MiLB Odds and Ends with Dodger Chatter

Well, folks, a change of pace is good from the pitcher’s mound but maybe not so much on an interactive blog such as LADT.  However, this is what I have. That is, some of the players that piqued my interest in the past few days.  I do not have the time and LADT does not have the space to include all of those who have made me take a second look in those few days. I did note that we had no MiLB  Players of the Week for the past week.

Although I have never tried to climb the mountain,  from observing I can see just how difficult it is to make it to MLB. I really don’t get my dander up with comments, remarks, debate, criticism, attacks against Doc, AF, the Dodger relief corps, Bellinger, etc. Win or lose, the sun has never failed to come up in my many decades of Dodger baseball. It is still a game while other things going on are not a game.

What does cause me to boil over a bit is when minor league players are disrespected in print. That is,  they are seen just as pawns to fill out a roster or are seen just as a number on a prospect list or unworthy because they are not on a top 30 or top 100 list. Each player has two numbers. First, all are No. 1,  equal in value as young men and young ballplayers. Secondly, each has a score of 100. That is the time, the effort, the commitment, the personal and family sacrifice to spend several years attempting to get to MLB and for most living on subsistence allowances.  Each is that ant in Frank Sinatra’s song trying to move a rubber tree plant because they have high hopes.

How important are minor league players?  Take them all away and MLB collapses in a few years or tries to go to a basketball, football draft system which would dramatically reduce the number of MLB teams.

Hyun-il Choi – Great Lakes Loons

Mark touched on Choi’s progress on  Sunday.  Although it doesn’t seem possible, Hyun-il Choi was signed by the Dodgers out of Korea three years ago on August 24, 2018, and fresh out of high school. It was thought at the time that he most likely would have been the number one overall selection in the Korea Baseball Organization Draft if he had not been signed by the Dodgers. His signing bonus was small compared to the top dollars garnered by top-five selections in the First-Year Player Draft in the United States. His bonus rang in at $300,000.

No doubt the Dodgers were/are hoping that they have succeeded with a trifecta after having signed the two previous most successful MLB pitchers from Korea – Chan Ho Park and Hyun-Jin Ryu.

At the time of his signing, Choi had a fastball in the low 90s, an impressive velocity for someone at his age. The curve naturally needed work, but significantly had a solid difference in velocity from his fastball. He also has a respectable changeup with downward movement, a pitch that was considered to have a great deal of potential.

Choi, as with all MiLB players, lost the 2020 season to the pandemic. However, at age 21 he now has had the better part of two seasons to work on his craft.

The 6’2”/200-lb. right-hander debuted with the Arizona League Dodgers on June 17, 2017. Although his first two innings were not very memorable as he gave up four earned runs,  he did provide a glimpse of things to come as he struck out four and walked none.

He topped the Rookie-level Arizona League in 2019 with 71 strikeouts in 65 innings while walking 11. His ERA was 2.63 along with a WHIP of 1.05. He did hit eight batters.

Choi worked at home in Korea during the 2020 pandemic year and returned to the United States for 2021 spring training. Thus far during the current campaign, he has made two stops.

With the Low-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes over 65 innings pitched he posted a 3.17 ERA and a 0.83 WHIP along with 75 strikeouts and 7 walks.

Following his promotion to High-A Choi has made four starts with the Loons and over 18.2 innings he has posted a 1.93 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP. He has struck out 18 and walked three.  Over 84 combined innings in 2021 his HBP number had tumbled to three.

Choi has been used primarily in a starting role and even in a piggy-back situation has pitched multiple innings. Over his past 15 appearances, he has failed to go at least four innings just once.  He is on an innings/pitch count regiment and even so has made six 5-inning appearances and one 6-inning appearance.

This is from a LA Times article:

“He has not added much velocity to his fastball fastball over time and still sits in the  the low 90s and tops out at 94. It is considered to be a solid offering because he can command it to either side of the plate and sneak it by hitters up in the strike zone. His changeup works well in tandem with his heater and has similar movement, showing signs of becoming a plus pitch and neutralizing left-handers. He employs two different breaking balls, a low-80s slider with depth and a mid-70s curveball he uses to give batters a different look.

Choi’s control and command are quite advanced for a young pitcher. Working from a low three-quarters slot that adds deception, he locates his pitches where he wants and moves them around the strike zone. There’s not much projection remaining in his 6-foot-2 frame, but he does come with a high floor and eventually could fit into the back of a big league rotation.”

Yeiner Fernandez – Arizona Complex Dodgers

Fernandez is one of the four catchers the Dodgers signed out of  Venezuela.  With Keibert Ruiz now in the Washington system, there are now three Venezuelan catchers in the Dodgers minor league system.

The 5’9”/180-lb. a native of Barquisimeto was signed by the Dodgers on July 2, 2019. Having missed the 2020 season due to Covid-19, this is the 18-year-old’s first professional season.

He is currently one of the best, if not the best hitter on the Arizona Complex Dodgers. Thus far he has posted a triple slash of .315/.364/.441 with an OPS of .805.

Yeiner Fernandez was a star in the 2015 Little League World Series for Venezuela, and according to FanGraphs, his deal with the Dodgers was one of the first done in the class. Fernandez adds another catching prospect to watch to a system already loaded with them, and he’s good enough behind the plate to stay there for the foreseeable future.

