When I think of batting average, guys like Wade Boggs, Rod Carew and Tony Gwynn come to mind. When I think of a keen eye at the plate, Barry Bonds, Babe Ruth and Ted Williams are tops. When talking about the hit tool, these players encompass the best of both worlds.
Many players make it to the majors based on the strength of their hit tool, even if defense isn't their specialty.
The Dodgers probably don't have any of those kind of players in their system, as those Hall of Fame players aren't the norm. But there are some quality bats in the system -- something that couldn't be said even a year or two ago.
Yasiel Puig could be on this list, but his hit tool is just average at this point. But he sure is impressing in Spring Training so far.
Previous entries in this series
These are some of the prospects who have an above-average or better hit tool.
Alex Castellanos
- Castellanos isn't much of a defender, but he's hit the cover off the ball since being acquired by the Dodgers. He posted some ridiculous numbers in Triple-A last season: .328/.420/.590 with 17 home runs in 94 games. While Pacific Coast League numbers aren't to be trusted, Castellanos' bat appears to be the real deal. His improved walk rate helps him make this list. The video below gives me hope for Castellanos' long-term potential. He might not be a regular, but he's going to be a major leaguer based on the strength of his hit tool.
Joc Pederson
- I tabbed Pederson as the system's best hitter in my Top 50, and rightfully so. Pederson hit .313 with a .396 on-base percentage in 2012, which earned him Dodger Minor League Player of the Year honors. His smooth stroke from the left side and bat speed to be a regular, and his plate discipline is quite good for a player of his age. Chattanooga will be a nice test for the soon-to-be-21-year-old.
Jeremy Rathjen
- Rathjen fell to the 11th round after a knee injury, but he proved he could handle the bat well in his debut season. He hit .324 for Ogden with a team-leading 48 walks and .443 on-base percentage. He'll need to prove his debut season wasn't just a product of being an older prospect in rookie league ball. He has enough bat speed for that to happen.
Corey Seager
- Baseball America rated Seager as the system's best hitter for average, and it's hard to disagree. His debut season in Ogden was pretty impressive: .309/.383/.520. His walk rate is surprisingly advanced for an 18-year-old in his first professional season. Keith Law fancies Seager as a potential All-Star third baseman, and that doesn't come without a top-flight bat.
Jesus Valdez
- Valdez is a prospect who hasn't received much acclaim in his career, but he possesses a good hit tool. He posted a .400-plus on-base percentage as a 20-year-old in the Pioneer League -- no easy feat. He also hit for some pop (30 extra base hits) and drew a fair amount of walks (31 in 322 plate appearances). He isn't as good as guys like Seager and Castellanos, but he could take a big step forward in 2013 and establish himself as having one of the better bats in the system.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Monday, March 4, 2013
Video of Dodgers' prospect Yasiel Puig's first spring training home run
Everyone keeps (rightfully) saying he won't begin the 2013 season on the Dodgers' 25-man roster, but Yasiel Puig is trying his damnedest to earn a spot.He basically murdered a baseball in Sunday's game against the Indians. Here's the video.
Marc Hulet of FanGraphs pointed out something on Saturday while watching Puig. It's an astute observation. Something I noticed when watching videos of Puig last year and in Spring Training is he's inconsistent with his toe tap/toe twist when he starts his swing.
LAD's Yasiel Puig is a physical specimen... However, needs to use his lower half more. Very reliant on upper body with his swing/power.That's partly the reason he shouldn't begin with the Dodgers. He will be exposed by Major League pitching. He is just 22 years old, so he isn't going anywhere. There is absolutely no reason to rush him, even if Carl Crawford begins the season on the disabled list.
— Marc Hulet (@marchulet) March 2, 2013
Photo credit: MLB.com video screenshot
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Yakkers: Examining the best sliders in the Dodgers' farm system
The slider is associated with power. Most times, it's a power pitch thrown by a power pitcher. There are few exceptions to this rule.
Clayton Kershaw came up as a fastball-curveball-changeup pitcher. Some, in the back of their mind, wondered if the three-pitch repertoire would work. Well, Kershaw added a slider to his arsenal, and he took off.
