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
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
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
Highest TB games at Dodger Stadium against Marlins
Strangely enough there have not been many great offensive games by a Dodger against the Marlins at Dodger Stadium. Gary Sheffield leads the pack with ten, everyone else is tied with eight.
Player Date Opp Rslt PA R H 2B 3B HR TB RBI BB Gary Sheffield 2000-04-29 FLA W 13-12 6 2 3 1 0 2 10 5 2 Andre Ethier 2015-05-12 MIA W 11-1 5 1 5 0 0 1 8 3 0 Andre Ethier 2012-08-25 MIA W 8-2 4 2 4 1 0 1 8 1 0 Steve Finley 2004-08-17 FLA W 6-1 4 2 3 2 0 1 8 2 0 Shawn Green 2000-04-30 FLA W 7-1 4 2 2 0 0 2 8 3 1 Todd Hundley 1999-08-18 FLA W 7-0 4 2 2 0 0 2 8 2 0 Henry Rodriguez 1994-04-06 FLA W 3-2 3 2 2 0 0 2 8 3 0
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/18/2017.
Interesting list, not surprising to see Gary Sheffield at the top. Andre makes sense. Steve Finley only had a few months to crack the list and he did. Might be his best game ever as a Dodger if not for that Grand Slam when they only needed a sacrifice fly game.
I like this one curious bit. Gary Sheffield did his game on April 29th, 2000. Shawn Green did his game on April 30th, 2000.
Henry Rodriguez gets in on the action. This will be the first time after 700 posts at Dodgers Yesterday and Today that Henry Rodriquez gets a mention.
Given the current state of the Marlin rotation I could see a 2017 Dodger cracking this leaderboard over this four game series.
Highest Game Score/Strike Out games at Dodger Stadium versus Marlins
Highest game scores at Dodger stadium facing the Miami Marlins
Player Date Opp Rslt IP H ER BB SO GSc Ramon Martinez 1995-07-14 FLA W 7-0 9.0 0 0 1 8 94 Clayton Kershaw 2011-05-29 FLA W 8-0 9.0 2 0 1 10 92 Hideo Nomo 1996-04-13 FLA W 3-1 9.0 3 1 3 17 91 Hideo Nomo 1995-07-15 FLA W 3-1 9.0 3 1 0 10 87 Kevin Brown 2001-05-07 FLA W 1-0 8.0 2 0 2 10 86 Pedro Astacio 1993-09-12 FLA W 1-0 9.0 5 0 2 7 82
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/18/2017.
Oh look, a no – hitter by Ramon. Which game would you have rather watched? Ramon Martinez no hit the Marlins but win going away 7 – 0, or Hideo Nomo win a tough 3 – 1 game while striking out 17? Tough call.
The more I do these game score leaderboards the more I realize how much I didn’t appreciate how brilliant Hideo Nomo was during his run.
Highest Strike Out games at Dodger Stadium against Miami Marlins
Player Date Opp Rslt IP H ER BB SO GSc Hideo Nomo 1996-04-13 FLA W 3-1 9.0 3 1 3 17 91 Chad Billingsley 2008-07-13 FLA W 9-1 7.0 5 1 0 13 76 Clayton Kershaw 2016-04-26 MIA L 3-6 7.0 7 5 0 10 53 Clayton Kershaw 2011-05-29 FLA W 8-0 9.0 2 0 1 10 92 Kevin Brown 2001-05-07 FLA W 1-0 8.0 2 0 2 10 86 Hideo Nomo 1995-07-15 FLA W 3-1 9.0 3 1 0 10 87 Ramon Martinez 1994-04-07 FLA L 0-1 8.0 6 1 1 10 75
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/18/2017.
Can Alex Wood crack this leaderboard? He cracked the last one we did. Chad Billingsley sitting above Clayton might be a surprise. This was Chad’s highest strike out total in any game. He did it twice, once against the Marlins and once against the Diamondbacks. Nine times Chad had double digit strike out games.
Buehler blows Cardinals off perch
Walker Buehler may not find any competition for his pitching repertoire until he hits the major leagues. Walker struck out nine of his eleven outs yesterday in AAA and there is already talk that the talented Buehler could be used in the Dodger bullpen come Sept. He clearly won’t be stretched out enough to be a major league starter in 2017 but if he can bring his 100 MPH heat to the bullpen he might give the Dodgers a shot in the arm right when they need it.
Walker Buehler, rhp, Dodgers. The Dodgers have been careful with Buehler, maxing his pitch count at around 65. However many pitches he has, Buehler is using them to great effect. Like Ivan Drago, every batter Buehler faces, he destroys. In just 3.2 innings Wednesday for Double-A Tulsa, the former Vanderbilt ace struck out nine, touching 100 mph according to the Drillers’ Twitter account. Buehler has struck out 39 of the 95 batters he’s faced and opponents are hitting just .195 against him.
Justin Masterson continues to make his case to pitch once again in the major leagues. Masterson went six innings gave up just two runs, walked none, and struck out seven.
Josh Ravin who looked so impressive last Sept in the Dodger bullpen was fantastic last night. Ravin struck out five of the six hitters he faced. Ravin came off the DL on May 1st, and has appeared only six times but in those six games he has struck out fifteen hitters out of his twenty one outs with only two walks.
Dennis Santana bounced back from his first rough outing in Rancho on May 12 to pitch a solid game last night. Santana went five innings, gave up zero earned runs, walked two and struck out five.
OTDIB – May 17th, 1978 – Lee Lacy homers in 3rd consecutive pinch hitting at-bat
May 17th, 2005 Ervin Santana is cycled in major league debut
With the first 10 pitches he throws in the major leagues, 22 year-old Ervin Santana allows a collective cycle to the first four Indian batters he faces: a triple by Grady Sizemore, a double by Coco Crisp, a single by Travis Hafner, followed by a home run blasted by Ben Broussard. The Angels’ prized rookie right-hander will redeem himself by recording a five-hit shutout in his second major league start, beating the White Sox, 4-0.
I love the cycle much more than the no-hitter. This is a crazy kind of cycle. Can you imagine making your debut and having four hitters do the cycle against you in your first ten major league pitches? Santana is having a nice resurgance this year for the Twins.
May 17th, 1984 – Wiggins was an ex-Dodger farm hand who once stole 120 bases for Lodi in 1980
Padres second baseman Alan Wiggins ties a National League record by stealing five bases in one game in the team’s 5-4 victory over Montreal at Jack Murphy Stadium. Dan McGann (1904), Davey Lopes (1974), and Lonnie Smith (1982) also accomplished the feat in the Senior Circuit.
May 17th, 1978 – hey hey, one of my all time favorites. Maybe this is why:)
Pinch hitting for Davey Lopes in the Los Angeles 10-1 rout of the Pirates, Lee Lacy goes deep in the bottom of the eighth inning off Will McEnaney at Dodger Stadium. The utility player becomes the first player in major league history to homer in three consecutive at bats as a pinch hitter.
Kind of crazy power for a guy who didn’t hit a home run in his first three years in the major leagues.
Dodgers, Yesterday and Today 