Dodgers Prospects With Austin Brubaker, Tibbs, Rushing & Henriquez | Ep. 10

Austin Brubaker joins Blue Dynasty Unplugged for a prospect-heavy episode focused on the Dodgers’ farm system, player development, analytics, and the young names fans need to know.

Austin breaks down how he became connected to the Dodgers’ minor-league system through the Great Lakes Loons, how his background in statistics shapes the way he evaluates players, and which minor-league numbers actually matter.

In this episode, we discuss:

-James Tibbs III’s breakout season
-Elijah Hainline’s future in the Dodgers system
-Dalton Rushing’s time in the minors and his competitive edge
-Edgardo Henriquez becoming a real weapon in the Dodgers bullpen
-Underrated Dodgers prospects fans should be watching
-Josue De Paula, Mike Sirota, Eduardo Quintero and more
-Prospects who could come up in trade deadline conversations
-Dodgers vs. Diamondbacks Call Your Shot predictions

If you enjoy Dodgers prospect talk, player development, advanced stats, and honest conversations about the future of the organization, this episode is for you.

Hosted by:
Robert Medina: @robert.medinuh
Bobby Hainline: @DodgermanGames
Priscilla Perez: @bleedbluebae
George Contoyannis: @theaussie.dodger

Guest:
Austin Brubaker: @AustinBru99
Co-host of Dodgers Daily:  @dodgersdaily  

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#Dodgers #BlueDynasty #DodgersProspects #AustinBrubaker #JamesTibbsIII #DaltonRushing #EdgardoHenriquez #ShoheiOhtani #LosAngelesDodgers

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:30

And welcome back to Blue Dynasty Unplug, the number one place for Dodger fans to get the latest news on your Los Angeles Dodgers. I'm your host, Robert Medina, and I'm joined by my co-hosts, as always, Bobby Hainline, George Contiennes, and Priscilla's not here today, but hopefully she'll be stopping by shortly. We have a very special guest joining us, but before we get into it, here's a quick word from our sponsor, Malachite Media.

SPEAKER_04 0:57

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SPEAKER_02 1:24

Alright, so today uh we're getting into Dodgers Farm System, player development, prospect talk, uh, whole lot of a whole lot more, right? But um really want to introduce the man that lives, eats, breathes statistics, minor and minor league baseball uh and prospects, right? Uh Austin Brewbaker. Austin, thanks for joining us.

SPEAKER_03 1:48

Thank you so much for having me. It's an absolute privilege to be here.

SPEAKER_02 1:51

Appreciate that. Um, Austin, uh, for those of you, for those that you know that don't know you yet, right? Can you tell our audience a little bit more about who you are and how you got into covering Dodger Prospects?

SPEAKER_03 2:04

Yeah, so it's a little bit unconventional the way that I got into the whole Dodgia Dodgers media kind of landscape. Um, so where I'm it at right now, I should not be a Los Angeles Dodgers fan. In fact, growing up, I did not was not a Los Angeles Dodgers fan. However, there were certain things in my life that happened that kind of ultimately led me into this whole Dodgers prospect type of thing. One became a huge baseball fan in 2006, actually with the Detroit Tigers team that went to the World Series. The next year is when something really impactful happened. 2007, a minor league baseball team by the Great Lakes Lons came into town, and they were the affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers. And in that 2007 team, you had Kenley Jansen that was catching, you had Carlos Santana, you also had Clayton Kershaw, who took the mound opening day or one of the first days for the Great Lakes Loons, B pitching for the Great Lakes Lons, ultimately went on to have a Hall of Fame career for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Fast forward a little bit. I get back into watching a whole lot of Great Lakes Loon baseball, have have a car, have money, and I just start going to all these different games. Now, granted, I no longer live in Midland Michigan where the loons are. I intentionally go out and travel to all these different games, which means that while driving to all these different games, I become very adequated with all the different prospects that come along. I was very up and close and personal when Andy Paha's in 2021 was playing for Great Lakes and saw the potential that he had. I saw in 2023 the team that went to the championship that had Roblesky and Dalton Rushing and Alex Freeland and Jack Trier and all these different players come up through the system, became closely connected to there. And because of my close connections to there, actually formed a relationship with Casey Porter, uh, who is the host over at Dodgers Daily. He invited me onto the show and just allowed me to be able to go into that. You combine that with my background because I love the game of baseball, I became a statistician as my actual job. Like that's legit what I do all the time. And you combine that with my love of baseball, everything has collided within this to where, man, I travel a lot with all these different Dodgers prospects. I go to probably 30 to 40 loons games a year, traveling at least an hour to be able to go watch them play. I study baseball statistics pretty heavily, and I've been able to combine that in a space where I can go ahead, talk about it, break down some of the numbers, and be able to highlight all the different aspects of the Dodger system as best as I possibly can to bring light to what is some really talented players in the system.

