Considering the recent struggles of the Dodgers bullpen, there’s bound to be a number of moves on the horizon, even before rosters expand at the beginning of September. Besides the collapse of every available arm in the current crew, there’s been plenty of other news, most specifically the back injury to righty Ross Stripling and yet another setback for hard-throwing right-hander Josh Fields.
The minor league system has its fair share of relievers; however, it’s another case of having a bunch of arms who are somewhere around the mediocre level or below. We all remember Edward Paredes, who was designated for assignment earlier in the year, but was able to clear waivers and eventually return back to Triple-A Oklahoma City. There’s also Adam Liberatore, who has been fighting injuries all season and will likely be unable to join the big league squad down the stretch. Brian Schlitter, the 32-year-old righty journeyman, has 16 saves to lead OKC. And then there’s guys like Shea Spitzbarth, Josh Sborz and Joe Broussard, who may conceivably have enough talent to throw in the majors, yet they have been victimized by the hitter-friendly confines of the Pacific Coast League this season to some extent or another.
In light of everything said, we thought it would be interesting to look at the bullpen from a completely different perspective, this time considering three emerging arms who may have success in the bigs sometime down the road. Because they’re not anywhere near the 40-man roster, these players probably won’t see major league action this season, but they are pitchers who will have plenty of upside moving forward.
Nobody has been on more of an extreme roller coaster during their minor league career than flamethrower Yadier Alvarez. At one point, the Cuban righty was cemented in the organizational Top 3 prospects rankings, but injuries and lack of command eventually pushed him off the radar. The beginning of 2017 was no different; however, once he returned from the disabled list this summer, the scouting directors finally decided to let him throw exclusively out of the bullpen, a move which all of us here at TBPC have been anticipating for a very long time.
Currently on the Double-A Tulsa roster, Alvarez recorded his first save of the year last Saturday, tossing four full innings at San Antonio, where he struck out six opposing batters and allowed just two hits. Of course, it’s just one outing, but there’s still a ton of talent there and his arm has so much action that it’s plenty to be excited about, especially when considering the future direction of the big league relief corps. As far as his repertoire goes, Alvarez features a four-seamer that varies in velocity, but it has been known to touch the 100 MPH mark on occasion. His slider is by far his best breaking pitch, often being clocked around 20 MPH slower than his fastest heater. He was never able to master a change or a curveball completely, but in theory, he won’t need them if he’s strictly throwing out of the bullpen.
27-year-old righty Stetson Allie is another interesting reliever in the system, having split time as both an outfielder and a pitcher over the course of his eight-year minor league career. The Pirates selected him in the second round of the 2010 draft primarily for his pitching skills, but eventually abandoned him after his 2016 campaign, seeing that he never rose above the Double-A level. The Dodgers appeared to be interested in him as a corner outfielder and signed him as a free agent later that winter. He looked promising in 2016 when he hit 16 long balls and 63 RBI, but after a dismal 2017 when he slashed just .216/.293/.341, the Dodgers decided to let him try his hand at pitching once again.
Allie began his 2018 campaign on the bump in High-A Rancho, made a quick 11-appearance stop at Tulsa, and is now opening eyes at OKC. Through his first five outings for Oklahoma City, he has posted an impressive 1.69 ERA while allowing a very stingy .133 BAA. Like Alvarez, Allie can exceed the 100 MPH mark on the gun, which makes the management crew of the Dodgers excited about his future, despite his age.
Righty Marshall Kasowski doesn’t throw quite as hard as Alvarez or Allie, but he has a special gift of having the ability to miss bats. We’ve talked about the 23-year-old Texas native plenty this year already, as his ridiculous 15.71 K/9 is the chief reason for all the exposure. The righty started the season at Low-A Great Lakes, dominated in the hitter-friendly Cal League and now is one of the principle relievers at Tulsa.
So far for the drillers, astonishingly, Kasowski hasn’t allowed a single hit or a run in any of his five appearances or 6-1/3 innings pitched. For the entirety of 2018, across three levels, he has a 1.68 ERA in 37 games, with a phenomenal 103 punchouts over 59 innings, while allowing an extremely impressive .117 BAA. Kazowski was drafted by the Dodgers in the 13th round of the 2017 MLB draft out of West Texas A&M, not long after being named the 2017 Lone Star Conference Co-Male Athlete of the Year.
