LAD Minor league roundup week ending 4/30/17
Weekly Farm Factory award goes to………..Edwin Rios who hit in every game last week, including going 5 for 5 on Monday. Rios ended up the week with thirteen hits, four doubles, and only struck out five times. Rios now leads the Texas League with eight doubles. His TSL can be found in the monthly breakdown where he was the best 3rd baseman in the system for April.
Baseball Prospectus weighs on Yadier Alvarez:
Yadier Alvarez, RHP, Los Angeles Dodgers (High-A Rancho Cucamonga): 4 IP, 2 H, BB, 7 K
I was at this game, and Alvarez was straight-up dealing. For the second consecutive start he worked 96-98 with ease, and this time he commanded the fastball much more consistently. His off-speed stuff all blends together, with cut changeups, and sliders, and hard curveballs – all of which feature some primary manner of downer action and wear velocity readings that start with eight. He’ll add, subtract, and manipulate movement at will, and nobody came close to squaring him up in this one. He remains on a 60-pitch limit for the time being, and perhaps most importantly, this start marker a really nice step forward in him moving through a lineup for a second time. It remains relatively early in his development, but this is one of the premier pitching prospects in minor league basebal
AJ Alexy put up another gem for the Loons. Alexy struck out seven of his 10 outs, giving up only one hit. Alexy has not walked anyone since his first start and now has 19/1 KK/BB.
Dennis Santana is doing great work for Rancho. The just turned 21-year-old is getting deeper into his games then the terrific trio of Buehler/Alvarez/White. Last week Santana got 17 outs, gave up only four hits, zero runs, two walks, and eight punchouts. He is sporting a ridiculous 26 /3 KK/BB.
Yusniel Diaz:
Dodgers close out April with a sweep
The in an out of April ended with the Dodgers sweeping a three game set from the Phillies giving them a winning record for April at 14 – 12 and a nice four game winning streak to take into May.
The offense basically did it on the backs of Justin Turner and Corey Seager with alot of help from the bench. No other regular had an OPS over .800 besides the two mentioned. Joc Pederson and Adrian Gonzalez were particularly non-offensive. Grandal hit two home runs on opening day and drew eleven walks, and that was about the extent of his offensive contributions. Has to be noted that Gonzalez and Grandal made up the bulk of cleanup at-bats in April. Those cleanup combined for a .619 OPS and one home run.
Chase Utley and Scott Van Slyke were the two bench pieces that struggled mightily in April. I’d like to see Adrian sitting against LHP but if the only option is Scott Van Slyke the Dodgers might want to see if other options are available. Chris Taylor completely outplayed Chase Utley after he replaced Logan Forsythe on the roster but I’m sure he will be sent back down to AAA when Logan is activated later this week.
Cody Bellinger gave the team a shot in the arm after being recalled last week and even though Dave Roberts has said he’s headed back to AAA when Joc Pederson gets activated, I wonder if they won’t be re-thinking that strategy come Friday.
Using Fangraph metrics the Dodgers rank 3rd in wRC+ in the NL at 102. They are just one point off of the Brewers at 102. The Nationals are crushing the NL in offense at 128. Thanks to the recent power surge over the weekend the Dodgers ended with 28 home runs for the month good for 9th in the league. They were probably 13th before Bellinger joined the team.
Rk Pos Name PA 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO OPS
1 3B Justin Turner 99 11 0 1 12 5 9 1.026
2 SS Corey Seager* 107 6 0 5 17 15 21 .961
3 LF Cody Bellinger* 24 0 0 2 2 3 5 .946
4 IF Chris Taylor 29 2 0 2 5 2 9 .937
5 UT Enrique Hernandez 52 6 1 2 7 4 7 .820
6 C Austin Barnes 29 2 1 1 2 3 8 .810
7 RF Yasiel Puig 104 3 0 5 13 13 18 .765
8 LF Andrew Toles* 76 1 0 5 13 4 12 .754
9 IF Logan Forsythe (10-day dl) 54 2 0 0 3 6 16 .748
10 C Yasmani Grandal# 84 4 0 3 7 11 19 .734
12 LF Franklin Gutierrez (10-day dl) 14 2 0 0 0 1 4 .670
13 CF Joc Pederson* (10-day dl) 59 3 0 1 7 7 18 .662
14 1B Adrian Gonzalez* 96 5 0 0 10 10 14 .654
15 UT Scott Van Slyke 36 1 0 1 2 5 12 .508
16 1B Rob Segedin (10-day dl) 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 .500
19 OF Brett Eibner (40-man) 5 0 0 0 0 0 3 .400
20 2B Chase Utley* 46 1 0 0 1 5 6 .364
22 OF Trayce Thompson (40-man) 8 0 0 0 0 0 3 .000
Rank in 15 NL teams 5 15 8 2 9 7
Non-Pitcher Totals 926 49 2 28 101 94 186 .767
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/1/2017.
