Twenty-year-old Braydon Fisher was selected by the Dodgers in the fourth round of the 2018 First-Year Player draft out of Clear Falls High School in League City Texas. League City is in the Greater Houston Metropolitan Area with a population of just over 100,000. The 6’4”/180-pound right-hander was a stand out in high school. In his senior season at Clear Falls, he was a bit of a strikeout machine, sending…
Get Over it!
To me, that applies to a whole lot more than baseball. Lot’s of people could apply this in their everyday lives… but I digress. Last year’s season was a sprint in 60 games and the Dodgers broke out of the gate and never looked back and at the end of 60 games they had 8 more wins than this team. Of course, they had about 25% of the injuries this…
The Hitting Coach
It might be hard for some to believe, but prior to 1977 the position of Hitting coach as such did not exist. The first hitting coach with that title was Jim Gilliam. There have been 18 since. Before that time, players did not have a specific person to go to. All of these guys had varying degrees of experience. Some, including Gilliam, Mattingly, McGwire. Wallack, Reggie Smith, Jack Clark, Mota,…
Flatter Than Pancakes
As you watch this here 2021 version of the Dodgers, you realize that there are just some days when everyone (or almost everyone) is just sleep-walking and are flatter than pancakes. Sunday was one of those days. I mean when 86-year-old Albert Pujols is your only offense, you have to be flatter than pancakes. The Dodgers need a Kirk Gibson… someone who will step up and call his teammates out….
Is Clayton Kershaw Declining?
Going into last night’s game, Clayton Kershaw had the highest ERA I can remember at this juncture. His ERA was 3.33 before the game and 3.66 after he gave up 5 ER. However, his WHIP sits at 1.01 which is barely above his career average of 1.00. He is now 33 years-old and has started 369 games and pitched 2,403 innings with 2,603 strikeouts. He has 77 strikeouts in about…
Meet Donovan Casey
Casey was selected by the Dodgers in the 20th round of the 2017 First-Year Player Draft out of Boston College. Going into the draft he was ranked No. 128 by MLB.com suggesting he would be selected in the first ten rounds. The Dodgers might just have executed another steal in acquiring the 6’2”/190-pound right-handed hitter and versatile outfielder as late in the draft as they did. The native of Stratford,…
At the 1/3 Mark, What is Next?
Up to the 1/3 point of this season, we have seen a slumping Mookie Betts, almost no cody Bellinger, some AJ Pollock and some Corey Seager. That’s kind of like an 8-cylinder engine without 4 spark plugs. Tonight Jimmy Nelson and AJ Pollock return and Alex Vesia and Edwin Uceta go back to AAA. You bullpen doom and gloomers are not going to like this, but both of these pitcher’s…
The View From Home
I believe Urias will keep up his outstanding work and take lessons from his pounding by the Giants. Buehler to me is an enigma. He has some of the best stuff in the league, yet he has only 4 decisions. But I expect that to change. All in all, the team has underperformed according to the fans. I think with all the changes in the roster, the lack of the DH, injuries to very key players, and the underperformance of their catalyst, Mookie, the team has performed about as one would expect missing so many key pieces.
Jacob Cantleberry: Master of the Changeup
NOTE: This was originally published last year, but has been updated because this guy has one of the best changeups in baseball! Left-hander Jacob Cantleberry was selected by the Dodgers in the 13th round of the 2019 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of Missouri. He was born in Greenwood, Indiana, and attended Center Grove High School in his hometown before heading off to San Jacinto-North Community College, located…
Some Random Thoughts From the Recliner – Doc Edition:
While I’m at it, let’s talk about Friedman for a bit. Where’s that vaunted depth I’ve heard so much about? Anybody with just a little bit of baseball knowledge could have seen that Dustin May would go down for the year, Gonsolin would miss significant time and that your number one prospect, Josiah Gray would get injured. Now’s the time to see that depth.