny Podres 1962-09-30 L 0-1 9.0 5 1 0 7 80 Johnny Podres 1960-08-19 L 0-1 8.2 3 0 3 2 75 Orel Hershiser 1989-04-27 L 0-1 7.0 3 1 1 4 70 Orel Hershiser 1987-10-03 L 0-1 8.0 3 1 2 5 75 Orel Hershiser 1986-04-08 L 0-1 9.0 9 1 2 4 67 Orel Hershiser 1993-06-24 L 0-1 9.0 8 1 2 4 69 Orel Hershiser 1992-06-20 L 0-1 8.0 6 1 3 6 69 Orel Hershiser 1989-09-08 L 0-1 7.0 7 1 4 6 61 Orel Hershiser 1989-09-24 L 0-1 7.0 8 1 2 5 60 Orel Hershiser 1989-08-28 L 0-1 8.0 8 1 1 4 65 Ramon Martinez 1994-04-07 L 0-1 8.0 6 1 1 10 75 Ramon Martinez 1989-08-07 L 0-1 8.0 4 1 2 9 77 Sandy Koufax 1964-05-27 L 0-1 7.0 3 1 5 7 69 Sandy Koufax 1963-06-01 L 0-1 7.0 3 1 1 10 76 Sandy Koufax 1960-09-03 L 0-1 7.0 7 1 2 6 63 Tim Belcher 1988-09-16 L 0-1 8.0 3 0 1 7 80 Tim Belcher 1991-08-09 L 0-1 8.2 5 0 2 4 76 Tom Candiotti 1995-07-06 L 0-1 8.0 3 0 0 5 81 Tom Candiotti 1992-06-02 L 0-1 7.0 5 1 4 4 63 Zack Greinke 2015-06-23 L 0-1 6.0 3 0 2 5 69 Zack Greinke 2013-09-28 L 0-1 6.0 4 1 0 7 67
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Generated 7/5/2017.
Kershaw cracks top gamescore against Dbacks at home
Clayton Kershaw once again played with a no-hitter but had to settle for just another victory. The final score of 4 – 3 does not properly reflect his dominance last night in which he put up a game score of 82.
That game score put him on the leaderboard of Dodger pitchers with a game score of at least 80 against the Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium. This was the second time Kershaw had made the list. The first was way back in 2011, and the score was identical at 4 – 3.
Not a surprise to see Kevin Brown at the top of the list, the surprise is that I think this is the first time I’ve seen him on top of any of my game score leaderboards.
Ishii is a surprise because of the date. If Ishii was going to make a game score leaderboard I would have expected it to happen in April or May, I simply don’t remember him pitching a good game after May of 2004.
Jose Lima was just starting Lima time. That would be the best start of 2004 for Lima Time. Until October.
Player Date Opp Rslt IP H ER BB SO GSc Kevin Brown 2000-06-15 ARI W 4-0 9.0 4 0 0 10 89 Kazuhisa Ishii 2004-07-07 ARI W 11-0 9.0 1 0 1 5 89 Chad Billingsley 2011-05-14 ARI L 0-1 8.0 1 0 2 8 84 Jose Lima 2004-05-29 ARI W 10-0 8.0 2 0 1 7 84 Chan Ho Park 1998-07-24 ARI W 3-1 8.0 2 1 2 11 83 Clayton Kershaw 2017-07-04 ARI W 4-3 7.0 2 0 2 11 82 Brad Penny 2005-07-01 ARI W 7-0 8.0 3 0 1 7 82 Odalis Perez 2003-07-05 ARI W 2-0 8.0 3 0 0 5 81 Clayton Kershaw 2011-05-13 ARI W 4-3 7.0 3 0 2 11 80 Derek Lowe 2008-09-05 ARI W 7-0 8.0 2 0 2 4 80
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Generated 7/5/2017.
When I first glanced at the list I noticed that Billingsley was the only pitcher to lose his game, and with the score 1 – 0 I thought it was a different game. I clicked on the box score to find out I was mistaken. Which meant that Billingsley had lost two games against the Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium by a score of 1 – 0. Hard luck loser indeed. The game I thought it was, was the 19-year-old debut of Justin Upton.
Turns out that Chad Billingsley lost five games by the score of 1 – 0. Talk about a hard luck loser.
Date Opp Rslt IP H ER BB SO GSc 2007-08-03 ARI L 0-1 7.2 5 1 2 8 71 2007-08-08 CIN L 0-1 5.0 6 1 4 3 50 2008-04-13 SDP L 0-1 5.0 4 1 2 8 61 2010-04-25 WSN L 0-1 6.0 4 1 2 5 63 2011-05-14 ARI L 0-1 8.0 1 0 2 8 84
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Generated 7/5/2017.
By comparison, Clayton Kershaw has only lost one game 1 – 0.