Early on the starting pitching relied on Clayton Kershaw and Brandon McCarthy but as the month was coming to an end everyone in the rotation was pitching in. Ryu/Kenta/Wood all made quality starts and with the addition of Urias the rotation has more depth than the Golden State Warriors. Rich Hill took his blister to the DL twice but no one noticed he was missing. How they manage this in May in going to be an interesting story. Will arms start to fail making the decisions easy? or will some very competent arms be sent to the bullpen?
For one of the few times in his career, Kenley Jansen had a great April. Ross Stripling and Chris Hatcher led the bullpen in innings. Josh Fields who is already back in AAA probably had the best April of the bunch.
Name IP ERA+ FIP WHIP H9 HR9 BB9 SO9 SO/W Clayton Kershaw* 35.1 176 2.54 0.792 6.4 1.0 0.8 9.9 13.00 Brandon McCarthy 29.0 130 3.57 1.207 8.1 0.9 2.8 7.8 2.78 Hyun-Jin Ryu* 26.2 100 4.90 1.313 9.1 2.0 2.7 9.8 3.63 Kenta Maeda 26.0 62 5.14 1.346 10.0 2.4 2.1 9.3 4.50 Alex Wood* 19.2 178 2.97 0.966 5.0 0.5 3.7 8.7 2.38 Ross Stripling 14.0 106 1.52 1.500 11.6 0.0 1.9 9.6 5.00 Chris Hatcher 13.2 104 3.61 1.317 9.2 1.3 2.6 9.9 3.75 Kenley Jansen 9.2 223 -0.50 0.828 7.4 0.0 0.0 15.8 Pedro Baez 9.1 430 4.52 0.964 1.9 1.0 6.8 9.6 1.43 Sergio Romo 8.1 43 4.94 2.040 10.8 1.1 7.6 9.7 1.29 Luis Avilan* 8.1 193 2.54 1.320 7.6 0.0 4.3 8.6 2.00 Rich Hill* (10-day dl) 8.0 124 6.40 1.500 7.9 2.3 5.6 7.9 1.40 Grant Dayton* 8.0 186 4.27 0.875 4.5 1.1 3.4 6.8 2.00 Josh Fields (40-man) 7.0 327 0.02 1.000 7.7 0.0 1.3 15.4 12.00 Julio Urias* 5.2 268 3.73 1.412 6.4 0.0 6.4 6.4 1.00 Adam Liberatore* (40-man) 0.1 32 12.02 6.000 27.0 0.0 27.0 0.0 0.00 Team Totals 229.0 117 3.48 1.188 7.8 1.1 2.9 9.5 3.32 Rank in 15 NL teams 6
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/1/2017.
All Justin Turner, all the time
The LAD April leaderboard is loaded with Justin Turner.
Hits:
Player Split Year H PA Rafael Furcal April/March 2008 43 130 Andre Ethier April/March 2011 41 121 Mike Piazza April/March 1996 40 118 Matt Kemp April/March 2011 39 121 Steve Garvey April/March 1975 37 108 Justin Turner April/March 2017 36 99 Matt Kemp April/March 2012 35 98 Cesar Izturis April/March 2005 34 109
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/30/2017.
Doubles:
Player Split Year 2B PA OPS Rafael Furcal April/March 2008 12 130 1.063 Justin Turner April/March 2017 11 99 1.026 Hanley Ramirez April/March 2014 11 110 .834 Cesar Izturis April/March 2002 10 107 .708 Shawn Green April/March 2003 10 127 .794 Andre Ethier April/March 2011 10 121 1.002
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/30/2017.
Batting Average:
Player Split Year BA PA H OPS Ron Cey April/March 1977 .425 94 31 1.433 Matt Kemp April/March 2012 .417 98 35 1.383 Paul Lo Duca April/March 2004 .416 85 32 .993 Justin Turner April/March 2017 .404 99 36 1.026 Reggie Smith April/March 1980 .387 87 29 1.037 Frank Howard April/March 1963 .384 83 28 1.061 Adrian Gonzalez April/March 2015 .383 88 31 1.222 Rafael Furcal April/March 2008 .381 130 43 1.063 Andre Ethier April/March 2011 .380 121 41 1.002
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/30/2017.
