DRAFT UPDATE
The 2017 MLB Draft is in the books, and the signing deadline has come and now gone. The Dodgers had 40 draft picks, and signed 33. Each of the first 13 picks signed, and 19 of the first 20 signed. 8 signed from picks 21-30, and 6 signed from picks 31-40. For comparison purposes, the Dodgers drafted 42 in 2015 and 2016, and signed 36 and 33 respectively. If 5 of the 33 draftees make it to the ML, that would be a pretty good draft (15%). Breaking it down:
RHP 18
LFP 3
C 1
2B 1
3B 1
SS 4
CF 2
OF 3
OF 3
Division I College 24 RHP (13); LHP (3); C (1); 3B (1); SS (2); CF (1); OF (3)
Division II College 2 RHP (2)
Community College 4 RHP (2); CF (1); 2B (1)
High School 3 RHP (1); SS (2)
Right Hand Bat Position Players 9
Left Hand Bat Position Players 2
Switch Hitting Position Players 1
Assigned to AZL Dodgers (12)
Riley Ottesen (5)
Wills Montgomery (6)
Andre Jackson (12) (60 day DL)
Marcus Chiu (15)
Evy Riubal (16)
Max Gamboa (18) (60 Day DL)
Zach Willeman (19) (60 Day DL)
Preston Grand Pre (24)
Jeremy Arocho (27)
Chris Roller (30)
Dan Jagiello (34)
Colby Nealy (35)
Assigned to Ogden Raptors (6)
Rylan Bannon (8)
Justin Hoyt (22)
Connor Heady (23)
Devin Hemmerich (26)
Justin Lewis (28)
Tyler Adkison (32)
Assigned to Great Lakes Loons (1)
Zach Reks (10)
Not Yet Assigned (14)
Jeren Kendall (1)
Morgan Cooper (2)
Connor Wong (3)
James Marinan (4)
Zachary Pop (7)
Connor Strain (9)
Jacob Amaya (11)
Marshall Kasowski (13)
Nathan Witt (17)
Donovan Casey (20)
Mark Washington (25)
Brett de Geus (33)
Riley Richert (36)
Corey Merrill (37)
PROSPECT UPDATE
Baseball Prospectus recently published their mid-year top 50 prospects. Once again the Dodgers are one of the top teams with 3 of the top 28 players: Walker Buehler (19), Alex Verdugo (27), and Yadier Alveraz (28).
Teams with 5 players (1) Atlanta Braves
Teams with 4 players (3) Chicago White Sox, St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies
Teams with 3 players (2) Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees
Teams with 2 players (10) Pittsburgh Pirates, Cleveland Indians, Washington National Boston Red Sox, Colorado Rockies, Milwaukee Brewers, Toronto Blue Jays, Houston Astros, San Diego Padres, Tampa Bay Rays
Teams with 1 players (7) Cincinnati Reds, Chicago Cubs, New York Mets, Oakland A’s, Texas Rangers, Minnesota Twins, Baltimore Orioles
Teams with 0 players (7) San Francisco Giants, Arizona DBacks, Kansas City Royals, Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Angels, Seattle Mariners, Miami Marlins
MINOR LEAGUE UPDATE
Not a great day for the Dodger farm teams. The teams combined for a 1-6 record.
OKC lost 5-2 to New Orleans (Marlins) – David Hale started and went 6 innings, allowing 5 runs, 9 hits, 0 walks, 1 strikeout and took the loss. Joe Broussard and Josh Ravin each pitched a scoreless inning in relief. Drew Maggi hit his 5th HR. Recently promoted Edwin Rios went 1-4 in his AAA debut. Box, just for you, Verdugo 0-3 with a HBP.
