The minor league season is quickly drawing to a close. It seems impossible but it is so. The good news is that five of the Dodgers affiliates will extend their season a bit by competing for the league championship. Those five affiliates are AZL Dodgers Mota, Ogden Raptors, Great Lakes Loons, Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, and Tulsa drillers.
End-of-Season All-Stars to date: Some leagues have not yet announced the All-Stars.
Twenty-year-old right-hander, Adolfo Ramirez of the DSL Dodgers Lasorda was named an AZL all-star. Over 49 innings pitched he allowed but 24 hits while posting a 0.73 ERA and a 0.67 WHIP. He struck out 61, walked 9 and twice had a scoreless five-inning start. He has been assigned to the Raptors to finish out the season.
John Shoemaker was named the Midwest League Manager of the Year and 19-year-old third baseman Miguel Vargas, now with the Quakes and hitting up a storm, was named a Midwest League End-of-Season All-Star.
“Shoe” has guided the Loons to the playoffs each of the past two years. This season, Great Lakes had its best first half in franchise history with a 43-24 record and a .642 win percentage, winning the first-half Eastern Division title to earn a playoff berth.
Vargas, hit .325 with 5 home runs and 45 RBIs in 70 games and 280 at-bats with the Loons. His batting average is still the highest of any Loons’ player this year.
Vargas is also the California League Player of the Week for the week of August 19-25. His stat line for the week is .556/.571/.926, 6 games, 15-for-27, 5 games, 2 doubles, 1 triple, 1 home run, 8 RBI, 3 runs, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts.
The Rancho Cucamonga Quakes have 3 End-of-Season All-Stars: Devin Mann (2B), Jeter Downs (ss) and Donvan Casey (LF).
The 23-year-old Casey posed a triple slash of .270/.335/.509 with 20 home runs, 65 RBI and 20 stolen bases. He was a Mid-Season All-Star.
Devin Mann was a Mid-Season All-Star, a Player of the Month for June and a Player of the Week. The 22-year-old missed some time with injury but posted a slash line of .277/.359/.497 with 18 home runs and 60 RBI.
Jeter Downs, 21, is now with the Tulsa Drillers as is Donovan Casey. Downs line with the Quakes reads .269/.359/.507 with 19 home runs, 75 RBI and 23 stolen Bases.
The OKC Dodgers had no End-of-Season All-Stars but former OKC manager Damon Berryhill was the International League Manager of the Year with the Gwinnett Braves.
The Pioneer League All-Stars have not been announced and it is expected they will be well represented. They lead the league in 11 offensive categories. They are fifth in strikeouts. Pitchers Alfredo Tavarez (2.98) and Jeronimo Castro (3.25) are first and third in the Pioneer League in ERA respectively with 60 and 61 innings pitched respectively.
Third baseman Sauryn Lao was named the Pioneer League Player of the Week for the week of August 19-25. Just turned 20 his stat line was: 409/.458/.727, 5 games, 9-for-22, 1 double 2 home runs, 6 RBI, 6 runs, 2 walks, 6 strikeouts.
Another Player of the Week for the Dodgers was 20-year-old left-hander Robinson Ortiz of the Loons. Over 2 games, one in relief and one as a starter he went 2-0 with an ERA of 0.64, 14 innings pitched, with only 7 hits allowed. He walked 2 and struck out 13.
Meanwhile, the Gavin Lux call-up wait continues.
DC’s 10th Inning
Tuesday’s Scores:
DSL Dodgers – season ended
AZL Dodgers Mota 3 – DSL Rangers 5
The AZL season has now ended for the Dodgers. Mota’s Dodgers lost their play-off game 5-3 to the Rangers in the one and out format.
Ogden Raptors 5 – Rocky Mountain Vibes (Milwaukee) 2
In the completion of a suspended game from August 20th the Raptors won 5-2 . On the mound, Elio Serrano picked up where he left off in the start of the suspended game, completing eight innings while allowing just two runs – one earned – on five hits. Mitchell Tyranski pitched a perfect ninth for his first save. Andy pages had a home run in both halves of the game.