SPEAKER_02 4:42

Awesome. Awesome. I that that's that's um I like that story because it's not something that happened intentionally, but your fandom for baseball led you to where you are now, right? And so, you know, seeing greats like Clayton Kershaw in a setting like uh you know low or high A, right? Um, which which is what the uh Great Lakes uh is, right? Is high A.

SPEAKER_03 5:08

They were low A at the time, they're currently high A now, so it was even lower down in Clayton Kershaw's career, but still a year away from when he was gonna eventually make his major league debut. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 5:18

Wow. Uh by the way, uh Priscilla uh joined us. Uh thanks for coming in and spending some time with us, Priscilla. I appreciate you. Just wanted to make sure I made a quick introduction. But um, Austin, I just I do have a question for you. Um, how does your professional background in biostatistics change the way you evaluate baseball players in general?

SPEAKER_03 5:40

Yeah, it's a really good question. It has to come from a standset of objectivity whenever I'm doing analysis on players. I I think oftentimes we can watch the game and make certain observations about the game. Um, and a lot of those observations could absolutely be true. But what I like to do is be able to dive in and back up a lot of those numbers, and especially with how integrated the game of baseball is with statistics, with all sorts of different numbers. I like to be more sure than everybody else. Could be a little bit of an ego thing on my part, but I want to make sure that I am as knowledgeable as I can about each and every different subject. That means going ahead and studying, okay, which statistics are probably the best predictive or best indicators of whether a person is going to be successful or not, using some of those metrics because those metrics are what the organization is actually looking at. Diving in into some of the under the surface type of numbers, all that different aspect of being able to evaluate just about as much quantity of information as I possibly can is so necessary in the game because it is used in the game. You look at all these organizations, especially the Los Angeles Dodgers, it I don't believe it's just what the eye test is. Now, the i test can tell you a lot, it can't tell you everything. And being able to merge that with the analytics side, obviously, I lean a little bit heavy analytics, I think that creates the best organization. I think the Los Angeles Dodgers are the best organization at being able to merge both because as an organization, it I say this all the time on my show, but you just have to make good, consistent, smart decisions. And if you make those good, consistent, smart decisions backed up by the data, backed up by what you are seeing, backed up by good people, that's going to take you a long way. And that has led to the Dodgers dynasty that we're seeing right now.

SPEAKER_02 7:31

Yeah, no, well said. Um, you know, it's it's uh I I saw something about because you're bringing up a lot of a lot of talk about analytics and certain things that the average fan doesn't get into, right? I mean, there's so many statistics out there now, right? Nowadays in baseball, that um, you know, even a player from another team, which um I don't know if you saw this or if anybody here saw that uh Manny Michello came out and expressed his dislikeness of analytics and all these new metrics that um teams are are are taking a look at now. Uh granted, when he was asked the question and he said this, he wasn't having a good, you know, uh he didn't have a good game and he hasn't had a great season this year. But, you know, to your point, uh, I feel that these analytics are crucial and being able to look at certain things because there sometimes there are underlying problems that at first glance you're seeing performance or you see ERA and you're like, hey, this this player, this picture is lights out when in reality there are other things that are red flags, right? That uh the organization looks at.

SPEAKER_03 8:46

Yeah, and really what the analytics are designing to do is to be able to help better inform you to make better decisions. The data is actually being able to quantify things that perhaps previously weren't quantifiable, or perhaps put light into things that perhaps should be put into light more. One of the statistics that I use all the time is WRC plus. Part of the reason why that is important is it's because it's weighting certain measures on the baseball field that other statistics, like for example, purely batting average, doesn't. With batting average, it just counts every single hit as exactly the same. But we intuitively know, okay, a home run is better than a single. If you hit a home run, that's a run. That's gonna be a lot better for the Los Angeles Dodgers if they hit a home run. How do we actually quantify that and be able to put that out there? I I think you can use some of those analytics to be able to put numbers, to be able to put uh quantifiers that help you be able to make better decisions. Doesn't mean that they should be the sole deciding factor, as we saw with Blake Snell in 2020 game six, but that means that that can be used to be able to help enlighten a lot of the decisions you make. And over the course, especially in 162, they've go a long way.

SPEAKER_01 10:01

Yeah, okay. Austin, what can you tell us which minor league numbers matter and which ones are misleading and how fans should think about player development?