Not surprisingly, pitchers who throw sliders tend to rack up the strikeouts. The Dodgers traded a couple of pitchers last year who would have qualified for this list: Logan Bawcom and Ethan Martin. Both have at least average sliders, while Martin's can be an above-average pitch at times.
Previous entries in this series
Starters
Matt Magill
- Magill's slider is quickly becoming one of the best in the system. He's racked up an 8.9 strikeouts per nin innings in his minor league career thanks in part to a knockout slider. It profiles as an average pitch right now, but it could easily be an above-average offering going forward. It sits in the low-80s.
Aaron Miller
- Miller gets an obligatory mention here as average or better sliders among Dodger starting pitching prospects are few and far between. Miller broke in as a fastball/slider guy, which could ultimately mean he's destined for the bullpen. His slider is a 79-82 MPH pitch and could be a solid weapon out of the 'pen.
Chris Reed
- I tabbed Reed as having the best slider in the system, just a tick better than Magill's. Reed complements his low-90s fastball with a hard mid-80s slider that is especially effective against left-handed hitters. Like Miller, Reed could end up in the bullpen where his slider would play up.
Relievers
Steve Ames
- Ames might be an exception to the slider rule. He doesn't overpower hitters with his 90-93 MPH fastball, thus he doesn't overpower them with his low-80s slider. But it has enough bite to it that it keeps hitters off-balance. Ames has a career 12.3 K/9, and it isn't because he's throwing 95-plus MPH.
Yimi Garcia
- Garcia's slider has helped him immensely since graduating from the two lowest levels of the minor leagues in 2011. Before that, he had a pedestrian 7.7 K/9. Since then, he's been a strikeout machine, averaging 13.1 strikeouts per nine -- thanks in large part to his low-to-mid-80s slider. He looks to be a classic fastball-slider strikeout pitcher going forward, if he can command his pitches well enough.
Paco Rodriguez
- Rodriguez is one of only two pitchers on this list (Wall) to show off his slider at the Major League level. It helped him be the Dodgers' second-round draft pick in last year's draft. It's effective against lefties and righties and sits in the low-80s with good bite.
Josh Wall
- Wall pairs his mid-to-upper-90s fastball with a mid-80s slider that, when it's on, is a tough pitch to square up. Wall dealt with the rarefied air in Albuquerque last year, but still posted the second-best strikeout rate of his career (8.7). He's a longshot to make the Dodgers' bullpen out of Spring Training, but he'd likely be among the first recalled when the Dodgers need a power reliever.
Clayton Kershaw came up as a fastball-curveball-changeup pitcher. Some, in the back of their mind, wondered if the three-pitch repertoire would work. Well, Kershaw added a slider to his arsenal, and he took off.
Not surprisingly, pitchers who throw sliders tend to rack up the strikeouts. The Dodgers traded a couple of pitchers last year who would have qualified for this list: Logan Bawcom and Ethan Martin. Both have at least average sliders, while Martin's can be an above-average pitch at times.
Previous entries in this series
Starters
Matt Magill
- Magill's slider is quickly becoming one of the best in the system. He's racked up an 8.9 strikeouts per nin innings in his minor league career thanks in part to a knockout slider. It profiles as an average pitch right now, but it could easily be an above-average offering going forward. It sits in the low-80s.
Aaron Miller
- Miller gets an obligatory mention here as average or better sliders among Dodger starting pitching prospects are few and far between. Miller broke in as a fastball/slider guy, which could ultimately mean he's destined for the bullpen. His slider is a 79-82 MPH pitch and could be a solid weapon out of the 'pen.
Chris Reed
- I tabbed Reed as having the best slider in the system, just a tick better than Magill's. Reed complements his low-90s fastball with a hard mid-80s slider that is especially effective against left-handed hitters. Like Miller, Reed could end up in the bullpen where his slider would play up.
