PROSPECTS Meanwhile, Down on the Farm

Mike Sirota (acquired in the Lux trade) was tearing up low A ball at Rancho Cucamonga where he slashed .354/.443/.687 over 99 ABs, so they bumped up to hi-A Great Lakes. All he's done in his first three games is go 7 for 11 with a double and two round-trippers. Dodgers obviously liked his potential, drafting him in '21 but he didn't sign. Last year the Reds took him in the third round and clearly was still on the Dodgers radar. One could argue that Lux was a steep price to pay for a prospect still in the lower minors, but Gavin was expendable with the signing of Kim, so here we are. We'll see if and how he progresses through the system, but the potential of some kind of combination of him and Hope and Kendall George and Josue De Paula (all currently at Great Lakes) and Pages some day manning the Dodger OF paints a rosy picture.

 

Outman lost his PCL lead in striking out during his couple weeks with the Dodgers, but no worries... he picked up three yesterday and is now only one back of the lead.

 

Kopech is REALLY struggling in OKC. It's a shame because the team desperately needs him back, especially now without Yates and going into a tough stretch on the schedule.

 

Kopech pitched a clean inning yesterday with one strikeout.

Got his ERA down to a respectable 27.00, haha.

 

You're not going to see this name on many Dodgers top prospects lists... at least not yet, but definitely one to keep an eye on.

Starting pitcher Patrick Copen is a 6'6" 2023 round 7 Dodger pick out of Marshall. In '24 he got promoted from Rancho to High-A Great Lakes, then in August took a 100 mph line drive to the face. Had to undergo surgery to repair his mug and was shut down the remainder of the season.

So far this year, he's only struck out 73 batters in 44 innings, including 12, 7, 11, and 10 over his past four starts. He needs to rein in the walks -- he has 29 in those 44 innings, which contributed to a still-respectable 1.14 WHIP. At 3-1 and 2.45 ERA, he's where he needs to be, but over those four May starts, he seems to have taken it to another gear -- 2-0, 1.85 ERA, 0.74 WHIP, 40 strikeouts and only 8 walks in 24.1 IP. Might not be long before he finds himself in Tulsa.

I'm pulling for this guy, not just because it's a feel-good story after that brutal injury, but because frankly the Dodgers prospect stream is getting a little thin at pitcher (Ferris is struggling, so is Wrobleski, Miller's a bust, Ryan and Hurt are on the shelf, etc.).

https://www.mlb.com/video/patrick-copen-k-s-11

 

hey statman
any word on sheehan?

 

Actually he made his first rehab start yesterday. This was way down in the Arizona rookie league, so don't read too much into it, but he threw 20 of 29 pitches for strikes over 2 perfect innings, striking out 5 of 6.

 

Per fsu's post regarding Keith Law's top 50, De Paula (#23) is tied for the Midwest League HR lead with 8. His batting average has dropped to .280, but OPS is still at .908. Hope (#39) is right behind him with 7 HRs - BA and OPS are .300/.889.

They both have around 160-170 ABs. Mike Sirota, with a small sample size of 32 ABs since his call-up, is hitting .438/1.250. Hopefully these three keep progressing and one or all are options for the Dodger OF in a couple of years.

 

Wanted to do a quick post on Jackson Ferris. As you know, he came over with Hope in the Busch trade and is currently in AA Tulsa. Looked promising last year in his time split between Great Lakes and Tulsa. He posted a 2.54 ERA in 28 innings with the Drillers.

This year, he's been hit pretty hard. ERA is 5.45 and 1.57 WHIP. His K rate has actually increased with 42 over 36 innings, but he's also giving up over a hit per inning plus a walk every two innings. Only has surrendered one HR on the season, which is good. I looked at his game logs to see if maybe there was one outlier game, but he's given up four or more earned runs in 4 of his 8 starts.

I looked for commentary beyond the numbers, but couldn't find anything. I'm always fighting my inclination to rely too much on numbers. Hopefully he's making adjustments or something and the regression isn't part of a bigger issue.

He's on the mound tonight. I'd love to see a game from him moving towards getting back on the right track.

 

That's what I was thinking and thought I might find a note or quote to that effect but coverage in the minors is relatively limited.

 

A few highlights from yesterday's action:

AAA
Ryan Ward who plays LF and 1B, whom I'd love to see take Conforto's spot on the roster but he's 27 and at this point is probably not tracking as a prospect anymore, went 5 for 5 with three HRs and 6 RBIs. With a .323/.976 AVG/OPS, he's got to be a better option than Conforto, but alas money talks so that's not likely to happen. So I guess he'll just continue to dominate the PCL, where he leads in hits and his 40 ribbies are good enough for second in the league behind teammate Alex Freeland. Speaking of which...

Alex Freeland, who's 23 and IS a Dodger top 5 prospect, went 3 for 5 with his 18th double.

Bobby Miller - I almost hate to mention him, but to his credit he had a good outing. 5.2 scoreless innings with just 2 hits and, most importantly, 1 walk. Struck out four and his AAA ERA is now below 4.00.

Michael Kopech, who got lit up again earlier this week due to wildness, pitched to two batters, allowing a hit but getting a K for the final out in the sixth in relief of Miller. His ERA is now "down" to 18.56.

AA
Jackson Ferris went 6 on 89 pitches, allowing 3 earned on 5 hits and 2 walks. A quality start, which is a positive based on his season so far.

High A
Not a whole lot to report. Hope 2-4 and De Paula 1-4 were the only items of interest. Sirota is on the 7-day IL.

Low A
I took a rare for me peak at Rancho and the Dodgers #7 prospect, Eduardo Quitero, had a 3-5 game. Only 19, he's hitting .321 with a .980 OPS, and is tied for the Cal League lead in HRs (8), runs (42) and second in SBs (24). He's an OF'er, which means he's currently blocked in high-A by Hope, De Paula, Sirota, and 2024 first rounder Kendall George. Likely we'll be seeing promotions at some point here.

 

While the Dodgers were scoring 18 runs yesterday, their AAA affiliate put up 17. Mostly big games from guys that are probably career minor leaguers. Unfortunately Freeland went 0-6 in this one. Outman went yard and only struck out once, which for him was a great game. On the pitching side, Wrobleski got lit up again and is going through a bad spell in OKC. I doubt we see him soon in LA.

Patrick Copen in high-A, whom I highlighted last week, threw four shutout innings. He walked three against four strikeouts - still needs to get those walks down. ERA dropped to 2.25.

Quintero stayed blazing hot in low-A and pretty much is now first or second in the Cal league in all the major statistical categories.

 

but who’d play nuke?