SPEAKER_03 10:13

Yeah, it is a fascinating question because um there are so many different aspects in minor league baseball that you can go out and look at. It also can be a little bit challenging because not all of the data is completely public. So a lot of one of the main sites that I use is baseball savant. However, with baseball savant, the only minor league data that is present that is available is for AAA and the Florida State League. That's it. There's no high A baseball, there's no double A baseball, which means the exit velos, the pitch velos, a lot of that stuff isn't really available. So, what you want to be able to do with evaluating players, it's two parts. One, obviously, the numbers tell a little bit of a story, but I want to be able to look at some certain predictive or context type of numbers to be able to help evaluate that. For example, um with the Pacific Coast League, notoriously a hitter-friendly environment. If you look at somebody as having a 800 OPS, that might be good in a more pitcher-friendly league like the Fortis Florida State League. However, in the Pacific Coast League, that might be close to league average, which means that you want to look for a little bit of context neutral stats as well as stats that might be a little bit more predictive of future success. So offensively, some of the numbers that I typically look for for a lot of players, I mentioned already WRC plus, that's gonna give you 100 league average, anything above that, better than league average, anything below that, below league average, also gonna take the environment into play for the for the situations that they play in. I I think that's a really good metric of determining their success. Uh, you also want to you also want to look for okay, what are they doing swing and miss wise? As you go up through the minor leagues, typically the swing and miss is gonna go up a little bit. You can look at strikeout percentage, that's a really good metric. However, you will kind of want to break it down even further by okay, how much do they whiff? How much do they make contact? Uh, what is their actual swing percentage? Josue Depala, one of the Todgers top prospects, one of the things that he didn't necessarily do a whole lot last year, he didn't really swing the bat a whole lot. It was 36-37% swing percentage with his bat. That has gone up a little bit to be able to help help combat that uh combat some of the swinging that he has. So you're looking at some of that stuff on the offensive side, pitching wise. I look at some predictive stuff like strikeout minus walk percentage. I think that's a really good metric. This dodger system is one that's heavy with pitchers that walk a lot of batters, and so you want to see a pretty good balance between those two. You want to look at perhaps ERA minus on fan graphs that is basically the inverse of a plus type of metric? There's a lot of these different numeric metrics, however, that can't be the sole focus of watching these monitor league guys because there's a lot of times where guys are working on stuff as they're going along. And so a large part of this isn't just the numeric side, it's also watching. What are some guys doing? Are some of the hitters being able to lay off a slider low and outside of the zone that they were chasing before? Are they tapping into a little bit more in-game power? Are they starting to pull the ball in the air a little bit more? Are they able to locate their fastball? A lot of it is in-game type of stuff that they could be working on with some of these players that go a long way through developing, which makes it difficult. It forces you to watch games as well as being able to study the numbers.

SPEAKER_02 13:43

Yeah, no, it's that's super interesting because you know what what I'm hearing you say is, you know, yes, uh, the analytics matter, right? And it's important to look at different uh, I guess, parts of the analytics that's of that are available, but also the eye test this still applies, right? In-game, right? For the manager to keep an eye out for things like that or signs, and also, you know, have that feel of the game, right? Um I I I like that context matters, right, when it comes to players, right? And you know, one player that has been getting, you know, that's had a phenomenal season so far, even in spring training, is James Tibbs the third. I mean, the numbers have are there, uh powers there. Uh I know George wanted to talk a little bit more about him, right?

SPEAKER_00 14:39

Yeah, um, I'm really excited when I say these highlights and everything. And I guess what I want to know is Yeah, your thoughts on him, Austin, and is the high real and should we believe what we say?

