Most of the talk re: minor league players on Dodger blogs centers around those players considered to be top prospects .That is about Walker Buehler, Keibert Ruiz, Connor Wong, Dennis Santana, DJ Peters, Alex Verdugo and other highly ranked prospects. They have, for the most part, earned their recognition by their ascension through the ranks and perhaps some by their draft selection placement or signing bonus. I have no problem…
It’s Deja Vu All Over Again…
On April 25, 2017. The Los Angeles Dodgers had 10 wins and 11 losses and Dodger fans were talking crazy: Here’s one: Watching the Dodger hitters ineptitude last night was frustrating. It seems to me (bright baseball minds on this sight can provide the stats that say yea or ney) that the inability to hit LH pitching or with RISP goes hand in hand with games like last night where…
Dennis Higgins – Voice of the Tulsa Drillers
During the past three years four Dodger minor league affiliates have won a league championship. The Rancho Cucamonga Quakes did so in 2015, the Great Lakes Loons in 2016 and the Ogden Raptors in 2017. And, let’s not forget that the 2017 DSL Dodgers won the league title among themselves. That is, the DSL Dodgers No. 2 defeated the DSL Dodgers No. 1, 6-4, in the league’s championship game at…
The Next Big Thing: Striker Buehler!
No pitcher should ever be called “Walker,” so I have taken the liberty of changing his name to “Striker” Buehler. I thought about spelling his name with a “Y” instead of an “I” but that just wasn’t as effective. Also, if a pitcher struggles with an aspect of his game, like walking too many batters, which Buehler does, you should never call him by his weakness. It’s negative thinking and…
What Do We Know? It Turns Out: Not a Damn Thing!
Many Dodger fans (including me) think Joc Pederson should be in Siberia or Tulsa or OKC. But he started the scoring with a home run off of Stephen Strasburg. Joc was 2-4 last night. Many Dodgers fans have wanted Kike Hernandez banished, – especially because he can’t hit RHP. But he hit another home run off Strasburg last night… and the last I checked Strasburg was RH. Imagine that! Many…
Kershaw’s Greatest Strength is His Greatest Weakness
I have talked about this before and I will keep talking until someone convinces Clayton Kershaw that change is good. Clayton is still an elite pitcher… maybe the best pitcher in baseball… especially if he would not be so predictable. Hitters know he wants that first pitch strike and they are ready – especially in the Playoffs. Washington was jumping on his first pitch in the first inning and most…
My Thoughts About Grandal, Santana and Taylor
When the Dodgers traded Matt Kemp for Yasmani Grandal, I was probably the only Dodger fan that I knew of who liked the deal (at least, it felt like it). Boy, did I hear (repeatedly) how dumb that was. In fact, every time Grandal didn’t get a hit, which was 77% of the time or there was a passed ball or wild pitch, the idiots piled on (they still do,…
Reliever Statistics and Minor League Report
With all of the statistics discussion yesterday, and much of it directed to relief pitching, I thought that I would gather some Dodger relief pitching comparisons, keying on inherited runners and inherited runners scored. See table below. With the recall of Adam Liberatore, the Dodgers have now used 10 relief pitchers. 6 of those relief pitchers have entered into the games and have inherited runners. On 13 different occasions, 20…
Dodger Chatter: Baseball Statistics – the Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Baseball, among all of the major sports, is the one most closely linked to statistics. There seems to be a stat for just about every circumstance one can imagine. Each year the game becomes more and more saturated with statistics. The use of statistics in the greatest game of all is not new. The practice of keeping records of player achievements was started in the nineteenth century by Henry Chadwick….
Don’t Confuse Yourself!
I don’t know if this is where the ship turns around, but I have always said that this team has too much talent to fail very long. This team is finally figuring out how to work the count and hit as a team… picking each other up. Some of you think the Dodgers didn’t make wholesale moves over the winter because FAZ is from a small market and is not…