Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
April 14th, 2023 Scoreboard
- Triple A Oklahoma City 4, Sugar Land 2
- Double A Tulsa 6, Midland 1
- High A Great Lakes 1, Dayton 0
- Single A Rancho Cucamonga 2, Visalia 8
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Ben Casparius was both dominant and efficient as he set a new career high in innings pitched on Friday, needing just 67 pitches to put up six no-hit frames for Great Lakes:
The former Husky’s calling card is his slider, and Casparius utilized it to great effect, picking up three of his five strikeouts on the breaker, and it helped him pick up ground outs on seven of the nine balls that were put into play. FanGraphs puts a present grade of 70 on it, noting that it routinely runs in there at 2900 RPM, which would place it right at the top of the MLB slider spin leaderboard. Leave it to the Dodgers to find the guy with that one weird trick. Additionally, Casparius will run it in there with his flat plane heater as high as 96 mph, so the floor here is that of a two pitch reliever.
Setting aside future tracks, it all came together for the 24-year-old righty on Friday night, and congratulations to him, it was indeed one to remember.
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Said in this space regarding Andy Pages, just yesterday:
Like Michael Busch, the Cuban center fielder is off to a hot start with the bat, slashing .353/.556/.471, though he has yet to go yard. Also like Michael Busch, it’s of little concern.
Well, if that’s all it took. Roll tape:
The 22-year-old would go on to reach base two more times in his monster game, going 3/4, with the aforementioned homers, a double, and a walk. Thru seven games, the Launch Angle Unicorn’s OPS is a healthy 1.451, ‘salright, if you’re into that.
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Ryan Ward had a two homer game of his own on Friday, providing all the offense Oklahoma City would need in their victory:
While the first dinger was a skyscraper to right, the second was absolutely crushed, flying 448′:
Ward ended up going 2/3 with a walk, raising his OPS to .758.
Additionally, the former Bryant University Bulldog, who previously spent the majority of his time in left field, is donning a different bit of leather these days, as he has transitioned to first base. Because I’m a sicko, I imagine the offseason conversation went something like:
However it went down, it comes as little surprise, as there are no shortage of left fielders in the organization, and adding to the bag of tricks can only serve to aid the 25-year-old Ward as he chases the dream.
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Here’s Saturday’s start times for the minor-league clubs (all times Pacific), along with the Dodger affiliate’s starting pitcher:
- Oklahoma City vs Sugar Land — 5:05 PM, Dylan Covey
- Tulsa at Midland — 5:00 PM, River Ryan
- Great Lakes at Dayton — 10:05 AM, Justin Wrobleski
- Rancho Cucamonga at Visalia — 6:30 PM, Jerming Rosario
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Enjoy your Saturday, folks.