I’m sure Don Sutton lost a good number of 1 – 0 games, so now my next article will be about who has the most 1 – 0 losses for the LAD. I’m betting on Don Sutton. I think Don was not only the king of the one-hitter but also of the 1 – 0 loss.
The Campaign Continues
Dodger fans at the game tonight were treated to Orel Hershiser and Justin Turner putting on the Ritz as they combined on the Nations birthday with a memorable moment. At the same time, Dodger fans listening to Joe Davis got a glimpse why he is filling the big shoes of Vin Scully very well.
Orel took to Dodger vision to implore the fans at the stadium to exercise their right to vote by voting for Justin Turner and send him to Miami. Not long after Orel sat down, Justin Turner added an exclamation point to his campaign by slamming a home run to dead center field.
While the fans at the game were going crazy, Joe Davis was telling those of us at home watching the game
“The campaign continues, Justin Turner just keep on running to Miami”
Can’t make this stuff up.
I do find it funny that while the Keith Law book is being consumed by baseball fans everywhere, and they are being taught that batting average isn’t exactly the best stat to measure a player by, those of us who should know better are giddy over the .388 batting average of Justin Turner as we turn the corner to the all-star game.
Logan Forsythe comes alive
Either by health, skill, or luck, Logan Forsythe has decided to join the Dodger hit party. On June 17th, the OPS was at .574 and Dodger fans were weary of his weak at-bats. It seems the Dodgers are in almost perfect sync, as Chris Taylor went into a little funk, Logan Forsythe caught fire and has raised his OPS over 100 points in just twelve games. Most of that came this weekend when he collected eight hits in two games, but even before that, his bat was showing signs of life with hits in seven of his previous ten games before going off against the Padres this weekend. Over the last seven days Logan has an OPS of 1.183, over the last fourteen days he has an OPS of .907. That will play.
Cody Bellinger racks up another award
Cody’s mom is going to need to build a new mantle at the rate he keeps bringing home the hardware. Only two months into his major league career and Cody Bellinger has already won:
- NL Rookie of the Month for June (his latest)
- NL Rookie of the Month for May
- NL Player of the Week from June 19th – June 25th
- NL Player of the Week from May 1st – May 7th
- 2017 All-Star berth
His future probably holds a 2017 Rookie of the Year, and just might hold a 2017 MVP award.
Per the Dodgers press release to the media:
Among qualified NL rookie sluggers with at least 20 at-bats, Bellinger finished the month first in runs scored, hits (30), doubles, home runs, RBI, stolen bases and slugging percentage. In addition, his 13 home runs matched Jimmie Hall (August 1963) for the third-most homers by a rookie in a single month in MLB history. On June 19th against the New York Mets at Dodger Stadium, Bellinger went 3-for-5 with a pair of home runs and four RBI. The multi-homer effort was his fifth of the 2017 season and propelled him to becoming the fastest player in MLB history to reach 21 round-trippers (51 career games). Additionally, the Scottsdale, Arizona native surpassed Adrian Beltre (20 HR, 2000) to log the most home runs as a Dodger in a season at age 21-or-younger. The following night, the dynamic slugger connected for his 22nd home run of the season in a game that saw Los Angeles record a season-high-tying five homers. With the prolific output, the Dodgers had blasted 27 home runs in its previous 10 games, establishing a new franchise record for homers over any 10-game span. For Bellinger, it was his 10th home run over his last 10 games (June 10th-20th), and he became just the second player in team history to log 10 homers in 10 contests, joining Shawn Green (May 2002). In addition, Bellinger became the first rookie in Major League history to accomplish the feat, and was the first big league player to do so since Troy Tulowitzki (September 8-18, 2010). Bellinger finished his historic month with a final multi-homer game on June 25th against the Colorado Rockies, establishing a club record for the most multi-home run games (6) in a rookie season. Not even halfway through the season, Bellinger trails only Mark McGwire (7) for the most multi-homer games as a rookie in MLB history. The overall single-season mark of 11 multi-homer games is held by Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg (1938) and Sammy Sosa (1998).
Keibert Ruiz is my Prospect of the Month
As spring has turned to summer the 18-year-old Ruiz has gotten as hot as the weather. Ruiz ended June with a triple stat line of .339 / .435 / .492 which according to my meager math gives him an OPS of .926. Using the table below you can see his progression.
| Month | AB | BA | OBP | Slug% | OPS |
| April | 59 | 0.237 | 0.297 | 0.271 | 0.568 |
| May | 83 | 0.337 | 0.367 | 0.458 | 0.824 |
| June | 59 | 0.339 | 0.435 | 0.492 | 0.926 |
Even though May and June had just about the same batting average, the on-base percentage jumped significantly in June, due to the growing patience of Ruiz. In April/May combined Ruiz struck out 23 times with only seven walks. In June, he improved to ten walks with only four strikeouts.
