Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The World Baseball Classic has started, and man are the games glorious. The atmosphere is insane, the players care, and it’s like getting October baseball in March.
Love it.
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Speaking of the WBC, the game that just ended between Mexico and Colombia was arguably the best so far.
Julio Urias was on the mound for Mexico in that one, and he unfortunately had one bad inning.
Meanwhile, Austin Barnes went 2-for-4 with a double, which makes sense since it’s a playoff-esque environment.
From the Dodgers system one of the main highlights of the tourney so far has been prospect Jose Ramos.
The massive power and arm strength have shown up, and he has five hits in 16 at-bats with an .853 OPS.
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Meanwhile, back to the Dodgers in Spring Training, where the competition for sixth starter is heating up and seems all the more relevant nowadays. Michael Grove always appeared to be the front-runner, ironically due to being the lesser thought-of prospect that they could use up-and-down.
Grove is certainly looking to convince them otherwise, starting three Spring games so far and allowing just one run in six innings while striking out five and walking none. He’s been impressive.
Also impressive is the guy who seems to be right behind him in the pecking order. Ryan Pepiot said he was trying to use lessons learned last year to attack the zone more often, and so far so good. He has also started three Spring games, gone six innings, and allowed just a single run, but has struck out nine and walked one.
The Dodgers have finally allowed Miguel Vargas to swing a bat, and he already has three doubles and a single in his first nine at-bats.
⚠️WARNING⚠️
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) March 9, 2023
Miguel Vargas is now allowed to swing! 👇 pic.twitter.com/Y7wIdeWzGx
James Outman continues to hit his way into relevancy this Spring, and I don’t see why he can’t be at least a platoon starter.
Seems notable that Jason Heyward has gone 0 for his last 11 in the past four games.
The good news on Noah Syndergaard is that he’s looked extremely sharp so far this Spring. The bad news is that the hope (by his own admission) he would be back to the upper-90s has not materialized.
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Speaking of recovering from injury and why that sixth rotation spot is so important, Tony Gonsolin is making slow progress from an ankle sprain.
Daniel Hudson is alive.
For now.
Gavin Lux also underwent surgery to repair his torn ACL, during which they found out his LCL was torn as well. Same recovery timeline.
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Watch the WBC, I promise.
