Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
June 20th, 2023 Scoreboard
- Triple-A Oklahoma City 10, Las Vegas 5
- Double-A Tulsa 2, Northwest Arkansas 6
- High-A Great Lakes 2, West Michigan 1
- Single-A Rancho Cucamonga 3, Lake Elsinore 1
- ACL Dodgers 1, ACL Giants 3
- DSL Dodgers Mega 13, DSL Braves 9
- DSL Dodgers Bautista 15, DSL Nationals 5
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Justin Wrobleski came into Tuesday’s action with a scoreless innings streak of 18 2/3, and although it came to an end just two batters in, he settled in and cruised the rest of the way, setting a new career high in innings pitched in an outing:
Repeating this for emphasis, because he was out there collecting bodies:
Good heavens. Rest on pine, kid.
Dating back to May 9th, the 2021 11th round pick is on some kind of a roll: 39.2 IP, 1.13 ERA, 42/11 K/BB. Who can say what Wrobleski has left to do in order to get the bump to Tulsa, but he is clearly handling everything in front of him to the best of his abilities.
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Hunter Feduccia just may have solved what ailed him, as he put together another productive day at the plate for Oklahoma City:
The former LSU Tiger had a blistering start to the season, as he slashed .362/.516/.638 for the month of April, with more walks than strikeouts (16/13), but that gave way to an utterly abysmal May, during which his line was a meager .203/.271/.281 with the whiffs and free passes dramatically heading the other direction (6/17).
Flash forward to June, and the backstop appears to have found something, with his line after Tuesday sitting at a much improved .324/.457/.432 and the walks and Ks back on track (9/7).
So what changed? Well, it appears to be a rather simple thing. On the left, May 16th, the very midst of his slump, and on the right, last night:
As you can see, Feduccia closed his stance by about a baseball width. Athletes often adopt minor overcorrections to resolve an issue, sometimes it’s only in training, other times it carries over to games. If Feduccia felt he was opening up or coming off the ball, a device like this can be just the ticket. It is, after all, a game of inches.
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Bahamian prospect Paris Johnson, whom the Dodgers signed in July of 2022, is off to a good start down in the Dominican Summer League, as his 1.103 OPS after 8 games will attest. And man, is he having a good time doing it:
This blast reportedly landed past a house that’s beyond the left field fence. If you have the grown man strength to hit a blast like that at 18, and you do, celebrate it however the heck you want. It’s good to see the Dodgers letting the kids play.
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Payton Martin turned in another gem of a performance for Rancho Cucamonga, tossing 3.0 scoreless, allowing a hit, a walk, and striking out 6, needing just 38 pitches to do it. This outing lowered his season ERA to 1.82, and has his month of June looking rather impressive: 9.0 IP, 6 hits, 1 run (earned), 1 BB, and 14 Ks.
The 19-year-old North Carolinian (who actually opened the season at 18) appears to be limited to just 3.0 IP regardless of his pitch count — he has tossed as many as 52 and as little as 35 en route to completing the assignment. As he is still the youngest pitcher on the Quakes’ roster, and he would be the third-youngest if he was a level down, it’s understandable if the club is exercising an abundance of caution with the phenom who is already up to 97. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.
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Scott Hennessey, the manager of the Tulsa Drillers, will be taking a temporary, medical leave of absence from the club at the close of the first half (July 9th) in order to begin cancer treatment for stage 3 curable squamous cell carcinoma. Via the linked article, the cancer is said to have not spread beyond the initial area in which it was found, in his neck, and his long-term prognosis is “very good”. Thank goodness for that.
Hennessey is in his 17th year in the Dodger organization, and his 6th as manager of the Tulsa Drillers. All the best to Scott and his family, as he heads off in just shy of three weeks to beat this thing.
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Here’s Wednesday’s start times for the minor-league clubs (all times Pacific), along with the Dodger affiliate’s starting pitcher:
- Oklahoma City vs Las Vegas – 5:05 PM, Bryan Hudson
- Tulsa vs Northwest Arkansas – 5:05 PM, River Ryan
- Great Lakes at West Michigan – 3:35 PM, Ronan Kopp
- Rancho Cucamonga vs Lake Elsinore – 6:30 PM, Madison Jeffrey
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That’s all for Tuesday’s action, enjoy your Wednesday, folks.
