PROSPECTS Meanwhile, Down on the Farm

I'm going to be in fantasy football draft mode the rest of the day, but here's what's on tap today in the minors:

Both Ontario and Great Lakes start their playoffs, both in the divisional series. No word yet on who's starting for Ontario, but GL has Tyler Gough on the mound. He was a '22 ninth round pick by SEA, traded to the Dodgers last winter for another minor leaguer. His final stats for this year are:

3-0
1.79 ERA
0.95 WHIP
65.1 IP
83 K's
30 BB's

He should be Top-30 next year.

Serwinowski is going for Tulsa, just playing out the season as their playoffs are next week. He had that impressive 8-inning start last week, hope to see more of that.

Cole Irvin goes for OKC, kicking off a CRITICAL six-game series against Sugar Land, with whom the Comets are tied for the final playoff spot. There are 12 games left total, but these next six could decide it. Comets are riding a 9-game win streak during which they made up 4 games in the standings on Sugar Land.

 

First inning: Davalan double, Quintero HR, Morales HR... guess these guys came ready to play.

 

Great Lakes cruised to a shutout victory in their playoff game. Gough pitched five scoreless, and Martinus homered in addition to Quintero and Morales.

Ontario trailed their playoff the whole game, despite 3 hits from Shelton, including a HR, and also a bomb by 2026 draftee Caleb Johnson. In the ninth inning, down 10-3, they made a furious comeback scoring six, highlighted by a Ko double and a Vargas home run. They got the right guy to the plate, Shelton, representing the tying run, but alas he struck out, ending the game.

OKC's streak hit double digits, winning their 10th straight and moving a game ahead of Sugar Land. Irvin pitched five shutout innings and Ehrhard went 4 for 4 with a homer. Casparius kind of sucked giving up two, but they won 7-4.

Serwinoswki didn't pitch well and JDP, Sirota, and Hainline collectively had no hits, but Tulsa still managed to win a game that had no real significance.

 

• Gavin Stone only made it through 0.2 innings in OKC today. After giving up a 3-run homer, his pitch count reached 32 pitches (15 strikes). Chris Campos entered the game to replace him and got the last out of the inning.

 

I was following that OKC game and planned to recap it here but have been on the go all day.

The Comets are on an epic hot streak! They won yet again and now have a 2-game lead on Sugar Land for the playoff spot.

The Stone start was surprising, because he's been money for OKC ever since his return. But yeah, 2 walks and 2 hits, one being the homer, and his day was done. Campos didn't help much, also surrendering a run and then the most expensive reliever in AAA, Diaz, walked 2 and contributed to the deficit by allowing a run. However, here's where the news turns good. Jackson Ferris, who's been on a bit of a roll himself lately, came out of the pen and nailed down the final 6 innings - 2 hits, 2 walks, 7 strikeouts, and only 1 run allowed. Comets took the game 8-6. On the offensive side, there were no standout performers. Ehrhard followed his 4-4 game with a 1-5. Tibbs singled and walked twice, scoring all three. Fitzgerald had just one hit but got 4 RBIs out of it. Ward had a couple singles and Miller drove in a run and even Ben R had a couple hits. But in the end, they won their 11th straight and are looking really good. There are four more against Sugar Land though this week, so this is still far from over.

 

De Paula bomb:

https://x.com/MLBPipeline/status/2097843968562069807

 

Interesting question: De Paula's promotion is going to leave Tulsa an outfielder short for their playoff series next week. I wonder if Quintero or Davalan can play in the A+ playoffs this week and then the AA playoffs next week?

 

Game two today in best-of-3 playoff series for both Great Lakes (1-0) and Ontario (0-1). Great Lakes has #29 prospect Brooks Auger (3.62 ERA) on the mound. Ontario sends Luis Gamez (3.39 ERA).

Landon Knack is OKC's starter in game 3 of the six-game series against Sugar Land that could decide which team gets a playoff bid. OKC has won the first two and is now two games up. (Each team also has a final six-game series next week).

 

In honor of the pure hitter De Paula's graduation, here's a short list of all the Dodger minor leaguers with 100+ hits this year. Top-30 prospects are in bold.

