DODGERS 2017 MINOR LEAGUE/PROSPECTS Thread

I don’t think any of the catching prospects have a bat for a first tier 3rd baseman, so it makes sense to keep them behind the plate.

 

Jim Callis with a nice report out of Dodgers camp. Buehler and Verdugo have been turning some heads, but the biggest news is that Yadier Alvarez has looked really good thus far and is having much better luck finding the strike zone. He figuring it out would oh so so so sooooo nice.

 

Especially given the Julio crisis

 

I am not as worried about him as I was with Urias. He has gone through long seasons before and pitched late into last year(he was also doing side sessions through the WS so some strength is built up). The 150 inning cap is pretty aggressive, but they must feel he can handle it. The reports on him this spring are VERY positive as he realized he got his butt whipped and is working hard at making corrections. They are going to ease him into the season which is the right thing to do anyway with a prospect like him and the pitching depth we have. He should be a viable back end starter down the stretch if needed.

I am honestly not all that worried about Verdugo yet and you really don't have much reason to be either. For all the sites I frequent, this includes basically every scouting service out there, they are very positive on him. He is widely regarded as one of the best bats in MiLB and was extremely young when he came up for his cup of coffee. His numbers after 4 games were almost identical to what Bellinger's were after his first series, the only difference was Bellinger kept playing everyday while Verdugo suddenly had become a here and there pinch hitter(in a time when the whole team was playing like utter shit). If the club had done that to either Seager or Bellinger, I can guarantee you that both would have fallen flat on their faces. People need to realize that many of these guys fail in their first tries and truthfully, all Verdugo got was a 4 game audition. The kid responded by admitting that he fucked up and got his butt kicked, so he worked hard in the offseason and people are saying that they can already see a difference in his play and his numbers this spring are reflecting that. He may not be a superstar, but he is exhibiting the skills to be a very good ball player.

That thing on Alvarez has me a bit giddy and I am trying hard to withhold my excitement until I see results in games. Everyone says the same thing, if it clicks for him, he's a legit ace. I kinda hope we get to see him in a ST game.

 

https://www.truebluela.com/2018/3/26/17165050/mitchell-white-2018-dodgers-prospects

 

Nice article on Verdugo
Dodgers prospect Alex Verdugo has an unusual mentor: Andre Agassi's longtime trainer


By Pedro Moura 7h ago
In the fall of 1989, an adrift Las Vegas teenager named Andre Agassi found Gil Reyes, then the strength coach for UNLV’s basketball team.

When the Runnin’ Rebels won the 1990 national championship, Reyes quit to tutor the wild, eager pupil. For the next 16 years, he mentally and physically trained Agassi, designing and building weight-lifting machines specifically to tone a body for tennis. The partnership fostered great success. Agassi became an international sporting icon and won eight Grand Slam titles. Within his 2009 autobiography, Open, Agassi described Reyes as his “surrogate father.”

Now, Reyes has a new mentee. He, too, is young, athletically gifted, and on the cusp of success at his sport’s highest level, if he can prove he is mature enough. But this one plays baseball. He is Alex Verdugo, the Dodgers’ top position prospect, who spent the entire winter training at Reyes’ Las Vegas gym, working on proprietary equipment alongside tennis and soccer players.

“I knew nothing about tennis either,” Reyes said.

Verdugo met Reyes five years ago, through a cousin who served as general counsel for Agassi and his wife, Steffi Graf. He spent the 2015-16 winter working out with him. After Verdugo’s failed stint with the Dodgers in September, he returned to Reyes, knowing he needed to make a behavioral transformation.

An avuncular man with a motivational, verbose style of speaking, Reyes grew up across Los Angeles as a Spanish speaker. For much of his childhood, his relationship with English was “torturous,” he says. He couldn't grasp it. Reyes likened his language development to Verdugo’s character construction.

“It affected everything I did,” he said. “I was hiding the fact that English was such a struggle for me. Therefore, I was not getting practice, so I didn’t do anything about it.”

Things changed when he heard Vin Scully’s voice through a transistor radio for the first time. He grew infatuated with the sonorous language, worked at it and became fluent. He wants to help Verdugo work on his demeanor the same way.

Verdugo, 21, possesses an advanced ability to discern balls from strikes and meet baseballs with his bat. Depending on the scout consulted, he will either be a capable center fielder or an elite corner outfielder. He lacks power, having launched only six home runs last year in the Pacific Coast League. But he was one of two league regulars to walk more often than he struck out. Because of that, and because of his defense, his floor as a prospect is higher than most.

“His skill set is very good,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “He can essentially do anything on the baseball field.”

