Dodgers Prospect Notes: Stone shoves, Duensing improving, Henriquez lights out, Noda hits grand slam

Ryan Noda. Photo by: Cody Bashore

May 5, 2022 Scoreboard

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Gavin Stone‘s first W of the season came in an outing that was about as smooth as you’ll see:

Stone issued one walk, and the runner was immediately erased by a pickoff. He faced two batters over the minimum, threw 68 pitches (just 11.3 per inning), and he continued to effectively use each of his pitches in all counts. Above all others with Great Lakes, he seems ready for the next challenge.

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Cole Duensing picked up his first W of the season for Great Lakes in the second game of their doubleheader:

https://twitter.com/jokeylocomotive/status/1522389059456315392

Duensing was signed to a minor league contract in the offseason by the Dodgers after he did some interesting mechanical work in the offseason, working to better-utilize his lower half, and to increase his extension:

The early returns have been solid, as he has more than doubled his K/BB ratio from last season (4.00 vs 1.83 in 2021). The Dodgers are always on the hunt for uncut gems, though this particular one may have done some of the polishing on his own before he even arrived.

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Edgardo Henriquez was dominant for Rancho Cucamonga:

The bit of intensity from Henriquez after the fourth strikeout that stranded the runner at third base … gotta love it.

Henriquez, was featured here in the Prospect Notes about three weeks ago, has a fastball that sits 97-99 mph, tops out at 101, and he has hit triple digits in every outing of the season. That, combined with a hammer curve and a sharp slider… again, he’s 19, how do they keep finding these guys?

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Lastly, enjoy Ryan Noda‘s oppo grand slam from last night. Happy Friday!

Nice.

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