I thought it might be fun to look back to 2017 and what Keith Law had to say about some Former Dodger Players. I like Keith Law a lot. He has a lot of insight into prospects… but he is not perfect. If he was, someone would be paying him $50 million dollars a year.
Jose De Leon
Born in Puerto Rico but drafted in the 24th round out of Southern University, De Leon raced through the minors in just over three years to reach the majors, where he had a bit of a rough welcome from big-league hitters, who squared up his fastball. He was acquired by the Rays in a trade with the Dodgers on Monday night.
De Leon pitches 89-94 mph with his four-seamer but relies on deception to keep hitters off the pitch. He boosts his fastball with an above-average changeup that he needs to use more frequently the next time he’s in the majors and an in-between slurve that probably needs to be resolved in favor of a true slider. De Leon generated just nine swing-and-misses on the changeup, his best pitch, out of 302 total pitches in the majors, which tells you something about his raw stuff.
In the minors, he dominated at every level, including Triple-A, where he struck out 32 percent of opposing batters, guys who couldn’t handle the deception in his delivery and the way he changes speeds. I think he’s a solid fourth starter, maybe right now, but he won’t match his minor league numbers unless one or more of his weapons becomes a true out pitch.
UPDATE: Joes De Leon is now with the Cincinnati Reds and is a reliever. He seems to be healthy and could be a piece in the Reds bullpen.
Yadier Alvarez
For raw stuff, Alvarez might be the best pitching prospect in the minors. He’ll work in the upper 90s and can show you a plus slider now and again, but the lack of consistency and command hold him out of the upper tier of this list. Alvarez signed as an amateur free agent out of Cuba for $16 million in 2016, which meant the Dodgers paid double that including the penalty for exceeding their bonus cap, so he’d better have a good arm … and he does. But he showed up last summer struggling to find the plate, so he didn’t debut in pro ball until this year’s Arizona League.
The Dodgers slowed his tempo, so Alvarez’s delivery is more deliberate now, to the point that it’s surprising how hard he’s throwing, and he’s staying on top of the ball and getting more online to the plate. The slider is good, but the big power curveball might end up better if he focuses on that pitch. He might pitch with four distinct offerings, two or even three grading plus, but it’s thrown with grade 40 command, which would make him a big-league starter but maybe just an average one. If the command improves — and there’s no delivery-related reason it can’t — then he has a chance to profile anywhere up to the top of a rotation.
UPDATE: Alvarez was DFA’ed and not taken by anyone. The Dodgers have him slotted as a reliever. I have no opinion on how that might work out.
Walker Buehler
Buehler was headed for a top 15 pick in the 2015 MLB draft before his junior season, but missed time with a sore elbow, pitched poorly down the stretch, and slipped to the Dodgers at 24th overall, only to have the team confirm during his post-draft physical that he’d need Tommy John surgery. When he returned to the mound in 2016, he was a completely different animal, touching 100 mph with his fastball and sitting in the mid-90s, even though he said he wasn’t doing anything different to try to throw harder.
The big variable around Buehler’s projection is what his stuff will look like during a regular season of work where he’s pitching deeper into games. Buehler threw 92-95 mph as a starter before the injury, typically working once a week, then 88-92 mph a few weeks before he was drafted; his summer 2016 spike was an entirely new level of velocity and arm speed, and we don’t know if he’ll maintain it. He had an above-average slider and changeup before the injury, but scouts have always been concerned about his slight build holding up in a 200-inning role. If he stays healthy and holds this newfound velocity, he’s a top 25 prospect and could race through the low minors to the big leagues as soon as his workload permits.
UPDATE: Walker Buehler is a Cy Young Award Winner in waiting.
Alex Verdugo
Verdugo has raced up the Dodgers’ chain with Cody Bellinger, and while Bellinger has emerged as a likely cornerstone player, Verdugo isn’t that far behind him. Verdugo was the Dodgers’ second-round pick in 2014, a year after they took Bellinger, and the Dodgers were aggressive with both of them, assigning them to Double-A in 2016 in their age-20 seasons. (Bellinger is 10 months older, but his birthday is in July, so their seasonal ages, determined by age on July 1st, are the same.)
Verdugo was the youngest regular in the Texas League this year, and was above the league average in all three rate stats, yet had the third-lowest strikeout rate of anyone who played half a season or more there. (Second was fellow Dodgers prospect Willie Calhoun, who can hit but lacks a position.) Verdugo has played more center in pro ball, but there’s at least a 60/40 chance he’ll move to right field in favor of a better defender, although with good range and an 80 arm he could be an elite glove in the corner.
