Friedman & Gomes Have Eyes

BA lists Four Rookie Ball Standouts to Keep Tabs on:

Marlon Nieves, RHP, Dodgers: The Dodgers’ system is already rich with interesting prospects, but there are a few more bubbling at the lowest levels of the minor leagues. One is Nieves, a righthander who pitches in the Arizona Complex League. Although he’s been inconsistent from outing to outing this season, his best are dazzlers. That was the case on Tuesday, when the 20-year old spun five three-hit shutout innings against the Padres. He struck out seven and walked one. Nieves mainly works with four-seam, sinking and cutting fastballs, but will mix in a mid-80s slider and very occasional low-90s changeup. This season, he’s struck out 33 but walked 20 in 34.1 innings.

Hernandez/Kim platoon? In LF, as opposed to CF.

Nice to see Roberts show some life out there.

Ward OPS is over .980, hrs hitting over .300, he deserves a shot. Why anyone would throw a strike to pages with first base open and two outs is not right in the head. The Padres have never been known for their intelligence.

Tuesday scores

Oklahoma City 8, Round Rock 7

Tulsa 6, Midland 0

Great Lakes 8, Peoria 7

Rancho Cucamonga 9, Lake Elsinore 1

ACL Dodgers 8. ACL Padres 0

Wednesday scores

Round Rock (Dane Dunning) at Oklahoma City (TBD), 10:05 AM PST

Midland (Gage Jump) at Tulsa (Patrick Copen), 10:05 AM PST

Lake Elsinore (Kash Mayfield) at Rancho Cucamonga (Christian Zazueta), 11:00 AM PST

Peoria (Cade Winquest) at Great Lakes (Luke Fox), 4:05 PM PST

For more detailed recaps,stats,schedules, daily standings and box scores for Dodger minor league teams go to the top of this page and cIick on MINOR LEAGUE AFFLIATES.

Ward OPS is over .980, hrs hitting over .300, he deserves a shot. Why anyone would throw a strike to pages with first base open and two outs is not right in the head. The Padres have never been known for their intelligence. The Dodgers best outfield prospect might not even be in Great Lakes. Quintero in low A is killing it and he’s only 19. It would be shame to trade for an outfielder who has more than a year on his contract. The dodgers outfield is set for years to come. Conforto has had enough runway to land a concord plane. The Dodgers don’t need to make a major move. The starting pitching is slowly improving getting some guys back, a reliever is always a need at the right price.

For what it’s worth (BTV’S model has historically been quite accurate)

BTV gives Stowers a $14 million value

(If you want to argue that it’s higher. Ok. Projection systems aren’t convinced that his improvement is real. Still seems low to me given he’s only on his 2nd year if team control).

Comparable Dodger minor league players:

Mike Sirota 14

Eduardo Quintero 15

Jackson Ferris 16

Alex Freeland 21

Zyhir Hope 22

Josue DePaula 23

Would I do Sirota for him? I think so

Quintero? Probably

Ferris? Likely

The others? I want to know a lot more about Stowers than I do now.

I’m not sure the Dodgers NEED a player to platoon with Kiké. I love nearly everything about him, but I don’t think the team needs to make sure he’s getting that many starts. If a full time OF was available, the team should grab them.

That said, I don’t really see an obvious player to trade for. Mullins?

As for Stowers having reverse splits, let’s see

wRC+ vs L 116

wRC+ vs R 123

He doesn’t even have reverse splits. He has regular platoon splits, just with a narrower split than usual.

Let’s look closer anyway

vs L: BB% 6.3, K% 17.8

vs R: BB% 9.1 K% 32.3

THAT’S a reverse split. Much better K rate vs same-handed pitching. That’s not usually the case.

vs L: BABIP .396, ISO .086

vs R: BABIP .344, ISO .223

High BABIPs which suggests his overall offense will regress.

Massive difference in power. He’s crushing right-handed pitchers and is a slap hitter vs left-handed pitchers.

Two totally different profiles vs lefties and righties. Maybe he’s got two different approaches?

Or, maybe it’s sample size

Just 63 PA vs left-handed pitchers

And 198 vs right-handed pitchers

63 PA isn’t much of a sample to draw conclusions from

His career numbers

vs L: BB% 6.2, K% 20.4, BABIP .329, ISO 127, wRC+ 101

vs R: BB% 7.4%, K% 34.2, BABIP .330, ISO .158, wRC+ 90

Maybe that’s where Mark got the reverse splits from. If so, good for him for looking at the bigger sample.

Unfortunately, it’s still a really small sample – just 113 PA’s against lefties. Too small to really draw conclusions. The difference in K and BB rates, while smaller, is still interesting. The BABIPs and ISO are pretty much evened out.

Usually when someone says “reverse splits” it’s all small sample and BABIP.

This time, it’s still small sample (it almost always is because there are so many more right-handed pitchers than left-handed ones), but the huge difference in BB and K rates suggests, as I said before, a narrower split than normal.

Feeeland’s a real one. Even Ray Charles can see that.

I’m all for giving Ward a shot, but the whispers by baseball people are “He’s a AAAA Player.”

They are usually right.

I am very high on Sirota. His ceiling may not be what DePaula’s is, but it’s at a Key Defensive Position.