SPEAKER_03 14:53

Yeah, no, it's a good question. I haven't seen as much James Tibbs the third. A lot of my focus is on Great Lakes. However, studying the numbers, been able to see clips here and there. Obviously, the first month of the season was incredible for James Tibbs the third with the amount of home runs that he had. This kid has home run power for absolute days, and that has continued to be putting across a great season. Let's put into context what he's been able to do on the full season with some of the number numbers that I had mentioned before. It's a 140 WRC plus, he's 40 better than the league average Pacific Coast League player. It's a 271 isolated power. He hits for a ton of power, draws a lot of walks, and this is one of the metrics that I want to be able to look at, especially with the triple A stats. Okay, let's look at what he's actually doing on the field, uh, especially with splits wise. A little bit more difficult. You can look at OPS splits uh for some of these players, but I can look at actual batted ball quality with some of these players. So another metric that I use, sorry, I'm introducing a lot of different metrics right here. That's what I like to do. Uh, I'm gonna introduce expected weighted on base average. Wait, I'll just talk briefly about weighted on base average in case somebody's not familiar. Take the exact same concept that I had talked about earlier. Home runs better than singles. Uh, single might be slightly better than a walk, weighted on base average just puts that weighted on the scale of a non-base percentage type of scale. So home runs gonna get you a little bit better score than what a single might have. An expected weighted on base average just takes into account, okay, based on the quality of contact, what would we expect your ex your weighted on base average to be? James Tibbs the third against right-handed pitching this year, has a 401 expected weighted on base average in triple A. That is great down at the minor league level. It does come with one small caveat, and this is the big thing that he's working on, and why he hasn't been called up. Also taking into account the Dodgers situation, there's a lot of swing and miss to his game with percentage overall against right-handed pitching, and it's typically gonna be about this for both, is around 31 to 33 percent. It's a high swing and miss type of swing, which means you're getting high power, but that's gonna be paired with a lot of swing and miss. Does not mean that that can't work, especially if he's able to hit the ball hard pretty consistently. We've seen other hitters that have been able to be big-time power guys, but lean it swing and miss a lot too often. That just means that there's gonna be some inconsistencies to his game. So, over the past month, it's been a little bit more inconsistent in his actual swing. He actually isn't barreling up fastballs as much as he had during the first two months of the season. He really killed fastballs two months of the first two months of the season, hasn't been as much. So there perhaps could be a little bit of an adjustment that James Tibbs III is being able to make. Then we get into the conversation of okay, what do we project going forward? What could his potential future could be for Los Angeles? Potentially, and this would have to be at earliest two years away, it would be first base potential replacement for Freddie Freeman. You also could be looking at, okay, what does the outfield situation look like next year? However, man, when you have guys that the organization is ex as excited about as Josue De Pala and Mike Sorota potentially coming up through the system, it could be one of those things where, man, there might not be a whole lot of room for James Tibbs the third on this Dodgers roster. That does not mean this isn't a great asset for the Dodgers to have. He's doing great against right-handed pitching, which could come into play at some point. You know, that's a strong set of Bl tune. 70-ish percent of pitchers are right-handed that he's gonna go ahead and face. That's gonna have a lot of value where the Dodgers could have him in potentially some type of role. Don't know necessarily what that could be, or he could be an absolutely a valuable asset for the Dodgers to continue to reinvest in this farm system, especially in a place where the Dodgers are missing out on four draft picks this week for the MLB draft. They're gonna have to be able to re-incorporate some of that based on the talent that they had lost with the signings of Edwin Diaz and Kyle Tucker. Perhaps somebody like James Tibbs the third could be one of those players that I don't want to see him get traded for his sake, but could be traded again in order to be able to help reinvest into the future of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

SPEAKER_02 19:20

That's interesting you say that because um, you know, one of the topics that we've discussed here on this show is, you know, the trade deadline, right? And Tariq Scoobel, and you know, that seems to be the hot topic, right? But the Dodgers have been very vocal about them not going after a starting pitcher. Um, at least not until they know for sure what's gonna happen with Glass now, maybe waiting after the all-star break. And they did say that, you know, one of their focuses was going to be replenishing that farm system and adding depth, right? So, like players of the Tommy Edmund type, right? So, you know, I I I think that's you bring up a very good point. I would I'd hate to see James Tibbs the third go, right? I mean, look, I've I've since since spring training, I've been very high on this guy. I've been wanting him to, you know, get called up. Obviously, he's not ready. I I I agree with you that it's all or nothing sometimes with him, right? He's either gonna hit it out of the park or he's gonna strike out. Um reminds me of Yassiel Puig, right? Because he he used to do that. Um obviously not at the not at the same level, right? But um, but still, you know, I think that's something that he can work through. I like the idea of him playing first base. There are other options if Freddie retires, right? There's uh is the Dodgers have a ton of options, which is a good problem to have.

SPEAKER_03 20:48

Yeah, that's absolutely a good problem to be able to have because first base, you're looking at, okay, what could that be with James Tibbs the third? Could that be perhaps getting a little bit more Dalton Rushing some play in time? Could that be a potential transition of host way to Paula to be able to find a place to be able to put him? There could be other guys that could pop up. So many different things could happen between now and then, and trying to be able to find a place for James Tibbs the third to be able to fit on this roster, especially with sacrificing the DH position for Shoe Aotani, which is not a sacrifice, it's an absolute blessing because you get one of, if not the best hitter in the game of baseball and Shoe Otani on the field every single day for the Los Angeles Dodgers. This is just one of the things that they're gonna have to deal with, and especially with how many great outfielders that they have in the system. Holy cow, it is so loaded. I think that's gonna be one of the main things that they're gonna be trying to be able to figure out because right now, with the system of outfielders that they have, they can't promote anybody. Eduardo Quintero, who I love down in Great Lakes, probably cannot be promoted based on the quantity of players that are above him. Tulsa has six or seven outfielders that some of them could be deserving of promotion, but they can't be called up because there's Five outfielders in Oklahoma City that are blocking the way. So you could be looking at some of the some movement of guys that you don't want to see moved, but could go ahead and be moved just for the sake of clearing up some development path for some of these players, as well as replenishing for the farm, which sounds crazy because the Dodgers farm system is loaded, but you're always looking to be able to add more talent into the system and continue to look okay, who's the next best player? Because that's going to help create a system of sustained success. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:31