This from an 18-year-old in an advanced pitchers league. You don’t usually see that kind of improvement.
So what we have here is an 18-year-old switch-hitting catcher, showing improvement across the board as the season is wearing on. His defensive prowess was supposed to be his calling card but someone forgot to tell his bat.
All this is why Keibert Ruiz my Dodger prospect of the month for June. Alex Verdugo had a higher OPS in June at 1.036 and he was a close second. A very close second. At just 21 years old in AAA, Verdugo is showing the Dodgers he’s ready for a possible 2017 major league debut. I can’t wait to see his arm. I guess they aren’t running on him as much as word gets around. With 24 assists in 2015, 13 in 2016 and 7 so far in 2017 that is a boatload of assists.
Didn’t we tell you not to run on Alex Verdugo? This throw got a runner out at home and was named Play of the Game presented by @FollowSNU! pic.twitter.com/JLxLZnogCj
— OKC Dodgers (@okc_dodgers) June 26, 2017
One final note. MLB has Vlad Guerrero Junior as the 26th best prospect in baseball. Rotowire has him 3rd. Baseball America has him 16th. Guerrero and Ruiz are both 18, both play in the same league. Overall Guerrero is outhitting Ruiz by a significant margin, but in June, it was Ruiz who had the upper hand by a significant margin.
There are only five other 18-year-old position players in the MWL who have enough plate appearances to appear in offensive leaderboards. Ruiz is 3rd in OPS but 2nd in OBP among that group. He’s just a tad behind Tatis Junior for 2nd in OPS.
LAD FFA June 26th-July 2nd
Multiple contenders this week as the Dodger prospects kept on their hitting shoes. A new name emerged, my top position prospect continued to surge, the top pitching prospect showed why he’s at the top, and the second three-homer game in two weeks took place.
First off, a few moves took place this past week. Earlier in the week Jose Miguel Fernandez was promoted to AAA and started to play 2nd base making me wonder if Willie Calhoun was being phased out to left field. By the end of the week, Jose Miguel Fernandez was back at AA, and Willie was back at 2nd base. The other interesting move was that Drew Jackson was reinstated from the minor league disabled list and re-installed as the starting shortstop at Rancho Cucamonga. To make room for Drew Jackson the Dodgers promoted the fleet-footed Errol Robinson to AA Tulsa where he started at SS for them. Robinson has now been promoted from the Loons to Rancho to Tulsa in less than a month. I would have expected the older Drew Jackson to get the nod instead of the younger Robinson but I guess this shows us where Drew Jackson is on the Dodgers shortstop depth chart. I don’t think either is a legitimate prospect but Errol Robinson is becoming intriguing.
The Contenders:
DJ Peters – A+ – Rancho – DJ Peters slugged three home runs on Sunday to cap off a solid week of slugging. The 21-year-old from our local Glendora foothills Northeast of Los Angeles is making a case for playing in front of his family someday. Peters went nine for twenty-three for the week. Included in his three-homer game was a grand slam. Peters now leads the California League in home runs passing his teammate Ibande Isabel. His .902 OPS is second in the league to the Rockies top position prospect Brendan Rogers. Peters strikes out a lot but at least takes the walk to go with his power.
Keibert Ruiz – A – Loons – Ruiz continues to rake, going ten for twenty-two, with three walks. Included in that weekly total was his first professional grand slam. The 18-year-old ended June with a .925 OPS for the month and is already five for eight in July.
Cristian Santana – A – Loons – Santana started out the week playing in the short-season rookie league in Ogden but ended the week with the Great Lake Loons in the full-season Midwest League. I noted earlier in the week how Santana was making a mockery of the pitching at the rookie league level and the Dodgers agreed, promoting him the next day. For the week, Santana went eleven for twenty-three with two home runs. Santana is only 20-years-old so he’s not old for the Loons. He played two games at 2nd base while in Ogden but has played only 3rd for the Loons. The Loons have a glut of 2nd/SS/3rd with Lux/Davis/Oneil and now Santana. It would appear that of the four, Santana is the only one who won’t get any burn at shortstop, as the other three continue to take turns playing shortstop.
Walker Buehler – AA – Tulsa – Walker is by now the Dodgers top pitching prospect and for the last few weeks has pitched like it. On June 30th, Walker got sixteen outs, pitching into the sixth inning for the first time in his professional career. Walker gave up only two hits, zero runs, one walk, and seven strikeouts. He is on a nice role and appears on track for a possible Sept 2017 debut.
And the winner is………………
Cristian Santana, can’t ignore the hitting machine that he was last week.
Also the ugh game of the week belongs to Dennis Santana. I’ve been touting him all year as a someone to keep an eye on, but last week he let me down with a horrific effort, giving up seven earned runs while getting only five outs.
Dodgers, Yesterday and Today 