Dodgers Teenage Team for 2020 Position Players

In attempting to isolate any group there is always a chance that there might be other members who belong in the group who are not selected and yet others who are simply missed. With that risk in mind, I had a bit of a slow day yesterday so decided to look at the teenage group preparing for the 2020 minor league season. Some had successful 2019 seasons while others did not make their professional debuts in 2019 for differing reasons. In any event, this is a teenage team to watch offensively during the upcoming season who have not reached their 20th birthday as of today. Miguel Vargas and Robinson Ortiz miss the cut by a couple of months.

Catcher: Diego Cartaya (18 – September 7, 2001)  Bats/Throws: R/R Ht: 6′ 2″ Wt: 199

Is there any other choice?  Cartaya played in the Arizona League in 2019 as a 17-year-old where he slashed .281/.343/.432. That in itself is not overly impressive until we remember he did so as a 17-year-old, facing pitchers drafted out of college several years older and more experienced than Cartaya. The fact he moved directly to the AZL in his first professional season is indicative of his potential.

Baseball America: “Cartaya has represented Venezuela at international tournaments since he was 10. That extensive game experience shows in the way he plays with a high baseball IQ well beyond his years, with a well-rounded skill set for a catcher.”

MLB Pipeline: “On defense, Cartaya has a reputation as a great receiver with very good hands. He handles pitchers well and has a high baseball IQ. He moves well behind the plate.”

FanGraphs: “This is a very physical teenager with some of the best present raw power in the class and a good chance to play a premium defensive position. Cartaya has a strong, physically mature build that inspires Salvador Perez comparisons.  Cartaya is poised and engaged with his pitchers, he has a great arm, he looks built to meet the position’s physical demands and makes an attempt to frame pitches when he can.”

First Base: Sauryn Lao:  (20 – August 14, 1999) Bats/Throws: R/R Ht: 6′ 2″ Wt: 182

Alright, I cheated here as I could not find a teenage first baseman to fit the bill and Lao is a bit of a personal favorite.  So, I injected him into the lineup although he turned 20 last August. I have watched him relatively closely and he seems to have gone unnoticed.  He was signed by the Dodgers as an international free agent back in 2015 and for an unknown reason did not play in 2016. From Barahona, Dominican Republic, he slashed .271/.362/.480 with the Ogden Raptors over 91 games while hitting 9 home runs with 45 RBI and 44 runs scored.

Lao was named the Pioneer League Player of the Week for August 19-25 as he was in the lineup for all six games the Raptors played during the stretch in which he notched at least one hit in each of the final five. He turned in consecutive standout performances in the two wins at Grand Junction, going 3-for-4 with a run and RBI on August 21, and following that with a 4-for-6 day including two home runs, four RBI and four runs scored the next day. For the week, Lao hit .400 (10-for-25) with the pair of home runs, a double, six runs scored and seven RBI.

Lao hung around the top-10 in a number of offensive categories.

Ÿ      Runs    44 – 4th

Ÿ      RBI      45 –  5th

Ÿ      BB        32 – 6th

Ÿ      SLG   .480 – 9th

Ÿ      TB      110 – 10th

Ÿ      OPS  .842 – 10th 

Second Base: Jorbit Vivas  ( 18 – March 9, 2001)  Bats/Throws: L/R Ht: 5′ 10″ Wt: 145

Vivas, from Puerto Cabello, Venezuela, has also gone on a bit unnoticed.  He was signed as an international free agent by the Dodgers on July 4, 2017.

He played in the DSL during the 2018 season with offensive numbers that did not stand out other than a good K/BB ratio of 35/26 and a .350 OBP.

He came stateside in 2019 playing at two levels and distinguishing himself at both. With the AZL Dodgers (Lasorda) over 30 games, he slashed .357/.438/513 with 20 runs batted in and only two more strikeouts than walks.

With the Raptors, Vivas had a triple slash of .286/.371/.417 and drove in 12 runs in 24 games.  He had a bit of a flair for the dramatic when he drove in the winning run on August 13th in the bottom of the 10th inning and, for the second straight night, the Ogden Raptors defeated the Missoula Osprey in extra innings.

Third Base: Alex de Jesus ( 17- March 22, 2002)  Bats/Throws: R/R Ht: 6′ 2″ Wt: 170

Another international signing by the Dodgers in 2018, the Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, native moved quickly in his 2019 rookie year playing only 13 games in the DSL before being promoted to the AZL Dodgers on June 21st.

When he was signed, most scouts believed he’d head straight to third base and remain there on his way up the Minor League ladder. Hence I have included him as a third baseman as has Jim Callis: “ De Jesus could wind up at third base in the long run but has the bat and defensive ability to become a solid regular there.” However, during the 2019 season, he played primarily at shortstop.

Dustin Nosler writes: “He’s already a pretty physical 17- year-old, but with broad shoulders and frame to add plenty of good weight in hopes of getting to the plus-raw power he already exhibits. He has a mature swing and high finish that could lead to being an offensive force at the plate.”

De Jesus played 44 games with the AZL Dodgers (Mota) in 2019 posting a .276/.326/.374 triple slash with 25 RBI.

Look for him to crack the Dodgers Top-30 prospects in 2020.

Shortstop: Eddys Leonard (19 – November 10, 2000)  R/R Ht: 6′ 0″ Wt: 160

Leonard was signed in the same class as Jorbit Vivas in 2017 out of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

This is the scouting report on Leonard by the Dominican Prospect League when he signed.