This from a question to Kyle Glaser:

Matt (Denver): “Any sleepers in the organization you expect to jump onto the radar in 2021?”

Kyle Glaser: “Keep an eye on Jerming Rosario and Yeiner Fernandez among the young international players. James Outman is an athletic outfielder who keeps making an impression and is worth keeping tabs on.”

Moving on Up:

Last week some moves were made in the Dodgers minor league system. (August 16-21)

From ACL Dodgers to Rancho Cucamonga

    RHP Nick Nastrini (2021 – 4th round)

    RHP Emmet Sheehan (2021 – 6th round)

    OF Luke McKenzie (UFO 2019)

From Rancho Cucamonga Quakes to Great Lakes Loons

    LHP Lael Lockhart (2021 – 9th round)

    RHP Michael Hobbs ( 2021 -10th round

    RHP Antonio Knowles (2021 – 13th round)

    LHP Julian Smith  (2018 – 15th round)

    RHP Gavin Stone (2020 – 5th round)

From Great Lakes Loons to Tulsa Drillers

    RHP Zack Plunkett (2019 – 20th round)

    RHP -Melvin Jimenez (Int. Free Agent – 2015)

    RHP  Clayton Beeter (CB round B – 2020)

From Great Lakes Loons to OKC Dodgers

     INF Deacon Liput (2018 – 10th round)

Lael Lockhart, Michael Hobbs, and Antonio Knowles combined for 3.2 scoreless innings with the Loons in their debut on Saturday. Finishing with 1.2 scoreless frames, Lockhart allowed only one hit, needing 23 pitches with 20 of them for strikes.

Antonio Knowles threw a near-immaculate inning, striking out the side on 12 pitches, nine of them strikes.

Michael Hobbs also struck out the side in the final frame for Great Lakes.

Melvin Jimenez – Tulsa Drillers

It seems that Jimenez has been around forever, yet he is still age-22 and with the AA Drillers. One of the forever periods in baseball is becoming eligible for the Rule-5 Draft. Jimenez is eligible for a Rule-5 selection so his name might just come into play this fall.

The 6’0”/170-lb. right-hander was signed as an international free agent by the Dodgers in December of 2015 out of Santiago in the Dominican Republic.

He has had three stints with the Great Lakes Loons.   Melvin Jimenez, who began playing baseball at age six, joined the Loons roster on Wednesday, July 19, 2017, and made his Loons debut just one day later against the Cedar Rapids Kernels as a 17-year-old. At that time he was 17 years, 11 months, and 27 days old when he came in to pitch the start of the 4th inning on Thursday, July 20. Jimenez became the second-youngest Loon ever at the time of their debut.

Easy fun fact – who was the youngest Loon ever at the time of his first Loons appearance?

At that time Jimenez said he threw a fastball, curveball, and changeup with his favorite pitch being the heater. “I have the most confidence in my fastball and it’s the pitch I have the most control with.” Pedro Martinez threw a pretty good fastball in his day and Jimenez indicated Pedro is his favorite major leaguer. Unlike Pedro, Jimenez has morphed into a relief pitcher with high leverage situations a possibility for him.

Jimenez still hasn’t reached the pinnacle that he seemed destined for but for many pitchers they would take his minor league stats which feature a 3.12 ERA and a 1.12 WHIP and an opponents batting average of .188. Over 248.1 minor league innings, he has struck out 320 but herein lies his challenge. He has walked 112. He has the “stuff” but his difficulty with control causes him to throw too many pitches.

In his debut with the Drillers on Saturday, he threw 28 pitches but only eight for strikes. AC and I have both followed Melvin Jimenez and are waiting for the control and command to fall into place. When it does, he will no longer be an unknown in the Dodgers farm system.

Guillermo Zuniga – Tulsa Drillers

Remember Guillermo?  He was signed by the Dodgers in December of 2017 after being granted free agency as a result of the Braves being stripped of 13 international prospects. 

Since then he has made stops with the Arizona League Dodgers, Great Lakes Loons, Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, and this year with the Drillers.  His current campaign has been abbreviated by injury. Zuniga, pitching in his first game since June 29, worked a perfect fourth inning on Saturday with one strikeout.

His pitching stats for 2021 include an ERA of 3.16 over 25.2 innings pitched along with 40 strikeouts and 11 walks.

Andrew Shaps – Great Lakes Loons

Outfielder Andrew Shaps was signed by the Dodgers in the 31st round of the 2018 First-Year Player Draft out of William Jessup University in California. His career has taken a sharp turn.

Here is his story as previously posted on LADT:    

https://ladodgertalk.com/2018/07/22/dodger-chatter-another-andrew/

The turn in his career is that he has become a pitcher, moving away from his outfield role. At first, I thought he was just brought in to toss some pitches in a blowout or when the relief corps had been depleted. However, in July and August, he has pitched at a rate often used for relievers although he is still listed as an outfielder on the Loons roster.

The pitching line for the 25-year-old left-hander includes 15 appearances over 14 innings pitched in which he has allowed one earned run. His ERA, as a result, is 0.64 while his WHIP is 0.86 and his opponents are hitting .113 against him. He has struck out 14 and walked six.

I am not sure what his future holds but his work ethic and enthusiasm for the game seem to be shouting “coach” as they do with catcher Stevie Berman currently on the Drillers roster.

Song of the day: High Hopes