May 22nd – Font Farm Factory Award winner
There were a lot of great performances by LAD prospects in the past week but the award has to belong to Wilmer Font. He’s not even really a prospect but when you put up a game like he put up on Monday he has to be on someone’s radar. I don’t care what kind of league you are in but when you strike out fifteen of your twenty one outs you are dealing. However Font wasn’t done dealing. On Sunday Night, The Font continued his dominant ways with another stellar effort, striking out another ten of his fifteen outs. For the week, Font struck out twenty-five hitters out of thirty-six outs. In his last five games Font has done the following:
| DATE | OPP | W | IP | H | ER | BB | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 04/28/2017 | @OMA | 1 | 5.2 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 7 |
| 05/03/2017 | COS | 0 | 5.0 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 9 |
| 05/09/2017 | @RR | 0 | 5.1 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
| 05/15/2017 | SAC | 1 | 7.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 15 |
| 05/21/2017 | @ELP | 0 | 5.0 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 10 |
| TOTALS | 2 | 28 | 20 | 10 | 4 | 47 |
Another notable efforts this week:
The man who some say will never play 2nd base base in the major leagues, Willie Calhoun hit four home runs, including three games in a row with a home run. Currently sitting with a plus .900 OPS for the season and a plus 1.000 OPS in May.\
19-year-old Dustin May hurled his best professional game for the Loons on Saturday Night. May struck out nine of his fifteen outs, giving up only two hits, one run, one walk.
2017 first round pick Gavin Lux came to life this week collecting ten hits and moved his up around 100 points to .643.
Kyle Farmer collected eight hits in just twenty at-bats to move his average upto .342, and is hitting .513 over his last ten games. Now sporting a robust .891 OPS overall, and .990 in May
Jose Fernandez had three multi hit games and moved his average upto .400 over his last ten games.
Bellinger climbing up LAD May Leaderboards
With 2/3 of May in the books, Cody Bellinger is already in the top ten in LAD May leaderboards for home runs and RBI.
At this moment headed into the May 21st game, Bellinger has 22 RBI and 7 home runs in May.
His 7 home runs would put him tied for 4th in LAD history with home runs in May. With 10 being the most, he has a good shot at being the all time LAD May home run hitter. Amazing
Player Split Year PA HR OPS Raul Mondesi May 1998 123 10 .946 Raul Mondesi May 1999 117 10 1.034 Shawn Green May 2002 120 10 1.127 Todd Hundley May 2000 79 9 1.139 Ron Cey May 1981 119 9 .997 Pedro Guerrero May 1987 108 9 1.127 Eric Karros May 2000 113 8 1.021 Yasiel Puig May 2014 128 8 1.224 Kal Daniels May 1990 98 8 .968 Pedro Guerrero May 1981 103 7 1.038 Willie Davis May 1961 117 7 .925 Cody Bellinger May 2017 76 7 1.079 Jim Wynn May 1974 108 7 1.197 Steve Garvey May 1980 106 7 .855 Matt Kemp May 2011 113 7 .822 Mike Marshall May 1986 103 7 .972
You get used to thinking Puig only mashed in 2013 but his May 2014 was also what got everyone excited. Three years now.
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Generated 5/21/2017.
His 22 RBI would put him tied for 7th in LAD with RBI in May. With 28 being the high, he has a good shot at being the all time LAD MAY RBI leader. Amazing
Player Split Year RBI PA R sOPS+ Eric Karros May 2000 28 113 16 151 Nomar Garciaparra May 2006 28 122 25 174 Wes Parker May 1970 27 132 19 144 Joe Ferguson May 1973 27 125 21 154 Raul Mondesi May 1998 27 123 17 143 Raul Mondesi May 1999 27 117 21 157 Steve Garvey May 1974 26 127 20 160 Tommy Davis May 1962 25 125 25 151 Yasiel Puig May 2014 25 128 20 240 Willie Davis May 1970 24 123 21 146 Billy Grabarkewitz May 1970 24 117 20 186 Reggie Smith May 1978 24 116 18 193 Steve Garvey May 1979 24 122 16 134 Pedro Guerrero May 1982 24 120 15 181 Mike Piazza May 1994 24 106 18 170 Shawn Green May 2000 24 118 25 194 Pedro Guerrero May 1981 23 103 16 192 Kal Daniels May 1990 23 98 15 164 Todd Hundley May 2000 23 79 15 178 Willie Davis May 1961 22 117 20 150 Ron Cey May 1973 22 125 20 208 Ron Cey May 1981 22 119 17 181 Steve Garvey May 1981 22 131 20 135 Pedro Guerrero May 1987 22 108 17 194 Eddie Murray May 1991 22 109 15 125 Tim Wallach May 1993 22 111 11 105 Shawn Green May 2002 22 120 21 200 James Loney May 2009 22 128 14 76 James Loney May 2010 22 111 16 108 Adrian Gonzalez May 2013 22 94 11 143 Cody Bellinger May 2017 22 76 18 180
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Generated 5/21/2017.