Relievers
Steve Ames
- Ames might be an exception to the slider rule. He doesn't overpower hitters with his 90-93 MPH fastball, thus he doesn't overpower them with his low-80s slider. But it has enough bite to it that it keeps hitters off-balance. Ames has a career 12.3 K/9, and it isn't because he's throwing 95-plus MPH.
Yimi Garcia
- Garcia's slider has helped him immensely since graduating from the two lowest levels of the minor leagues in 2011. Before that, he had a pedestrian 7.7 K/9. Since then, he's been a strikeout machine, averaging 13.1 strikeouts per nine -- thanks in large part to his low-to-mid-80s slider. He looks to be a classic fastball-slider strikeout pitcher going forward, if he can command his pitches well enough.
Paco Rodriguez
- Rodriguez is one of only two pitchers on this list (Wall) to show off his slider at the Major League level. It helped him be the Dodgers' second-round draft pick in last year's draft. It's effective against lefties and righties and sits in the low-80s with good bite.
Josh Wall
- Wall pairs his mid-to-upper-90s fastball with a mid-80s slider that, when it's on, is a tough pitch to square up. Wall dealt with the rarefied air in Albuquerque last year, but still posted the second-best strikeout rate of his career (8.7). He's a longshot to make the Dodgers' bullpen out of Spring Training, but he'd likely be among the first recalled when the Dodgers need a power reliever.
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Breaking news: It seems former Dodger prospect Allen Webster is good
Despite the headline, it really isn't breaking news. Allen Webster is a damn good prospect. Sadly, not everyone knew that heading into spring training 2013.
From Pete Abraham of Boston.com:
I'm not saying I'd undo the trade, as I'd have gladly traded Rubby De La Rosa and Webster to land Adrian Gonzalez, but it'd be nice if he was still a Dodger.
I said on the last two episodes of "Dugouts Blues," that if Webster was still in the system, he'd have been my No. 1 prospect. Jim Shonerd of Baseball America said he'd rank Webster in the top five and ahead of Zach Lee in his rankings. So, people in the know (referring to Shonerd), knew Webster could be this good.
Best of luck to Webster (and De La Rosa). He should have a spot in the Boston rotation no later than 2014.
From Pete Abraham of Boston.com:
"Webster in two appearances this spring: 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K. He has been 95-99 with his four-seam fastball and shown an an excellent changeup along with a two-seam fastball with heavy sink."From Rob Bradford of WEEI.com:
"Webster hit 99 mph on the stadium’s radar gun, as was the case in his outing in Dunedin. But it might be his secondary pitches that have separated the pitcher in the eyes of the Red Sox’ coaching staff.From Ron Chimelis of Masslive.com:
'Velocity is one thing, but still, I just think the action to the stuff, and keep in mind, this is someone who has always been a starter so the first inning coming in the middle of the game is a little different for him,' (John) Farrell said. 'But with each successive inning, you can see the rhythm and just the glow of the game really start to take over. He has three very good weapons you can go to."
"He does have an effective sinker. In five minor league seasons, he has averaged nearly a strikeout per inning, a little under four walks per nine innings, and only one home run every 27 innings."From Jason Martinez of MLB Depth Charts:
"#RedSox not only freed up a lot of $ in blockbuster trade w/ #Dodgers, young pitchers acquired (R. De La Rosa/ A. Webster) are impressive."The fact that this seems to be a surprise to folks out there is somewhat curious. Webster was one of the best Dodger pitching prospects for the last couple of seasons. His success (I know, it's still March) is no surprise to me and others, I'm sure.
I'm not saying I'd undo the trade, as I'd have gladly traded Rubby De La Rosa and Webster to land Adrian Gonzalez, but it'd be nice if he was still a Dodger.
I said on the last two episodes of "Dugouts Blues," that if Webster was still in the system, he'd have been my No. 1 prospect. Jim Shonerd of Baseball America said he'd rank Webster in the top five and ahead of Zach Lee in his rankings. So, people in the know (referring to Shonerd), knew Webster could be this good.
Best of luck to Webster (and De La Rosa). He should have a spot in the Boston rotation no later than 2014.
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