Spring Notes: Opening Day roster down to 1 decision, Urias (and Gonsolin?) velocity concerns, prospect updates

Dave Roberts (Photo : Cody Bashore)

The Dodgers have nearly finalized their Opening Day roster today, as they made another round of cuts. Last time we left off there were 41 still in camp, but Andre Jackson and Zach McKinstry have since been optioned, while Jake Lamb, Kevin Pillar, Jason Martin, Andy Burns, Eddy Alvarez, Stefen Romero, Tony Wolters, Shane Greene, Reyes Moronta, Yency Almonte, and Tomas Telis were re-assigned to the minors.

That seems to leave 28 for the 28-man roster, but Craig Kimbrel was recently acquired, so while the position players are now set at 12 (with Edwin Rios making the team), the pitchers have one more cut to make, which would seem to come down to Mitch White or Justin Bruihl/Garrett Cleavinger.

Either way, that’s 16 pitchers, so it’s more interesting where they cut down from there in May.

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Clayton Kershaw is looking about ready for the season to begin. Velocity is around where it was in 2021 already, so no concerns there after the injury late last year.

https://twitter.com/Dodgers/status/1510354343131635718

The stats themselves don’t mean much, but Rios certainly looks healthy and ready to put 2021 behind him.

Gonna be honest, didn’t think of Alvarez as anything more than organizational depth when he was announced as a non-roster invitee, but more and more he looks like a viable bench guy.

Thought this was interesting on Almonte and what the Dodgers have done to tinker with him.

https://twitter.com/LanceBroz/status/1511200708590292993

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Drew Avans is entering his age-26 season, but has done nothing but hit as a pro, and put up a .275/.389/.438/.826 line in AAA last year. This grand slam was a joy to watch.

Diego Cartaya makes it hard to suppress the urge to hype him.

Speaking of hype, Wilman Diaz‘s swing shows what scouts find so promising about him.

Ronan Kopp is a 2021 12th round pick that touches 97 mph. Control has been a major issue, but the stuff … it is good.

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Tommy Kahnle is alive, by the way.

So is Dustin May.

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Some assorted Statcast notes, with a bunch of velocity stuff.

Julio Urias is probably the most prominent issue, and it’s worth monitoring.

Tony Gonsolin‘s velocity dip is also worth checking in on as the season starts.

Victor Gonzalez: In addition to looking back to his 2020 self, he averaged 95 mph and touched 97 mph, which is comparable to what he did during the World Series year.

Justin Hagenman: Averaged 94 mph and hiding the ball well makes it play up. Definitely a depth pen guy for now with middle relief potential.

Guillermo Zuniga: While he got absolutely shelled in one outing, he averaged a whopping 98 mph, which is at least two ticks up from last year and maybe even three according to some reports. Today, he was at 96-97 mph, which is still up.

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