Twelve Dodgers are tied in 7th with 22 RBI. Suffice to say, Cody won’t be one of them come the morning of June 1st.
Urias might be making rotation question easier
With seven starting pitchers for five spots, Julio Urias might be making the tough front office decision easier. Other than one start, Urias simply hasn’t cut muster so far this season. Critics of this statement can point to his three starts where he has given up fewer than one run three times in five starts. I prefer to look at the command/control/dominance. Urias has now walked fourteen hitters in only twenty three innings, with just eleven strikeouts. This is not the arm we saw last summer and if he needs some time in AAA to get his command together, now would be a good time to make it happen while the Dodgers have an abundance of starting options.
I’m a huge Urias fan, it is because of Urias I started writing again last May, but I’m not sure he needs to struggle at the major league level right now when the Dodgers have other options.
Date Rslt IP H ER BB SO
Apr27 W5-1 5.2 4 1 4 4
May3 L1-4 5.0 4 0 4 1
May9 W4-3 6.1 1 1 2 5
May14 L6-9 4.0 7 6 1 1
May20 L6-10 2.1 7 6 3 0
2-3 23.1 23 14 14 11
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/21/2017.
[Update at 11:54 AM]
DODGERS RECALL JOSH RAVIN – The Los Angeles Dodgers today recalled right-handed pitcher Josh Ravin from Triple-A Oklahoma City and optioned left-handed pitcher Julio Urías to Triple-A OKC.
Ravin, 29, will make his first stint with the big league club this year after going 1-0 with a 1.80 ERA (1 ER/5.0 IP) in four games with the OKC Dodgers. He has struck out 11 batters against only two walks in 5.0 innings with Oklahoma City and has held batters to a .167 average (3-for-18). Ravin, who started the season on the disabled list with a right groin strain, appeared in 10 games for the Dodgers last year allowing just one run in 9.2 innings (0.93 ERA) and limited batters to a .065 average (2-for-31), while striking out 13 against four walks. The West Hills native is in his third season with Los Angeles, going 2-1 with a 3.79 ERA (8 ER/19.0 IP) in 19 career games, while punching out 25 batters in 19.0 innings.
Urías, 20, pitched last night against the Marlins allowing a career-high seven runs (six earned) on seven hits in 2.1 innings, his shortest outing as a starter, as he took his second loss of the season in the Dodgers’ 10-6 defeat. In five starts this season, Urías has gone 0-2 with a 5.40 ERA (14 ER/23.1 IP) and has struck out 11 batters against 14 walks.
Dodgers enjoying home cooking
With eight games left on this ten game home trip the Dodgers boast the best winning percentage at home in baseball which is keeping them in the NL West race.
MLB Best winning pct. at home, NL – 2017
Los Angeles Dodgers 15-6 .714
Arizona Diamondbacks 18-8 .692
Washington Nationals 12-7 .632
Even with that great record they are still chasing the Rockies by two games.
Much has been made of the inconsistent Puig, but one thing Puig has been consistent with this year is his love of Dodger Stadium. With his seven home runs at home only Bellinger at four keeps him from doubling up his other teammates.
