Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Today was the deadline for teams to add players to the 40-man roster, protecting them from next months Rule 5 Draft. The Dodgers added three Rule 5 Eligible players as Dustin predicted last week, although his individual predictions were slightly off.
Dustin predicted the Dodgers would protect Mitchell White and DJ Peters, which they did. However, rather than protect RHP Jordan Sheffield, they opted to protect UTIL Zach McKinstry.
White is a former second round pick (2016) and had a mixed season in 2019. He bounced back from a rough 2018 season at Double A-Tulsa with a 2.10 ERA in seven starts with the Drillers in 2019. He earned a promotion to Triple A-OKC and struggled, posting a 6.50 ERA in 93 2/3 innings.
Dodger fans should be more familiar with Peters, who has shown flashes in Spring Training in each of the past couple seasons. Peters split 2019 between Double and Triple A and posted a .260/.388/.490 triple slash line at OKC after struggling a bit at Tulsa. Peters could see some playing time in LA next season and seemed to be the biggest lock of the Rule 5 eligible players.
The Dodgers opted to use their final spot on McKinstry, who fits the Dodger mold quite a bit. The 24-year-old has played each position but first base and catcher in his minor league career and took a step forward in 2019. McKinstry struggled at Double A in 2018 with a .193/.230/.313 triple slash, but bounced back in a big way. In 95 games at Tulsa in 2019, McKinstry slashed .279/.352/.455 and earned a promotion to OKC, where he upped that even more to .382/.421/.753 in 26 games there. He more-than-doubled his career home run total, hitting 19 last season after hitting only 11 in his first 2.5 minor league seasons.
McKinstry, a former 30th-round pick, got the spot over former (compensatory) first round pick Jordan Sheffield. Sheffield has yet to pitch above Double A and moved to the bullpen last season, where he put up some mixed results. He didn’t dominate like the Dodgers probably hoped he would, but still shows enough potential where there’s a pretty good chance he’d snagged up in the Rule 5 Draft.
Sheffield for Mookie Betts straight up who says no.
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Of note around the league, former Dodger Jharel Cotton was designated for assignment by the Oakland A’s to make room for their own 40-man roster addition, Daulton Jefferies.