I see this outfield in the next 2-3 years:

LF – DePaula

CF – Sirota

RF – Pages

Hope is right there too.

I honestly do not see any need for the Dodgers to make a trade.

If they DFA Conforto, platoon Kim and Kike in LF (as M-Pop suggested) and call up Freeland to be another utilityman.

Caught Joe Davis in a boo boo last night. He said it was Pages first MLB game with multiple homers. Wrong Joe. Andy hit two homers in game 5 of the LCS last year against the Mets in New York. Nerve wracking game, but a nice win for the team. Sauer will be sent back down again. He probably hopes he never sees a brown and yellow uni again. I have a left field suggestion, Jesus Sanchez of the Marlins. 27 years old, arb eligible next year, hitting .255 with 7 homers. He also has stolen 7 bases and been caught once. If Miami makes Alcantara available, then AF could get both in a package deal. Sandy has had a much better June so far, ERA is 2.12 in 3 games getting 15 Ks and walking just 3 in 17 innings. Every time Ryan Pepiot takes the mound for the Rays, he makes that trade look better for them than Glasnow has for the Dodgers. He has a 4-6 record, but he is averaging almost 6 innings a game. His K to walk ratio is almost 3-1. Like most pitchers, he has allowed some homers. His WHIP is 1.104. He has logged 68 more innings for the Rays than Glasnow has for the Dodgers. Add that to what DeLuca has done for them, it looks like a Rays win to this point in time. Oh yeah, DeLuca is an excellent CF with speed.

Rushing needs at bats just like pages did to get where he is now. Sitting does him no good. He can be that bad of a LF

Did a little digging on Conforto

Between April 25 and May 9 he had 1 single and 6 walks in 48 PA. That’s it. A .167 OBP. A .000 ISO. A negative 31 wRC+. That’s as bad as it gets.

Here. See it in all of its horrific glory

Prior to that stretch he had a 103 wRC+

Since then, he’s at 98

Now, you can’t just say that those plate appearances didn’t happen, they did, of course. But that quarter of his season is really dragging down his overall numbers – which have still been a disappointing league average.

His xwOBA is 341. This IS buoyed by a huge increase in BB rate.

His statcast numbers are mostly average-ish. And not that much of a decline, but a decline, from last year.

The biggest differences are in barrel % (still above average) and LA sweet spot % (way below average). I don’t know exactly what those two things measure but seems like he’s just not hitting the ball quite right. “Duh”, right? Like something is off in the timing or swing and he’s just missing. Or really missing. I don’t know.

It’s a weird season for the guy. Ideally, his numbers for the rest of the season will better match what was expected before the season and what his xwOBA is.

I’m rooting for him

Although I don’t like Conforto, I’m not eager to see him get rid of either. Who would take his place? Many say Ward, a rookie who has never played in the major leagues, and who could be worse… What would be the reason for doing that? At least Conforto has experience, and could still inspire some respect.

And please, I’m already sick of reading about SD, until when are you going to understand that those assholes don’t matter?

The only teams that maybe, and just maybe, could “worry” or create some interest would be SF or NYY… The real rivalries!

These faggots aren’t rivals. Why do they give them an importance they don’t have and never have? LA is far above them, so why do they stoop to their miserable level?

Eduardo Quintero Is the Dodgers’ Best player on the farm.

Kim’s BABIP is .462

06/18/25 Los Angeles Dodgers activated RHP Emmet Sheehan from the 60-day injured list.

06/18/25 Los Angeles Dodgers optioned RHP Matt Sauer to Oklahoma City Comets.

Welcome Back Emmet!!!

Bobby Miller’s line in Oklahoma City’s 15-1 win this afternoon with the magic number reduced to 2 to win the first half division:

5IP 5H 1R 0ER 2BB 7K 5.17ERA 101 pitches 61 strikes ( progress}

Dodger owner Mark Walter is buying the Buss family’s 2/3 majority ownership of the Lakers for 10 billion.

If one could discount pitching, I’m not convinced that the position players at Great Lakes aren’t better, right now, than the players at Tulsa. I’m impatient, I realize the Dodgers and their system doesn’t do this but I wish they would move their upper players up quicker and cut bait with players that aren’t getting done. Quintero needs to be challenged but the Great Lakes outfield is five deep with potential MLB players. Though I complain too much, I have complete confidence in our front office. It’s fun being a fan and having a site to vent. Mark I really appreciate you and your work on this site. If we ever meet, dinner is on me.

Mark Prior was on the Starkville podcast. It’s not the best, but they touch on injuries for pitchers and Otani.

It’s probably a better use of your time than contemplating the human condition and its impact on the ability of markets to set value, but who am I to judge?

Ward is most likely a AAAA player. Can we say with any confidence that Conforto is better than that? I don’t think Conforto would anything at AAA either.

10:10 PM ET

Padres (39-33)

Dodgers (45-29)

SP Stephen Kolek R

3-2 3.50 ERA

SP Emmet Sheehan

0-0 0.00 ERA

Confirmed Lineup

DH S. Ohtani L

SS Mookie Betts R

1B F. Freeman L

RF T. Hernandez R

3B Max Muncy L

LF Andy Pages R

2B Tommy Edman S

CF Hyeseong Kim L

C D. Rushing L

80° Wind 8 mph Out

Wrobleski expected to relieve tonight