Ogden 3 – Rocky Mountain Vibes (Milwaukee) 4
The Raptors scored three runs on sacrifice flies but left eight runners on base and came up short 4-3 in their final game against the Rocky Mountain Vibes in the 2019 regular season.
Great Lakes Loons 12 – Lansing Lugnuts (Toronto) 9
Not a pitcher’s duel at 12-9 although 20-year-old Edward Cuello extended his string of consecutive scoreless winnings to 13 since joining the Loons.
Justin Yurchak and Luke Heyer both had 3 hits. Yurchak in his last 10 games is hitting .465 with 13 runs, 3 home runs, and 7 RBI. After a slow start with the Loons in July, he is now hitting .305.
Ranch Cucamonga Quakes 4 – Lake Elsinore Storm (SD) 1
Wills Mongomerie has had an up and down season. This one was an up with 6 strong innings in a 4-1 win, his 8th win, on one and one run.
Jeren Kendall and Dillon Paulson both had 3 hits. Kendall hit his 19th home run.
Tulsa Drillers 8 – Armarillo Sod Poodles (SD) 4
The Drillers with their 8-4 win have taken 2 straight from South Division-leading Amarillo. Ryan Mosely and Nolan Long combined for 3 innings of one-hit relief.
Connor Wong recorded three hits for the fourth straight game. He also kept his hitting streak alive, running it to 11 straight games. He is hitting .338 since joining the Drillers on July 15. Errol Robinson also had 3 hits and is hitting .367 in August. Jeter Downs had 2 hits, one a 2-run home run.
OKC Dodgers 5 – Iowa Cubs 2
Logan Bawcom pitched 6 innings of one-run ball on 3 hits in the 5-2 win.
Edwin Rios hit his 28th home run, Kyle Garlick hit 2 making it 22 on the season, while Gavin Lux hit his 13th AAA home run to go along with 13 at the AA level.
Discussion (88)
Disagree, not disagreeable
I don’t know why people keep wanting to make excuses for Jansen. Yes, it was a bloop double, sometimes those happen. We won the game on an infield single, a stolen base, and an error. Some closers would still have shut them down that ninth inning. Some closers would not throw a wild pitch with one out, two strikes on the batter. You can’t blame Jansen for everything, but you can’t look for excuses, either.
His last outing before this was the game where the Yankees loaded the bases against him, albeit on a couple of slow grounders. after a clean single. Before that, he had a couple of blown saves in the two weeks prior. Several other teams have better closers, that is a fact. We are going to keep putting him out there, because apparently we feel we have no other choice, after not trading for one. If we want to keep doing what Roberts now is rather strangely doing, putting his most effective reliever, Kelly, in for the 6th, then one of the lesser relievers for the 7th, then the rather erratic Baez for the 8th, then Jansen for the 9th, we are probably going to blow more leads. We can afford to now, with a 20 game division lead, but we can’t afford to in the playoffs. Spin the wheel and let it ride, is I guess our only option with this bullpen. Tonight we led 4-2 in the 8th, and ended up going extra innings, and this was against a team which is under .500, and whose best hitter, Tattis, is not playing.
Regarding stuff, Kenley is very average now as closers go, perhaps even below average. Yeah that is worrying.
Sadler looked pretty good closing this one out! He deserves a seat at the table!
It’s got nothing to do with any confidence we have in Kenley. Tonight it was simply bad luck that resulted in a gift double. No one has argued that Kenley is automatic, and most of us don’t have near the confidence in him that we used to. But tonight it was mostly bad luck. But no doubt that the old Kenley may have struck out that hitter,, and deprived him of the opportunity for a bloop hit.
And by the way, it looked to me that Sadler served up a cookie to that last hitter. Lucky that thing wasn’t hit out.
Magic Number 9
Sloppy game but the Dodgers won.
Blaming Kenley for that is moronic. If CT3 catches the ball which he should, game’s already over.
This is why we need catchers that can throw at base stealers.
Kenley didn’t blow it. The Dodgers offense blew it. As they often do, the Dodgers get a couple of runs early, and fail to tack on (except for one run).
And besides the opening double wasn’t exactly ripped.
Baez and Jansen – but the bullpen is fine. Not just fine, it’s great! Not just great, it’s the best!
Or not.
