The 2016 season opened with some of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ top prospects debuting for new teams while others remained in Arizona, working their way back to full health, or shaking off rust.
A few prospects, notably Corey Seager and Ross Stripling, broke camp with the Major League club. Some of the younger hitters and pitchers remained in extended Spring Training, waiting for rookie ball. Now one month into the season, it’s time to review who stormed out of the gate and what can be expected over the next few months.
Crème of the Crop
Top hurler Julio Urias began the season where he ended last year, Triple-A Oklahoma City. And the Midwest has been much kinder to him a second time around. Through his first four appearances (three starts), the 19-year-old southpaw has struck out 23 batters and walked just three.
Urias has posted a 2.50 ERA, which is good for 10th in the league. He pitched just 18 innings during the opening month but figures to exceed 100 innings for the first time in his career.
Another teenager, Alex Verdugo, was surprisingly assigned to Double-A Tulsa in just his second full season. The outfielder batted .311 last year between Low-A Great Lakes and High-A Rancho Cucamonga.
Through his first 22 games with the Drillers, Verdugo is batting .263 with a pair of doubles and a pair of home runs. He won’t turn 20 years old until May 15, so expect some time for him to adjust to playing against opponents who are four-to-five years older than him.
Righty Grant Holmes got off to a hot start with the Quakes, opening his 2016 campaign with a pair of shutout starts. However, in his last three games, he’s allowed 11 runs and issued eight walks, simply proving how difficult it is to pitch in the California League.
Holmes’ peripherals are solid, though, and his ERA is 3.67. The versatile Austin Barnes also broke camp with the Dodgers while Yasmani Grandal was injured, but struggled in his brief time in the Majors.
Barnes was optioned to Oklahoma City on April 15, and has fared far better in the Pacific Coast League, hitting .297/.469/.405 with more walks than strikeouts. He can be an asset on the Major League roster, but only if he gets significant playing time.
Jharel Cotton, another on the OKC Dodgers roster, has gotten off to an up-and-down start this season. He’s had a five-inning rain-shortened complete game, a four-inning seven-run blowout, and a few starts in between that has led to a 5.40 ERA in five appearances.
Cotton has struck out 25 batters in 21.2 innings pitched, but also allowed four home runs, so some consistency in his performance is needed before he eventually makes his Major League debut.
CONTINUE RADING: Yaisel Sierra makes professional debut, and more
The Cuban Contingent
The Dodgers’ biggest international signing of the offseason, Yaisel Sierra, made his professional debut on Saturday with the Quakes, and showed glimpses of why the club signed him for $30 million, striking out seven batters in four innings of work.
However, he allowed three runs on six hits, including a home run, and issued two walks. After reportedly touching 100 mph prior to signing, Sierra largely sat in the low 90s in his debut.
His slider was his bread and butter, as he located it fairly well and got a good number of swings and misses. It’s just Sierra’s first start of what should be a lengthy career, so don’t put too much stock into it.
Sierra’s Quakes teammate, outfielder Yusniel Diaz, began the season with an aggressive assignment to High-A. When I saw him in Spring Training, Diaz looked unsure at the plate, sending most of the balls he put in play to the second baseman.
That carried over to the first week of the season, as he went 1-for-his-first-17. However, a road trip to Lake Elsinore and Lancaster turned him around and he’s since gone 15-for-38 with three triples and three home runs.
Just 19 years old, Diaz is one of the youngest players in the California League and there will surely be more bumps in the road, but his quick turnaround is definitely worth praising.
In Low-A, Omar Estevez, the youngest Cuban of the bunch, has struggled with his assignment thus far. The infielder is batting just .234 with a .572 OPS in his first 17 games. Granted, the Midwest League is hell on hitters and cold April games in Michigan and the greater Midwest are hard on anyone, let alone young players who are accustomed to a warmer climate.
Hopefully, as the weather warms up, so does his bat. Cuban right-hander Yadier Alvarez was seen in Arizona recently, touching the usual 97 with his fastball, though it appears he’s simply staying in extended Spring Training to work out the kinks rather than to rehab an injury. The 20 year old still needs work commanding his arsenal but could head out to an affiliate this month.
CONTINUE READING: Checking in on Cody Bellinger and other injured prospects
Health Update
One of the most anticipated 2016 debuts came just this weekend, as Cody Bellinger returned from a hip injury that cost him the first three weeks of the season. Bellinger made a name for himself last year by clubbing 30 home runs with the Quakes, then played well in the spring.
Luckily, the injury seems relatively minor and shouldn’t be a recurring issue. Meanwhile, the Dodgers’ No. 3 prospect coming into the year has yet to pitch in a competitive game, but that should change soon.
Jose De Leon, who made a few appearances during his time in Major League camp, missed the start of the season with an ankle injury but is slated to debut with Oklahoma City on Tuesday. The 23-year-old right-hander has struck out an astonishing 335 batters in 244.1 career innings.
The timeline on Frankie Montas is still somewhat unclear, as he began a throwing program in the first week of March but the details of his recovery have been sporadic, at best, since then. He posted video of himself throwing a bullpen, but since then it’s been radio silence.
With the bullpen’s struggles and Montas’ electric fastball, it isn’t difficult to imagine he could help the Dodgers’ bullpen this season. Another top prospect who has yet to throw a pitch for the Dodgers is Walker Buehler.
Last year’s first-rounder had Tommy John surgery about two months after he was selected 24th overall. In Spring Training, I saw him doing throwing drills with a towel, but it’s doubtful that he pitches competitively this season. Hopefully he’ll be back on the mound for instructional league and be ready for 2017.
CONTINUE READING: Prospects who are making an early impression
Early Risers
A pair of 2014 draftees have made impressive impressions early in the season. Right-handers Brock Stewart and Trevor Oaks were both promoted from High-A Rancho to Double-A Tulsa within the first month of the season.
Stewart, the sixth-rounder in 2014, finally showed he was human on Sunday, allowing three runs in six innings, raising his season ERA to 1.61 in his first 5 starts. However, he struck out seven and didn’t walk a batter, extending his strikeout-to-walk ratio to 30-to-6.
Oaks, who was drafted a round after Stewart, saw his velocity jump this spring. He has also posted an impressive ratio (26:3), and has walked just one batter in his last four starts. The Riverside native posted a 2.65 ERA in 23 games last year between Great Lakes and Rancho, and now sports a 3.19 ERA so far in 2016.
Drillers catcher and 2013 eighth-round pick Kyle Farmer hit the ground running this season, matching his 2015 home run total in the first nine games of the season. He cooled off late in April before heading to the disabled list after taking a foul tip to the head.
A quartet of Quakes hitters have gotten off to hot starts. Catcher Julian Leon, who had a disappointing 2015 season, is batting .326 with seven doubles and a .923 OPS in his first 13 games this season.
Outfielder Andrew Toles, signed as a Minor League free agent last September, is batting .370 with nine stolen bases in 22 games. Toles ranks second in batting and third in steals in the Cal League. Outfielder Kyle Garlick, last year’s 28th-rounder, has been one of the top hitters in the league, placing eighth in OPS and tied for third with six home runs.
Shortstop Erick Mejia, acquired in the trade that sent Joe Wieland to Seattle, is batting .351 with solid defense at short.
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