That's awesome. You know, uh Tibbs is one of the louder offensive names in the system right now, but uh Bobby actually had a question about another player who uh could potentially be his long lost relative, I think.

SPEAKER_01 22:44

Uh which yeah, uh this is very near and dear to my heart because uh I'm I'm Facebook friends with his father, and he's just gushing over him anytime Elijah uh hits a home run. I think last time, uh I think about a month ago, he had a grand slam, and so yeah, he posted that all over Facebook. Um did you have any uh thoughts on him during spring training? Did he impress you? I know he impressed me with some of his defensive plays, uh, and he did have that uh one home run in spring training. Uh, but yeah, uh how did you see him? And uh is there a timeline or uh for him to be in the major leagues uh anytime soon, like maybe in the next three years?

SPEAKER_03 23:36

Yeah, first off, I gotta say I got a message about okay, what are some of the potential topics that we'd be talking about the show? When I saw the name Elijah Hainline on there, that's not a name that I normally get when I'm talking about this. I got so excited about that. So for context, I had the chance to be able to see for the second half of last year Elijah Hainline. So I got up close, got to see a whole bunch of Elijah Hainline in person. Uh, dude, this guy's underrated within the system. Uh, he's getting overlooked by a lot of different people because of the talent that he has, and especially with the productive year that he had last year, that really elevated his game. And now he's starting to be able to get into that quite a bit more. He he's smooth defensively, plays shortstop, obviously. Uh, a little bit of second base as well. So that up middle type of defensive positions, which there is less of that in this Dodger system than outfielders. So they're looking for more of those infield type prospects. He's a product productive hitter with the bat currently this year. It's a 121 WRC plus 21% above league average as a hitter. Uh, very patient at the plate, 17.5% walk percent, just incredibly patient at the plate. Uh, a little bit of swing and miss, but I think he can go ahead and offset that a little bit because man, if he's able to he's able to pull the ball quite a bit, if he can get that in the air, that's gonna lead to even more home runs that he has, which is not always the greatest home run power. But man, if you hang a slider on Elijah Hangline, he's gonna absolute crush that. Absolute crush that, which I got to see on many different occasions last year for Great Lakes. Most notable one, uh, eighth inning down by two in a game that the loons needed to win, hit a home run in front of a sellout crowd to tie it. Then Loon's ended up walking it off. Incredible electric moment, gets super excited when he's out there, can steal bases too. He's really got a lot of different tools that you like. Timeline wise, probably will spend the whole season in the Texas League, probably spend the whole season in Tulsa. If he continues to put up a 120 WRC plus, then you can look at that and say, okay, that might be enough to be able to elevate him to the to Pacific Coast League to Oklahoma City, and especially if he's able to pull the ball near a little bit more. I think it's been about a month, as you mentioned, since he had his last home run. If he can get a couple more home runs on the season, steal more bases, refine all the different aspects of his game. He's gonna continue to move up, and then it's a man, if you hit, you're gonna earn your way to the major league level. And so far, Elijah Hainline has hit at every level that he's been.

SPEAKER_01 26:12

Awesome.

SPEAKER_03 26:13

He's my favorite guest so far.

SPEAKER_01 26:15

Anyone else?

SPEAKER_05 26:16

I was gonna say it's exciting, unlike any other. I I I love it.

SPEAKER_02 26:22

Nice, I appreciate it, guys. Important note is uh Elijah is uh currently on the seven-day IL.

SPEAKER_01 26:30

Um, you know, yeah, you had to be a downer about that, didn't you?

SPEAKER_02 26:35

Um, but you know, it doesn't sound like it's too serious, and I'm excited to see more of him. Um, I am one of those who has overlooked him. Um until Bobby here has he's been talking about him. Um, and I you know took a look at at uh some of his stats. So um, yeah, I'm I'm excited to see a little bit more of him in the years to come.

SPEAKER_01 26:57

Um is not a common last name, so as soon as I saw it on one of the box scores, I went, huh? There's a Hamline on in the Dodger system, and I did a little research and found this death. And I'm like, hey, we might be really needed.