Home Splits in 2017 as of May 19th, 2017:
Player HR PA R H 2B 3B RBI BB OBP SLG OPS Chris Taylor 3 38 8 12 4 0 9 7 .500 .806 1.306 Justin Turner 1 74 8 25 8 0 11 5 .473 .571 1.044 Yasiel Puig 7 81 15 20 2 0 19 10 .370 .623 .994 Cody Bellinger 4 47 11 12 1 1 11 4 .340 .628 .968 Yasmani Grandal 3 68 7 20 3 0 11 5 .368 .516 .884 Andrew Toles 3 59 13 18 2 0 7 2 .356 .518 .874 Logan Forsythe 0 30 4 8 1 0 2 3 .467 .391 .858 Enrique Hernandez 1 44 6 9 6 1 7 5 .326 .526 .852 Corey Seager 1 89 16 20 6 0 8 14 .393 .397 .791 Chase Utley 0 38 4 8 3 0 4 5 .351 .355 .706 Scott Van Slyke 1 15 3 1 0 0 1 4 .333 .364 .697 Franklin Gutierrez 1 13 2 3 0 0 2 0 .231 .462 .692 Adrian Gonzalez 0 67 3 17 2 0 6 6 .343 .311 .655 Austin Barnes 1 26 6 3 1 0 3 5 .308 .333 .641 Joc Pederson 1 50 6 8 2 0 8 5 .280 .302 .582 Clayton Kershaw 0 12 3 2 0 0 1 1 .300 .222 .522
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Generated 5/20/2017.
Today would be a good day for Adrián González to hit his first home run at the ravine this year.
Dodger bench providing relief
When the season started Chris Taylor found himself in AAA. As did Cody Bellinger, Brett Eibner, Rob Segedin, and Trayce Thompson.
Enrique Hernández, Chase Utley, Franklin Gutierrez, Scott Van Slyke, and Austin Barnes were the bench.
As the team makes a move in May even with all the injuries, Chris Taylor/Chase Utley have been the starting 2nd baseman. Cody Bellinger has been the starting LF or 1st baseman. Enrique Hernández has now played everywhere but catcher and second base. Austin Barnes is making it easy for Grandal to get regular rest. Franklin Gutierrez is doing what was expected, hit left handed pitching when he’s not on the DL.
Brett Eibner is going to ride the Oklahoma train a few times this summer but when he has gotten the call he has provided the power we heard about.
The only disappointments so far from the bench belonged to Scott Van Slyke and Trayce Thompson which is why they are now in AAA.
Rob Segedin barely got dressed as a Dodger before getting hurt. Bad timing for Rob as multiple players in front of him who play his position have gotten hurt but he has been unable to capitalize on what could have been some nice playing time because of his own injury. First it was a 1st baseman in Adrian who hit the DL. Followed by the LF Toles who hit the DL. Finally a 3rd baseman Justin Turner went down. Those were the three positions that Segedin can play. Timing
Let’s try this exercise. Adrian is back. Logan will be back next week. Let’s say Justin Turner is back in two to three weeks.
How will the roster look at that point:
1st – Adrian
2nd – Logan Forsythe
SS – Cory Seager
3rd – Justin Turner
C – Grandal / Barnes
RF – Puig
CF – Joc Pederson
LF – Cody Bellinger
Bench – Chase Utley, Hernández, Taylor, Gutierrez
Leaving Eibner, SVS, Thompson, Segedin in AAA
Does that sound about right?
Pos Name PA R 2B 3B HR RBI BB BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ 2B Chris Taylor 93 16 5 0 5 16 15 .346 .452 .603 1.054 181 UT Cody Bellinger* 96 19 5 1 8 23 10 .291 .365 .651 1.016 166 UT Enrique Hernandez 87 12 11 1 2 12 9 .237 .314 .487 .801 112 IF Chase Utley* 87 10 3 2 0 8 11 .216 .314 .311 .625 70 C Austin Barnes 56 11 6 1 1 6 8 .250 .357 .479 .836 123 UT Scott Van Slyke (40-man) 47 6 1 0 2 3 6 .122 .234 .293 .527 41 LF Franklin Gutierrez 36 6 3 0 1 3 3 .273 .333 .455 .788 110 OF Brett Eibner 15 3 0 0 2 4 1 .308 .400 .769 1.169 205 OF Trayce Thompson (40-man) 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 -100 1B Rob Segedin (10-day dl) 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 .250 .250 .250 .500 36
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Generated 5/20/2017.
