The Loonacy of the Dodgers Farm System

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1. I don’t see Bruns,the lefty first round pick on any of the three rosters you have displayed thus far. Is he hurt or will he be pitching for AA Tulsa this year?

   1. I am guessing he’s on Tulsa’s roster.

      1. Thank you

         1. If you look on the Dodgers website, where the 30 top prospects are listed, three of the pitchers, Kopp, Wrobleski and Bruns, show as unassigned as of today. Drillers is the only roster that is not official yet. So maybe all three of them, all lefties by the way., end up in Tulsa.

            1. Rushing, Bruns, Cartaya and Fernandez (the catcher rotation will be nuts) are all probably at Tulsa.

               Wrobelski too.

               Peyton Martin, I think, will be in extended camp.

      2. As of right now, Bruns is not on any of the minor league rosters. Tulsa has 13 pitchers on the current roster.

2. nice to sweep the giants!! that ohtani guy showed up last night! glasnow is only going to get better!! Bobby Miller up next in chicago. Lament could be a godsend!! joe was good last night! mark, if grove continues to be mediocre do the dodgers send him back to AAA? i do worry about lux and his confidence if he never faces lefties, but rojas is earning playing time for sure.! need 2 out of 3 in chicago, all 3 would be sweet!!

   1. Yes, I feel Grove will be up and down this year.

      People love to rag on Joe Kelly… the same with Doc.

      On Lux and Outman: You can just see they have little confidence against LHP… still they will both get over 400 ABs against RHP and an occasional lefty. Some LH hitters are just prone to that. I said the same thing about Joc. It doesn’t mean they are not good players.

      1. Taylor does not look comfortable against any kind of pitching right now. This is one of his worst starts to a season ever.

         1. A few more months of this “performance” and they’ll stick a fork in his career.

3. Happy for Ohtani to get his first bomb. I’m sure it was weighing on him a bit. Let’s watch him take off now.

   Keep an eye on Dylan Campbell on the Loons roster. Great kid who has excelled at every level of ball to this point in his career. I have a special place in my heart for him since we attended both the same high school(Strake Jesuit) and University of Texas.

   1. Great! He is certainly on my radar.

      Here’s what BA said about him:
      Campbell was tied with Peyton Powell for the top hitter with Texas in 2023, and produced an excellent .335/.433/.599 slash line with 13 home runs, 19 doubles, a 14.6% strikeout rate, 13.2% walk rate and added 26 steals for good measure. Listed at 5-foot-11, 205 pounds, Campbell has a smaller and filled-out frame that lacks much future projection, but he has solid arm strength, speed and production that could make him a late day two or early day three selection. Campbell has a pull-heavy offensive approach and he tends to sell out early in his swing to the pull side, which could leave him exposed on the outer third against professional pitching. He has just fringy power and most of that has gone to the pull side during games. He’s played both left field and right field, but was the team’s everyday right fielder in 2023, and has the above-average arm strength that teams like for the position.

      I think he is in the mold of Will Smith (as a hitter), meaning that the Dodgers will re-tool his swing, and he just might be a totally different player in 2 or 3 years.

      1. That’s a solid evaluation and pretty spot on. I’d give him a little more credit on the arm than simply above average, though. He’s no Mondesi or Puig, but the kid still has a hose.

         If the Dodgers can make him into a Will Smith type hitter, then we will all be happy! I’m just hoping he sticks around the franchise all the way to the show.

4. Mark,

   On evaluating the West. I believe the dbacks will finish second with pumpkins 3rd but could go either way. Pads 4th.

   The giants have some weapons. Soler can carry a team for awhile. Comfort looks really good. Lee looks like a player and Chapman has found his bat. Once Snell gets in(Dodger killer) n they get Ray and the other starter back(sinkerballer) their rotation will match with the best. The announcers kept talking about the bullpen but they have some real nice arms out there.

   It is a long season so injuries will factor in but the division is really good on paper.

   1. Snell is not a Dodger killer. He has pitched some good games against them, but he is far from a Dodger killer His career record against LA is 2-2 with a 2.39 ERA in 13 games. He is 1-0 against the Dodgers in post-season play, the win coming with the Padres in 22. He has pitched 3 post-season games against the Dodgers. He had no decisions in the 2020 World Series. Ray is 8-6 with a 3.39 ERA in 21 career games against LA. He has also surrendered 17 homers to them.

      1. Snell in 16 starts vs. the Dodgers has a 2.54 era. He has dominated the Dodgers for the most part. He doesn’t finish games but while he is in there he has been dominate. Chris Taylor has hit a couple of timely homers against him and Will Smith hit one. Of all the pitchers for the Giants to sign that one hurt the Dodgers the most. Mb that will change but I think u could say he has killed the Dodgers when he pitches against them. Fortunately the Dodgers have been able to outlast him since he doesn’t finish and the dodgers pitching can match up. The Dodgers sure don’t hit him.

5. Mark insisted many times prior to last year that Outman was a 4th or 5th outfielder at best. However he was already proven wrong when Outman played 151 games in the MLB last year with 567 at bats , a 790 OPS, and a 3.6 WAR. He played more games in the OF than any other Dodger in 2023. Now Mark is trying to claim he was right because Outman may be platooned against some LHP this year. Outman was already much more than a 4th OF last year, and was the opening day CF this year. We all miss on our predictions. They are just guesses or in Mark’s case educated guesses. But some of us are willing to admit when we were wrong, while others just change the definition of what a 4th or 5th OF is.

