Dodger Chatter: Romer Cuadrado MLB Pipeline Dodger Prospect No. 27
MLB Pipeline recently came out with its updated Top 30 rankings for Dodger minor league prospects. One addition to the list, albeit at No. 27, is outfielder Romer Cuadrado who played the full 2017 season as a 19-year-old with the Ogden Raptors of the rookie level Pioneer League. Actually, he turned 20 on September 12 just five days before the Ogden squad won their first league championship. MLB Pipeline is
MLB Pipeline recently came out with its updated Top 30 rankings for Dodger minor league prospects. One addition to the list, albeit at No. 27, is outfielder Romer Cuadrado who played the full 2017 season as a 19-year-old with the Ogden Raptors of the rookie level Pioneer League. Actually, he turned 20 on September 12 just five days before the Ogden squad won their first league championship. MLB Pipeline is not the only prospect list that includes Cuadrado. John Sickels, whose assessments I always appreciate, ranked the 6’4”/185-pound outfielder No. 21 on his prospect list. His caveat was that because the youngster is so far from the majors it is difficult to get an accurate feeling.
Cuadrado was signed as an international free agent by the Dodgers during the 2014-15 signing period. At that time the right-handed hitter was not ranked among the top 30 international prospects by Baseball America or MLB.com, but was cited as a noteworthy prospect by Ben Badler of Baseball America who described Cuadrado as, “… a raw project in the field and at the plate, where he’s still smoothing out his swing and learning to recognize pitches.”
From Maturin, Venezuela, he played his first year with the Domincan Summer League Dodgers and his second season with the Arizona League Dodgers. He experienced some difficulty at the plate hitting .222 and .236 respectively over the two seasons.
So how did those including Cuadrado on their prospect lists get even a tentative feeling he could rank on a Top 30 list in the loaded Dodger minor league organization? His 2017 statistics spoke for themselves.
The Pioneer League is known as a notorious hitter’s league as evidenced by the team earned run averages in the league. The Grand Falls Voyageurs lead the league with an aggregate ERA of 4.73, the Raptors came in at 5.46 and the Idaho Falls Chukkars topped it off with a team ERA of 6.91.
Having said that, the hitter still has to hit the ball and Cuadrado did so with the best of them. He posted a triple slash of .335/.364/.411 along with nine home runs and 60 runs batted in. His RBI total ranked second in the league as did his 87 hits. One area in which he would hope to improve in 2018 is to cut down on his strikeout total.
Cuadrado was a driving force in the Raptors surge to a league championship in 2017 and could have been described as the team’s, “Mr. Clutch”.
After a five-for-five night at the plate to lead the Raptors to the Southern Division Championship, Cuardaro’s manager, Mark Kertenian, lauded the young team leader. “He plays hard every single night on all sides of the baseball,” said Kertenian, lauding his player’s ability to contribute defensively and on the base paths as well. “He’s very young, but he’s been steady. He’s been our steadiest hitter all year. Behind all of that is a young man who’s 19 years old, turns 20 tomorrow, from Venezuela, which is a challenging place to be in our world right now. He shows grit and determination and true character every single day.”
Raptors 2017 assistant hitting coach, Justin Viele, spoke highly of Cuadrado’s approach at the plate: “Romer has a knack of driving the fastball to every part of the field. He can hit an inside fastball to right center field for a home run.”
Romer Cuadrado will no doubt begin the 2017 season with the Great Lakes Loons of the Class-A Midwest League and continue his climb on the prospect lists and upward through the Dodgers farm system.
Photo credit: Tomo San | LA Dodgers
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Discussion (56)
Disagree, not disagreeable
If Jake Peter keeps this up, I do not think Chase would allow the Dodgers to send Jake down. I think he would fall on his sword. He’s that kind of guy.
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There are so many options in the pen and Doc and the Dodgers are going to bring everyone along slowly. With Koehler going down, I would think Brock Stewart should work solely out of the pen.
