Dodgers Prospect Notes: Morales mashes in Midwest, Copen & Zazueta bounce back, Davalan breaking out, Quintero clutch, debuts & rehabs galore, more

Jared Massey 08/11/2026 Uncategorized Leave A Comment

Emil Morales.

Hitter of the Week

It took some time, but Emil Morales seems to have caught up with High-A pitching. The 19-year-old shortstop has established himself as one of the best power hitters in the system, thanks in large part to a loud week to kick off August.

Morales started last week with a homer on Tuesday, then would homer in each of the next two games and again on Saturday. His four homers last week push him to 22 on the year, which is tied for second in the organization. He finished July with a 1.044 OPS and has begun August with a 1.114 mark.

While he cut down on his strikeouts in July, he’s already K’d 10 times in seven games this month. That’s really the only part of his offensive game that needs work, specifically his tendency to whiff on right-handed breaking balls. If he can improve in that area, he’s destined to man an infield spot for the big club.

Pitcher of the Week

Few players in the minor leagues know adversity like Patrick Copen. This season has been a test of his resilience and he’s passed with flying colors.

The right-hander started the season strong, with a sub-1.00 ERA through April. Then things took a turn and it rose to 13.12 over the next two months. However, he’s turned things around since the beginning of July, with a 2.66 mark in his last six outings. Last week, he made two appearances, allowed no earned runs and struck out 15 batters over 8 ⅔ innings.

He’s bounced back and forth between the rotation and the pen, but I think his future lies in a relief role where he can air out his triple digit fastball and doesn’t have to worry as much about throwing strikes.

Triple-A Oklahoma City

The drought is over! James Tibbs III, who hadn’t homered since June 26th, finally went yard on Sunday for the first time in over a month. #22 ties him with Emil Morales and Jake Gelof for second in the org.

Zach Ehrhard hit .292 last week with eight walks and 10 runs scored. He also stole a pair of bases, giving him 17 on the season. Since the start of May, he’s slashing .313/.445/.518.

Noah Miller had a big week, hitting .435 with a pair of doubles and a stolen base. He also made a number of web gem defensive plays, including this diving stop.

Ryan Ward clubbed his 12th home run of the season. Hyeseong Kim batted .250 with a triple and a pair of steals. 

Emmet Sheehan made his first appearance for the Comets on Saturday acting as an opener, allowing a pair of runs over ⅔ of an inning. Ben Casparius continues to struggle on his way back from injury, surrendering four runs in three relief appearances last week.

A number of rehabbing Dodgers made starts for OKC last week. Blake Snell kicked off the week with a rehab start on Tuesday, Bobby Miller pitched for the first time this year on Wednesday, Gavin Stone pitched for the first time in two years on Thursday, and Tyler Glasnow bookended the week with a Sunday start. Snell is scheduled to start for the Dodgers tonight.

Double-A Tulsa

Josue De Paula had a solid week by his standards, batting .333 with two doubles and a homer as well as a stolen base. If he steals another, he’ll be in the exclusive 30 double/20 homer/30 steal club.

Mike Sirota hit .308 with a double, a steal and a homer. He also walked five times, pushing his OBP in Tulsa up to .470.

Catcher Frank Rodriguez batted .500 in four games, including a four-hit effort on Thursday in which he added his 8th home run of the season.

Christian Zazueta bounced back from his worst start of the season with a strong effort, six scoreless innings with eight strikeouts. He’s currently sporting a 47:3 strikeout to walk ratio in 30 innings with Tulsa.

Zach Root posted a quality start in his second Double-A appearance, allowing three runs over six innings while striking out 10 with no walks.

Luke Fox finally returned to the Drillers after missing nearly four months, working three innings of one run ball with a pair of strikeouts. Jacob Kmatz, acquired with Hunter Feduccia at the trade deadline from Tampa, made a pair of scoreless appearances last week with a couple strikeouts.

High-A Great Lakes

Charles Davalan continues to destroy A-ball pitching, with four multi-hit games to close out the week and a pair of homers.

Eduardo Quintero homered twice as well, but it was his second that made the greatest impact. With 2 outs in the 9th inning on Sunday, his two-run shot untied the game and led the Loons to the win.

Like Chuck Davalan, Jaron Elkins also had four multi-hit performances last week. He collected a pair of doubles and stole a base. He’s hitting .333 for the Loons in his first 10 games.

The bad news from last week was Chase Harlan injuring himself on a swing and having to leave the game on Saturday. He looked like he was grabbing his side. If it’s an oblique, that could be the end of his season.

Tyler Gough made two appearances last week, with a dominant start on Tuesday that included a career-high 11 strikeouts over 5 ⅔ innings, followed by a relief appearance on Sunday in which he allowed a solo homer in two innings of work with a strikeout.

Hyun-Seok Jang matched his career-best with 10 strikeouts on Wednesday, allowing two runs over 5 ⅓ innings. Most notably, he hasn’t walked a batter in his first two games as a Loon.

Sterling Patick had a strong showing of his own on Friday, giving up just one run over five innings while striking out seven.

Low-A Ontario

Joendry Vargas had a fantastic week, batting .440 with four doubles, a triple, a homer and two steals. He had the second four-hit game of his career on Friday, falling a triple shy of the cycle.

Oswaldo Osorio had a pair of homers while batting .294. The 21-year-old already has four homers in August.

Ching-Hsien Ko hit .304 with a double and four walks last week. He’s in a bit of a homer drought, having not gone deep since July 23rd.

Easton Shelton opened the week with home run #33. He’s also up to 102 RBI on the season.

Cam Leiter returned on Wednesday after dealing with a blister issue and went two scoreless with a pair of strikeouts.

A few 2026 draftees made their pro debuts with the Tower Buzzers last week. 7th rounder Charlie West struck out three of the five batters he faced on Friday. 10th rounder Devin Bell worked a 1-2-3 inning on Saturday. UDFA Ian May allowed a run in two innings over two games with a pair of strikeouts.

Rookie Leagues

With the Dominican Summer League winding down into its final week, I wanted to highlight a pair of hitters whose names Dodgers fans ought to know going forward.

Fran-Jean Haseth, a native of Curacao, has been the most impressive power hitter in the DSL for the Dodgers this year. His eight home runs have him tied for 9th in the circuit, while his .569 SLG is firmly in the Top 20. He’s a big guy already at 17 years old, and it’s easy to see how he generates that power from this swing.

Helvin Mendoza might be my favorite DSL prospect this year. While he doesn’t have the power of Haseth, he has one of the prettiest right-handed swings I’ve seen in a long time. His .500 OBP ranks 14th in the league and he’s drawn more walks (34) than strikeouts (26). On Sunday, he entered the game as a defensive replacement and ended up hitting a walk-off single. If I had to bet on a guy making an impact stateside next year (lockout permitting), Mendoza is the guy.

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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