SPEAKER_03 27:16

So yeah, it turns out it turns out Hainlines are pretty good at baseball.

SPEAKER_01 27:22

So Tommy Minnesota never answered my uh attempted uh uh try-out letters, so yeah, oh well.

SPEAKER_02 27:32

Oh man. We're gonna have to address that somehow. Uh uh, but Hainline is still working his way through the system, but there's one player who has already reached the big leagues, uh, and the big league spotlight, right? Which is Dalton Rushing. Uh with rushing, the conversation has become you know complicated, I guess. Kind of. I don't know. Um, I I think that, you know, with rushing, there's been things that fans have seen. Some don't think it's a big deal, some do. Um, but I know that Priscilla was uh, you know, I had this conversation with Priscilla, I think it was about a week ago, but when all this uh Dalton Rushing stuff started to really boil over after the Otani thing. Um but I think one of the what one of the things that we were talking about is his character, right? And as if if this is something new, but Priscilla, what what um I know you had a little bit more to to say about that?

SPEAKER_05 28:36

Yeah, he's definitely drawing attention. I don't think there's a single baseball fanatic that hasn't touched the topic of Dalton Rushing and have an opinion in regards to whether it's good, bad, whether he's just a kid, whether it has anything to do with the fact that he's got the world on his shoulders right now with uh Will Smith being out. So, my question to you is what did you see in the minors when it came to Dalton Rushing, personality-wise on the field? And how do you think him going from the minors to the majors has affected his performance, if at all?

SPEAKER_03 29:06

Yeah, it's a really good question. So, context, I got the chance to be able to see Dalton Rushing the entirety of the 2023 season. Saw him for, I think, two games in 2022 during the playoffs, but really what I'm taking into account is the entirety of the 2023 season. Um, Dalton Rushing is a competitor. There, there's no other way to be able to have that. And that was obvious when he stepped into the the dugout at Dow Diamond. He wants to win desperately, and he's got a competitive nature. And what I call it perhaps is a overly competitive nature, and especially perhaps a little bit overly critical nature of himself. Um, this is somebody who, throughout his entirety of his baseball career, including the entirety of the minor leagues, went out there and had success. He was a hit every single step that he had. And it didn't matter if, okay, back when he was at college, I believe it was Henry Davis at Louisville was taking up the catcher spot. He found a way to be able to go out there and be able to get playing time, ended up getting the catcher position, hit at Louisville. When he came into the minor leagues, the Great Lakes, it was cons through Oklahoma City, it was consistently 30 to 40 to 50 percent better than the league average type of hitter. He hit for power consistently, he did all these different great things well, and then you get up into the major leagues in his first major league season. It's a well, you're gonna play two times a week, maybe. And he I think there is a lot of struggle that he dealt with with that transition because you saw it within his swing. There is a lot of swing and miss in his game last year, and I think part of that there is some frustration because I know the competitive nature that Dalton Rushing has, he would go through a brick wall for his team, but a lot of that frustration I think was building up within himself because man, that's not who Dalton Rushing is. Fast forward to this year, and you get into the situation that the Los Angeles Dodgers were in, ending up in that moment with Shoe Otani. I think there was some frustration with what he had defensively, perhaps with the accumulation of some frustrations that he's been dealing with. And I think that ultimately led into a moment where immaturity happened for sure, and certainly throughout the minor leagues, there were times where uh definitely got frustrated within himself. One thing that you never took away from it, though, is that Dalton Rushing does not care about his team, nor does he not care about his teammates. He's just highly competitive in nature and super into the game, which can lead to, especially if you get into his way or could perhaps get in into some type of disagreement with him, he's gonna be very vocal about that. Uh, but I think that leads to some of the talent that we are able to see with Dalton Rushing and with with Rush, one be patient with this process. Don't allow one moment to completely define him as a player because it is an incredible value for the Los Angeles Dodgers to have Dalton Rushing on this team, to have a catcher who right now is one of the better hitting catchers in the game of baseball. And even with the numbers of the swing and miss that he had last year, you could see with his pull error percentage, you could see with the power potential that he had, these type of things were in there. And now we're starting to see that flesh out with the bat. I think going through this, being able to get the coaching with some of the guidance of some of the veteran players on the staff is going to help make him a better player. It's not going to take away all the passion, all the energy that he has, but he's going to be able to focus it a little bit better. And when Dalton Rushing focuses his energy, watch out because the baseball skill set that he has is absolutely special.

SPEAKER_02 32:53

Yeah, we've seen that, right? I mean, two walk-offs this year so far. Um, you know, the kid, the kid's nails when it when it comes down to it, right? Um, and he's got power. Um, Dalton seems like the type of of guy that if we play poker with him and he loses, he's flipping the table. Um just because of the competitiveness, right? Um, but you know, go ahead.

