It’s not a secret that the Los Angeles Dodgers catchers have not been successful in throwing out runners trying to steal bases for quite some time. This year, Will Smith has given up 13 stolen bases while throwing out 10 of the runners, which isn’t bad, but in 2023, he allowed 72 stolen bases while throwing out just 19 runners. So far this year, Austin Barnes has allowed seven stolen bases and thrown out ZERO runners. Last year, he allowed 63 stolen bases while catching just eight runners. Not very good!
So, are Barnes and Smith weak-armed catchers who can’t throw out runners? Well, if you just look at the stats, you might come to that conclusion. However, I don’t think that is true! “What do you mean? Figures don’t lie!.” Maybe they do… if you don’t consider all the circumstances. I’ll just cut to the chase and tell you what I believe: The Dodgers really don’t care about shutting down the other team’s running game. They focus on keeping runners off base and from scoring.
Now, I don’t have any inside information that has articulated that fact. It’s just what I see. I think the Dodgers pitchers are trained to focus on the batter they are pitching to and to forget the runner (at least to an extent). You can focus on holding the runner close, or you can focus on the hitter, but it’s hard to do both. If you can get the batter out, the runner goes away. Don’t split your attention! Just get the batter out. Smith and Barnes don’t have “cannon arms.” However, in my opinion, most of the bases are stolen from the pitcher. This is my opinion – what’s yours?
Walker Buehler says it’s going to take time after missing almost two years. Well, Duuuhhhh!
Down on the Farm
We will start at the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, which played at Visalia. Brian Perkins was there and snapped some photos. The Quakes won 3-2 as Samuel Munoz accounted for all three runs with his first HR. Yean got the win with a inning where he allowed no hits or walks and struck out two. Here’s the photos:
Thanks to Brian.
OKC BASEBALL CLUB – OKC won 7-4 as Knack got the win (5.1 IP/4 ER). He struggled but ate up innings. Matt Gage (LHP) now has 3.2 IP and 6 Ks. Miguel Vargas was the star of the show with three hits and 5 RBI, including a Grand Slam. I think he’s about to get the call. Lipcius also hit his 10th HR.
TULSA DRILLERS – They won 9-6. There is a lot to unpack here: Diego Cartaya was 3-4 with 3 RBI, an HR, and a double. Is this a breakout or just blind luck? We shall watch! Austin Beck is taking to AA pitching like a fish to water. He is now hitting .294 with a .923 OPS. Keep an eye on him. OTOH, Jose Ramos is now hitting .198 with a .656 OPS. Wrobleski went five innings and allowed 3 ER while walking ZERO with 6 ks. Lao got the save with 2 Ks.
GREAT LAKES LOONS They lost 4-3, but Liranzo is finally heating up as he went 3-4. Karros went 3, allowing one hit and 0 Runs, but he walked three while striking out 4. His ERA sits at 1.59
No games in the DSL or ACL.
This loss is on Roberts. He didn’t get them to hit. It’s all his fault.
It’s on to San Fran tonight, where we hope the Giants get stoned.
Discussion (25)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Woke up to see Will Smith the hero. Just as I called it! How good is our bullpen right now. With more arms still to come. Once again AF has put together quite a group, despite our early misgivings. The Giants closer is just nasty.
It’s kind of sinking in with the Madres series over the weekend and playing the Disaster by the Bay ,Boys tonight, (which by the way , living in Paso Robles Calif is hell for a Dodger fan, seeing a few more Dodger flags, but still a big Giant and 49er town, and the Giant fans are probably the most arrogant dudes you ever came across., ) I realized , and I think all of us old school baseball junkies on this site need to come to terms with. We can analyze the players and their shortcomings game to game , especially during a loss, and roast Doc all night long on a rotisserie spit, but we have to be aware that in most series we are going to get that teams top 3 rotation guys. And don’t be fooled for a moment thinking these teams ain’t fired up with the Dodgers coming to town, we are going to get every teams best shot, look how fired up the Padres were over the weekend,,and the Giants tonight. This is their measuring stick to see how good they are. So get used to it, we got a HUGE target on our back all season long, which personally I’m digging it because it will give our guys way more edge cone playoff time. And hell yes we need more of that!
Great come from behind win with the Pen doing a great job and Will being Will.
JPF’s got some nasty stuff.