Jansen probably knows he’s VERY vulnerable to giving up 1 run and is probably frustrated that he has been in a lot of 1 run games lately.
Just my observation.
The “Kenley Show” Again…. But don’t worry, right?
Jansen blows it again!
Muncy has a wrist contusion for now, wondering if an Mri will be done anyway. Lux pulled from OKC game, doubt that is a coincidence, was done before the severity of Muncy’s injury was known. Likely IL stint coming, so maybe I should head to LAX and camp out to see if the phenom is coming!!
How much sense does it make for the NL to continue being the ONLY organized baseball league to NOT have the DH? The answer is simple. NONE.
And all one has to do is watch the umpires miss-call balls and strikes time after time to come to the conclusion that an electronic strike zone has become a necessity.
Beside platooning players that don’t need to be platooned, the subject I hate the most has got to be the DH in the NL. There is still plenty of resistance among NL players and owners that I don’t think it’s going to happen really ever. But, certainly not before the next CBA.
AL baseball is boring even by baseball standards. It removes most of the strategy of the game and it was a freaking stupid idea to begin with. If you aren’t going to let the pitcher bat, why not just bat 8? The AL on average score less than a run per game more than the NL. Is that .71 run really more exciting than sacrificing strategy?
So, the DH made the game worse just so some over-paid pima donna can hang around for a couple more years? Not worth it, get rid of it. Let the pitchers bunt, flail, surprise at the plate and stay on the bump for one more out (hopefully) so you can pinch hit for him the following inning.
Freese will be back on Sept 1. Verdugo won’t. He still has oblique soreness and won’t be back in the first week of September.
https://www.dodgersnation.com/dodgers-injury-updates-on-david-freese-alex-verdugo/2019/08/28/
J.P. Hoornstra on Lux… Gavin Lux will join the Dodgers “in some capacity” and is a candidate to be on their postseason roster, Dave Roberts said.
Does anyone have information as to when and if the implementation of the electronic strike zone and designated hitter for the NL will be done?
I feel for the young man imagine losing your wife, son and mother all at once. Devastating.
Heartbreaking!
Today’s finale in SD:
Pollock
Muncy (2b)
JT
Belly (1b)
CT3 (LF)
Seager
Kike (RF)
Martin (catcher, not closer)
Maeda
That is terrible. Some people are just evil. I like to think the best in everyone. Running around naked tells me he may be on something. Three innocent lives lost.
This is really horrible:
https://www.iheart.com/content/2019-08-28-tampa-bay-rays-pitching-prospects-wife-son-and-mother-in-law-murdered/?mid=267716&rid=93998742&sc=email&pname=newsletter&cid=NATIONAL&keyid=National%20iHeart%20Daily%20Sports&campid=headline1_readmore
I like Keibert’s maturity at 21 and I also like his switch hitting and not striking out.
“I don’t think we were too surprised at what he did,” Oklahoma City manager Travis Barbary told MiLB.com after Ruiz’s debut. “He’s so far ahead of the game at his age and has been since we first brought him into the organization. He put together some great at-bats tonight, but the thing that stands out is he fits into any environment. He handles himself well and he’s not in awe of any situation.”
Ruiz continues to show an innate ability to put the ball in play. He struck out 33 times in 377 at-bats in 2018 and improved upon that this season, fanning 22 times in 314 at-bats.
“His bat-to-ball skills are off the charts,” Barbary said. “He doesn’t swing and miss. It can be tough for a lot of young players, especially catchers. The game can get really quick but for Keibert, his heartbeat is the same all the time. … I can’t say enough about his growth and maturity as a player from when I first saw him.”
Gavin Lux and Dustin May have been selected as Texas League Postseason All-Stars.
I know it’s still the 2019 season but there is a new pitching rule coming next season and the Dodgers better fix the bullpen in the off season or else if you think the bullpen has been bad this season wait until next season if the bullpen isn’t fixed.
Here is the new rule:
Starting next season, “starting pitchers and relief pitchers must pitch to either a minimum of three batters or the end of a half-inning (with exceptions for incapacitating injury or illness),”
Loogies and Roogies are going to be useless, this means Kolarek, Floro, Alexander are going to be useless.