Tulsa lost 6-3 to Frisco Roughriders (Texas) – Frisco broke a 1-1 tie with a 5 run 9th inning. All of the runs were scored off of Shea Spitzbarth. Of the 5 runs, 4 were unearned due to his throwing error. Andy Sopko started and went 6 innings. He allowed 1 run on 4 hits, 3 walks, 4 strikeouts, and 1 HR. Andy is turning his season around. Offensively, Henry Ramos remained on fire. Since coming off the DL on June 20, Henry is batting .552/.563/1.034/1.597. Henry accounted for all three runs with 2 HRs.
RC Quakes lost 5-4 to Inland Empire Batters (Angels) in 10 innings – Adam Bray started and went 7 innings – 1 run, 5 hits, 0 walks, and 7 strikeouts. Danny Corcino came on in the 8th and allowed 3 runs without getting an out turning a 2-1 lead into a 4-2 losing score. RC scored 2 runs in the 9th to tie the score at 4-4, before Jose Rojas hit a walk off double to score the winning run. Johan Mieses continues to show he is very comfortable at RC with three more hits. Drew Jackson and Zach McKinstry each had two hits. DJ Peters (19) and Ibandel Isabel (17) each had a HR. They continue to be #1 and #2 in HRs in the Cal League.
Great Lakes lost 12-3 to Bowling Green Hot Rods (Tampa) – Imani Abdullah started and went 2.1 innings allowing 4 runs on 4 hits, 2 walks, and 1 strikeout. Chris Matthewson finished the final 5.2 innings and did not fare too well (we will leave it at that). 20 year old 3B Christian Santana remained blazing hot with 3 more hits. His batting average is up to .481 since his promotion. 18 year old SS Oneil Cruz had two hits including his 6th HR and 6th double.
Ogden lost 7-4 to Idaho Falls Chukars (KC) – Rylan Bannon remained hot with 2 more hits. His batting average is up to .438. Romer Cuadrado, Brock Carpenter, and Connor Heady each had two hits. Carpenter and Heady each had a double on the night. We will not discuss the pitching in this game.
DSL1 beat DSL A’s 14-8 – Marco Hernandez and Kiumel Bastardo had 3 hits each. Luis Carlos Diaz and Kenneth Betancourt each had 2 hits. Jose Rodulfo started and went 4 innings – 0 runs, 3 hits, 0 walks, 4 strikeouts, and ERA down to 1.16. For the year, this 16 year old from Anaco, Venezuela has pitched 23.1 innings, 17 hits, 3 runs, 5 walks, and 18 strikeouts. Joan Valdez finished the final 1.2 innings, allowing 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, ERA down to 1.98. This 18 year old pitcher from San Pedro de Macoris, DR, has gone 13.2 innings, 12 hits, 3 runs, 4 walks, and 11 strikeouts.
DSL2 lost 13-2 to DSL Rangers 1 – Hector Martinez had two hits. Frank Sanchez hit his 2nd HR. No need to discuss the pitching.
Discussion (40)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Back from AK with fish in the box and 4-1 Blue record while I’m gone… Life is good!!! Grandal’s lateral movement is not very good, but he hits like hell and I’ll take it every day… Did Puig ever show up after the double switch pouting session at the end of the bench??? Lets sweep em today!!!
Just watched Posey have a passed ball go right through his legs to let a run score. It happens to all catchers at some point
Another great come from behind win for the Blue today (#23!) They keep figuring out new ways to win!
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2 negatives:
Another meltdown by the pen
Another passed ball by Grandal leading to a run scored by KC
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Both things a problem
Mark, I’m changing my name back now, lol, right when I thought Baez had joined the congregation
Pedro Baez was baptized today at the Church of Christ Taylor!!!!!
Who will be next???
Thank god for airline wifi. Perfect way to pass time by listening to the game while 30,000 feet in the air and catching up on this thread
AC
Good job as always AC!
Vegas that is funny you brought up Alex Guerrero, I saw some of his stats in the Japanese League, and he has hit 22 HRs, 50 RBIs and hitting 279 in about 270 at bats.