Ok gang, got a tight one in extra innings at the Dumpster Fire by the bay. Before y’all pile on about Docs bullpen decisions from the 10th on , don’t forget, Phillips is unavailable, Brustar is a ways away, and it would be foolish to trot Treinnan out for another inning this early in the season, we need him in October. Like Vasseghe and Colleti keep preaching, what the Dodger bullpen looks like right now will be totally different come September and October. We need to see who sticks and who doesn’t, even if it costs us a few games to find out.
Is there anything that freeman can do right now?
That was a hard hit grounder by Ramos ..BUT.. Mookie nonetheless misread it and awkwardly “short-legged” his dive at it. ..possibly a big moment in the game ..would’ve saved a run had he made that play.
Smith is sinking like a stone
Hicks barely meh thru 5 innings, and he went over 90 pitches, yet the Dodgers only mustered 2 runs on him.
And we’re well into this season, and Freeman clearly ain’t swinging the bat like he’s done the last 3 seasons.
Everyone speculating on logical “in-house” moves when Heyward comes back next weekend–like what happens then to Taylor, Outman, Vargas, Gauthier, Lipcius, etc., etc. But I just have a gut feeling Heyward’s return instead prompts the Dodgers to make a big, unexpected move that will shake up this roster.
I know it’s only May, but I feel like the Dodgers lacked intensity and grit in that series with the Padres. Typically, I would not care except that we have a history of showing up flat in the playoffs. Our pitching is fine, even Buehler, but the Dodger hitters seemed to lack intensity. I can’t quite put my finger on the issue except that our roster is all “good” guys, which includes Roberts.
I suspect the front office has noticed the void. I expect a shake-up trade over the next few months.
Last year Dodger David Peralta, who signed a minor league deal with the Chicago Cubs this offseason, has opted out of his contract and elected free agency, per the minor league transaction log.
9:45 PM ET
Dodgers (27-15)
Giants (19-23)
SP Y. Yamamoto R
4-1 2.79 ERA
SP Jordan Hicks R
3-1 2.30 ERA
Confirmed Lineup
SS Mookie Betts R
DH S. Ohtani L
1B F. Freeman L
C Will Smith R
3B Max Muncy L
LF T. Hernandez R
2B Gavin Lux L
RF Andy Pages R
CF James Outman L
59° Wind 10 mph Out
Ohtoni back in the lineup
MLB has announced that it has officially reached a deal with Roku to broadcast Sunday games. The first game of the new multi-year deal will be this Sunday May 19. The only Dodger game included is on September 1st against the Diamondbacks. All games will be free.
1. Fair to conclude that Dodgers don’t prioritize holding runners given their history. Small sample size but Will Smith seems to have improved his ability to throw out runners. Austin Barnes is limited by his throwing arm.
2. Agree that it is not a given that Walker Buehler becomes a solid #3 in this rotation. It is just as likely that he is not as effective as Stone, Miller, or Paxton. All outcomes are possible though I would be shocked if he pitches as he did in 2021. Glad that Dodgers are able to give him enough rope to find out.
3. Still a lot of questions on what the Dodgers can expect from Taylor, Lux, Hernandez, Outman, Barnes, and Rojas at the plate. That is almost half of their 13 position players. Over half if we include the adjustments Pages will have to make. Barnes and Rojas are valuable enough defensively and as leaders that they are safe. Lux deserves more time given the circumstances.
Hernandez has had an OPS below .300 for three years running. Taylor seems completely overmatched and Outman is not far behind. Is Gauthier a potential utility player at the MLB level? He has played four different positions in four games for OKC. Could see a scenario where Vargas and Gauthier get a look before the Dodgers go outside of the organization.
4. I think the Padres are a legitimate post season threat barring more pitching injuries. A front four of Darvish, Cease, King, and Musgrove would be formidable in a series.
I could see an outfield of Vargas, T.Hernandez, Outman and Pages mixing and matching.
Vargas will be up soon enough. They cannot keep him down much longer.
Gavin Stone never proved he could pitch in the majors until he did.
James Outman proved he could hit MLB pitching… until he couldn’t.
It’s a crazy game, but nothing is so constant as change.
Sometimes, one little tweak can lead to great success.
However, the clock is ticking on both Taylor and Outman. The fat lady is humming.
Playoff pitching stops good offense. We did not have playoff pitching last year and were never in it. If healthy our pitching will matchup. What is the difference?
Right now the padres are attacking our offensive weaknesses. Until the last bat or2 Mookie only saw outside pitches.