The Dodgers better sign some free agent relievers and/or trade for relievers that can get outs on both sides of the plate.
The obvious free agent reliever is Will Smith. Another free agent reliever with closing type stats that may fly under the radar is Will Harris of the Astros. I’d like to see the Dodgers go all in on both of those guys.
I’d also like to see the Dodgers trade for Aaron Bummer of the White Sox, he’s got closer type stats too and he is definitely a closer in waiting and is under team control through the 2024 season. The White Sox desperately need starting pitching and could use upgrades in their relief pitching which might make them reluctant to trade Bummer. Kenta Maeda Josiah Gray, Dennis Santana to name a few trade chips.
Along with parting ways with Kolarek, Floro, Alexander. I’ve seen enough of Yimi Garcia who is out of options.
Again with that new rule the Dodgers better fix the bullpen in the off season. I’m a believer that good pitching beats good hitting.
It was good to see the offense come alive yesterday. When we get Verdugo and Freese back we will have the offense back at 100%. Hopefully we say bye bye to Negron, White, Gyorko soon. Talk about bottom of the barrel scrap pieces. White 238 OPS with the Dodgers. Gyorko 333 OPS with the Dodgers. Negron better but still not good 733 OPS with the Dodgers.
I mentioned this a couple of days ago. What do the Dodgers do with Seager’s current 663 OPS against left handed pitching come playoff time if that OPS doesn’t increase drastically by then? Does Dave Roberts trot him out there in every game in the playoffs? Hopefully Seager will start hitting lefties and the question becomes a moot point. But if not?
Are we ever going to see Urias pitch back to back days? As I mentioned recently both Urias and Baez have really good OPS against stats relieving and then Kelly the same since at least the all star break. That’s 3 innings of relief pitching that is pretty damn good that should be used in all close games.
The Dodgers may have a big lead in their division, but home field advantage is up for grabs.
Thank you DC, for the excellent and very informative write-up on the minor league. I was glad to see that Ryan Mosely, (one of my favs), is still doing well for Tulsa and looking forward to him advancing next year. The future looks bright for our young men.
I’m picking Pollock as a guy who will have a huge post season for us this year!
I’m thoroughly impressed with all the post-season births up and down the organisation. It’s becoming quite the challenge to keep up with all the prospects nowadays. Even MT is having trouble projecting Hoese into the lineup ahead of forgotten man Vargas. Farm organization rankings say we’re 3rd in the MLB right now by more than one publication, but I wonder how much depth and lower level minor leaguers affect these rankings. I’m sure it’s too tall of a task to evaluate every player so I believe we might just be the top system considering how much talent we stack at the lower levels assuming most of those guys are overlooked.
Speaking of minor leaguers. What’s the over/under on Lux being called up in time to be eligible for post-season play? I’m putting my money on him being called up before Sept 1., just in case.
Well, that slump didn’t last too long. A 9-0 drubbing of the Pads and everything is right in Blue Heaven again. I’m sure the naysayers will say that it’s only the Padres, but Quantrill has been pretty damn good over the last month or so and Petco is a tough place to score runs. Belli got robbed of a HR, so maybe he’s about to turn the corner. It was nice seeing him drive a ball the other way.
More Beaty and less Kike and CT3. The Dodgers have been playing less than great since Kike and CT3 came off the DL. I’m already tired of them, but acknowledge their importance as bench pieces. My greatest fear is not the bullpen, it’s not whether Belli and Seager will hit in the post-season, is not whether Kersh and Ryu can get the best of right handed power, it is that Doc will start CT3 and Kike because they’re right handed.
I miss Dugie! A few more days and we’ll have Verdugo, Freese and Lux. Hopefully, that will help against Left Handed pitching which still seems to be a problem.
Connor Wong is 22-for-43 (.512) during an 11-game hitting streak with six long balls, four doubles, nine RBIs and 10 runs scored. In his last four contests, he’s 12-for-18 to get his Double-A slash line up to .338/.379/.571.
Thanks DC. Nice to hear about the farm kids. Not only do we have very good individuals, but very good teams. I am just amazed at the number of kids brought up to the majors and all have done well. It looks like our farm system is in very good shape.
Minor League Report Updated Above.
Very nice DC, and yes the wait is on.