He cracks the top 20 in OPS which just goes to show the amazing April’s the LAD have had. I can still remember the crazy month that Ron Cey. Yutes should be able to remember Rafy Furcal in 2008 and the great starts that Matt Kemp got when he was at the top of his game. Matt Kemp is on the top 25 three times.
Player Split Year OPS PA HR RBI BB Ron Cey April/March 1977 1.433 94 9 29 20 Matt Kemp April/March 2012 1.383 98 12 25 13 Gary Sheffield April/March 2000 1.255 100 10 22 15 Adrian Gonzalez April/March 2015 1.222 88 8 19 7 Rick Monday April/March 1978 1.202 80 8 22 11 Tim Wallach April/March 1994 1.175 97 8 23 13 Manny Ramirez April/March 2009 1.154 98 5 15 20 Jeff Kent April/March 2005 1.100 105 6 18 17 Rafael Furcal April/March 2008 1.063 130 3 11 16 Pedro Guerrero April/March 1987 1.062 83 5 18 9 Frank Howard April/March 1963 1.061 83 4 14 8 Jim Wynn April/March 1975 1.059 80 4 16 15 Matt Kemp April/March 2011 1.059 121 6 19 15 Joe Ferguson April/March 1973 1.050 92 5 15 14 Reggie Smith April/March 1980 1.037 87 4 17 9 Justin Turner April/March 2017 1.026 99 1 12 5 Gary Sheffield April/March 2001 1.025 90 7 15 19 Pedro Guerrero April/March 1983 1.024 87 6 15 8 Mike Piazza April/March 1998 1.022 105 8 26 10 Adrian Gonzalez April/March 2014 1.021 114 8 24 11 Adrian Beltre April/March 2004 1.014 90 7 20 2 Andre Ethier April/March 2011 1.002 121 3 16 13 Andre Ethier April/March 2010 .999 86 6 19 10 Adrian Beltre April/March 1999 .993 93 1 13 13 Paul Lo Duca April/March 2004 .993 85 1 10 6 Matt Kemp April/March 2009 .990 92 3 16 10
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/30/2017.
April Farm Factory awards
For fun here are the LAD positional awards for the month of April:
Catcher – Will Smith is playing all over the field but is still mostly a catcher. He crushed it in April and is doing everything with the bat.
1st Base -it is always nice when the top prospect plays like a top prospect. Cody Bellinger hit his way to the Dodgers before April was up, but before the promotion, he was clearly the best 1st baseman and prospect in the system. Ibandel Isabel gets honorable mention.
2nd Base – This comes down to Willie Calhoun or Jose Miguel Fernandez. Willie hasn’t really lit it up yet, so I’m going with Jose.
Shortstop – Brendon Davis wins over Drew Jackson mainly because of age and the fact that Drew is repeating the Cal League. Drew has shown some nice power, but Brendon Davis gets the nod for April.
3rd – Edwin Rios wins this easily and is probably the prospect of the month.
Right Field – Carlos Rincon slugged his way to this one. Verdugo has been playing more RF and gets honorable mention but he needs to pick up his game if he wants to take May away from Rincon.
Center Field – DJ Peters got off to a slow start but has picked it up. I was surprised to see he has played more CF than Diaz or Verdugo.
Left Field – O’Koyea Dickson gets the nod but he had very little competition. Not really a prospect but he is still rookie eligible and he’s done nothing but hit for over a year now.
Left Handed Pitcher – Devin Smeltzer had a solid month, while the major league team is loaded with left-hand pitchers, the farm system is fairly barren of them.
Right Handed Pitcher – You would have thought that one of Walker Buehler / Alvarez / Mitchell White would be able to win this award but only Buehler put up a fight against the eventual winner AJ Alexy. The 19-year-od Alexy was brilliant albeit it was only thirteen innings. Honorable mention goes to Trevor Oaks.
| Position | Player | Avg | OBP | Slug% | OPS |
| Catcher | Will Smith | 0.319 | 0.435 | 0.609 | 1.044 |
| 1st | Cody Bellinger | 0.343 | 0.429 | 0.627 | 1.055 |
| 2nd | Jose Miguel Fernandez | 0.301 | 0.342 | 0.466 | 0.808 |
| SS | Brendon Davis | 0.303 | 0.418 | 0.487 | 0.904 |
| 3rd | Edwin Rios | 376 | 0.393 | 0.576 | 0.97 |
| RF | Carlos Rincon | 343 | 0.41 | 0.657 | 1.067 |
| CF | DJ Peters | 0.309 | 0.441 | 0.543 | 0.984 |
| LF | O’Koyea Dickson | 0.324 | 0.35 | 0.662 | 1.012 |
| IP | HitsAllowed | ER | KK/BB | ||
| LH Pitcher | Devin Smeltzer | 18 | 9 | 3 | 21/2 |
Andrew Toles joins LAD five-homer LF club for April
With Andrew Toles clubbing his fifth home run today he joined a select few LAD left fielders to have hit at least five home runs in the time period of March/April.
