Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
May 15, 2022 Scoreboard
- Triple A Oklahoma City 13, Round Rock 14
- Double A Tulsa 4, Frisco 18
- High A Great Lakes 10, Lake County 9
- Low A Rancho Cucamonga 4, Stockton 7
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Michael Busch got off to a solid start in 2021, slashing .261/.398/.546 in the first month of the season, but a HBP off the right wrist laid him up for a week, and tanked his June: his slash line dropped off to just .173/.326/.200 for the month. After the calendar flipped to July, he righted the ship, putting up a line of .297/.400/.549 for the rest of the season.
Flash forward to yesterday, and there was a scary flashback to 2021 in Tulsa’s game — Busch was hit by a pitch again, this time on the left wrist. He stayed in the game after the HBP, and he even went yard:
This raised Busch’s line for the season to .306/.445/.667. Busch came out of the game after this, and though there aren’t any updates (the Dodgers are notoriously tight-lipped about these sorts of things), the fact that he went back out to the field gives some credence to the notion that he was pulled for precautionary measures.
Tulsa’s next game is at 9:05 a.m. Pacific on Tuesday, so answers (or further questions) aren’t far away.
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After a rough start to the season for Eddys Leonard (including a dismal first week of the season where he went 1/25 in his first seven games) it was speculated in these Prospect Notes that the frigid April temperatures in Michigan might have had something to do with it, and it was asserted that he would hit.
Leonard’s bat has come alive in a big way.
Leonard with 3/5 for Great Lakes on Sunday, with a single, two homers (his 5th and 6th), and he also drew a walk. In May, his line is .327/.386/.654, and for the past week it’s .400/.464/1.040, with a Midwest League-leading four homers, which certainly has him in the running for Midwest League Player Of The Week. This stellar run has him rubbing elbows with another familiar prospect:
It’s tough to have a 40-man roster spot taken up by a 21-year-old in High-A, but with Leonard’s bat, and all the spots he can capably man defensively, Leonard is demonstrating why the Dodgers were willing to be hamstrung a bit when it comes to roster flexibility in the near term.
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Kyle Hurt made his return from an unspecified injury, and he picked up the win for Great Lakes, his first of the season. Hurt gave up a run in his two innings, struck out four and had no walks.
In Hurt’s last four outings, he has tossed 11 innings, put up a K/BB of 16/3, and he has an ERA of 1.64. Here’s a reminder of how impressive his stuff is:
Here's a positive for Dodger fans: Kyle Hurt is a STUD.
— Nathaniel Plotts (@nplotts5) October 18, 2021
Low release, above-avg vert, + velo (98.6 max🔥) FB ✅
Elite CH feel & metrics (SSW 👀) ✅
Power CB w/ + velo & legit CB shape ✅
Hard, high spin gyro slider ✅
Unquestionably one of the loudest stuff profiles in MiLB. pic.twitter.com/ZcptOHl24G
If the command issues that plagued him when he was at USC have been cleaned up, look out.
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Gavin Stone has been promoted to Tulsa!
Stone has been excellent this season for Great Lakes, posting an ERA of 1.44 in his 25.0 innings, striking 28, and walking just six. Back on May 6, it was suggested in the Prospect Notes that this was on the horizon:
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.
Stone followed up that with another solid outing, allowing one run over five innings, striking out six, and walking just one, which was apparently enough to convince the guys upstairs that he’s ready for Double-A.
Onward and upward!
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Lastly, Alex De Jesus and Diego Cartaya hit back-to-back homers for Rancho on Sunday:
Video of a trot, and video of one of the homers. It’s something, I guess. The Quakes really need to start streaming their games.