“Eddys Leonard has the ability to make consistent contact with gap to gap power. His above-average speed allows him to fully utilize his contact and power giving him the ability to extend singles into doubles and doubles into triples. Combining his speed with a high baseball IQ, at 16-years-old, and you get a player who will have the ability to steal bases at every level. His speed also gives him good range at short, while his arm strength and quick hands will allow him to be an above-average defender.”

He played in the DSL during the 2018 season and moved to the Arizona League Dodgers (Lasorda) in 2019. With the Dodgers over 46 games he slashed .280/.380/.423 but his advertised speed did not result in stolen bases. He homered three times and drove in 20 runs.

Leonard finished out his season with 8 games in the Pioneer League with the Ogden Raptors with a triple slash of .333/.391/.478.

He had the proverbial cup of coffee with the Great Lakes Loons on August 19th going 1-4 as a one-game replacement player.

Outfield: Andy Pages (19 – December 8, 2000)  R/R Ht: 6′ 1″ Wt: 180

Pretty much everyone knows about Andy Pages who is now ranked 13th on the Dodgers prospects lists. That is the same Andy Pages who was part of the failed Dodger-Angel trade. He was signed out of the Dominican Republic in March of 2018 when the Dodgers were limited to a $300,000 international signing bonus.

He will play at age 19 for all of 2020  and is characterized as, “ A smart hitter who loves to talk about his craft, he has an advanced idea about his right-handed swing and displays excellent bat speed, with his raw power already showing up in games. There is some swing-and-miss to his game, as he struck out in more than 28 percent of his plate appearances in 2019, so he will need to improve his plate discipline some and perhaps tone down his leg kick.”

His 2019 season in the Pioneer League was perhaps as good as any in the Dodger minor league system winning him a number of awards.

MILB.COM ORGANIZATION ALL-STAR  2019: LA Dodgers (NL)

BASEBALL AMERICA ROOKIE ALL-STAR 2019: Ogden (PIO)

POST-SEASON ALL-STAR 2019: Ogden (PIO)

MID-SEASON ALL-STAR 2019: Ogden (PIO)

PLAYER OF THE WEEK 6/30/2019: Ogden (PIO)

                                         7/7/2019: Ogden (PIO)

During the 2019 season, he slashed .298/.398/.651 along with 19 home runs and 55 runs batted in. He finished in the top-5 in a number of offensive categories.

Ÿ       Runs 57       – 1s

Ÿ       Hits  70         – 5th

Ÿ       RBI  55        – 2nd

Ÿ       Doubles 22  – 1st

Ÿ       HR 19          – 2nd

Ÿ      SLG .298     – 2nd

Ÿ      TB 153         – 2nd

Ÿ      OPS 1.049   – 3rd

Where will he land to begin the 2020 season? Perhaps in the more pitcher-friendly Midwest League or perhaps in the more hitter-friendly California  League. I’m guessing with the Loons in the Midwest League which is somewhat more age-appropriate and he can work on cutting down on his strikeouts.

Outfield: Luis Rodriguiz (17 – September 16, 2002)  R/R Ht. 6’2” Wt. 180

This time I am really cheating by selecting Luis Rodriguez who has not started his professional career. From Venezuela he was signed by the Dodgers as an international free agent on July 2, 2019. He  was ranked number 4 on MLB Pipeline’s top-30 international prospects list for this free agency period.

It is expected he will begin his professional career in the AZL as Diego Cartaya did last year. The information below is from noted sources. One source writes: “But make no mistake, ‘L-Rod’ is just about as elite as Cartaya was.”

MLB Pipeline

“Rodriguez is the best overall player from Venezuela in the class of 2019. He’s a pure hitter and natural athlete with solid baseball instincts across the board. He is also known for his physically projectable body and easy actions on defense and at the plate. Rodriguez has a sound approach in the batter’s box and has shown the ability to use all fields with consistent and hard contact. There’s a nice rhythm and balance to his swing and although he’s primarily a line drive hitter now, there have been flashes of power and it could increase as he develops. He has impressed scouts by performing well against pitchers throwing 93 mph to 95 mph during workouts and showcases. Rodriguez is a quality defender in center field now and he makes all of the plays, but it’s uncertain if that’s where he will stay because he’s not a plus runner. He developed his game in the youth leagues of Venezuela and has a high baseball IQ.”

Baseball America

“Rodriguez is one of the most complete players in the 2019 class, with a good combination of size (6-foot-2, 180 pounds), athleticism and hitting ability from the right side. When I saw him face live pitching in the Dominican Republic, he homered to right-center field off a pitcher who was throwing up to 92 mph, then narrowly missed another homer that hit the fence to the same part of the park. Rodriguez has good plate discipline, hits well in games against older pitchers and has a natural ability to lift the ball for power. He runs the 60-yard dash in around 6.7 to 6.8 seconds, so if he can retain that speed, he could stick in center field, too. Rodriguez trains with Angel Valladares.”

Outfield: Jose Ramos (19 – January 1, 2001)   R/R Ht: 5′ 11″ Wt: 150

The third outfield position was a toss-up among Jose Ramos, Yunior Garcia , and Jaime Perez.  Ramos won the toss.

He was signed by the Dodgers as an international free agent on July 3, 2018. From Chepo, Panama, he debuted in 2019 with the DSL Dodgers (Bautista) and had some success posting a slash line of .275/.362/.377 with two home runs and 27 runs batted in.