Editorials

Top Dodgers Prospects: Comparing Spring Training to Now

One of my favorite parts of being a fan of the Dodgers is the great amount of good prospects that are drafted or signed, developed and promoted.  This morning my day was made early when I saw this:

I keep a spreadsheet of as many of the prospect lists that I can find as I like to compare either the same site or different sites.  The one I like best is the one from MLB Pipeline as has a quick and easy list to look through with enough detail to keep me engaged.  What I am going to do is take the raw data from the MLB Pipeline from early Spring Training (I entered the data into my spreadsheet on February 27, 2018) and the new list today (July 26, 2018) and look at the differences.

The first column is note about why a prospect is missing from then until now.  The second column is the list from February 27 and the last column is for the July 26 list.  The ranking number is in the third column.

Notes February 27, 2018 Rank July 26, 2018 Position
Graduated Walker Buehler 1 Alex Verdugo OF
Alex Verdugo 2 Keibert Ruiz C
Keibert Ruiz 3 Will Smith C
Mitchell White 4 Dustin May P
Trade to Orioles Yusniel Diaz 5 Dennis Santana P
DJ Peters 6 Gavin Lux 2B,SS
Jeren Kendall 7 Mitchell White P
Yadier Alvarez 8 DJ Peters OF
Will Smith 9 Jeren Kendall OF
Dennis Santana 10 Yadier Alvarez P
Dustin May 11 Caleb Ferguson P
Edwin Rios 12 Diego Cartaya C
Gavin Lux 13 Michael Grove P
Cristian Santana 14 Edwin Rios 1B,3B
Connor Wong 15 Tony Gonsolin P
Caleb Ferguson 16 Edwin Uceta P
Starling Heredia 17 Connor Wong C,INF
Jordan Sheffield 18 Braydon Fisher P
Retired Imani Abdullah 19 John Rooney P
Errol Robinson 20 Luke Raley 1B/OF
Still in organization Morgan Cooper 21 Drew Jackson INF
Traded to Reds James Marinan 22 Errol Robinson INF
Matt Beaty 23 Matt Beaty 1B/3B
Tony Gonsolin 24 Ronny Brito SS
Still in organization Kyle Farmer 25 Marshall Kasowski P
Drew Jackson 26 Cristian Santana 1B/3B
Still in organization Romer Cuadrado 27 Starling Heredia OF
Ronny Brito 28 Jordan Sheffield P
Luke Raley 29 Gerardo Carrillo P
Still in organization Donovan Casey 30 Robinson Ortiz P

One omission of note is 18 year old Miguel Varas, currently tearing it up on Ogden.  It is a small sample size but he seems like a doubles machine with 11 in 103 at bats.  He will be on many top prospect lists soon.

Dodgers
Feb 24, 2018; Surprise, AZ, USA; Kansas City Royals third baseman Cheslor Cuthbert (19) is tagged out at home plate by Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Will Smith (79) during the second inning at Surprise Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports

Here are some further notes on some of the prospects that are in the latest list:

  • Will Smith – in almost the same amount of games, Smith has 8 more home runs than last year.  The Dodgers are loaded at catcher.
  • Dustin May – he has spent all year with the high Single A Quakes, which play in the hitter friendly California League. Although only 20, May has been rising up many prospect lists.  He is due for a promotion to AA.
  • Dennis Santana – he started the season in AA, went to AAA for two games, then he was called up the the Majors where he went and got hurt.  However, he is out of his sling and on the road to recovery.
  • Gavin Lux – in my opinion, his improvement has some attribution to playing in a hitter friendly league but I think the biggest reason is the physical part of growing up.  The ball sounds great off the bat but the defense is suspect.
  • Diego Cataya – he was rated as the top international signing for 2018.  Another excellent catching prospect who should climb the rankings, once he gets settled and assigned to a team.
  • Tony Gonsolin – he’s 24 and has dominated in high A and now AA.  At his age I bet he finishes in AAA.
  • Marshall Kasowski – mainly a reliever, he’s 23 and started in low A.  After dominating at 2 levels he is now in AA.  I also expect he gets promoted to AAA soon.
  • Gerardo Carrillo – Carrillo is a new prospect for me.  He’s at low A right now and is only 19.  It looks like he starts most of the time and pitches just a few innings.
  • Robinson Ortiz – he can reach 94 MPH with his fastball and he’s only 18.  Some say he doesn’t project too high but I think they are wrong.  I look forward to seeing Ortiz in high A by the end of 2019.

As the trading deadline approaches I do expect to lose a few of these prospects from the latest list.  If it wasn’t for the Manny Machado trade I’m guessing the current list might have 2 to 4 different prospects.  That is the price paid for upgrading the major league team.  As trades occur be sure to keep your eye on the Dodgers top 30 prospect list as it will change throughout the rest of the year.

Go Dodgers!

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Tim Rogers

A fan of the Dodgers since 1973 since I got my first baseball cards while living in Long Beach. I came to San Diego for college and never left nor did I ever switch my Dodgers' allegiance. Some know me as the "sweater guy". #ProspectHugger

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