Fitzgerald AAA 159
Martinus A+/A 155
De Paula AA 152
Vargas A 151
Tibbs AAA 143
Ehrhard AAA 142
Morales A+/A 139
Davalan A+ 128
Elkins A+/A 127
Miller AAA 124
Quintero A+ 123
Shelton A 121
Sirota AA/A+ 115
Ko A 112
Guerrero A+ 111
Gelof AA 108

Keep in mind that AAA played more games than the other leagues, which would partially explain Fitzgerald's total. Not to say he didn't have a great year but he's 32 so not really a prospect anymore. It's a travesty that Martinus is not ranked in the Top-30. Vargas got hot after getting bumped off the list, so I expect him back on it next year. And of course Shelton could be there too if he cuts down on his strike 3's.

Hopefully this is farewell to JDP from the Dodgers minors... and he never looks back.

 

Unfortunately both teams lost their playoff game today. Ontario went down 6-1 and loses the series 0-2. Good season nonetheless with some big prospect movement. Lindsey (1 single), Ko (0-4 with 4 K's - OUCH!), and Vargas (1 double) should all move up next year. Shelton had an RBI single but struck out in his other three ABs. Tough to know what the plan is for him next year - massive power would play in high-A but he's likely to strike out more, too, so maybe they'll opt to keep him down to work on it.

Great Lakes was stymied at the plate and lost 3-1. Their series is tied at one so next game decides which team advances to the championship. The Loons big three went 2 for 11 with just a couple singles. Perez, Elkins, and Martinus also didn't do anything - just one hit among them.

Beyond that, another day, another OKC win - their 12th consecutive. They beat Sugar Land again, this time shutting them out 8-0. Landon Knack went five and got the win - he's now 4-1 with a 2.08 ERA. Diaz pitched a scoreless inning but still is not instilling much confidence, surrendering a hit and a walk. Offensively, both Tibbs and Ehrhard had two hits including a double, plus a walk. Ward hit his 18th HR, and 2-run shot. Comets are now three games up.

 

Interesting. I'm wondering about the cause-and-effect. It can't be easy going from a premier organization where once you reach the top level you'd be playing half your games in a pleasant climate to, well, Detroit. Could that be part of it? Or was he fated to be out of shape at some point anyhow and the Dodgers were lucky to cash in on him before it happened?

Anyhow, he's still young. I'm sure his conditioning can bounce back quickly.

 

Champ Pederson’s brother isn’t so sure about that.

 

It's do-or-die for Great Lakes today. Their big bats need to bounce back from an uncharacteristically poor showing yesterday and light up the scoreboard. Leiter is on the bump, and all he's done since getting called up a level is pitch 11.1 scoreless innings. Clearly they need him to keep that going.

 

not sure tbh
i googled joc pederson fat and it was one of the images that popped up
LINK

 

@azfreedman
This is incredible. Since MLB began tracking Minor League stats in 2005, no player in the Minors had ever had a season with 100+ RBI, 100+ runs, and 100+ walks.

Andrew Fischer got there earlier today.

James Tibbs III just joined him.


enough already
freddie to the IL
tibbs to the show

 

Unfortunately the Loons got shut down for the second straight game yesterday and are now also done. Emil had a couple singles, Davalan and Elkins one apiece, and Quintero and Martinus walked one time each... but they weren't able to push any runs across. Leiter was good for three innings, then was touched for a couple runs in the fourth, and they ended up losing 5-0. An unfortunate end for a team that was exciting to follow for much of the season.

In better news, OKC won again, their fourth in a row against Sugar Land and their 13th consecutive win overall. What an incredible streak and timely too as they're now in the driver's seat for the playoff spot. Charlie Barnes went five scoreless as starter, and Jake Cousins added a strong inning out of the pen. With a 2.25 ERA on the season, Cousins is another option for the big league club looks better on paper than Diaz. The only negative on the pitching side was Bobby Miller, who was pounded for 5 runs in 1.2 innings, but the Comets held on to win 8-5. OKC hit four home runs, including #29 for James Tibbs III.

In Tulsa, Dodgers top pitching prospect Christian Zazueta allowed two runs over five innings and got the win, finishing the AA part of his season at 4-2, 3.44, and 0.98 WHIP. Overall he's 6-4, 3.65, 0.97, 144 strikeouts vs only 20 walks over 104 innings -- another solid year for him.