SPEAKER_03 33:16

Yeah, I was about to say that 2023 team, there's a lot of those different types of players on that team. That was a team that had Freeland and Taylor Young and Justin Robleski and a lot of highly competitive guys that will do anything to be able to go out there. But when the moment came, Dalton Rushing found a way to be able to step up. I go back to that 2023 season. The loons made it to the Midwest League Championship that year in a three-game uh championship series. Dalton Rushing hit three home runs that series. He can step up in a lot of those big moments and be able to, especially when the team needs it, put his team on the back and be able to help lead him through a lot of those moments. Nice.

SPEAKER_02 34:01

That's awesome. Um, because a lot, a lot of that's that's reassuring to hear that, you know, this isn't a character problem per se. Um, you know, especially from someone who's been watching him for so long, right? Um, because there's been things that have come out, right? Rumors or whatever you want to call them. And you know, I I really feel that the Dodgers need him, right? Especially now. Um some have called for him to get traded. I don't, I don't think that's a great idea. Um, I think the kid needs a little bit more runway. And um honestly, of late he's been carrying himself well, minus the little hiccup uh at home plate uh was a few days ago or yesterday. Um, but that's you know, who doesn't go through that? What's that? That wasn't really his.

SPEAKER_05 34:55

Like it was everything else. You could see it brewing, and you know, oh, he's about to like crash out or whatever you guys want to call it. But this one, it's like he made the play, it was something to you type baseball, it happened, and he was going up about his way when he heard something and then responded to it, which is what we like in baseball. Like when you're willing to defend your team and and what you're doing, um, as opposed to just making noise for for no reason. So with me on that one.

SPEAKER_01 35:27

I I thought he showed a lot of self-control on that, and and I think that was a big, big uh uh uh sign that he is growing. So absolutely. And by the way, uh strong Charlie Brown t-shirt there, Priscilla. Love that t-shirt.

SPEAKER_05 35:42

Thank you. It's got the number 25 on it, just FYI.

SPEAKER_01 35:46

Oh, of course.

SPEAKER_02 35:48

I'm gonna send you guys this one.

SPEAKER_05 35:51

Here we go.

SPEAKER_01 35:52

Here we go.

SPEAKER_05 35:53

Merge.

SPEAKER_01 35:54

I'll send you guys one of those. I just got my World Series championship shirt something.

SPEAKER_02 36:01

Maybe Case will let you wear it on the podcast, Austin.

SPEAKER_03 36:05

Oh, I've got I've got another Los Pefinios Picantes coming up right there. So gotta be representing the like Great Lakes loons and their alternate identities.

SPEAKER_02 36:14

Love that. I love that. Um there's uh there's another player I wanted to get into. This one's gonna be a uh fun, right? Because you actually just spoke about him recently um on the on the pitching side, right? There's uh there's another young arm who's already turning into a legitimate weapon this year. Uh one that, like I just mentioned, you you you spoke about him uh on X, and that's Edgardo Henriquez, right? Um now with him when you when you spoke about him, you mentioned that he ranked near the top of MLB in stuff plus and expected weighted on bat on base average against right-handed hitters. Now, through July 6th, um he had a 245 245 ERA and a.90 whip uh over three 36 and two-third innings, I want to say, uh, including eight scoreless innings. Um and he gave the Dodgers a couple innings a few days ago, right? Um, he's been just lights out. Everybody, you know, fans are loving what they're seeing, and he reminds me of Bruce Dar. And some have said that he is exactly what the Dodgers wanted out of Bruce Dark Radderall. Um, you know, what are you seeing from Edgardo? And, you know, is what what are the what do the analytics tell you? Is this something, is this who he is? Has he finally grown into the player who he's gonna be, or is this something that we should kind of keep an eye on?