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Farmer is looking a lot better – he’s so much less stiff! I have been impressed with Estevez, Peters, Toles and Verdugo… to say nothing of Ruiz who is a star in waiting.
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Beaty, Puig, Rios and Kemp all look amazing. Muncy is capable. Joc and Grandal look lost and Barnes must be lost! Ruiz and Farmer might have to seize the day!
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On the pitching side, Chargois and Coping have looked good as has Yimi in his 1 inning, but the talk of camp is L-R Venditte. DeFractus has great stuff and I think Font makes the team.
– Tom Kohler who?
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What an embarrassment of riches!
By the way, you all are amazing. You know your stuff and you speak intelligently. I have never enjoyed a blog as much as now. We all have different ideas, takes and all that. Keep up the good work everyone!
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Thank you!
I normally do not get excited about ST numbers, good or bad. However the one time I do is when there is actual competition for a position. This year there are two; LF and C. Unfortunately for catcher, Barnes has been hurt, but Grandal has certainly not helped his cause. Both Smith and Ruiz have filled in nicely. If Barnes gets healthy, I see no reason why he will not hit. He always has. Grandal needs to play as if this is his walk year…Oh that’s right, it is.
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Now LF is another issue. Kemp, Verdugo, and Toles have all risen to the occasion and have accepted the competition challenge and have played well. Joc is playing himself off the team at this point. There is still 3+ weeks to go, so there is time for him to embrace the challenge. But his two popups with the bases loaded in Friday’s game was not inspiring or convincing. Samardzija goes tomorrow, so maybe he gets another shot.
I was at Friday’s game at CBR and Joc had two chances to seize the moment with two bases loaded at-bats and failed both times. Verdugo, Toles and Kemp have all outplayed him to this point and he might be OKC bound or traded for some pitching. Jake Peter looks great.
Vindette pitched Friday and while he got out of the inning without any hits or BB’s, he doesn’t strike me as someone who will stick when camp breaks. I watched C.C. Lee pitch a bullpen (being coached by Hershisher, Hough and Honeycutt) and his stuff looked electric. Not saying he’ll make the team, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s not on the OKC to LA express train this year.
Rios passes the “eye test” and looks big. Got two hits, but his defense at 1B looked painful. His lateral movement was pretty bad and he looks stiff. Estevez has a major league glove right now.
Man, I love Joc, and have always waited for him to “break out”, but he is so damn inconsistent, it just drives you nuts. The years are ticking by for Young Joc, he aint so young anymore on this team, and he’s got alot of guys pushing him. He needs Turner Ward RIGHT NOW, or I don’t think he’s gonna make it. If Puig can do it, Joc can.
I had a chance to talk with Vindette when we played Texas last week I was really impressed with what a gracious and polite young man he is. He signed autographs for everyone lined up along the 3rd base line and there were a bunch of us. I also saw him pitch twice and I don’t see how he is going to consistantly get major leaguers out with his stuff. Does anyone know which pitches he has. His best fastball was 86mph and most of his pitches were in the 70s. He throws sidearm a lot and must have some good break on his curve/slider because he had several strikeouts. He is the kind of pitcher that the on deck batter can’t wait to hit against, and curses on the way back to the dougout after striking out. It would be a huge surprise to me if he makes the team.
Chris Taylor went 0-2 yesterday. If you were not watching you would say he had a bad game. He did not. He walked the first time and was thrown out stealing. The next two at bats he hit the ball on the button, but right at fielders.
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When is Hill or Ryu going to pitch? I do not know how they are going to get the starters stretched out with so many starters competing for starting positions. Maybe they are pitching minor league games.
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Peters and Ruiz are gong back to the minors this year, but they are impressing management. Verdugo is major league ready. But where does he play? I can see Toles in CF and Taylor at second. Forsythe needs to pick it up a notch. So does Joc. I can see both being traded before the season starts.