Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
May 10th, 2023 Scoreboard
- Triple-A Oklahoma City 6, Round Rock 4
- Double-A Tulsa 3, Springfield 0
- High-A Great Lakes 8, Lake County 1
- Single-A Rancho Cucamonga 1, Stockton 2
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Dalton Rushing‘s bat appears to be too advanced for the Midwest League, as the 2022 40th overall pick took the league lead in homers after tacking on his 6th and 7th dongs of the season:
Rushing ended up going 2/3 at the plate, and he also drew a pair of walks, which put his slash line at .284/.462/.602.
At this stage, there aren’t any superlatives left for the former Louisville Cardinal’s offensive game. I’m sure he and everyone in the organization are aware of the boxes he needs to check defensively, but in the meantime, we get to enjoy one heck of a dong show at the plate.
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River Ryan received one of the more aggressive assignments you’ll see out of the Dodger organization, as he opened the season at Double-A Tulsa after logging just 14.1 IP at the High-A level in 2022. Thus far, he is rewarding the club for their faith in the former Padre farmhand:
Ryan, who was a two-way player in college (and in his early stages as a pro) showed off his athleticism while covering first on some grounders to the right side, nimbly stepping on the bag while avoiding contact with the runner during close plays.
One other exciting development from this outing was the pitch count. Ryan averaged 51.6 pitches per outing across his first five appearances, and he was ramped up to a season-high 70 on Wednesday. With his athleticism and repertoire, the plan should be for him to continue to develop as a starter, and reaching a new seasonal pitch count best is the next step on this path.
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Yon Castro cruised through another outing en route to picking up his third win of the season for great Lakes:
So long as Castro remains a starter, there is zero chance of him being promoted to Tulsa without movement elsewhere, but the former Yankee farmhand is handling everything in front of him with aplomb.
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Two members of Rancho Cucamonga’s rotation have been promoted to High-A Great Lakes — Maddux Bruns and Jerming Rosario.
Bruns, a 20-year-old who is listed at 6’2, 205 lbs, was the first round pick of the Dodgers in the 2021 draft. He battled command issues in his debut 2022 campaign, but some mechanical changes (which you can read about here) have helped the southpaw rein things in, as he has increased his K-BB% from 10.2% last season to 22.7% in 2023, and helped him post a microscopic ERA of 1.29.
Rosario, who turned 21 on Monday, saw similar gains this season with his K-BB% jumping from 12.9% to 24.0%, and he posted an ERA of 2.88. The Peravia, Dominican Republic native was signed by the Dodgers as an IFA in July, 2018.
Bruns is scheduled to make his debut in Thursday’s contest. Rosario last pitched on Tuesday, so his rotation turn would be on Sunday, should they avoid skipping him this time around.
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Here’s Thursday’s start times for the minor-league clubs (all times Pacific), along with the Dodger affiliate’s starting pitcher:
- Oklahoma City at Round Rock – 5:05 PM, Bobby Miller
- Tulsa vs Springfield – 5:05 PM, Emmet Sheehan
- Great Lakes at Lake County – 3:35 PM, Maddux Bruns
- Rancho Cucamonga vs Stockton – 6:30 PM, Payton Martin
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Enjoy your Thursday, folks.
