BTW: I suggest reading that book! Defensive Efficiency Ratio is a statistic used to evaluate team defense by finding out the rate of times batters reach base, on balls put in play. Basically, for every ball hit into the field of play, how likely is the defense to convert that into an out? The formula for Defensive Efficiency Ratio is: 1 – ((H + ROE – HR) / (PA –…
Last year the Giants won 107 games with a rag-tag bunch of never-were’s, some has-beens, and a few wanna-be’s. Players like Brandon Belt, Buster Posey (now retired), Brandon Crawford, and Evan Longoria (has-beens) all come back to play at a high level. Then, players like Lamont Wade, Jr. Wilmer Flores, Darin Ruf played out of their minds at times. If you went position-by-position, it would have been very difficult to…
Squat, Zilch, Nada. For guys like Tomas Tellis, Andy Burns, Eddy Alvarez, Jason Martin, and Stefan Romero, this is like a playoff game. They know that they have no chance… but who knows – it feels like it might (this is their thinking), so they are all in. In reality, they are “organizational depth.” They will be parked at AAA, just in case of a disaster. These are “salt of…
Play-Off Picture Although the minor league season has been extended to the third week in September the push for a very limited play-off spot will soon begin. Actually, the A and AA regular seasons end on September 19 with a five-game playoff between the two teams with the best winning percentage in the league regardless of their division. There are no playoffs at the AAA level but the regular schedule…
The minor league season is three weeks old and there have been some surprises. Admittedly, with the season so young it is not surprising that there are surprises. The pitchers started off with a bit of a head start that is not unusual. The hitters are now starting to hit their stride and put up some numbers. For example, Andy Pages (pronounced Paw-hayes) with the Loons has struck out 21…
One thing that I have come to realize is that when AF and the other Dodger baseball FO personnel determine that there is a weakness in their organization, they address it head on. Most everyone has come to realize that the current Dodgers have a significant weakness in their bullpen, and they went full on in last year’s draft. I know DC is working his way through the recently drafted…
What are the skills that a successful baseball manager must have? I suspect that there are many possible answers to that question, perhaps as many as those answering the question. No doubt each of us posting on LADT have different preferences or expectations. Some are happy with Dave Roberts, some not so pleased, some neutral. Perhaps each of us has a manager in mind that we think is or has…
Just a few notes on the minor league happenings that may or may not be news to LADT posters. In any event, here goes. The Pioneer-Northwest League All-Star game is scheduled for Tuesday at Memorial Stadium in Boise, Idaho. Six Raptors were on the Pioneer League squad, the most of any team in the league. Raptors manager, Austin Chubb, had this to say about his players selected as all-stars. Malisheski: “Kevin’s…
Last Thursday AC completed a review of all nine Dodgers minor league teams. It was an exhaustive review in terms of its depth and probably a bit exhaustive for the author. AC looked at the players, from his perspective, who are on an uphill trajectory. He included 45 players, some on a seemingly quick ascent and others on a more slow but steady climb. The list certainly included some surprises…
No, he is not a member of the late Merle Haggard’s family. He is another one of those invisible Dodgers minor leaguers pitching above expectations. Justin Hagenman was selected by the Dodgers in the 23rd round of the 2018 First-Year Player Draft as a junior out of Penn State., 704th overall. He was born in Voorhees, New Jersey and attended Bishop Eustace Preparatory School in Pennsauken,NJ. At Bishop Eustace Hagenman…