OTDIB – May 19th – Frank Howard is finally stopped
May 19th, 1968 – Hondo finally goes homerless after hitting ten in six games.
At Tiger stadium, Earl Wilson stops Senator Frank Howard’s home run streak. The ‘Capital Punisher’ had established the major league mark by hitting ten home runs in the previous six games.
Hondo would go onto hit 44 home runs and lead the major leagues for the first of two times.
May 19th, 1984 – Eric Davis makes debut wearing a numberless jersey
Joining the club in St. Louis, Eric Davis makes his major league debut, grounding out to short as a pinch-hitter in the fifth inning of the Reds’ 9-1 loss to the Redbirds. The 22 year-old rookie is forced to wear a numberless jersey when Cincinnati forgets to pack an extra road uniform.
I’ve said before, that Eric Davis was the most athletic major league baseball player I ever saw, and that includes Bo Jackson. Not the best, just the most athletic.
Dodger depth keeps getting tested
The Dodger mantra the last two years has been the depth of the forty man roster. The Dodgers tested that depth to the extreme last year related to the rotation when fifteen different pitchers toed the mound to make a start for the Dodgers.
In 2017 it is the position players getting tested. It all started innocently enough when Andre Ethier hurt his back and probably ended his esteemed LAD career. With each passing week however a new name gets added and while the Dodgers have had plenty of fingers to put in the dikes you do start to wonder at what point does the team run out of dike fillers from within the organization.
Logan Forsythe breaks toe, but is capably replaced by the two headed monster of Chase Utley and Chris Taylor. Chase picked a good time to go on a tear after appearing to be ready for moth balls. Chris Taylor has simply been outstanding in every aspect.
Joc Pederson hits the DL and the Dodgers bring up the wonderkid Cody Bellinger who moves to LF with Toles going to center. Toles takes his anemic exit velocity and proceeds to go on his own hitting tear that goes largely unnoticed because Cody Bellinger was busy winning player of the week in his first week of major league action.
Adrian Gonzalez finally succumbs to his nagging injury and hits the DL for the first time in his career. No problem because the wonder kid Cody Bellinger moves to 1st base.
Joc Pederson comes off the DL but Andrew Toles tears his knee hitting the wall trying to save a no hitter that had no chance of ever being completed. At the time I didn’t think it would hurt that much in the long term because Bellinger could take LF when Adrian returned.
While waiting for Adrian to return, Chase Utley takes over 1st base, moving Bellinger to LF and the two are very productive in that role.
Adrian returns for one game only to have Justin Turner hit the DL when he pulls his hammy trying to score.
In the short term, the Dodgers have Chase to play 2nd while mixing Hernandez and Taylor at 3rd.
Luckily Logan Forsythe is due back next week where he’ll probably play 3rd base with Taylor and Chase continuing to man 2nd base.
For right now the Dodgers are okay, but they are certainly stretched and anymore injuries might make the front office go outside the organization for help but it really is a testament to the depth that they have suffered so many body blows and are still standing. Luckily most of the blows have been short term and it is very possible that Cody Bellinger was the best option for left field from the get go.
Isn’t it time we stop giving up on players?
For anyone who follows baseball the slump is part of the game. Players slump for many reasons but rarely does that slump mean the player is done. Sometimes it is true, but given how many times I’ve read that a player is done, it is rarely true. You can quote new stats but do they still mean anything about a slump? If a player has a low BABIP you can expect it to rise to his normal levels everything else being equal. If a player has a low exit velocity or is hitting to many pop ups that clearly explains that he’s in a slump but doesn’t mean he’ll continue to hit that way since the art of hitting a baseball is all about adjustments and hitters have been making these adjustments for over 100 years.
Sometimes a player does fall off a cliff (Carl Crawford) but in general it is a slow gradual spiral down the path toward retirement. The Adrian Gonzalez path. Adrian is no longer what he was, but Adrian is still going to be a productive hitter who will find that injuries aren’t as easy to play through the older he gets. Eventually Adrian will have to decide if being a mediocre hitter is good enough for him to continue to play in the major leagues, but that decision will come after his last paycheck from the Dodgers in 2018.
