Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
June 25th, 2023 Scoreboard
- Triple-A Oklahoma City 6, Las Vegas 10
- Double-A Tulsa 4, Northwest Arkansas 11
- High-A Great Lakes 1, West Michigan 2 F/5 (rain)
- Single-A Rancho Cucamonga 7, Lake Elsinore 1
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19-year-old wunderkind Payton Martin put together his best outing of the season for Rancho Cucamonga on Sunday, as he struck out 5 in his 3.0 perfect innings, and he picked up his second W of the season for his efforts. In 32.2 IP this season, the former West Forsyth High School Wolverine has an ERA of 1.65, a K/BB of 40/14, and he has held opponents to just a .193 batting average — not too shabby for someone 2.9 years younger than average for the level.
Martin, whom the Dodgers drafted in the 17th round just last year, is on a pretty fantastic four start run: 12.0 IP, 6 hits, 1 run (earned), 1 BB, and 19 Ks. As he is in the ever cautious Dodger organization, the athletic righty has never pitched in the 4th, so while the innings total may not jump off the page, he is doing everything he can possibly do with what scant opportunities he is given.
What also jumps off the page is the quality of his stuff, all of which have taken a step forward as he has added over 20 lbs of muscle and gained ~5 mph on the heater, which is reaching as high as 97 these days. For your viewing enjoyment, here’s four fastballs, four curves, four sliders, and three changeups:
With the draft just two weeks away, remember that if/when the Dodgers select a pitcher who might disappear if they turn sideways you should be intrigued — a cutting edge coaching and workout routine, along with a 6000 calorie a day diet, it can clearly work wonders.
(Imagine giving a teenager a six or seven figure signing bonus, and trusting them to correctly fuel themselves. Feed your minor leaguers, baseball teams.)
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Diego Cartaya went opposite field with his 9th dong of the season for Tulsa:
In addition to the dong, the Venezuelan backstop showed off his hose as well:
Strike out, throw out 😆 pic.twitter.com/mrq991tP7U
— Tulsa Drillers (@TulsaDrillers) June 25, 2023
For the season, the 21-year-old has nailed 14/56 would-be basestealers, a clip of 25% that on the surface may not seem incredibly impressive given where things have stood in years past. These days, however, with the new stolen base rules along with the larger bases, the average rate for catchers league-wide is just 20.4%, which is a significant drop from 2022 at 24.6%. It will take a bit of adjusting on the part of fans, but of late, a 25% success rate is solidly plus, and would represent a large upgrade over the current Dodger situation (18.4%), though the pitchers certainly haven’t helped matters.
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MLB Pipeline updated their Top 100, and the Dodgers lead all of baseball with 9 prospects on the list (change from previous ranking in parentheses):
- 9. Bobby Miller (+12)
- 22. Diego Cartaya (-7)
- 38. Michael Busch (+6)
- 51. Dalton Rushing (+18)
- 53. Gavin Stone (-7)
- 58. Andy Pages (+8)
- 78. Emmet Sheehan (NR)
- 84. Ryan Pepiot (-27)
- 95. Nick Frasso (NR)
Yeesh.
One thing that stands out here is that eight of the nine guys are entirely homegrown. Miller, Busch, Rushing, Stone, Sheehan, and Pepiot were all drafted by the Dodgers, and Cartaya and Pages were signed as international amateur free agents. Frasso is the lone acquisition, as he came to the organization in the Mitch White trade with Toronto.
My other musings on this list:
- Miller’s getting the respect he deserves as a five-pitch prospect with ace potential
- Understandably down on Cartaya just a tad due to the slow start, but he will stick behind the plate, and catcher bats typically take longer to develop than any other position, he’s fine
- Busch’s bat is plenty advanced, but looking like an actual big league third baseman has upped his stock
- Rushing to the moon
- Similar to Cartaya, Stone’s rough start has them down on him, but the bones of a mid-rotation piece are still definitely in place
- Pages reportedly received a good prognosis post-op, and MLB reporter Francys Romero said the 22-year-old Cuban will begin swinging a bat in 8-12 weeks
- Sheehan to the moon
- Pepiot’s lingering oblique issues are quite a blow for a 25-year-old who won a rotation spot out of Spring Training, but after his throwing program was shut down in early May, he has just resumed his throwing program, so a bit of a wild card here that needs a healthy run more than anything
- Already 24 and Frasso has never thrown more than 75 pitches as a pro, it’s easy to be high on the ridiculous stuff, but his future role is still undetermined, limiting his ranking
No matter how you look at it, or what your takeaways are, it’s an embarrassment of riches, and there are more guys right on the heels of those listed above. What a time to be alive.
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Here’s Monday’s start times for the minor-league clubs (all times Pacific), along with the Dodger affiliate’s starting pitcher:
- ACL Dodgers at ACL Brewers – 5:00 PM, TBD
- DSL Dodgers Mega vs DSL Guardians Blue – 7:00 AM, TBD
- DSL Dodgers Bautista at DSL Red Sox Blue – 7:00 AM, TBD
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Enjoy your Monday, folks.