   1. I am looking at Outman’s Career, and I stand by what I said!

      One year, a career does not make. I cannot be wrong after one year. Vargas has not yet made it, but I am still convinced that he will.

      I can’t be judged wrong after 1 year or even 2 or 3.

      After 5 years of watching Andy LaRoche struggle, I admitted I was wrong about him and I talk about it a lot.

      I may have been wrong about Alex Verdugo. This year should define him and he is off to a bad start.

      You have to let it play out. What worries me about JO is that he doesn’t have a fluid swing. It’s still caveman-like. I love his hustle and attitude and root for him, but it’s all about results.

   2. The claim that Mark doesn’t have personal biases with regards to certain players is like claiming CNN is a neutral news source and doesn’t have a bias against politicians whose political party starts with the letter R. Even avid (more like rabid) CNN watchers don’t believe that.

      Mark has just had a thing, from the very beginning, with Outman’s “caveman swing.” It just doesn’t aesthetically agree with him and really bothers him. It happens to all of us from time to time. You see someone’s face and you immediately don’t like him for some reason. It can’t be explained because it’s the lizard part of our brains.

      I kind of like Outman’s swing. It’s not long, looping or graceful in an aesthetic sense. Bellinger’s swing was a beautiful thing to behold – before pitchers figured him out. Outman just kind of puts his bat on the ball. It’s simple with not a lot of moving parts.

      Every time Outman sits against a lefty Mark will trumpet it from the mountaintops. Every time Outman starts against a lefty there’ll be crickets. If Outman flames out and winds up being a bust, Mark will crow every chance he gets. If Outman becomes a success, this discussion about caveman swings and 5th outfielders will be memory-holed.

      1. Actually, it’s deeper than that.

         1. I always said that Outman was a 4th or 5th outfielder;
         2. His work ethic and determination have carried him further than I expected (so I guess I was wrong);
         3. His stats last season against LHP was skewed by his unstainable BABIP against LHP – that was bound to regress;
         4. His swing has improved, but it is still strange, and against LHP it looks like he is helpless;
         5. He’s a great teammate and is beloved by fans – If Miguel Vargas couldn’t hit RHP, I’d call it what it is;
         6. It is my opinion that Outman will never hit LHP with any consistency, and I am going to say it… especially since several people have taken me to task over it;
         7. James is a platoon player and could be a damn good one if he doesn’t regress;
         8. Progress is not linear – he could slip back this year and move forward next year;
         9. Gavin Lux has a better chance of hitting LHP than Outman.

         Again, these are my opinions and I don’t hate the guy. I play the long-game.

         In 1998, a Dodger Rookie debuted and I proclaimed that he would be a Hall-Of-Famer and was made a laughingstock after he hit .215 in his first season. I mean, they were all over me. You cannot believe the vitriol I took, but I was right – Adrian Beltre is a Hall of Famer.

         I am not predicting that for Miguel Vargas, but I am predicting the Hall of Damn-Good!

         James Outman is Joc Pederson or Ron Fairly with speed!

6. A bit disappointment that dePaula did not get promoted to high A ball after doing so well last season at RC.
   And equally disappointing that Joendry Vargas apparently will not be challenged with low A ball.
   No fast track here.

   Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

   1. They could move quickly…

      certainly by the All-Star Break.

7. Any watching the game notice Mookie, Smith and I think Rojas all switched out their gloves. Anyone know what the reason for that was? I thought it was odd, they all did it in the same timeframe.

8. I will tell you a player I missed on:

   Will Smith!

   I had him as a “defense-first” backup catcher.

   I am also suspicious of anyone who says they predicted he would be what he is: “An All-Star.”

   You can like the guy, but until the Dodgers changed his swing, he was a ZERO.

   1. He was a 1st round pick. He was pretty good at UL. He certainly wasnt a “zero”

      1. I am talking about his bat. I thought he was a backup… at best. What he has become is incredible. He hit well in his final year at Louisville, but he did very little before that. Then, this is what he did in the minors:

         2016 – 245 ABs/4 HR/.246 BA
         2017 – 308 ABs/11 HR/.231 BA
         2018 – 405 ABs/20 HR/.233 BA
         …and in 2019, he really broke out.

         Will Smith is a tribute to the Dodgers Player Development and a lot of determination and hard work!

         I never thought he could be half the player he is.

   2. I hoped he’d be our Posey. Now he can be. That contract rocks.

9. watching the mets and detroit game.(kinda bored! its cold here) nobody can bunt anymore! ghost runner on 2nd and nobody can move him to 3rd.! pitiful! shelby miller pitching, should have kept him! see the A ‘s playing in sacramento next couple of years. they are like a rescue dog nobody wants. Hopefully the Las Vegas experiment works. Taylor does look lost at the plate. But with his contract, how long before they do something? Was hoping for a bounce back year from Chris Taylor, but not starting out very well. I wasn’t on the Hernandez bandwagon, but Kiki is clearly out playing Taylor.. thank God Rojas is starting out great. regarding Will Smith I believe he will replace Max at third after Max’s contract expires although they could extend his contract another year or so if he has a strong year this year.. if that’s the case, maybe left field, but probably 3 moo years at the most behind the plate. hopefully buehler is strong next rehab start! any word on Dustin May? snowing here in va. not sticking but very chilly! mowed sunday in shorts and tee shirt! crazy weather!

10. https://x.com/DodgersBeat/status/1775940017111831014?s=20
    Congrats to the Outmans!

11. Anyone know what Betts writes in the dirt with his bat before he bats?

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