Smith high fastball while Freddie and Muncy expanded the zone. Rojas, kike, Barnes, outman just can’t hit. Pages n lux? Lux struggles with inside pitches. Pages not sure looks like low inside otherwise meh.
Vargas mb the overall better hitter than most I just named so he will be up. I remember when the Philly Harper couldn’t handle up and away. Kershaw just kept dotting that spot. That is playoff pitching.
I am not worried about a loss to the Padres in May, and they only play them 5 more times, twice at the end of July, and three times in the last week of the season. I for one do not think Vargas is getting called up. The reason? He is an outfielder now. Heyward is going to replace Outman; Vargas can’t replace Taylor if they decide to cut him loose simply because he is an outfielder and nothing else. They would need someone like Taylor who can play multiple positions. The only way Vargas gets called up this season is if Pages suddenly goes into a full tailspin, or one of the other outfielders gets hurt. With both Kike and Teoscar on one-year deals, his time will come next year when he most likely will be the full-time left fielder. As for Buehler, his return has gone about as expected. He was missing the plate a lot in his minor league games. And as has been stated, he is not going to find his control right away.
The Dodger bullpen entered 2024 with a 3.66 ERA through April 30, good for 11th in MLB. They’ve lowered that mark to an MLB-best 0.92 ERA in May, giving up three runs over 29 1/3 innings in the month.
Alex Vesia hasn’t given up an earned run since April 10.
Among Dodger relievers, he’s second in innings pitched (18 1/3), ERA (1.47) and strikeouts (20).
Good to see Cartaya have a good game. He needed that. Badly.
Hopefully this is the turning point for him.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just using the eye test I would say that Will has worked hard on improving his release time and accuracy. Much better this year. Austin Barnes not so much.
Another frustrating effort against the Padres. On the bright side the defense was outstanding. One incredible play after another. Too bad it didn’t help the team to beat the Padres. The offensive for the series was troubling and the Padre pitchers seem to rise to the occasion when facing the Dodger hitters. The Dodgers were 1 for 19 with RISP. In that respect, they are playoff ready. Without the T. Hernandez grand slam things would have been even bleaker. The team only managed six runs and 13 hits in the three games. They struck out at a 26% rate. On to SF and hopefully some offensive medicine against the 24th ranked staff (4.51 ERA). Right now the Dodgers are ranked #3 in MLB and #1 in the NL with a 3.17 ERA.
Walker Buehler’s progress may be a slow one which is totally understandable considering he hasn’t pitched for almost two years. It’s not only the physical recovery, but the mental aspect of it all as well. Walker is a smart guy, he knows how to pitch, and has access to some of the best coaching to get himself back on track. Will he return to his previous dominance? I doubt it. But, he certainly can become an effective pitcher again. Fortunately, for him, the Dodgers, and the fans this team will allow him a fair chance to be a successful MLB pitcher.
Betts, Smith, and Pages hitting has cooled some in this series. That was to be expected considering how hot Betts and Smith were. Mookie hasn’t hit a HR since April 12th. He hit six in the first 16 games and nothing since. That’s just crazy.
I think the stolen base success by the opponents can be attributed to the pitchers. I agree that the Dodger approach is not to worry about the SB. If that’s the big criticism of Will Smith and Austin Barnes then so be it. Smith more than makes up for it with his offense and Barnes doesn’t play that much. They, also, successfully guiding the pitching staff.
Blaming the poor offense on Dave Roberts….. I am not going to go there. Right Mark?
I’m looking forward to watching Gavin Stone tonight. It’s fun to see him and other Dodger pitching prospects come up and have success.
Carry on.
I don’t think the team has a high priority about SBs or preventing them.
My perception is that any outs they get through CS are a bonus, and that the Dodger pitching is good enough at getting outs / run prevention to limit damage from SBs.
Anyone see the leak of the new City Connect jerseys?
https://uni-watch.com/2024/05/13/dodgers-city-connect-jersey-apparently-leaks/
Will have to see the tie-ins and the hats.
Pretty sure the speckles represent the color scheme on the seats within Dodger Stadium…
Let’s get Vargas and Heyward up and give Outman and if he’ll accept an IL stint, CT3, a break. Not sure what to do if he won’t buy into that though?
October wouldn’t be straight forward, San Diego are better this year, but we’d be throwing our best Starters against them. Not sure Darvish has the makeup for the Post Season.
I bet there’s some holding of breath going on with the Shoehei “back tightness”.