Dodgers Prospect Notes: Duensing & Fisher clutch in relief, Ryan shoves, Pages goes deep & continues to make contact

June 10th, 2022 Scoreboard

• Triple A Oklahoma City 3, Salt Lake City 5
• Double A Tulsa 4, Northwest Arkansas 13
• High A Great Lakes 4, Dayton 3
• Low A Rancho Cucamonga 10, Stockton 6
• ACL Dodgers 7, ACL Royals 5
• DSL Dodgers Bautista 2, DSL Marlins 3
• DSL Dodgers Mega 6, DSL Houston Blue 0

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Cole Duensing entered the game for Great Lakes in a tough situation, and he navigated it incredibly well:

Cole Duensing had a clutch outing in relief for Great Lakes – he entered a 3-3 ballgame with 2 on and nobody out in the 8th inning, and proceeded to retire six in a row, without allowing either inherited runner to score. The line:

2.0 IP
0 hits
0 runs
0 BBs
4 Ks⬇️ pic.twitter.com/O7xc2LfRJS

— Josh Thomas (@jokeylocomotive) June 11, 2022

It has been a while since Duensing has been mentioned here in the Prospect Notes, so here’s a little refresher:

Duensing was drafted by the Angels back in 2016, and after several years of his velo holding in the 90-92 range, and his walks remaining unacceptably high (15.0% and 13.0% in ’19 and ’21), he was released after the 2021 season.

From there, Duensing went to Driveline Baseball to refine his mechanics a bit:

Recent Dodgers signee Cole Duensing, left is a '21 90 mph fb, right is recent, 92-95. Pause is during stride, drive foot used to kinda roll on its side, now the heel stays down longer, the stronger drive position gets his front foot out farther as well, longer toe drag shows it. pic.twitter.com/YiPAVBiR09

— Josh Thomas (@jokeylocomotive) February 11, 2022

The Dodgers came calling, and well, as you can in the K video above, Duensing’s FB velo sits in the mid 90s now, but that’s not all — the walks are down pretty dramatically. For Duensing’s career with the Angels, he walked batters 13.6% of the time. With the Dodgers, that figure is 7.0%.

So, the Angels dump him, the Dodgers sign him, velo’s up, walks are halved, outings are clutch. Credit certainly goes to Duensing here, as he got released, and got to work, but the Dodgers continue to leave no stone unturned.

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Duensing was followed in relief by Braydon Fisher, who shut Dayton down in dominant fashion:

Braydon Fisher continued the clutch relief pitching for Great Lakes, pitching a scoreless, hitless 10th and 11th, despite having a runner start on 2nd in both frames, and he picked up the W. FB was 95-96 t97 ⛽️

Here's his 5 Ks⬇️(that 🔥 when he slams the door tho!) pic.twitter.com/DvDrK0qlBY

— Josh Thomas (@jokeylocomotive) June 11, 2022

Fisher, who missed the 2019 season after having Tommy John surgery, has had some inconsistency with his stuff and command. Neither of these are rarities — it took years for Michael Grove to really find it, and for his stuff to make it all the way back.

When Fisher’s right, this is what it looks like — mostly short, sharp, hard sliders at 87-90, and a fastball with good life up to 97. Still just 21, there’s definitely reason for optimism for this former 4th round pick.

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River Ryan showed out for Rancho Cucamonga:

River Ryan, whom the Dodgers acquired from the Padres for Matt Beaty, just had a heck of an outing for Rancho – in 4.0 innings, he allowed one run on three hits, no walks, and he struck out 8 🔥🔥🔥

— Josh Thomas (@jokeylocomotive) June 11, 2022

Apropos of nothing, the first time Ryan is likely to appear in a streamed game is at Lake Elsinore, which just so happens to be a San Diego affiliate. Stay tuned!

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Here’s another Andy Pages dinger:

One of the closest hits we've had to the @OERBOK "Drill It Here!" sign. @PagesAbreu sends it flyin' to put the Drillers on the board!

If any player hits through the sign one lucky teacher will receive $5,000 thanks to Oklahoma Oil and Natural Gas. pic.twitter.com/JaR99uZm6l

— Tulsa Drillers (@TulsaDrillers) June 11, 2022

Pages went 1/3, also reaching via a walk, and it was another game without a strikeout. This just might be a developing situation.

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Lastly, Saturday’s starting pitchers for the full season affiliates:

• Triple A Oklahoma City – Sam Gaviglio
• Double A Tulsa – Clayton Beeter
• High A Great Lakes – Kyle Hurt
• Low A Rancho Cucamonga – Huei-Sheng Lin

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Enjoy your Saturday, folks.