Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
April 26, 2022 Scoreboard
- Triple-A Oklahoma City 4, Sugarland 7
- Double-A Tulsa 1, Corpus Christi 2
- High-A Great Lakes 7, West Michigan 5
- Low-A Rancho Cucamonga 9, Visalia 4
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Michael Grove, the 2018 2nd round pick out of West Virginia, left his last outing due to injury precautions, and was flexing his right arm and indicating towards his biceps after he came off the hill. Little bit scary.
The man’s fine, thank goodness.
Grove tossed 45 pitches, a high for this young season. He topped out at 60 pitches in 2021, and that didn’t come until August, so monitoring if and how his workload ramps up is on the to-do list.
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We haven’t even made it out of April, and we’ve seen our first prospect promotions! Jordan Leasure, who recently headlined Prospect Notes, has been promoted from High-A Great Lakes to Double-A Tulsa.
Leasure will be slotting in for Justin Hagenman, who was also promoted, from Tulsa to nearby Oklahoma City, and they pushed him right into action:
Hagenman is mostly sinker/slider, and he isn’t afraid to double or triple down:
I’ll wear it, I deserve it.
In case the armslot from which Hagenman fires feels familiar, welp, you’re not wrong:
This comp also serves as a bit of a microcosm of mechanical emphasis changes in the past decade or so — it used to be gather and explode down the hill, now the mantra is smooth is quick, quick is fast. Hagenman starts off in lockstep, but the tempo of the eras, even if it’s a matter of frames in a slo-mo, becomes apparent rather quickly.
Mechanical sea change aside, Hagenman attacks with a tried and true sinker/slider combo, and he shows tremendous command of both. He’s on the cusp.
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Lastly, Damon Keith has been making short work of the Low A California League. He had another big game for the Quakes in their victory over the Visalia Rawhide, and the club got a great shot of his 2 RBI triple:
Keith, who played his college ball at Cal Baptist in Riverside prior to being picked by the Dodgers in the 18th round of the 2021 draft, has enjoyed the home cooking, slashing an OK .426/.530/.759 for the Quakes.
I mean, it’s alright, if you’re into that.
