Tonight’s game against the Giants could likely prove to be one of the most important… if not THE MOST IMPORTANT START of the season for a Dodger pitcher. Why? Simply because in his last start, Mitch White gave up ten Hits and six Earned Runs, raising his ERA from 3.38 to 4.20. Mitch has started twelve major league games in his short career, and eight of them have been this…
With Mark on the 10-day inactive list to attend to family business in Las Vegas (ever notice how these trips are never to Des Moines, Iowa or Wichita, Kansas?), Jeff (AC) was desperate for some assistance on the LADT writers roster. With his options limited, he had to resort to adding someone from the alternate training site, and had no choice but to call on me, the Zack Reks/Edwin Uceta…
We are on the eve of the one meaningful positive news event thus far for the 2020 MLB season. Even the event has warts as we have reduced the number of draft picks from 40 to 5, but it still lends to something good to look forward to. We have all read and heard what a throw of the dice the draft is, and with 6 picks, how does that…
There has been considerable discussion on LADT regarding relief pitchers and more specifically what the Dodgers could or should do to strengthen the bullpen. It is a conundrum in that standing pat might fit the definition of doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Yet with relief pitchers who knows. How many have that dominant year and then what follows is not nearly as dominant…
A few days ago, Bluto posed the following: “I mean if you are evaluating players from a far then you have to be down on prospects when they fare poorly. But what’s the difference between being down and writing off? And what does writing off mean? Does it mean moving down in the prospect list? Or removing altogether?” I am sure that my opinion of “being down” vs. writing off…
I listened to the Kyle Glazer (BA) podcast on the state of the Dodger prospects a couple of times last week. Besides some excellent information on few of the Dodger prospects (Lux, Ruiz, Smith, May, Verdugo…), he had some commentary on the 2016 draft by LAD. Recognizing where the Dodgers drafted he was more than complimentary on the draft and stated that it may be one of the very best…
By now everyone knows that the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes defeated the Visalia Rawhide 9-1 to claim the 2018 California League Advanced A League Championship. This was Drew Saylor’s first in his third year. RC last won a California League Championship in 2015 when Alex Verdugo and Cody Bellinger were on the roster. The Quakes won the first half with a 35-35 record but turned it on the second half with…
MLB Pipeline came out with their top 100 MLB prospects, and a new Top 30 for each team. The MLB Pipeline prospect list is put together by Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo, two excellent minor league and amateur talent evaluators. Padres – 4 Top 25; 1 top 26-50; 2 top 51 to 75; 1 top 76 to 100 – – – Top 100 = 8 Braves – 2 Top…
Three weeks for the trade deadline and rumors without knowledge continue to excite or anger baseball fans across the country. It is fun to read other fans takes on their teams and how their prospects line up with others. I was really enjoying Brewers’ fans takes that Keston Hiura should not be included in any trade for Manny Machado, but the Dodgers are silly for not including Verdugo or Ruiz…
Reviewing Class A players and projecting is very premature, but it does get done. That is why so many A level and even rookie level players are included on Top prospects lists, only to fall out later. The most difficult jump in professional baseball is from A Ball to AA. So there is a lot of guessing that goes on with these evaluations. Depending on the age, it is doubtful…