The main concern on Verdugo isn’t skill; he can hit and should grow into above-average power. But his makeup is an issue, as Verdugo is a very intense player who has acted out in front of scouts in ways that seem to be affecting his trade value. He wouldn’t be the first 20-year-old who needs to grow up, and there are few 20-year-olds with his pure ability to square up a baseball.
UPDATE: Alex Verdugo was traded to Boston in the Betts & Price deal and is a potential Batting Champion and Perrenial All-Star there.
Summary
I was never enamored with Jose De Leon and evidently Andrew Friedman was not either because he traded him for Logan Forsythe. WHAT? As a Dodger, Logan Forsythe could not jump out of a boat and hit water!
I see Yadier Alvarez’s potential, but seriously doubt he can ever harness it. I feel the same about Yasiel Puig.
Walker Buehler will be a stud. ‘Nuff said!
I loved Alex Verdugo and hated to see him go. David Price could be the gem of the deal (amazingly) but hopefully, Mookie Betts will re-sign with the Dodgers. Mookie is one of the Top 5 to 10 players in baseball.
I do believe baseball will start back up by June. Maybe no fans… except on TV, but we need some normalcy. The minor league season is more problematic.
This pandemic is bad… really bad! But, we are going to beat this bitch! WE ARE! It’s all about HOPE.
Without hope, we have nothing. Hope sets us free. Fight for it!
Discussion (43)
Disagree, not disagreeable
How I was hoping Fernando would make his starting debut on October 6, 1980 instead of Dave Goltz. The Dodgers only scored one run so it might not have made any difference but falling behind 4-0 after three innings was a bit discouraging. Rick Sutcliffe didn’t help much either.
This day in Dodger history. 4-9-81…A kid named Valenzuela makes his first MLB start, substituting for Jerry Ruess, wins 3-0 and a mania is born. 4-9 1913. Brooklyn Dodgers play their first game at Ebbets Field.
Boy I miss baseball. And I mean a lot. I do watch some of the old games that MLB.TV is letting us see for free. I enjoyed watching the weekend series with the Rockies where we won 3 straight games on walkoff homers by rookies. Beatty, Verdugo, and Smith’s second walkoff of the year. I was there when he hit his first against the Phillies. Chase Utley chimed in and said he does not think MLB’s proposed plan of playing all the games in Arizona will work. I am a tad skeptical of that plan also. I think the heat would be a major factor. If you have never lived in Arizona, the nights can be very very warm. About the only place you could play comfortably would be Chase Field. I got a little surprise from my auto insurance company today. They are giving us a 20% discount on our payments the next 2 months. Totally unexpected. Seems they feel because of the stay at home order, we are using our vehicles a lot less, and therefore they want to help when people are struggling to make ends meet. I thought that was pretty cool. Saves me 10 bucks a month for 2 months. That is about a half tank of gas here. MLB.com has been listing the top 5 players at each position in history for each team. I don’t think a player who was only with a team for 3 years should be on the list. They had Jeff Kent at # 5 for the Dodgers. He played in LA for 4 years, so he gets the nod because not many played longer. But I would have opted for Charlie Neal.
Sweet songs never last too long on broken radios. Now every radio that exists is broken along with a piece of my heart.
SpokaneBob… I’ve been secretly hoping and wishing for July 4… What an Independence day that would be for baseball fans…
Jeff, I commend you… You have the huevos of King Kong…
There are folks out there that will have already told you that
19 was a hoax, that crowd in Charlotesville back in Aug. had good folks on both sidesand burning coal is good for our already great air quality…
I could go on ad nauseam, but why try and trump the chosen one…
P.S. Slamming a drug that hasn’t been tested is like Steve McQueen going to Tijuana for Laetrile..
Thanks for sharing DodgerRick..
It may or may not come to pass, but I believe that we will have Dodger Baseball as early as June, but by July for sure.
I am not saying June 1st, but during the month of June or July.
That’s just my gut feeling based on everything I have heard to date.
Anyone else care to pick a month when we will see our guys on the field?
Wow, dodgerick. Makes my troubles seem trivial compared to your wife. Hoping she, and you, keep doing well and thanks for sharing. Your wife sounds like a fighter to me.
Wow – now we’re debating the use of ventilators?
As someone who’s wife has been on a ventilator numerous time (I have seen her being intubated and extubated – both scary), I can tell you that they only put someone on a ventilator if they can’t breathe on their own. If oxygen alone solved low blood oxygenation levels, they would use it – they have done that for my wife too.