Player Split Year PA HR Andrew Toles April/March 2017 77 5 Gary Sheffield April/March 1999 102 5 Gary Sheffield April/March 2000 100 10 Gary Sheffield April/March 2001 90 7 Manny Ramirez April/March 2009 98 5 Wally Moon April/March 1961 70 8 Rick Monday April/March 1978 80 8 Mike Marshall April/March 1984 104 7 Pedro Guerrero April/March 1987 83 5
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/30/2017.
Bellinger and Beltre
Cody Bellinger joins Adrian Beltre as the only LAD 21-years or younger to have two home runs in the month of April. Of course, Beltre was a starter the whole month and got 102 plate appearances to hit his two home runs, Bellinger did it in 20.
Player Split Year HR PA OPS Adrian Beltre April/March 2000 2 102 .770 Cody Bellinger April/March 2017 2 20 1.047
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/30/2017.
Bellinger blasts off – The 3+Whoops Game
Sons of Steve Garvey put out my favorite tweet for this game. For those who remember the back to back to back to back game.
The 3+Whoops Game
— Sons of Steve Garvey (@sosgsosg) April 30, 2017
Games like Saturday Night are why we love baseball. Down 5 – 2, the only reason to stick around was to see the young kid get another at-bat. Who knows, maybe he’ll hit another home run. Doubtful but stranger things have happened at the Ravine.
It used to be that a Puig at-bat was the reason to stick around but he’s old news and hadn’t crushed a ball for a while. Puig changed the dynamic when he took a ball over the fence to cut the lead to 5 – 3. It was nice to see Puig put a charge into the ball but still down two runs to the Phillie closer only stirred the passion arrow a little. This all changed when Bellinger crushed his second home run of the game (and second of his career) off the foul pole, a majestic blast that stirred the crowd into a frenzy and moved the passion arrow deep into green territory. What had been 5 – 2 was now 5 – 4 with still no outs.
Justin Turner strode to the plate as a pinch-hitter with a fourteen game hitting streak. Pinch-hitting is normally death to a hitting streak but with a one-run deficit, Dave Roberts had to bring his best hitter into the game. I was hoping for a double, but instead, we got a game-tying April busting bomb deep into the left field pavilion, sending everyone into happy riot mode and the passion arrow was straining at the far right threatening to bust out. The homer by Turner blew up my narrative about being the first LAD to not hit a home run in April but still have an OPS north of .900.
Oh well, all narratives eventually have to die, and this narrative died heroically.
Neris looked rattled and threw the first pitch into the dirt but recovered to strike out Chris Taylor. Austin Barnes (playing 2nd base) fell behind 1 – 2 but squeezed a single past the shortstop. A lefty replaces Neris to face Toles/Seager/Adrian and gets Toles for the second out. Seager slams a line drive into left field but this brought up Adrian Gonzalez.
Gonzalez has been an empty shell of the egg and butter man that Dodger fans are used to watching. He has slumped all of April and it didn’t seem likely he could be the Dodger to end this game before extra-innings. With the count 1 – 2 Adrian grounded the ball to the left side, but it had enough spin that it hand cupped the 3rd baseman Franco and it bounced off his glove and better yet spun out of the reach of the SS thus allowing Barnes to scamper home with the running run. It was ruled a hit, it was not a hit, but it was the ground ball the Dodgers needed to reach their first three-game winning streak.
Must C Comeback: Dodgers’ bats come alive in the 9th https://t.co/CGsQ8gibC3 via @mlb
— Phil Gurnee (@meercatjohn) April 30, 2017
Brandon McCarthy started the great pitching streak and ended the pitching streak by getting knocked around for the first time this year. Brandon still managed to get fifteen outs while giving up four runs.
Game notes:
- Dodgers win three in a row for the first time in 2017
- Grant Dayton entered the game in the top of the 9th, got his three outs, and enjoyed a W for his effort.
- Bellinger hit his first major league home run, and Andrew Knapp followed that for the Phillies with his first major league home run. A great day for both of them.
- Andrew Toles led off with a home run, but is going to be hard pressed to keep Bellinger from taking his job.
