Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Looking at a pair of top prospects, a pair becoming top prospects, and a pair of prospects having quietly quality seasons.
======
Bobby Miller made his debut at AAA and delivered uneven results, which just about mirrors his resume so far against advanced hitters.
On one hand, if the command never comes around you’re hopefully looking at a solid reliever. On the other hand, it could click at any moment and he could become a front-line starter type. The Dodgers will understandably give him ample time to get things cleaned up.
——
Michael Grove is a bit of a forgotten man for somebody who got a spot start earlier in the year, but he’s had an excellent run of late with a 1.83 ERA in four August starts, including 27 strikeouts and just three walks in 19.2 innings.
He’s been rock solid in AAA so far and he seems to be headed for a potential depth starter role, which is not an easy life with this team, but it’s something. Could take another step forward beyond that if he can come up with something to solve lefties, who have a OPS against him 200+ points higher.
——
Speaking of prospects flying under the radar a bit, Michael Busch destroyed AA to force a promotion to AAA and has since been steady there. He has an .820 OPS at the level overall and a 1.112 OPS over the last 10 days, slugging three homers. Perhaps most relevantly he has six walks to six strikeouts in that time, which is probably the main area he needs to improve on at the level.
——
Hard to read too much into a couple of starts, but Nick Nastrini doesn’t look out of place at AA at least. If he can continue to suppress the walks while keeping everything else rolling, there’s nothing stopping his ascent. The stuff will absolutely play.
——
After hitting a bit of a lull by his standards in July, Diego Cartaya has got back on the beam in August with a .913 OPS and five dingers. An in-person scouting report by Baseball Prospectus recently placed him a future 50 hit and 70 power, which would be an All-Star catcher but most importantly means the bat would play anywhere.
——
Dalton Rushing has cooled off of late, and by that I mean he has a 1.118 OPS over the last week compared to his 1.485 in A-ball on the year. Not much to say, just curious how the Dodgers plan to handle catcher playing time next year if they all continue to look like studs.
======
I’ll miss you.
