Dodgers Prospect Notes: Miller is fine, Leasure up to 98 & could move fast in relief, Hurt dialed in, Hoese sighting

April 19th, 2022 Scoreboard

Triple A Oklahoma City 10, Sacramento 4

Double A Tulsa 4, Springfield 2

High A Great Lakes 3, Lake County 1

Low A Rancho Cucamonga 3, Modesto 8

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First, a note on Bobby Miller, to ensure there’s no panic when folks see his outing was just 2/3 of an inning. Miller was pulled from the game after his pitch count ran up to 31, and that’s about the limit the Dodgers will let their prospects get to in an inning to avoid unnecessary high-stress innings. Kudos to Springfield, they took several good ABs in a row, spitting on pitches near the zone and fouling off quite a few as well. Get ’em next time, kid.

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The 2021 draft was nearly as pitching-heavy as it gets for the Dodgers, and some of the draftees are already making some noise, with Maddux Bruns, Nick Nastrini, and Emmet Sheehan all earning high praise as starters. Jordan Leasure can be added to that list, as a reliever:

Leasure, a 14th round pick in 2021 out of the University of Tampa, put up some video game numbers as a senior, striking out 60 in 38 1/3 innings, with an ERA of 1.17. That penchant for missing bats has carried over to his pro career, and he running a strikeout rate of 51.6%, and doing it with a high octane fastball/slider combo:

Leasure spent his senior year as a closer, and appears to be continuing on a reliever track early in his career with the Dodgers, maxing out at 2.0 innings per outing, and entering late in games. Hard-throwing, whiff-inducing relief help is always welcome.

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Speaking of missing bats, Kyle Hurt is finding his groove with Great Lakes as well:

Hurt, a USC product who came over in the Dylan Floro/Alex Vesia trade, was profiled here by yours truly, and he definitely brings some loud stuff to the table, which can make things a bit awkward for hitters:

There’s some stupid good stuff in this system.

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Hey, remember this guy?

Kody Hoese ended up going 3/4 on the evening, and all three base hits were smoked. Hoese has battled through several injuries since being drafted in the first round out of Tulane back in 2019, only playing in about half of the games in 2021 after not getting to play at all in 2020. Hopefully he is every bit as healthy as the hacks he took tonight.

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