Editorials

2014 Season Preview: Los Angeles Dodgers Top 51 Prospects

Joc PedersonThere’s no better way to introduce myself than to talk at length about prospects. I’m obsessed with prospects. It’s not a problem (yet).

I’ve been following the Dodgers’ minor league system for ten years now, back when Edwin Jackson and Greg Miller were supposed to be the second coming of Drysdale and Koufax. And when I say I follow the minor leagues, I don’t mean I look at a box score every once in a while or read Top 10 lists here and there. I subscribe to MiLB.tv. I drive two hours each way to watch the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes. I go to Arizona for spring training and end up spending nearly all of my time on the backfields. And I love it.



But for prospects and the people who love them, there is one ubiquitous enemy: attrition. The vast majority of the guys I’m about to talk about will not reach the majors. Forget having any sustainable success, most of these prospects won’t make it out of Double A. This is the life on the farm: fighting against odds that are impossible to overcome.

That’s not a reason to ignore the farm, though. On the contrary; this is what makes following prospects so fascinating. You never know who’s going to make it. Whether it’s a first overall pick, like Ken Griffey Jr., or a guy who was taken in the 62nd round as a favor to the manager, like Mike Piazza. Sure, your odds of reaching the big leagues are greater as a first round pick, but some of the best players in the league were chosen after hundreds of other players who never reached the show.

Is there another Clayton Kershaw or Matt Kemp in this year’s batch of young hopefuls? The odds say no, but you never know. So, without further ado, I present Dodgers Nation’s Top 51 prospects for the 2014 season. (Click on player names for video)

  1. Joc Pederson
  2. Corey Seager
  3. Julio Urias
  4. Zach Lee
  5. Chris Anderson
  6. Ross Stripling
  7. Alex Guerrero
  8. Chris Reed
  9. Onelki Garcia
  10. Jose Dominguez
  11. Matt Magill
  12. Yimi Garcia
  13. Tom Windle
  14. Scott Schebler
  15. Jacob Scavuzzo
  16. Joey Curletta
  17. Victor Gonzalez
  18. Justin Chigbogu
  19. Alex Santana
  20. Victor Arano
  21. Noel Cuevas
  22. Cody Bellinger
  23. Zachary Bird
  24. Pedro Baez
  25. Jon Garcia
  26. Seth Rosin
  27. Duke von Schamann
  28. Ralston Cash
  29. Jesmuel Valentin
  30. Darnell Sweeney
  31. Andres Santiago
  32. Kyle Farmer
  33. O’Koyea Dickson
  34. Theo Alexander
  35. Josh Henderson
  36. Lucas Tirado
  37. Jeremy Rathjen
  38. James Baldwin III
  39. Scott Griggs
  40. Jonathan Martinez
  41. Tyler Ogle
  42. Adam Law
  43. Jharel Cotton
  44. Brandon Trinkwon
  45. Lindsey Caughel
  46. Carlos Frias
  47. Blake Smith
  48. Aaron Miller
  49. Ariel Sandoval
  50. Michael Medina
  51. Jairo Pacheco

And there you have it. Stay tuned for player capsules, coming at you ten (or eleven) at a time, starting with #51-41.

Video Credits:

Jeff Reese, BullpenBanter.com

Steve Fiorindo, BullpenBanter.com

Chris Blessing, BullpenBanter.com

Baseball America

Dustin Nosler, DodgersDigest.com

MLB.com

MiLB.tv

Sigfried Gonzalez, Youtube

Fox Sports

MLBGlobal13, Youtube

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Staff Writer

Staff Writer features content written by our site editors along with our staff of contributing writers. Thank you for your readership.
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