Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers selected RHP Brock Stewart, RHP Trevor Oaks, C Hunter Redman, RHP Matt Campbell, and OF Colin Hering in rounds 6-10 of the 2014 MLB Draft. Future All-Stars, the lot of them.
=====
With the No. 189 pick (6th round) in the 2014 MLB Draft, the Dodgers selected RHP Brock Stewart, a junior out of Illinois State. Stewart was primarily a reliever, and he posted a 2.36 ERA in 26.2 innings with 30 strikeouts and eight walks.
Stewart was not ranked in the top 200 by MLB.com, not ranked in the top 500 by Baseball America, not ranked in the top 300 by Baseball Prospectus, not ranked in the top 100 by Keith Law of ESPN, and not ranked in the top 350 by Matt Garrioch of Minor League Ball.
All that is probably because he was primarily an infielder with Illinois State, but Logan White apparently liked the arm strength on the mound. Honestly, there isn’t much info out there at the moment.
=====
With the No. 219 pick (7th round) in the 2014 MLB Draft, the Dodgers selected RHP Trevor Oaks, a junior out of California Baptist University. Oaks was a starter and put up a 1.68 ERA in 107 innings with 107 strikeouts and 31 walks.
Oaks was ranked #199 by MLB.com, #444 by Baseball America, not ranked in the top 300 by Baseball Prospectus, not ranked in the top 100 by Keith Law of ESPN, and not ranked in the top 350 by Matt Garrioch of Minor League Ball.
MLB.com has this report:
Scouting Grades: Fastball: 50 | Curveball: 50 | Slider: 45 | Changeup: 50 | Control: 45 | Overall: 45
Tommy John surgery is becoming commonplace these days, so the fact Oaks is three years removed from his elbow reconstruction shouldn’t scare away too many teams.
Oaks transferred to Cal Baptist and showed he was one of the best pitchers in Division II baseball this season, using a four-pitch mix to dominate opponents. His fastball can touch the low-90s, but sits around 89-90 mph. He throws it with good sink, inducing many ground ball outs. Oaks throws both a curve and slider, both of which flash as average pitches. His changeup has good fade to it. Oaks’ command has been spotty, but that, along with his arm strength, continue to improve the further away from surgery he is.
Oaks may never have wow stuff, but the combination of his feel for pitching along with post-surgery upside might have some teams interested.
Oaks primarily sits in the high-80s and lives off his sinker. He has three off-speed pitches, but none of which are special. Baseball America notes that he has “loads of competitiveness”.
Also, he made this:
=====
With the No. 249 pick (8th round) in the 2014 MLB Draft, the Dodgers selected C Hunter Redman, a junior out of Texas Tech. Redman hit .252/.288/.275 in 131 at-bats, including 22 strikeouts and seven walks. So the next Mike Piazza, basically.
Redman was not ranked in the top 200 by MLB.com, not ranked in the top 500 by Baseball America, not ranked in the top 300 by Baseball Prospectus, not ranked in the top 100 by Keith Law of ESPN, and not ranked in the top 350 by Matt Garrioch of Minor League Ball.
The Dodgers desperately needed catching depth, though I’m not sure Redman projects as anything but depth. Maybe that’s what they wanted, but they’ve already drafted a few of those in drafts of the recent past. Redman has a solid-average arm and surprisingly quick hands for somebody who apparently can’t hit, but not much more info available on him.
=====
With the No. 279 pick (9th round) in the 2014 MLB Draft, the Dodgers selected RHP Matt Campbell, a senior out of Clemson. Campbell closed games out for Clemson at least part of the time over the last two years and posted a 0.84 ERA in 32 innings in 2014. While he walked 15, he struck out 45 batters.
Stewart was not ranked in the top 200 by MLB.com, not ranked in the top 500 by Baseball America, not ranked in the top 300 by Baseball Prospectus, not ranked in the top 100 by Keith Law of ESPN, and not ranked in the top 350 by Matt Garrioch of Minor League Ball.
He’s described as a hard-thrower with a changeup by almost all accounts, but I can’t find much else on him.
=====
With the No. 309 pick (10th round) in the 2014 MLB Draft, the Dodgers selected OF Colin Hering, a senior out of Coastal Carolina University. Hering batted .213/.283/.264 in 178 at-bats, which is … not great.
Stewart was not ranked in the top 200 by MLB.com, not ranked in the top 500 by Baseball America, not ranked in the top 300 by Baseball Prospectus, not ranked in the top 100 by Keith Law of ESPN, and not ranked in the top 350 by Matt Garrioch of Minor League Ball.
Apparently he can play a bit of defense though.
=====
A key point while looking through these picks is that a lot of them should be signable for below slot, so I’m not sure if they think first-rounder Grant Holmes is going to cost that much over slot or if there’s somebody after the 10th round they’re targeting.
