Dodgers Prospect Notes: De Paula dominant with Drillers, Ryan inching closer to MLB return, Sirota & Morales promoted, Lindsey’s 5-hit day, more

Jared Massey 05/25/2026 Prospect Notes Leave A Comment

Josue De Paula

Hitter of the Week

Josue De Paula continues to show why he’s one of the top hitting prospects in the minor leagues, consistently getting on base while occasionally displaying the type of power that evaluators believe will be a staple of his offensive game in the future. And he just turned 21 years old on Sunday.

JDP has been one of the best performers in the Texas League despite being one of its youngest players. In five games last week, De Paula had four multi-hit efforts, including a four hit performance on Friday that included a pair of doubles. Overall, he hit .476/.538/.810 with four doubles, a homer, four walks and four stolen bases.

With a 141 wRC+, more walks than strikeouts and 14 stolen bases, De Paula is exceeding expectations in his first real taste of the upper minors. The defense still needs work, but it’s the only weak part of his game. It’s only a matter of time before he’s pushed up to Triple-A.

Pitcher of the Week

It’s been a tumultuous season for Adam Serwinowski, who is still sporting an overall 7.61 ERA through his first nine starts of the season. The good news is he’s shown flashes of excellence this season that should keep him in the starting rotation for the time being.

Despite the struggles this season, Serwinowski has still missed plenty of bats. He has 49 strikeouts in 36.2 IP, which places him 5th in the league and second on the team behind Patrick Copen. Last week, Serwinowski tossed season highs with 10 Ks in seven innings, allowing just one run on three hits.

There is a belief in the industry that Adam will eventually end up in the bullpen, where his fastball/slider combo would work well. However, he doesn’t turn 22 til next month and has plenty of leash to turn things around and prove that he can continue to start.

Triple-A Oklahoma City

The good news for James Tibbs III is that he’s hit pretty consistently over the past month, with a .310 average and an .847 OPS in May. The bad news is the power is out, as he hasn’t homered since April 26. Alex Freeland, who had a torrid first week back in the minors, cooled off considerably last week with a .125 average in six games.

Zach Ehrhard hit .300 last week with a double and four walks. Tyler Fitzgerald batted .389 with a pair of homers. Jack Suwinski clubbed his 12th homer, passing James Tibbs III for the team lead.

The pitching staff stood out last week with some impressive performances. River Ryan made his fourth start of the season and went five shutout innings, striking out seven. The fastball has been sitting around 98 MPH the past few outings and his cutter/slider/curve keeps hitters off balance. He still needs to be built up but it shouldn’t be too much longer before he rejoins the major league rotation.

Cole Irvin made a pair of starts last week, the first being six shutout innings with six strikeouts. Chayce McDermott, after making his first major league appearance with the Dodgers a week ago Sunday, struck out six of the nine hitters he faced with OKC last week. Carlos Duran had a pair of two inning outings, allowing no runs and three baserunners while striking out six.

Double-A Tulsa

Mike Sirota was promoted to Double-A and had a solid first week, hitting .333 with three doubles and an .893 OPS in his first taste of the upper minors. Zyhir Hope batted .273 with a pair of doubles himself.

Kendall George continues to terrorize opposing pitchers and defenses. 11 hits in his 24 at bats gives him a .339 batting average overall, which leads the Texas League. He also stole seven bases, giving him 26 on the season, another league best mark. And he continues to turn routine groundballs into base hits.

Infielder Sean McLain had a big week, hitting .421 with a double, two triples and his first home run of the season. Jake Gelof had a solid week, going 5 for 17 with a pair of doubles.

Southpaw Wyatt Crowell was effectively wild in his start on Wednesday, going 5 2/3 scoreless with six strikeouts but five walks. Payton Martin had a very similar appearance the day after, with 5 1/3 innings of one run ball, five strikeouts and six walks.

High-A Great Lakes

Emil Morales was promoted to High-A last week and is taking his time adjusting to the level of competition. The 19-year-old had just two hits in 18 at bats, though he did double and steal a base. 