I forgot to mention the minor league player development, coaching and teaching and the fast promotions up the levels. There are a lot of players who will make the majors, not all with the Dodgers. Adding an extra coach who speaks Spanish on all minor league teams was a good move and helps the manager. They are pretty good on the salary cap too, and are in good shape next year with Crawford, Ethier and Guerrero dropping off the books. All of the current starters plus Kazmir are either signed or arbitration next year. The team may want to buy out Wood and Puig’s arb years and do an extension, Grandal too.
Agree with everything you wrote.
I meant to ask the other day how you did at Santa Anita on closing day. In a past life I spent countless days there as well as at Hollywood Park and Del Mar when I was a handicapper for Today’s Racing Digest.
Nice post AC, you put a lot of time into that. I was glad to see all of the late signings come in. Let’s recap what Faz has proven to be good at:
Scouting: Gasperino has remade the staff-International, HS and College and the other teams rosters.
Drafting: Projecting talent and signability are considered, they work the slot system well.
Waiver Wire; Scooping up others rejects for a cheap look, discarding what they don’t like.
Working the 25 man and 40 man rosters: This expands the bench, rotation and bullpen.
10 Day DL: They must be doing something right if other teams complain, but they are within the rules.
Free agents and trades: Not every one will work out but enough have that other teams are wary of being fleeced.
Sabermetrics: Yes they platoon a lot and pull starters early but it has been effective.
Rebuilding while still winning: The payroll is steadily coming down and the farm stocked while still winning.
Picking Roberts: Probably the single best move they have made so far. There is no quit in this team.
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Another nice game by Puig last night and hats off to Utley with his 1000th RBI. Maeda bounced back nicely but was pulled early. McCarthy should be good for 6 today and the Dodgers have owned Kennedy in the past. There is a chance for yet another sweep with Kershaw going tomorrow.
What is the cutoff for signing the draft picks?
I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member. Groucho Marx
You got it pretty close Rudy.
I am proud to be a member Mark. Keep up the great work. Also, Thanks to AC for bringing us up to speed on the minors and everyone else for having a take and not sucking.
Certain people are just not allowed here. This is an exclusive club.
It is very peaceful in here these days. I bet I can name the bitter old men. I have my fingers and toes crossed for McCarthy tonight.
AC, you did a great job of summarizing the draft and top 50 prospects.
I thought Stewart looked good last night. He has only pitched I believe since the Dodgers drafted him. He was a position player. Orel has many good things to say about Stewart.
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If McCarthy has a good game tonight and can go seven, I will be very happy. Our starters pitchers are starting to find their wings.
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Mark and AC, you guys do a great job. All of the posts are interesting. Almost all of the posters are kind to one another. We can disagree and do it without hurting people. Love it. Great time to be a Dodger.
In addition to the Edwin Rios promotion to AAA, Yaisel Sierra was also promoted to AAA.
AC,
Thank you for your thoughtful perspective on the draft and our minor league prospects. You are the perfect Ying to Mark’s yang. This blog has become so very informative! It’s a daily stop for me.
Couple of the lower drafted players I’m looking forward to seeing perform are Donovan Casey (who appears to be a sleeper) and Marshall Kasowski (what a story he has). Rylan Bannon is also off to a nice start, though it’s hard to get a good read on what statistics actually mean in the thin air of Ogden.
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Also, what is your take on Christian Santana? Is he the real deal?
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Like Rudy Byrd, I would be interested in reading some of the in depth thoughts you have on the players selected by the Dodgers in the draft.
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Thanks again to you and Mark for all the work you and Mark put in to make this blog an enjoyable read!
Very nice! Thanks for the Verdugo line, I see with the 0fer his average dropped down to .346.
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The churn on these minor league players must be huge. At least an entire team worth of players drafted each year. I guess a ton of minor league players are “one and done”?
AC,
Who are a few of your sleeper picks to keep an eye on from the Dodger draft?
Nice breakdown of the new draft class. Thanks for your time and effort to keep the rest of us better informed.