Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
June 19th, 2022 Scoreboard
- Triple A Oklahoma City 6, Reno 10
- Double A Tulsa 3, Wichita 2
- High A Great Lakes 3, Wisconsin 2
- Low A Rancho Cucamonga 11, Inland Empire 4
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Ben Casparius got Great Lakes off to a good start on Sunday, as he had his best outing since ascending to the High A level:
Casparius, whom the Dodgers drafted out of UCONN, was mostly 93-95 with the fastball, and he utilized its flat vertical approach angle at the top of the zone to good effect.
Sunday’s outing was notable for the former Husky not just due to its length, but due to its relative length — it was Casparius’ second start against Wisconsin in this series, and in the first of the two, he didn’t record an out before he left with what appeared to be a stomach ailment.
Whatever the case, the storm has passed, and Casparius righted the ship in a hurry, leaving the Loons in a position to win a ballgame, which is the goal of every pitcher.
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The reins of Sunday’s game for Great Lakes were eventually handed off to Robbie Peto, who picked a good time to turn in his best outing of the season:
Peto, whom the Dodgers signed as a minor league free agent back in June of 2020, also pitched twice in this series, as he took over for the ailing Casparius in game one of the six game tilt, tossing a season high 5.0 innings. In a week that could have seen the bullpen shredded, Peto put on his backpack and stepped up.
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Jacob Amaya has caught fire for Oklahoma City, and on Sunday, he reached base four times, hitting a pair of singles and drawing a pair of walks, raising his OPS at the new level to 1.080.
One of the singles was a line drive to left clocked at 106.5 mph, just a hair under his current max exit velo of 107.1. It has only been a week, but the prospect of seeing batted ball data with regularity is an exciting one, and more updates on the topic will be coming.
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Gus Varland has seen a velo bump since moving from Tulsa’s rotation to their bullpen:
As a starter, Varland’s fastball sat 92-94, with the odd 95-96 popping up now and then, so the relief role might just be what gets the loose-armed righty going through the system.
Varland, whom the had a tough time in the rotation, posting an ERA that was North of 8.00, with a K-BB% of just 3.2%. Since the calendar flipped to June, his ERA is 1.59, and the K-BB% has risen to 22.2%. It appears that the former Concordia University Golden Bear is taking to his new role with aplomb.
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Leonel Valera was the star of the last inning of Tulsa’s win in extras on Sunday, first shining with the glove to keep the game knotted at 2-2:
And then he did the baseball thing where an excellent baseball play is followed by something exciting on offense, as he scored the winning run for the Drillers:
It’s good to see some of the boys in blue can figure it out in close/late situations.
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Have a good Monday, folks.