- Justin Turner now has a 15 game hitting streak
Rotation has turned on a dime
With that seven-inning masterpiece by Kenta Maeda last night, the Dodger starting rotation starting with Brandon McCarthy has been brilliant over the past six games. In five of the six games, each starter has walked only one hitter with Urias having the only blemish. That helps if you want to get more than fifteen outs per start.
| Starter | Outs | Hits | ER | KK/BB |
| McCarthy | 21 | 5 | 2 | 6/1 |
| Ryu | 18 | 5 | 1 | 3/1 |
| Kershaw | 21 | 6 | 1 | 7/1 |
| Wood | 18 | 1 | 0 | 5/1 |
| Urias | 17 | 4 | 1 | 4/4 |
| Maeda | 21 | 5 | 2 | 8/1 |
With the Urias start that is still 33/9 KK/BB. Without the Urias start, it is 29/5. Dang
I’m not sure where Rich Hill figures into this rotation right now but I sure wouldn’t mess with what is working. Hill is scheduled for a rehab start next Thursday, which if all goes well could bring him back the week of May 8th. By that time who knows if Ryu/Wood/Kenta/McCarthy will have stayed hot or healthy.
Justin Turner will sit tonight and hopefully not waste a pinch-hit duty that would kill his hitting streak. I dig hitting streaks.
Grant Dayton is back. Yeah, I love Grant Dayton. Josh Fields had to go to make room for Dayton which is too bad. Fields was nails.
Competition Notes:
Shelby Miller will undergo TJ surgery. He suffered the injury while pitching against the Dodgers last week. The Diamondbacks could ill afford to lose a part of the rotation. For now Zack Godley will replace him in the rotation. Zach pitched well in his 2017 debut but has limited upside.
Brandon Crawford was reinstated off the bereavement list and immediately put on the 10 day DL.
Kenta Maeda looks to pull a Tanaka
To put it mildly, Kenta Maeda has been a huge disappointment so far in 2017.
Date Opp Rslt IP H ER BB SO HR Game Score Apr4 SDP L0-4 5.0 6 3 2 4 1 45 Apr9 COL W10-6 5.0 5 4 1 5 1 45 Apr15 ARI W8-4 4.0 4 4 1 5 1 42 Apr22 ARI L5-11 5.0 9 6 1 5 4 29 Apr 4 to Apr 22 2017 2-2 19.0 24 17 5 19 7 40
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/28/2017.
He may be pitching for his spot in the rotation. Looking for some hope I turned toward his countrymate, Masahiro Tanaka. Tanaka also started off April with a string of poor starts but as you can tell from the game logs below, Tanaka has gotten better with each start and threw a shutout against the Red Sox last night, outdueling Chris Sale.
I’m not dreaming of a shutout for Kenta, but maybe he can do the Kenta and give the Dodgers 5 2/3 of two-run ball ?
Date Tm Opp Rslt IP H ER BB SO HR Game Score Apr2 NYY TBR L3-7 2.2 8 7 2 3 2 15 Apr8 NYY BAL L4-5 5.0 6 3 4 5 0 44 Apr14 NYY STL W4-3 6.1 5 3 2 5 1 54 Apr19 NYY CHW W9-1 7.0 6 1 2 6 0 65 Apr27 NYY BOS W3-0 9.0 3 0 0 3 0 84 Apr 2 to Apr 27 2017 NYY 3-2 30.0 28 14 10 22 3 52
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/28/2017.
Look for Gandal to have a big game. According to stats he has the highest OPS against the Phillies
Yasmani Grandal, LAD 1.172 (.442 OBP + .730 SLG)
Justin Turner was able to turn an extra inning affair into a plus by collecting a hit to keep his hitting streak alive it is now at 13. Both Turner and Gonzalez are searching for their first home run in April.
Justin Turner inches closer to another homerless April
Last year Justin Turner became the 2nd LAD starting 3rd baseman to ever go homerless in the time frame of March/April. The key criteria is starting 3rd baseman. Turner is just three games away from turning the same trick in 2017. Given how successful his 2016 season was after not hitting a home run in April, maybe we should be rooting for it again.
Homerless March/April by Position using 80 PA as the criteria:
1st – 4 times (Gonzalez, Loney, Garvey twice)
2nd – 11 times (Sizemore (twice), Lopes (twice), Sax (twice), Randolf, Reed, Cora, Carroll, Ellis, Gordon
SS – Wills (three times), Russell (three times), Griffin (twice), Offerman(three times), Vizaino, Izzy (twice), Furcal(twice)
3rd – Turner (once so far), Ron Cey
RF – Willie Crawford
LF – Bill Buckner
CF – Brett Butler(four times), Willie Davis (twice), Law, Landreaux, John Shelby, Mike Ramsey, Juan Pierre
And Nate Oliver in 1963
Dodgers, Yesterday and Today 