Whether under former general manager Ned Colletti or current president of baseball operations Andrew Friemdan, the Los Angeles Dodgers have largely avoided trading any of the organization’s top prospects.
They did package Jharel Cotton, Grant Holmes and Frankie Montas to the Oakland Athletics last season in exchange for Rich Hill and Josh Reddick, and during the offseason sent Jose De Leon to the Tampa Bay Rays for Logan Forsythe. The Dodgers in those instance traded from a position of depth.
Los Angeles has several talented outfielders in their farm system but with Cody Bellinger now entrenched in the Majors, only Alex Verdugo remains as the next who’s on the doorstep of joining the Major League team.
According to Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group, Dodgers general manager Farhan Zaidi doesn’t anticipate moving Verdugo at this season’s non-waiver trade deadline:
where it makes sense for us to move him (Verdugo)" in a trade-deadline deal.
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) July 9, 2017
Verdugo hit .346/.416/.463 with 18 doubles, four triples, three home runs and 42 RBI through 79 games with Triple-A Oklahoma City. He also has more walks (35) than strikeouts (32) through the first half of the season.
Verdugo ranks fourth in the Pacific Coast League in batting average and on-base percentage. He leads Oklahoma City in batting average and with 103 total hits. Verdugo at one point had a career-best 20-game hitting streak, producing 14 multi-hit contests during that stretch.
He was named to the World Roster for the 2017 Futures Game and was among four Oklahoma City Dodgers who earned a selection to the Triple-A All-Star Game.
If the Dodgers are to trade Verdugo, the Detroit Tigers reportedly have the 21-year-old as one of their top targets. Los Angeles has been linked to J.D. Martinez and Justin Verlander, dating back to last season.
