Dodgers Prospect Notes: Ward & DeLuca stay hot for Tulsa, Pages has 4 hits, Busch homers and has another called back, Ramos clutch, more

Josh Thomas 08/05/2022 Prospect Notes Leave A Comment

August 4th, 2022 Scoreboard

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Ryan Ward has been hitting the ball out left and right for Tulsa:

Ward went 3/6 with four RBI, and in the past 30 days his OPS is .974, with 10 homers in 23 games. Sheesh.

The former Millbury High School Woolie scuffled in June, posting an OPS of just .649, but whatever adjustment he needed to make, he has clearly succeeded. I think it’s fair to say that he is beating the level.

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Jonny DeLuca is loving life in the Texas League, as he added another pair of extra base hits last night:

DeLuca went 3/6, falling a double short of the cycle. He also drew a walk, knocked in three, and scored four runs, and his OPS with the Drillers is 1.005.

On top of the pop the former Oregon Duck has been showing, his bat to ball has been plus as well, as his swinging strike rate going into last night’s action was 9.9%. That’s good for 8th in the system, sitting right behind Miguel Vargas in the rankings. Granted, DeLuca is a year and a half older than Vargas, so his hit tool isn’t on that level, but it’s certainly plus.

At this point, DeLuca is thoroughly blocked, and that’ll happen when a system is this loaded. That said, he is looking like an absolute lock to either be added to the 40 man roster this offseason, or moved to prevent exposure to the Rule 5 draft. He’s a quality problem.

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Andy Pages had three legs of a cycle as well, as he went 4/6, with two singles, a double, a triple, three RBI, and three runs scored. He also had a bit of an amusing TOOTBLAN, as the kids say, with one of his singles being a line drive smoked off the wall in left, surely an extra base hit.

The opposition had other ideas.

The young Cuban thought he’d cruise into second base with a double, but Northwest Arkansas’ left fielder hustled into position, and he played the carom as well as you’ll see, fielding it on one hop before quickly firing a strong throw into Pages’ intended destination. As Pages saw the play unfolding before him, he tried to do the awkward bit where you accelerate to get to a base, basically at full tilt, but he also had to stop at the base, so getting there in a timely fashion, and getting his foot down and remaining anchored to the bag was an impossibility. Pages was caught in between, and sliding was out of the question, so he may as well have been left out to dry, of his own accord. Tulsa’s young power hitter was thrown out by three steps, with the opposing second baseman getting the tag down a good bit before Pages’ arrival, and on a night where his fellow Northwest Arkansas teammates could do little right, the Naturals’ second baseman looked up, and found fortune in his lap, as his intended target was conveniently within reach, sheepish countenance and all. Pages was out, from me to you.

Plays like this will be lost to the annals of time; it’s just a base hit in the box score of a blowout in Springdale, Arkansas; a town that has a population of roughly 80,000, and is best-known for being the headquarters of Tyson Foods.

For young Andy Pages, Springdale may someday serve as a reminder; that he shouldn’t count his chickens before they’ve hatched.

Let’s get back to this one.

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Michael Busch hit another homer on Thursday night, but that wasn’t the most notable play he was a part of on the evening. First though, the longball:

Busch ended up going 1/4 with a pair of strikeouts, but one of those was a bit more interesting than normal:

It was pretty clearly foul, but an overturned call like this is about as rare as a Giants divisional win these days:

Heh.

As for Busch, though he scuffled out of the gate for Oklahoma City, the last 30 days have been more of what fans are used to, with him slashing .308/.379/.505. He’s too good of a hitter to be kept in check for long.

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Ryan Noda came up after Busch, and he made up for the homer that wasn’t:

Noda went 2/3, hitting a double, reaching via hit by pitch, and driving in four runs.

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Jose Ramos came up big for Great Lakes in their comeback victory, hitting a two run homer in the 9th with Great Lakes down by three:

Ramos was followed by Imanol Vargas who also homered, sending it into extra innings, where the Loons eventually won in the 11th inning.

Ramos went 1/3 with a walk, the homer was his 16th at the High A Level, and it was his 22nd overall for the season.

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Dalton Rushing, who was the top pick for the Dodgers in the 2022 draft, made his full season affiliate debut for Rancho Cucamonga, and he went deep in his first AB. He went 2/3 with a walk.

One negative to note — despite having only nine baserunners all night, Inland Empire was five for five in stolen base attempts, and Rushing made a throwing error. It’s impossible to tell from a box score how he looked behind the dish, and with pitchers limited to two pickoff attempts or stepoffs per batter, folks in the California League have been running wild. Still, it will be something to watch for going forward.

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I’ve long hated having bullpen mounds on the field of play, they’re a kitschy hazard that should be abolished. In Oklahoma City’s game last night, they needed a cleanup in the produce department:

Perhaps they should have someone stand by to get guys to peel off when the race has been decided. Either way, they should get to the root of this, even if the Pacific Coast League has entice them with a carrot, because their ears have been closed to the possibility thus far.

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

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Happy Friday, folks.

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