Upon learning that the Dodgers selected reliever Kyle Grana in the latter portion of MLB’s Rule 5 Draft in December, many dedicated fans of the club immediately began searching the web near and far in attempts to gain knowledge about the hard-throwing righty from Missouri, only to come up short of any significant information in the end.
Continue reading “Dodgers Prospects: A Quick Conversation with Kyle Grana”
In between now and the last time we took a brief moment to see what was happening with pitching prospect Yadier Alvarez, not only did the 20-year-old Cuban righty breeze his way through rookie ball and impress at Low-A Great Lakes, but he also elevated himself into several of the Top 5 lists of Dodgers prospects published during this offseason.
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Further strengthening his chances of garnering a non-roster invite to the Dodgers‘ big league spring training camp next month, 26-year-old farmhand O’Koyea Dickson made a fine impression in the Mexican Pacific League this winter, hammering four home runs in the final three games of Naranjeros de Hermosillo’s second-round playoff series.
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With all the uncertainty surrounding the middle part of the Dodgers‘ bullpen heading into the 2017 campaign, there’s a trio of young relievers, Jacob Rhame, Joe Broussard and Ralston Cash, who are on the fringes of the big leagues and ready to get the call at any point in time. Yet hidden in the depths of the system at Double-A Tulsa, there’s another by the name of Josh Sborz, who has both the competitiveness and physical talent to climb the organizational ladder quickly and conceivably receive a promotion before the other three.
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For those who are very familiar with the farm system of the Dodgers, they’ll know that there are three different tiers when categorizing the levels of starting pitching talent throughout the organization. The top tier, consisting of young, MLB-ready premium throwers like Julio Urias, Jose De Leon, Ross Stripling and Brock Stewart, sets the standard across baseball. The intermediate tier features names like Trevor Oaks, Chase De Jong, Carlos Frias and Scott Barlow — all pitchers considered to be right on the fringe, but could probably assume No. 5 big league spots for almost any team in the league. Then there’s the third tier, which is made up of future stars like Yadier Alvarez, Mitchell White, Josh Sborz, Imani Abdullah and Andrew Sopko. This lower tier puts an exclamation point on how strong and incredibly deep the Dodgers’ minor league system has actually become.
Continue reading “Dodgers Prospects: A Quick Glance at Walker Buehler”
On Tuesday, while publishing the first edition containing our projections for the Dodgers‘ 25-man roster heading into 2017, there were a few areas of the squad that provoked some curious contemplation, with the depth chart at catcher being among the most interesting. After the departures of veterans A.J. Ellis and Carlos Ruiz, 28-year-old Yasmani Grandal will step up to be the new leader of the catching crew, headlining an area of the team that seemingly got loads of years younger with the blink of an eye.
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When we initially decided to take our first look at the Oklahoma City rotation at this point last year, all spots were seemingly up for grabs, with nine different pitchers contending for starting slots at the highest level on the Dodgers‘ farm. The big league pitching staff was still in rough shape, as the front office crew was working diligently to finalize deals with veteran lefty Scott Kazmir and Japanese sensation Kenta Maeda as the final days of 2015 dwindled away.
Continue reading “A Preliminary Projection of Oklahoma City’s 2017 Starting Rotation”
For fans of the Dodgers who follow the farm system relatively closely, infielder Tim Locastro‘s name probably first appeared on the prospect radar when he destroyed the Lancaster JetHawks’ pitching staff last May, accomplishing the rare feat of hitting for the cycle in Rancho‘s 12-1 blowout victory. About six months prior to that, however, he was a lower-level prospect in the Blue Jays organization, ultimately being acquired by Los Angeles along with pitcher Chase De Jong in exchange for three international slots in July of 2015.
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If there’s one spot in the Dodgers‘ farm system that’s considered a void, it’s probably third base. Yet after the year Edwin Rios had last season, the Florida International University product opened the eyes of many followers of the organization, and could very well be roaming the hot corner while on the fast track to the highest levels of the minors.
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Despite not participating in the major league portion of the Rule 5 Draft due to an already full 40-man roster, the Dodgers‘ management crew were indeed instrumental in the minor league segment, choosing Edward Paredes from the Tigers and Kyle Grana of the Cardinals at the tail end of the Winter Meetings on Thursday morning.
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Think Blue Planning Committee 