In another situation, Verdugo might be a favorite to take home his team’s third consecutive National League rookie of the year award. But these are the depth-driven Dodgers, where established big leaguers begin seasons in Class AAA. Verdugo, too, will start there.

Currently, the Dodgers have six, maybe seven, outfielders ahead of him. Surely, that number will shrink this summer, whether due to injuries, waivers, trades, or poor performance. If Verdugo plays as he has and acts as he’s trained to, he will earn another chance.

“I went into this off-season knowing what I had to do,” he said. “It was all on me. I knew what I had done wrong. I knew I didn’t leave the best impressions.

“I had the whole off-season to think about it every day.”



He blared loud music. He showed up to the ballpark late, at least once, in Washington, which earned him an immediate, public censure from veteran left-hander Rich Hill, 16 years his senior. He hit .174. When reflecting on that month one March afternoon, Verdugo characterized himself as “a little bit more raw,” uncertain what was expected of him.

“I didn’t know how to fully conduct myself,” he said, “in and out of the field and in the locker room.”

Comportment concerns have trailed Verdugo since his high-school days in Tucson. Amateur scouts who saw him then recalled a player both better and outwardly cockier than all of his competition. He fell to the draft’s 64th overall pick despite two-way tools that warranted a higher selection.

He has learned now how to conduct himself, he said. And, in the off-season, he had the lessons reinforced. Reyes outlined “beautiful-slash-painful conversations” they shared. Reyes said he noticed Verdugo’s questions becoming more introspective as the weather got colder. They discussed what went wrong with the Dodgers, why Verdugo failed to earn his teammates’ trust. They resolved to make the simplest of fixes: He’d arrive every morning knowing he needed to acknowledge his colleagues, unobtrusively, remembering he was sharing a space with dozens of men who had their own routines.

Near winter’s end, Reyes saw a sign that, to him, demonstrated his student’s development. Verdugo invited a friend in town to hang out at Reyes’ gym during a workout. When it ended, Verdugo sat on a bench near the entrance and his friend plopped onto one nearby — a bench designated for Agassi. Just then, Agassi walked into the gym with his 16-year-old son, Jaden, a pitching prospect committed to USC.

Quietly, Verdugo asked his friend to move. Reyes rejoiced. Later, he said, he gave him a hug.

“Thank you,” Reyes said. “You’re thinking of others.”



Gil Reyes (left) with Andre Agassi (center) and Philip Agassi in June 1990 (John Russell/Getty Images)
The day Verdugo arrived in Arizona, he greeted every person inside the Camelback Ranch clubhouse with a handshake. He and Reyes had drafted a checklist he was to complete each day: Arrive hours before the morning meeting, ready himself at his locker, work out in the adjacent gym. It was simple, but it was effective.

“It was more of just my routine: I didn’t have one,” Verdugo said. “I was more like, ‘Hey, let’s show up and play some ball.’”

Teammates quickly detected change.

“His work ethic was great throughout spring training,” Hill said. “That’s, obviously, great to see. Watching his ability out on the field, I don’t think anyone will ever question that.”

Verdugo hit .324 with an OPS near 1.000 in 36 spring plate appearances. Before the Dodgers re-assigned him to minor-league camp on Tuesday, he met with Roberts, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and general manager Farhan Zaidi. They told him they appreciated his spring dedication.

“Alex, he’s really impressed me first and foremost with his maturation as a professional,” Roberts said. “I know he’s bought into routine and preparation and that’s translated into his work out there on the field, playing defense and in the box.”

Roberts went as far as to say that Verdugo’s dedication to his work “bled into his play”. The industry will not be as quickly convinced of his rehabilitation.

“You can tell there’s talent there,” one rival talent evaluator said after observing him in the Cactus League. “I don’t know if the want and hunger is enough to sustain a big-league career. He seems to have some peaks and valleys emotionally. He’s likely not a center fielder, and that puts some added pressure on the bat.”



“VER-DU-GO! VER-DU-GO!”

On one mid-March afternoon at Camelback Ranch, Verdugo took grounders in the outfield for extra work. His teammates had retreated to the clubhouse, but first-base coach George Lombard pounded ball after ball to him, and he fielded each with ease. All the while, a man behind a fence shouted his surname at least thirty times. When he finished, Verdugo jogged over to greet him. The man presented him with a box, its labeling indicating that it contained a Baltimore Orioles bobblehead from 2011.

But the fan had painted over since-retired left-hander Brian Matusz to fashion him into a ceramic man resembling Verdugo, wearing his high-school jersey. It was a peculiar gift, but the player embraced it, re-gifting it to his parents.