Last year at this time Dodger fans were ready to give up on Yazmani Grandal and trade for Jonathan LuCroy. Good thing that didn’t happen.
Last year at this time Dodgers fans were ready to give up on Justin Turner and wanted the front office to trade for Evan Longoria. Good thing that didn’t happen.
This winter Dodger fans wanted the team to get rid of Enrique Hernandez.
Last month Dodger fans wanted the team to cut Chase Utley. Good thing that didn’t happen.
If you cry wolf enough, sometimes you’ll be right but in general it might be a good idea to simply recognize a slump is a slump and baseball is baseball.
Right now Joc Pederson is in a slump. Taking walks doesn’t change the fact he isn’t hitting his way on base. Joc pretty much has one major offensive calling card and that is his power. Guys who are this young who have hit 51 home runs in two years don’t usually forget how to hit home runs. They will come, and they will probably come in big ass batches.
That doesn’t mean I’m not going to point out that Joc has only one home run since he hit his grand slam on opening day. That also doesn’t mean I’m giving up on Joc, I’m just pointing out statistics that are interesting to me. When I point out that a player is struggling don’t read into that, that I’m down on that player.
You’ll know when I’m down on a player.
And right now that only Dodger player might be Romo. I haven’t decided yet.
Keibert Ruiz sizzling in May
Last year at this time I’d never heard of Keibert Ruiz but by the end of the 2016 season he had become a hot prospect and quickly rose in the prospect ranking put out in the winter but didn’t crack any top ten lists.
I bet that changes this summer. The eighteen-year-old catcher is destroying his much older competition in the MidWest League. Ruiz got off to a slow start but is now hitting .472 in his last ten games. In May his TSL is .424 / .458 / 1.004 and overall .320 / .366 / .754.
Keibert struggled in April but struggling Latins in the cold April of the Midwest League is not an uncommon phenomenon. I can still remember the struggles that Carlos Santana had in the early months of the Midwest League. Santana heated up in July that year and never stopped hitting.
No one will confuse Keibert with Carlos even though they were both switch hitting catchers for Great Lakes. Carlos had two calling cards, patience and power but was just learning how to catch (and never quite did). At this time Ruiz has little patience and little power so far, but his receiving skills are already considered top notch. As far as offense goes, Ruiz is only eighteen and does not turn nineteen until July. He is truly a kid playing with men and the fact he kicking the ass of these men in May is something we need to take notice of.
There are six eighteen year old hitters in the MidWest league who qualify for the leader-boards based on plate appearances per game. Two are sons of former major league players, Vlad Junior and Tatis Junior. Vlad is on his own pedestal but he’s a slugging outfielder. Ruiz is a catcher and his calling card was supposed to be his defense with soft hands.
Dennis Schlossman of Thinkbluepc.com took at look at Ruiz back in March:
According to FanGraphs, Ruiz’s catching mechanics are near perfect, and some scouts believe that he has the ability to competently handle duties behind the dish at the major league level right now. Dodgers’ management has been impressed with Ruiz to the point that they allowed him to dress for an official Cactus League contest against the Rangers last Thursday.
Here is a MLB prospect video of Ruiz
Recommended restaurants in Los Angeles
By readers of the NY Times. Any other suggestions? We are going to try one restaurant per month.
République serves French-inspired dishes in a dramatic 1920s building.
10e Restaurant, 811 West Seventh Street
Alimento, 1710 Silver Lake Boulevard
Bestia, 2121 East Seventh Place
Osteria Mozza, 6602 Melrose Avenue
Sqirl, 720 North Virgil Avenue
Hatchet Hall, 12517 West Washington Boulevard
Manuela, 907 East Third Street
Musso and Frank Grill, 6667 Hollywood Boulevard
Tsujita LA Artisan Noodle, 2057 Sawtelle Boulevard
Jon & Vinny’s, 412 North Fairfax Avenue
Shibumi, 815 South Hill Street
Guisados, multiple locations
Rustic Canyon, 1119 Wilshire Boulevard
Lucques, 8474 Melrose Avenue
Cafe Gratitude, multiple locations
Petit Trois, 718 North Highland Avenue
Dodgers, Yesterday and Today 