Dodgers' prospect Zachary Bird among Arizona League's best, says BA

The Dodgers might have really found a gem from the 2012 MLB Draft in the person of Zachary Bird.

Bird, the Dodgers' ninth-round pick, today was named the 19th-best prospect in the Arizona League by Baseball America. He was the only Dodger prospect to make the list.

Yasiel Puig would have been a lock for the list, but he didn't have enough playing time to qualify. He should make the California League list when it is published early next month.

The tall righty had a nice debut season, considering he pitched it as a 17- and 18-year-old.

His 4.54 ERA and 1.33 WHIP could use some improvement, but his 2.90 FIP and 10.4 K/9 were fantastic. He also showed decent control for a teen with a 3.9 BB/9 and a 2.71 K/BB.There isn't a lot to analyze about his 39 2/3 debut innings, but those were the things that stood out.

Bird boasts a fastball that has touched 92 MPH in the past. With his 6'4, 190 pound frame, there is defintely projection there. He also has a low-70s curveball and a changeup. He'll need to improve upon his secondary offerings going forward, but things are looking well for him thus far.

Here's a video of him from the Perfect Game showcase in 2011.



Some have compared him to Edwin Jackson. Race notwithstanding, it seems to be a good comp. As prospects, they both have projectable frames and the ability to add velocity to the fastball. The key difference in their stuff is Bird's slow curveball and Jackson's hard slider. I'm betting Bird adds another pitch -- either a slider or cutter -- to his arsenal before it's all said and done.

Side note: So many times comparisons in sports are race-based. Some are apt, some are ridiculous. Case and point: the No. 17 pick, D.J. Davis, was compared to Juan Pierre during MLB Network's draft coverage. Thing is, he is absolutely nothing like Pierre as a baseball player. They're both black, both lefty all the way and both speedy. That's really it. Davis hit as many home runs in his first 266 plate appearances as Pierre has in his last 3,430 PAs. But I digress (a lot). It's lazy and flat-out wrong.

Oh, and Bird has one of the most unique Twitter handles around. Check it out.

Dodgers promote top prospect Zach Lee to Double-A Chattanooga

In a move that was expected in a month or two, the Dodgers today promoted top prospect Zach Lee to the Chattanooga Lookouts of the Southern League.

Lee, 20, was the subject of a post I penned 10 days ago in which I pointed out he was having a great season even if some of his numbers looked a little below-average.

Lee is the second first-round pitcher to be promoted to Double-A this season, as Chris Reed was promoted in early June.

The Dodgers have rarely been afraid to be aggressive with their pitching prospects, so this isn't much of a surprise. However, the fact that Lee is 20 and will pitch in Double-A is sure to raise some eyebrows.

Chad Billingsley, Scott Elbert, Clayton Kershaw and Greg Miller all pitched in Double-A at age 20. Edwin Jackson one-upped the four of them by pitching with the Jacksonville Suns (the Dodgers' affiliate at the time) at age 19.

Aside from Miller, all the other pitchers have made it to the majors and had success (some more than others).

With Lee and Reed being promoted, the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes' pitching rotation has been stripped of their two best pitchers. Ryan O'Sullivan was assigned to Rancho earlier today from Great Lakes to presumably take Lee's spot. They also have Garrett Gould and Angel Sanchez. And Jarret Martin could be promoted at any time.

The impact on the Lookouts is also apparent.

To say there's a pitching logjam in Chattanooga would be an understatement. The Lookouts now have seven who can start: Lee, Matt Magill, Ethan Martin, Aaron Miller, Reed, Allen Webster and Chris Withrow (when he comes back from the disabled list).

It remains to be seen what the Lookouts will do. Magill has thrown poorly of late, Martin has been mediocre, Miller has been decent but isn't throwing a lot of innings, Reed is still getting acclimated to the league, Webster seems to have finally figured it out and Withrow struggled before going on the DL.

I like how aggressive the Dodgers are with their minor-league pitchers, so I'm looking forward to seeing how he handles advanced hitting in perhaps the most talented level of the Minor Leagues. Before the end of the season, he'll work out of the bullpen to limit his innings.

But no matter what happens the rest of this season, Lee will begin in Double-A in 2013.