Verdugo welcomes attention in whatever form it comes. He realizes he will be under a spotlight when he returns to the major leagues, as a Mexican-American in Los Angeles.

“We’re in a big market, man,” he said.

On another day earlier in the month, the Dodgers’ radio reporter and host, David Vassegh, filled in for Alanna Rizzo on the team’s television broadcast. After a Dodger victory, he interviewed reserve catcher Kyle Farmer, concluding the session by calling Farmer “one of the good guys”.

Walking by at that moment, Verdugo stopped.

“How come no one ever ends an interview with me like that?” he asked.

Several days later, Vassegh conducted an extended interview with Verdugo. They stood near the clubhouse entrance, where few could hear. At the end, he said it: Verdugo was, too, “one of the good guys.” The outfielder smiled, walked back to his locker, located his trusty headphones that have replaced his speakers, and placed them over his ears.

Verdugo still seeks validation, which Reyes sees as natural. He expects him to falter and then to recover, this summer and beyond.

“Please don’t think for one minute that we’re not gonna have stumbles,” Reyes said. “I think it would be unfair to Alex to expect a complete metamorphosis to fully manifest itself. But he definitely has a grasp.”

On a Camelback Ranch backfield Saturday, with only a few dozen fans watching, Verdugo reached base on an error. Soon, a Royals pitcher caught him too far off first base, and he was tagged out at second. Verdugo lingered on the dirt near the base, apparently frustrated, though it was uncertain with whom.

After a few beats, a teammate stepped into the batter's box. Seeing it, Verdugo rose up and jogged off the infield. He corrected his first stumble on his path back to Los Angeles.

“I got a taste of it,” Verdugo said. “I want to go back and I want to do everything I can to get back. I figure I don’t want anything going against me.”

 

I like what I'm hearing about Verdugo. Glad he seems to finally realize the immaturity and cockiness won't fly in a Major League clubhouse. Lets hope he stays humble and continues to develop.

 

He has a couple great examples to learn from. I believe he was in OKC when Puig landed there, on the outs with the big club. He should be taking note of Joc's act as well. I hated the Rich Hill signing, still do, but at least he laid the law down last year. He may only be good for 60 pitches or so per post season start, but he's all good in the professionalism lane

 

Fair criticism/skepticism. Still hate that the rival talent evaluator essentially put Verdugo's trade value in a headlock there, though. Never really felt he had the look of a CF myself, then LAD tries to trade Puig for CF Jackie Bradley Jr. this offseason, pretty much confirming. But yeah, here's hoping he ends up in CF because he doesn't have corner pop

 

Agassi had one hell of a mullet.

 

Anyone in your opinion move the needle in A ball? I went to 2 games last year and would like to increase that number.

 

- Cristian Santana is getting some really positive reviews league wide and many believe he could be the next budding superstar out of the system. Had a short PO stint with Rancho and hit the shit outta the ball.
- I really like Dustin May due to his size and spin rate, if he adds a couple ticks to the fastball he will jump into the convo as the top SP prospect in the system after the graduation of Buehler. Cruised in 3 outings in Ranch at the end of the season.
- Gavin Lux should be in Rancho after a strong finish to a mediocre season with GL where he posted an .835 OPS the final two months. A big season in Rancho would bring him back into the fold as a top 10 spect in the system.
- Jeren Kendall could be in Rancho to start the year, but most likely is going to start in the MWL, which is a bit annoying for a 22 year old first round college draftee. It really depends on how he looked this spring and I have not heard a thing about him. They redid his swing which was a total mess, but was showing signs of improvement. We will see how bad he wants it and if he starts to hit the way many thought he could, he has all star upside.
- Connor Wong should be in Rancho at some point this year and Keibert Ruiz could start there. I originally figured we were going to see Farmer AAA, Smith AA, Ruiz HiA and Wong LoA, but the Farmer promotion could push everyone up as Smith and Ruiz were very impressive this spring. Obviously see Ruiz if the opportunity stands, otherwise Wong should be an interesting watch as he was better than advertised in a short stint in the MWL.

Other than that, I can't think of really anyone else at this time. Morgan Cooper and Imani Abdullah would be interesting to watch initially if they make it to Rancho.

 

Have the sneaky suspicion that you'll be spending some time in Tulsa, OK this year. Lol

 

Wait, does @Doughty8 live around Tulsa? I thought he was asking about Rancho since I was under the impression he lived in the area.

 

Nah, I just know he loves DJ Peters' show hair and Peters will be in Tulsa

 

I live in Lakewood so it's Rancho CKWG. Great info thanks!!

 

I do (no homo).