Eduardo Quintero continues to turn his season around. After a cold start in the frozen midwest, the 20-year-old hit .400 last week with a double, four walks and six stolen bases. His OPS has risen nearly 400 points from April to May.

Jose Meza continues to hit well, going 5-for-15 last week with a pair of doubles and his fifth HR. Eduardo Guerrero hit .278 with a double and three walks. Nico Perez only had three hits, but he also stole four bases and is now tied for second in the Midwest League with 19 stolen bases.

Charles Davalan hit .313 last week with six walks, a double and his seventh home run of the season. The seven homers tie him for the team lead with Logan Wagner who’s been shelved for the past few weeks with an injury and the recently promoted Sirota.

Zach Root continues to shutout the competition. Over his last four starts, he’s allowed just two hits, no runs and he’s struck out 13. In his last outing, Root went a season high 3 2/3 innings, giving up just one hit with a season high six strikeouts. He is dealing with some control issues, walking 10 in 13 innings this season, but opposing hitters are really struggling to square him up.

Christian Zazueta had a solid start on Friday after being skipped in the rotation the previous week. He allowed a pair of runs in five innings, striking out five. He now has 48 strikeouts, tied for fourth in the league.

Isaac Ayon was also promoted to Great Lakes from Ontario with Morales. He went four innings in relief, allowing a pair of solo homers while striking out four.

Low-A Ontario

First baseman Easton Shelton hit three homers last week, including his 10th on Sunday which leads the Cal League. Ching-Hsien Ko added his 8th homer, which happened to be a grand slam.

Chase Harlan doubled his homer total with a pair of taters on Sunday, giving him four on the year. Kellon Lindsey also finished the week strong, missing the cycle on Sunday by a homer while collecting five hits.

Javier Herrera, called up to replace Emil Morales, has hit the ground running with the Tower Buzzers. He hit .333 in his first week in A-ball with a triple and a pair of stolen bases. Fellow shortstop Joendry Vargas hit .320 with a double.

Mairoshendrick Martinus hit .433 with three doubles, two steals and a homer. One of the more athletic players in the system, Martinus has played every position except left field and catcher this season. AJ Soldra batted .320 with five doubles and his fourth homer.

On the bump, Mason Estrada put together arguably his best start as a pro. He went four innings, allowed just one hit and no runs while striking out nine. Estrada works mainly with a mid-90s fastball and one of the best breaking balls in the system, a nasty sweeper that elicits plenty of whiffs and weak contact. Over his last four starts, Estrada has allowed just one run on six hits while striking out 20 batters in 15 innings.

Another 2025 draftee finding recent success, Cam Leiter made two starts last week and showed elite stuff. His fastball sits in the high-90s touching 99, he throws a hard slider and a tight curveball that he relied on to put hitters away in his more recent outing. If he stays healthy and refines his command, Leiter has top of the rotation upside and could end up being the best pick of that draft class.

Speaking of power righties, Hyun-Seok Jang allowed just one earned run over five inning with six strikeouts in his most recent start. The 22-year-old has improved his control over last year while continuing to strike out more than a batter an inning.

Rookie-Level Arizona Complex League

18-year-old catcher Jhon Gil made his debut with the ACL club and went four for his first eight through two games. While he’s listed as a catcher, he’s been playing center field; a defensive switch that reminds me of another prospect currently in the system: Eduardo Quintero.

Last year’s 4th rounder Aidan West had a nice week, hitting safely in all five games he played and collecting his first professional home run. Reyli Mariano, a 19 year old infielder, also collected his first home run of the season.

Bryan Gonzalez Garcia, the Dodgers’ 6th rounder from 2023, was hitting .360/.500/.720 before a surprise promotion to Double-A, though its unclear if he’ll ge-t much playing time.

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About Jared Massey

Former co-host along with Dustin Nosler of the Award-eligible Dugout Blues podcast. Founder of the Greg Miller Marching and Chowder Society. Certified Prospect Hugger.
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