It’s Time for Loons Baseball
Boy, is it ever time! It has been 604 days since the Great Lakes Loons have taken the field for a good old game of hard ball. They kicked off the 2021 season with a game at home against the Dayton Dragons. It was the first game of a six-game series as each series in the Midwest League will be for six games during the 2021 season. The Loons roster
Boy, is it ever time! It has been 604 days since the Great Lakes Loons have taken the field for a good old game of hard ball.
They kicked off the 2021 season with a game at home against the Dayton Dragons. It was the first game of a six-game series as each series in the Midwest League will be for six games during the 2021 season.
The Loons roster has 31 players, 17 of whom are pitchers. Fourteen of the rostered players have previously played for the Loons, although at the low-A level. This will be an interesting season as with a year and some more off it must have been difficult to place players. It appears some have been assigned to the Loons because they are age appropriate but not experience appropriate for Class A+. The expanded roster from 25 players is partially due to Covid-19 concerns and also to accommodate more players with the reduction of minor league teams.
Five of the Loons on the current roster have had no minor league experience – Morgan Cooper, Braidyn Fink, Clayton Beeter, Bobby Miller and Carson Taylor. The last three are 2020 draft selections. Cooper – a 2017 second round selection – is now 26. Fink, 23, was a 2019 selection in the 19th round. Cooper might be the most interesting story in the Dodgers minor league system this year.
The roster features a pair of 22-year-old undrafted right-handed free agent pitchers. Mike Mokma went undrafted during the 2019 draft while Cole Percival suffered the same fate during the 2020 draft which was an abbreviated draft. Mokma stands 6’7” tall while Percival is 6’5” tall.
Catcher Ryan January, 23, was taken from the Arizona Diamondbacks during the 2020 Rule 5 minor league draft.
Left-hander Ryley Widell, 23, was signed by the Dodgers in early February two days after he was released by the Twins who had drafted him the the 7th round of the 2017 draft.
The youngest player on the team is 20-year-old outfielder Andy Pages. One of the more experienced is 21-year-old right-hander Melvin Jimenez who first pitched for the Dodgers during the 2016 season. He is one that AC has been waiting on.
One of my favorites is left-hander Austin Drury, 23, who was selected by the Dodgers in the 34th round of the 2018 First-Year Player Draft. Left-hander Jeff Belge is another favorite The 23-year-old left-hander was an 18th round selection in 2019. He is legally blind in his right eye having had it injured twice.
Former catcher Austin Chubb is the manager. He is 31 years old and in his 6th season as a manager/coach in the Dodgers minor league season.
Right-hander Bobby Miller started for the Loons. His first pitch was a fastball strike and his first batter faced struck out, as did the next two. His fastball was clocked at 97 mph. On the evening he pitched three innings giving up two hits, no runs, one walk and five strikeouts.
The left side of the infield was defended for the Loons by a pair of 21-year-olds. Third base was manned by Miguel Vargas and his partner at shortstop was Leonel Valera. Valera walked in the bottom of the first inning and stole the first base of the year for the Loons.
Justin Yurchak had a single in the bottom of the fifth inning which is the first hit by a Dodger minor league player this year.
Miguel Vargas hit a two-run home run in the seventh inning for the first Dodger minor league home run in the 2021 season. He edged out Ryan Noda who hit a solo home run for the Tulsa Drillers in the second inning of their game against Armarillo.
The aforementioned Mike Mokma pitched two scoreless innings after Jesus Vargas had given up three runs and Ryley Widell an additional run each pitching 1.1 innings.
Morgan Cooper made his professional debut in the bottom of the eighth inning inducing a ground out with two out. He didn’t fare as well in the ninth inning giving up a hit and two walks but did strike out two. He exited the game having made 23 pitches. Melvin Jimenez came on to try to get the third out but walked a run in and then gave up a grand slam.
Leonel Valera hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning.
The Loons fell 9-4 but baseball is back in Midland.
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Discussion (77)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Nice relay hey.
JT is as slow as I am.
We suck so bad. AF did not build a good bullpen.
Fun times!
Okay, I am officially on the Kenley Jansen has to go bandwagon. And sorry, Cleavinger does not inspire great confidence either. But aside from that, this offense stinks. Way too many K’s. Way too many strikes taken with the bat sitting on the hitters shoulder. And the offense is going to remain stagnant until Betts starts playing like a 30 million dollar player instead of the 1 million dollar utility player. Embarrassing moment of the game, Joc Pederson’s premature bat flip. I also officially hate the runner on second rule,. They also blew a chance to gain a game on the Giants and fall into third with the Pads win over the Pirates.
Floro and Kolarek would look real good right now. The Dodgers bullpen is full of players who don’t belong on big league rosters now like a guy who walks a .150 hitter to bring Rizzo up. Doc has been awful as well. Seager’s play at SS cost them another game tonight. This team is an absolute mess and have not been rising to the challenge whatsoever.
Headline: DODGERS A MESS AS LOSING STREAK CONTINUES
This loss cannot be blamed on the bullpen. All the Dodgers need is to score some runs and keep these games out of extra innings. In fact, the only difference between the winning hit and Mookie’s final out with runners on in the top of the inning, was that the ball Mookie hit did not have eyes and the winning hit did. Mookie hit the ball harder, but directly at the shortstop.
Three things that can lead to losses in low-scoring games:
1 The defense (range) of the left side of the infield, any ball hit on the ground out there, four feet from 3B and the SS has a lot of chance that it will pass as a hit, that doesn’t go to the scoreboard as a mistake, but a lot of those balls should have been caught and outs.
2 The pitchers are easily stolen bases, a hit, a BB is practically a double, the catchers don’t have a chance.
3 The closer is unreliable and cannot pitch on consecutive days, nor when necessary, like today’s game, he cannot pitch more than one inning.
The loss of Knebel is very hard, because he cannot be substituted internally, he and Treinen would have had a fabulous duet by the eighth and ninth inning.