A Quick Look at What’s Happening with Triple-A Oklahoma City

Published on by Dennis Schlossman

jbroussard2

As the first month of the minor league season is quickly coming to a close, we thought it might be a good idea to take a peek at the progress of the Triple-A Oklahoma City Dodgers.

It’s been a bit of a struggle for first-year manager Travis Barbary’s squad so far, as OKC has tallied a 8-15 record and currently finds itself in last place of the American Southern division of the Pacific Coast League.

Unlike many of the seasons over the past few years, Oklahoma City seemingly finds itself with a lack of talent. The offense has been slow and the starting pitching has been sub-par. However, there have been several bright spots in the OKC bullpen, which could be extremely beneficial for the big league squad as the season advances.

Of the 16 teams in the PCL, Oklahoma City is currently ranked 15th in team hitting with a .238 average and a .691 OPS. In an environment where the ball tends to have a bit more flight, OKC has collectively hit just 16 long balls, which is dead-last in the league. In contrast, the El Paso Chihuahuas have hit 61 homers to lead the league.

Individually, Matt Beaty is leading the team with 22 base hits and is batting .278 with a .765 OPS. Outfielder Kyle Garlick has 33 total bases to lead the club and also has the team lead with four home runs.

Catcher Will Smith, who began the season on a torrid pace offensively, leads the team with 12 RBI. Smith also has the best OPS on the club with a .914 mark. At the moment, he’s hitting .271/.405/.508 in his first 59 AB.

Pitching-wise, OKC finds itself sitting eighth in the league with a 5.38 team ERA, which gives sentiment to how easy it is to hit in the PCL.

There really hasn’t been much excitement in terms of individual pitching in the rotation, though. Righty Tony Gonsolin was sent to the injured list after making just two starts. At the moment, the rotation consists of Rob Zastryzny, Daniel  Corcino, Brock Stewart, Ben Holmes and Dennis Santana.

Of that group, Stewart has the best ERA at 2.81, after having made four starts. Santana has struggled since being sent back down, making two starts and surrendering six earned runs on nine hits. Zastryzny has tallied a 6.16 ERA over four starts.

The bullpen has fared much better. Veteran JT Chargois has allowed just one run over eight innings and six appearances. Joe Broussard, who struggled a bit during 2019 Cactus League play, is throwing extremely well. The 28-year-old righty has registered a 1.86 ERA and has 10 punchouts over seven games and 9-2/3 innings of work.

Conversely, hard-throwing Stetson Allie began the year as the team’s closer, but has since compiled a 13.50 ERA after making six appearances. He has logged just four full innings, surrendering six earned runs on three hits, five walks and a hit batsman.

Looking ahead to the coming week, OKC will host Round Rock for a four-game set before travelling to New Orleans four a four-game wrap-around series beginning on Friday.

There’s still no official word on the details surrounding Andrew Toles, who was sent to the club’s restricted list before the beginning of the big league season.

 

16 thoughts on “A Quick Look at What’s Happening with Triple-A Oklahoma City”

  2. Not a great start for a lot of our top prospects! May, Estevez and Lux have had good starts but a lot of ugly after them

    Like

    Reply

  3. Looks
    Ike his future is 2nd base then. Looking at Belly’s swing this year it looks more compact and less violent than last year with ALOT more contact. Very impressive

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  6. Nice comeback win yesterday. It got interesting at the end, but they pulled it out. Very impressed with the improvement in Bellinger’s approach and his swing. Muncy looked a lot better yesterday than he has in the last week, Still needs to clean up the defense.

    Like

    Reply

    1. It’s not particularly easy for an above average defender to be moved around the infield and no one has ever accused Max of being an above average defender. That was not a pretty throw yesterday, but when they ask him to play first, second and third, we’re going to have to put up with those kind of plays. That should be easier to do if he continues to make the offensive progress he has in the past few days. Also, when you get into your head that a guy isn’t a very good defensive player (as most of us have with Muncy), we tend to focus on the bad plays and tend not to remember the better ones.

      Like

      Reply

      1. Jefe, I get it. But the problem is that there are not that many good ones either. Ok, he makes routine plays ok. But I never have liked having a mediocre glove at first base no matter what Scoop might think. I also understand giving Turner a blow now and then, but I would have rather had Freese over there at 3rd than Muncy.

        Like

      2. I agree with you on the importance of having a really good glove man at first. I’d like to see Belli there on a regular basis, but he may also be our best defensive outfielder. I guess that’s a good problem to have. I haven’t checked Freese’s defensive stats against Max’s. He may be a lot better, but Muncy is hitting a lot better right now (meaning for the last couple of days). This is another one of those situations where we ignore it if it works out and come down hard on Doc if it doesn’t. That’s why it’s easier to be a fan than a manager (although it’s more financially rewarding to be a manager).

        Like

      3. Well he is probably that and with Pollock headed to the IL, he will most likely stay there. None of the outfielders at OKC very impressive at this point and the 2 best hitting prospects, Beatty and Rios are at this point pedestrian at best.

        Like

  8. Muncy did make a damn good play in last nights game. Run saving dive to keep a run from scoring. Actually the defense was the highlight reel for them this game because Stripling was ineffective, Floro made one bad pitch and the offense was stale again. Oh yeah, Roberts pinch hit the .169 hitting Chris Taylor for the 300 plus hitting Verdugo to lead off the 9th…..about as stupid a move as ol Dave has ever made. Verdugo has hit lefty’s a lot better than Taylor has.

    Like

    Reply

    1. I am generally more positive about Roberts than negative but I thought I was dreaming when he had Taylor hit for Verdugo. I would love to hear his explanation as to why he did that because I agree that this was about the dumbest move I’ve ever seen him make. Of course it was compounded by the fact that once CT got to the plate he proceeded to strike out on 3 pitches.

      Like

      Reply

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.