Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
April 8th, 2023 Scoreboard
- Triple A Oklahoma City 1, Las Vegas 9
- Double A Tulsa 5, San Antonio 2
- High A Great Lakes 1, Lansing 4
- Single A Rancho Cucamonga 4, Inland Empire 5
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River Ryan was the recipient of one of the most aggressive promotions the Dodgers have handed out to a prospect in recent memory, with the right-handed pitcher landing in Tulsa’s rotation despite having tossed just 14.0 innings at the High-A level. He certainly looked deserving in his debut, as he made quick work of the San Antonio Missions, needing just 46 pitches to get through 4.0, as he faced just one over the minimum and struck out four:
Ryan, a former two-way talent out of UNC Pembroke whom the Dodgers acquired from San Diego in the Matt Beaty trade, looked entirely overwhelming at times in 2022, and despite tossing just 47.2 innings last season, Captain Obvious here liked him enough to make him a Helium pick back in December. Incredibly, the reports out of Spring Training were even more promising, with Dodgers farm Director Will Rhymes saying his velo reached as high as 101 mph.
Though Ryan is 24 years old, there’s low mileage on the arm, he’s super athletic, he repeats the delivery, the fastball traits are there, and he can spin a breaker. All aboard the hype train!
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The big club’s bullpen sucked on Saturday. That’s not news. But, there may be some help on the way — take a brief gander at Jordan Leasure:
Sheesh.
It was nearly a year ago now that Leasure, whom the Dodgers popped in the 14th round of the 2021 draft out of the University of Tampa, was first mentioned in this space. To whit:
Leasure spent his senior year as a closer, and appears to be continuing on a reliever track early in his career with the Dodgers, maxing out at 2.0 innings per outing, and entering late in games. Hard-throwing, whiff-inducing relief help is always welcome.
That last sentence, especially.
It’s not just this #notascout taking notice — Leasure was recently mentioned in an article at Baseball America, where they highlighted 50 lesser-known prospects standing out to scouts at Spring Training, whom they described thusly:
Leasure is a surefire reliever, pairing a 95-98 mph fastball with a solid slider and a control-over-command profile. He’s nearly big league-ready and could contribute in Los Angeles this season.
With how the 24-year-old Leasure looked tonight, he may be heading West on Route 66 from Tulsa to Oklahoma City sooner rather than later.
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Jerming Rosario had a solid debut for Rancho Cucamonga, despite one frame getting away from him a bit. The lithe Dominican righty tossed 5.0 innings, allowing three hits, no walks, and he struck out six. A pair of runs came across in the 4th inning that were, in the way of baseball at times, somewhat charitably unearned. But, that’s neither here nor there — what’s important is Rosario filled up the zone at a decent clip (46/65 pitches were strikes), and he bounced back after an inning went sideways to toss a scoreless 5th.
Possessed of some intriguing arm talent, the 20-year-old Rosario routinely ran it up in the 95-96 range in 2022, but there was a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde act, with command entirely disappearing at times. Previously known for his precocious pitchability, if he has reined in the added strength that aided him in ticking up the heater, this could get pretty interesting in a hurry.
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The last time Mitchell Tyranski took the hill for the Dodgers, the number one movie in America was Aquaman, the number one song was Taylor Swift‘s “Lover“, the first season of The Mandalorian was still two months from kicking off, and Mark Prior was still a month away from being named pitching coach. Oh, and pandemic was a thing that was pretty much only mentioned on Doomsday Preppers.
It has been a minute.
Between the minor league season being lost during the 2020 shutdown, and then Tyranski requiring Tommy John surgery just prior to the 2021 season, which meant two lost seasons, the 25-year-old southpaw wrapped up an incredibly long road back to the bump on Saturday afternoon, as he tossed a scoreless frame for Great Lakes:
Whatever else happens, congratulations.
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Here’s Sunday’s start times for the minor-league clubs (all times Pacific), along with the Dodger affiliate’s starting pitcher:
- Oklahoma City at Las Vegas – 12:05 PM, Dylan Covey
- Great Lakes vs Lansing – 10:05 AM, Justin Wrobleski
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Enjoy your Sunday, folks.