In terms of his repertoire, Kasowski’s best offering is undoubtedly his heater, which sits in the low-to-mid nineties, sometimes topping out as high as 96 MPH. But it’s his unorthodox delivery which caught the eye of the major league scouts. He throws from a slot right next to his ear, which creates a very deceptive motion that leads to him missing plenty of bats. He still has some control issues, but that’s to be expected, considering he’s just in his first full year in the system.
Think Blue Planning Committee 
Ironic that when Alvarez was officially a starter he used to go 2-3 mediocre innings. Now that he’s a reliever, he went 4 strong innings. I’m sure that part of his success, as you mentioned, is that he’ll only need to master two pitches instead of three or four.
LikeLike
p.s.—I still haven’t given up on Broussard.
LikeLike
Another name we should start paying attention to is Andre Scrubb. Started the year at GL, then RC, now at Tulsa. Numbers look very nice. I can’t remember if you (Dennis) or Manuel have done a write up on him.
LikeLike
Jason has been mentioning him pretty much every week.
LikeLike
My apologies Jason. Probably what put the idea in my head in the first place. And while we’re at it, do you prefer Jason, Manuel or some other name which you hinted at in an earlier post?
LikeLike
Whatever you feel most comfortable with, Jeff.
🙂
LikeLike
Since we’ve formed this lifelong friendship, I think I’ll use your first name Jason, except when I’m in violent disagreement with some opinion you express, in which case I’ll use your last name. 🙂
LikeLike
In that case Jeff, I take it back. Refer to me by my current handle because only Dennis has the right to use my first name, anyway. Thanks for reminding me of how often we tend to “violently” disagree on here or I wouldn’t have come to this final conclusion. Besides, you wouldn’t want me to refer to you by your “other” name on here would ya???
XD
LikeLike
As you wish sir, from now on it’s only Manuel, and I’ll try to cut down on the violent disagreements. Can’t you just see us having a violent disagreement like the one that Puig and Hundley had the other night. Dennis could grab one of us while Scoop or Keith could hold back the other guy. We’d probably both be suspended for the rest of the season. “How did it start” asked the reporter. “He called me Jason”, answered Manuel.
LikeLike
Andy’s the boss. You’ll need to clear all that with her.
LikeLike
OK, if she’s willing to put herself between Jason, er I mean Manuel, and myself while we’re going at it.
LikeLike
If I’m reading this right you are saying that we have nothing on the farm to look forward to.
LikeLike
In terms of players who are ready for the majors right now? Correct. The point of the post was to outline three arms who could make a big league impact as soon as next season.
LikeLike
Doesn’t look like this pen is fixable this season. Anybody have any legitimate ideas?
LikeLike
Jeff had mentioned Kershaw. I think it’s definitely something worth exploring. If Jansen comes back strong, having him and Kersh on the backend would certainly be a formidable option.
LikeLike
I think it’s even more important to have CK available before Kenley gets back when we apparently have no one else at all (except Baez, of course). The bullpen operated decently with all these guys leading to Kenley, but apparently the pressure of being the captain, the last one off the ship, is too much for these other guys. That said, they’ve each screwed up once; the problem is they did it in consecutive games, making the problem a spectacular failing. For all we know, they might be OK the second time around, or at least pitch up to their past performances, meaning mostly OK and sometimes not. So, in reading what I’ve just written, I have very cleverly argued both sides of the problem and haven’t solved anything and that is, very simply, why I’m neither manager nor general manager of this team.
LikeLike
I take it you didn’t think my solution was legitimate
LikeLike
Well I’m going to keep blaming everything on the damn luxury tax, that we’re trying to stay under.
LikeLike
We’ll forgive them this winter when they re-sign Kershaw and Machado and then sign Harper and Kimbrel and let’s throw in Andrew Miller and Dozier for good measure.
LikeLike
I’ll be happy if they bring back Danny Hudson.
LikeLike
No you won’t.
LikeLike
According to several sources, he’ll be activated before tomorrow’s opener in Seattle. That should provide a hearty boost to the bullpen.
LikeLike
I’m assuming that unless someone is DL’d it’s bye-bye Rosscup.
LikeLike
Let’s not forget the bullpen isn’t the only issue. If all our offensive “talent” doesn’t start scoring more on a consistent basis we’re not winning the west and very likely not getting into the playoffs! We’ve wasted a lot of great starting pitching lately.
LikeLike