Photo credit: Dustin Nosler, Feelin' Kinda Blue

Chris Reed the only prospect to represent Dodgers in Futures Game

The 2012 Futures Game rosters were announced today and London-born (say wha?) Chris Reed will represent the Dodgers in Kansas City this year.

It's no surprise to see Reed headed to KC, as he's had a really good season so far: 2.86 ERA, 1.09 WHIP and a 9.2 K/9 between High-A Rancho Cucamonga and Double-A Chattanooga.

Reed, 22, has a good fastball that sits in the low-90s, a mid-80s slider and a showme changeup. He was the Dodgers' first-round draft pick in 2011 -- a pick I wasn't particularly thrilled with. It remains to be seen if he's going to pan out, but he has the stuff. His stamina and durability are the concerns.

While it's not a surprise to see him pitching well, it is a little surprising to see he's the only Dodger prospect selected to play in the game.

Guys like Zach Lee, Joc Pederson, Blake Smith and Alex Castellanos all deserved consideration. Lee is widely regarded as the Dodgers' best prospect, Pederson as the Dodgers' best hitting prospect and Smith and Castellanos as guys who have a lot of ability. I could see guys like Lee and Pederson getting the nod in the next year or two.

The Futures Game has been in existence since 1999 and is played the Sunday before the MLB All-Star Game at that year's venue.

Here are the Dodgers' Futures Game participants from the past:

• 1999: Chin-Feng Chen, Luke Prokopec
• 2000: Chen, Randey Dorame
• 2001: Ricardo Rodriguez
• 2002: Victor Diaz, Rodriguez
• 2003: Franklin Gutierrez, Edwin Jackson
• 2004: Joel Guzman, Koyie Hill
• 2005: Andy LaRoche, Russell Martin
• 2006: Guzman, Chin-lung Hu
• 2007: Clayton Kershaw, Hu (MVP)
• 2008: Ivan De Jesus
• 2009: Pedro Baez
• 2010: Baez, Dee Gordon
• 2011: Alfredo Silverio

The only players on this list to not make it to the Major Leagues in some capacity are Dorame, Baez and Silverio. Dormae has since retired, Baez is 24 and in Double-A and Silverio was probably going to get a call-up in September if he wasn't in a car accident in January and had subsequent Tommy John Surgery in May.

So, the Futures Game is the minor-league All-Star game to watch. The best of the best participate in this game and usually guys who are destined to be MLB players at some point.

The game is on July 8 at 2 p.m. Pacific time.

Photo credit: Courtesy of Brandon Lennox, True Blue L.A.

Zach Lee has been great this season for the Quakes in the California League

The word "great" is thrown around a lot in sports and life in general. Far too much, actually. I try to be conservative when using the word.

Well, Zach Lee has been great this season.

I had some concern with Lee pitching in the California League this season -- something that can be said for pretty much any good prospect in the hitter's haven.

Allen Webster, oddly enough, dominated the league last season (2.33 ERA, 7.7 H/9, 10.3 K/9) in 54 innings before struggling in the Southern League (but he has pitched better of late).

Lee, however, has handled himself quite well in the league, even after battling a groin injury last month.

The "bad"

His 4.30 ERA isn't going to get him acclaim, but it's better than the league-average of 4.46. His 1.2 HR/9 is high, but the league-average is 0.9 and he hasn't given up a home run in his last five starts. Last season, he gave up nine in 109 innings (0.7). His 9.46 H/9 is just a touch more than the league average of 9.41.

Left-handers are getting to him a little more than righties (.288/.333/.411), which isn't uncommon. But he actually has a higher slugging percentage allowed to righties (.449).

The good -- the really good

His FIP is 3.52. The league-average is 3.89, so that's great to see. His SIERA is 3.08, which is eight-tenths better than league-average (3.88).

Lee is dominating right-handers (save the higher-than-normal slugging percentage): 1.11 WHIP, 1.0 BB/9, 10.54 K/9, 10.25 K/BB, 3.14 FIP, 2.22 SIERA. Wow.

What might be most impressive are the next few categories. Lee's control and command have been excellent this season. He has only walked nine batters in 52 1/3 innings, good for a 1.5 BB/9 (that's Roy Halladay territory).