Many infections, whether bacterial or viral, lead to sepsis. (This is not “blood poisoning”.) Sepsis is a condition where infection leads to inflammation, lactic acidosis and ultimately organ failure and death. People with sepsis often develop pneumonia, respiratory failure, hypotension, extreme tachycardia. Sepsis causes 20% of all deaths around the world; according to the CDC, in ordinary times, 1.7 million Americans develop sepsis annually, resulting in 270,000 deaths per year. 1 in 3 hospital deaths result from sepsis.
The risk of infection from something like COVID 19 is sepsis, leading to organ failure, respiratory failure, or pneumonia which can lead to death. When you have sepsis, you NEED a respirator.
This is hard-won knowledge. My wife has nearly died over a dozen time in the last decade and most of these have been related to sepsis.
” Sports Illustrated reported in October 2018 that the Department of Justice was investigating MLB’s dealings in the international player market for potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, with the Dodgers figuring prominently.” What has happened on this front?
Hi – hope everyone is keeping well.
Was wondering what people thought about the Dodger’s chances in a truncated season?
Would it play to our strengths, because it appears that our depth is more suited to the longer season – 162 + Playoffs, or would a shorter season shorten our chances?
I think it would probably work against us, but not by too much?
Here is a great article about the Dodgers’ souting and player development system:
https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/theyre-the-model-how-the-dodgers-player-development-machine-rolls-on/
For those of you who don’t already know, I am not a conventional thinker. I am not an engineer or a scientist… just a guy who is blessed with vision. I have been able to pioneer new methods of treating water that are often ridiculed in the beginning.
Arthur Schopenhauer once said this about new ideas: “Truth Passes Through Three Stages: First, It Is Ridiculed. Second, It Is Violently Opposed. Third, It Is Accepted As Self-Evident.”
“Vision” is something that improves with use. You learn from your mistakes and try not to make the same ones again. When people are selling stock, I am buying. I do not plan to get the COVID-19 and I am practicing all the social distancing and we have people all day long with masks and glove and wipes and spray sanitizer wiping down surfaces, doorknobs and sanitizing things. Everyone in our business has their temp taken by a scan thermometer 4 times a day. If someone shows the slightest symptom, they are sent me and cannot come back without a Doctors Release. We are an essential business and have to keep operating. Our employees are committed. All of the office staff have been given permission to work from home. Most have declined as they want to be in the office.
However, if I do get it, I am taking hydroxychloroquine, because there is nothing better and I have no heart issues. I made that decision based upon a lot of research. 3 of the 4 Major Health Networks in San Diego are using it, while UC San Diego Health is violently opposed to it. One doctor there says he wouldn’t let his own family take the drug – even if they were critically sick from COVID-19. Arrogantly Dumb is what I would say!
https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/3-of-4-major-san-diego-health-networks-using-unproven-drug-to-treat-covid-19/2302233/
I am not a Doctor and am not saying you should take it, but there’s not much else available. Chris Cuomo said to “keep moving” and exercise a little. I remember the Hong Kong Flu and I was so sick as were my parents and siblings that no one could do anything for over a week. COVID-19 sounds about like that. I hope none of us get it.
As hospitals scramble to obtain enough ventilators to treat coronavirus patients, a growing number of doctors are saying the machines may not be necessary for certain patients and, in some cases, could make their condition worse.
Their reasoning is based on multiple hospitals reporting unusually high death rates for coronavirus patients on ventilators, highlighting the fact that definitive treatment for managing the virus that emerged only months ago may still be far off.
The fact is that ventilators may make the virus more virulent.
Once baseball actually starts again in front of live fans at the stadiums I’ll be very interested to see what the attendance numbers are like. People will be starved for baseball and a trip to the ol’ ball yard or any other activity that they haven’t been able to do for weeks/months.
The question will be, how many people will have taken such a hit financially that they won’t be able to afford those kinds of activities for quite awhile.
The answer to that question will have an effect on every sports team and their ability to put together rosters, etc. for the coming year. The Dodgers will, no doubt, be one of the least affected, but what about teams like the Pirates who didn’t spend even when times were good. And this is all happening just about the time the new CBA will be negotiated. Interesting (and difficult) times.
I read a quote from Dave Roberts today that said Mookie Betts loves being a Dodger. Lets hope that rings true. I liked Verdugo, and think he has great raw tools. He is also a very cocky kid. My only gripe was he did not let the team know he was hurting for quite a while. So he was not available for the playoffs. That hurt the team because they were forced to play Pollock who was totally over matched in the playoffs. Alvarez is one of the many international signees who have been flops over the last few years. Buehler is a stud, that is for sure, and I questioned when they drafted him because he was hurt. I do not have that concern now. He is the best RH starter they have brought up since Orel. I hope baseball is back sometime. The nation needs some hope, and the game brings that.