Dodgers Prospect Notes: Jeral Perez on fire, Jose Rodriguez turning heads, Edgardo Henriquez and Reynaldo Yean impressive, more

Bruce Kuntz 04/23/2024 Prospect Notes Leave A Comment

Jeral Perez in 2023. Photo by: Cody Bashore

Top Farm Batter

Jeral Perez was named the Single-A Cal League Player of the Week for his performance, hitting three homers and posting a 1.267 OPS in a six game stretch. So far in his first full Single-A season, he has shown off his power as well as his discipline at the plate, producing a .313/.459/.583 slash line.

Perez, who is only listed at 6-foot, 179 pounds, tied for the ACL lead with 11 homers last year. He’s played mostly second base so far with the Quakes, which is his best long-term position. If his bat continues to develop on this trajectory, the 19-year-old could become an offensive force, especially for a second baseman.

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Top Farm Pitcher

Jose Rodriguez is an under-the-radar arm that has been nothing short of excellent so far this season. The 22-year-old right-hander pitched in long relief in Single-A this week and struck out 11 in 4 2/3 scoreless innings. Most impressively, in only 72 pitches, Rodriguez forced an incredible total of 27 whiffs.

As Josh also pointed out in another tweet, Rodriguez currently leads the minor leagues with a 28.7% swinging strike rate, which is a wide margin of 6.4% higher than second place. His 37.5 K-BB% is also top five in the minors.

Rodriguez is in his fourth season in the organization, with the previous three years having been spent as a short-outing relief pitcher mostly in rookie ball. The Dodgers have clearly unlocked something in 2024 for the 6-foot-6 right-hander, and as they stretch him out, his early results have certainly proven he’s worth keeping an eye on.

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Triple-A Oklahoma City Baseball Club

Kody Hoese had a nice week with OKC. He started all six games, homering twice and posting a .983 OPS. The former first-round pick, now 26, is batting .347 through his first 49 Triple-A at-bats.

John Rooney has had a good start to the year out of the bullpen for OKC. The 27-year-old southpaw, who is likely to appear in Los Angeles at some point this season, has a 1.69 ERA and 23.3 K-BB% through eight appearances.

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Double-A Tulsa Drillers

Ben Casparius has been a strikeout machine so far for Tulsa. He struck out seven in a 3 2/3 inning start this past week, and he has an overall 41.2% strikeout rate through three appearances this season. His ERA is 4.35, but he has seen a brutally unlucky .522 BABIP and his FIP is just 1.54.

Diego Cartaya hit his first homer of the season. His second Double-A season hasn’t gotten off to a great start, but he has only played in nine games as he splits time with Dalton Rushing and also takes a lighter workload to stay healthy. One positive to take so far in this small sample is his walk rate, which fell below 10% last year but has rebounded to 18.6% through his 43 plate appearances this season.

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High-A Great Lakes Loons

Chris Campos was solid in his High-A debut, going three shutout innings with three strikeouts and only two hits and one walk allowed. A former two-way player at Saint Mary’s à la Tony Gonsolin, Campos struck out just north of 11 batters per nine in 25 Single-A appearances last year.

Kyle Nevin hit his first home run at the High-A level to continue his torrid start to the season. His 163 wRC+ is fifth best in the system so far this year. It’s more of the same for Nevin, who batted .312 through 47 games in Single-A last year before sustaining an injury that ended his season early.

Alex Freeland has also had a great start to the year, leading the organization with a 195 wRC+ largely due to his 23.5% walk rate. After playing almost exclusively shortstop with the Loons last year, Freeland has had to shift all over the infield for playing time this season after minor league gold glove winner Noah Miller arrived in the spring.

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Single-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes

Josue De Paula has started the season in a bit of a slump, but he did tally four extra-base-hits over this last week, including two triples. Overall so far, De Paula has had a high strikeout rate and low walk rate, both uncharacteristic for him. The hope is those numbers regress to their usual levels soon.

Two fireballers in Edgardo Henriquez and Reynaldo Yean have started the season well. Each have yet to allow an earned run and they have posted 37.5% and 50.0% strikeout rates respectively. Henriquez is stretching back out after his elbow surgery and could head to High-A relatively soon, but Yean seems likely to be Rancho Cucamonga’s best back-end reliever for much of 2024.

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About Bruce Kuntz

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I'm a Long Beach State journalism student and I've been writing about the Dodgers and their farm system since I was in high school.
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