His 8.9 K/9 is up from last year's 7.5. I'm not exactly sure what to attribute it to because he's facing advanced hitters in a hitter's league. I've heard he's been working in the high-80s to low-90s with his fastball, so he's not going to just blow pitches by hitters on a regular basis. His secondary offerings -- cutter, curveball, changeup -- are solid.

The one statistic that makes me really happy is his 5.78 K/BB. The league-average is 2.54 and Lee's rate last season was 2.84. That's a massive improvement.

The guy obviously knows how to pitch. He's not just a thrower (not that he's ever been just a thrower). This should give Dodger fans a lot of hope.

He's been awesome since returning from injury:

• 3 GS, 12 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 10 K

With talk of the Dodgers wanting to acquire a bat and arm before July 31, they had better do one of two things with Lee:

1. Don't trade him (preferred)
2. Trade him for an impact/star bat, not pitcher

If the Dodgers trade Lee without getting a star-quality player in return, it will be a colossal mistake.

The guy has everything needed to be a great pitcher in baseball. He's just 20 years old and posting these impressive numbers against competition that is roughly two-plus years older than him -- that cannot be overlooked.

Chris Reed, Lee's former (and probably future) teammate has already been promoted to Double-A. The 2011 first-round pick is 22 years old. Lee could easily be joining him sometime in the next month. The Dodgers have been known to be aggressive with their pitchers (Chad Billingsley, Nathan Eovaldi, Edwin Jackson, Kershaw, Webster), so seeing Lee in Chattanooga at age 20 wouldn't be a surprise to me.

The Dodgers drafted Corey Seager last week. Some probably wondered if Seager would slot in as the Dodgers' top prospect (assuming he signs). For me, absolutely not. But that's not a knock against Seager. That's how much I like what Lee has done and how much hope there is for him in the future. He's not going to be another Clayton Kershaw (not many of those out there), but I could easily see him being the Dodgers' No. 2 or No. 3 starter in the next five years.

Thanks to Minor League Central for the in-depth statistics

Photo credit: Dustin Nosler, Feelin' Kinda Blue

Former Dodgers in the World Series

As I watching Game 4 of the World Series between the Cardinals and Rangers, I can't help but notice the number of key players on each team who used to be Dodgers.

Cardinals
Octavio Dotel (does he really count?)
Rafael Furcal
Edwin Jackson
Ryan Theriot (same as Dotel)

Rangers
Adrian Beltre

OK, so Dotel and Theriot were barely Dodgers and aren't doing much in the Series. However, Furcal, Jackson and Beltre are all key components for each team.

Furcal is the Cardinals' leadoff man and, much like he was with the Dodgers -- or was supposed to be -- he's the catalyst of the squad. But with a 3-4-5 of Albert Pujols, Matt Holliday and Lance Berkman, Furcal doesn't have to be on base all the time for the Cardinals to be successful.

Jackson is the key guy the Cardinals acquired in the Colby Rasmus trade. He was solid after the trade, despite a 10.5 H/9 rate. It's probably my Dodger bias, but I'd like to see him back in L.A., as he's a free agent after the season (only if Hiroki Kuroda decides to retire or go back to Japan). Jackson's postseason hasn't been stellar and he doesn't get the most out of his stuff, but he's still a solid middle-of-the-rotation pitcher.

Beltre is quite possibly the best third baseman in the game -- defensively. Like he was with the Dodgers, he's a vacuum at the hot corner and has one of the best arms in the game at the position. He also followed up last season's impressive offensive output -- .321/.365/.553, 28 HR, 102 RBI, 49 2B, 5.5 bWAR, 7.0 fWAR -- with another impressive season: .296/.331/.561, 32 HR, 105 RBI, 3.9 bWAR, 5.7 fWAR. He's hitting .467 in the World Series.

I honestly don't care which team wins this series. Beltre was always one of my favorite Dodgers and Jackson was traded when his value was virtually nothing. Furcal had a nice career with the Dodgers, despite the injuries. It'd just be nice to write a World Series post involving current Dodgers. Unfortunately, that is more of a pipe dream at this juncture.