Dodgers Team News

Dodgers Continue Roster Cuts as Opening Day Approaches

The Dodgers have already made a variety of Spring Training roster cuts and continued the trend with another flurry of moves.

This group includes some of the Dodgers’ top prospects as well as Brock Stewart, who continues to be shuttled between the big club and Triple-A.

Dennis Santana, 22, made a single start for the club last season. He continues to be ranked among the Dodgers’ best pitching prospects and is arguably the second-best in the system as it stands. With the amount of depth the Dodgers currently possess in terms of starters, it would likely take a couple of injuries to get Santana back to the big leagues. Regardless, Santana possesses big-time potential and could emerge as an above-average starter as early as 2020.

Keibert Ruiz, 20, maintains top-tier prospect status heading into the 2019 campaign. In 101 games with Double-A Tulsa last season, Ruiz slashed .268/.328/.401 which was a bit underwhelming in comparison to his .316/.361/.452 marks across two levels in 2017. Ruiz, although a bit of a long shot, could debut in 2019.

Edwin Rios, 24, has some definite intrigue as across 346 minor league games, he has enjoyed a .302/.351/.528 slash line. His defense leaves a little bit to be desired, but there are no viable questions regarding his bat. As long as Max Muncy, Cody Bellinger, and Justin Turner are healthy, Rios is a long shot to make a major league impact in 2019.

Will Smith, 23, remains intriguing but takes a backseat to Keibert Ruiz in terms of who the ‘catcher of the future’ is. His 2018 was entirely underwhelming as he struggled to a .233/.322/.455 slash line in AA and AAA.

Brock Stewart, 27, may see his time with the Dodgers come to end sooner rather than later. Across 80 career innings, he has held a 4.84 ERA and 1.50 WHIP. The team simply has no room for him, quite possibly not even as a depth option.

As spring rolls on, the 25-man roster takes shape.

DODGERS MAKE THEIR SECOND ROUND OF ROSTER CUTS

Daniel Preciado

My name is Daniel Preciado and I am 19 years old. I am a sophomore Sport Analytics major and Cognitive Science and Economics dual minor at Syracuse University. When I am not in New York, I live in Whittier, California --- not too far from Chavez Ravine. I am pretty old-school for being an analytics guy and I will always embrace debate. Also, Chase Utley did absolutely nothing wrong.

7 Comments

    1. I thought I read somewhere that the difference is if a player is on the 40-man active roster which I believe Keibert Ruiz is. Perhaps I will be corrected by someone more informed.

  1. a lot of hype about the catching prospects, and just perhaps Will smith falls into that ‘over hyped’ category if one bases his body of work at both levels in 2018. Brock Stewart…I am not surprised and it’s most likely true he will be dispatched sooner rather than later.

  2. Early in the Realmuto negotiations they wanted one of the catching prospects and an outfielder. That may have been a good deal as the two young catchers do not look like the 2nd coming of Johnny Bench or Mike Piazza. That ship has sailed, so we must do the best we can with Barnes and Martin. The 3rd option will be the dreaded Rocky Gale.

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