SPEAKER_03 37:52

Yeah, so let's back up to 2024 because in 2024, Edgardo Henriquez started the season not at triple A, not a double A, not with Great Lakes in high A. He started the season with Rancho Cucumonga in single A baseball. And by the end of the season, he was pitching in the postseason for the Los Angeles Dodgers. That was the meteoric rise. And the biggest thing with Edgardo Henriquez, you saw immediately with the fastball VLO that is rare to see across the game of baseball. Man, this kid has all the talent in the world. And he went spent a month in Rancho, then he spent a month in Great Lakes, which I got to be able to see during his time in Great Lakes, did not last on. It was a blink of an eye, and then he was gone up to Tulsa, then up to Oklahoma City, then up to the major leagues. The biggest thing was the consistency of his command, and that doesn't just mean being able to throw strikes, it means being able to locate a lot of your pitches well. With Edgardo Henriquez, I think we're starting to see all those different pieces together. And if all those different pieces came together, you're looking at an elite type of talent. This is something that you saw very clearly in the numbers. You mentioned stuff plus. The reason why stuff plus is important is it does not care what the actual in-game result on the field is. It all it does is take into account the characteristics of the baseball that is thrown and be able to measure that, which doesn't just take into account VLO, it also takes into account arm slot, it also takes into account vertical and horizontal break, being able to compare that with different types of pitches and being able to put a grade on that. And with Edgardo Henriquez, it's not just one pitch that is really good, it's not just two pitches. He currently has and in the past has had five different pitches that have been at least 114 or better in stuff plus when you have all these different pitches that work out so well, as well as an ability to be able to get ground balls. It only is a matter of time and only a matter of execution before you're able to put all these pieces together and become a great bullpen piece. And that's what we're starting to see with the Gigardo Enriquez. Entering the season, right-handed relievers coming out of the Dodgers bullpen because Brock Stewart was gonna start the season injured, because Evan Phillips was gonna start the season injured. There really was a question mark: who is gonna be that next guy up? Right-handed reliever coming into the Dodgers bullpen to be a high-leverage type of guy. Would it be a Will Klein? Will Klein has turned out to be awesome. Will it be a Blake Trinan? He's dealing with some injuries and hasn't been quite as good. Will it be a Kyle Hurt or somebody like that? It turned out to be Edgardo Henriquez. Now we're seeing a guy that throws fast, that is able to get a decent amount of swinging and miss. Although when the ball is hit, it's typically hit on the ground. You mentioned expected weighted on base average against right-handed hitters. Edgardo Henriquez not only has the third best stuff in Major League Baseball with at least 20 innings pitched, among pitchers that have thrown, I believe it's at least 50 played appearances. He's currently fourth in baseball, the fourth best pitcher and generating the weakest contact against right-handed hitters with a sub 200 expected weighted on base average. I think right now it's 198. I think there's only three other pitchers that are better than Engardo Henriquez as that, which means that the Los Angeles Dodgers, they it is going to be impossible or nearly impossible right now, based on these numbers, for them to find somebody better than Edgardo Henriquez to trade for at the trade deadline as far as being a weapon against right-handed hitters. And when it comes to the postseason, you're looking for those platoon splits, you're looking for different matchup advantages that you could get. And right now, Edgardo Enriquez is turning into an absolute matchup advantage, especially against right-handed hitters. He's a little bit worse against lefties. They're hitting a little bit better against Edgardo. It's more of closer to a 300 expected weighted on base average. But still, when you have this type of skill set with the VLO that he has, man, he's building confidence too. And you can really see it. And I think Dave Roberts is going to start putting him in a lot more high-leverage situations, even as the Dodgers are going to get back Edwin Diaz, even as the Dodgers are going to continue to get a lot of these different players back. Right now, there is no optioning in Gardo Enriquez to the minor leagues because he's one of the best bullpen options that the Dodgers have.

SPEAKER_02 42:30

Yeah. And uh one of my follow-up questions was going to be because you mentioned, you know, he has five, he has five different pitches and he's finally getting all of that to work together. The but my question was gonna be why isn't he being, you know, I guess considered to be a starter at some point of his career, you know. But I guess the the answer is his righty lefty splits.

SPEAKER_03 42:54

Could is would that be it? That could be a possibility. Um, I know I believe it was early in his career in Rancho, I actually believe. Um, I I I'm trying to remember, he might have actually had some starting starting games, yeah, back in his minor league career, actually with Rancho um during 2024. He was actually a starter. Now, granted, that was short inning type of burst. It was two inning type of starts that he was getting at that time, but they started him out. I think a large part had to do with a, oh man, this guy's got a special talent. How can we go ahead and be able to utilize this and rapid fire him to the major leagues? But the starter be a little bit more challenging because you got to build up length, you got to worry about different pitch limits that they've got, and they've got to be able to go through a lot of these different motions. That could potentially be a possibility. However, with that, it's gonna come increased tax, increased workload on him, and with as hard as he throws, I think that comes with a lot more risks. With this, when you're getting one or two inning type of burst, now you're allowing him to go. All out on individual pitches, which doesn't mean he couldn't be somebody like uh Jacob Mizurowski. Not saying that he is Jacob Mizerowski, but he's the only one that is somewhat comparable feeler-wise to Jacob Mizurowski, uh, type of there, where the Dodgers could try to go back to that. However, 2024 at the modern league level, they made that conscious decision, and I think they're just happy with having a late-game weapon like Henriquez to be able to pull to at just about any time out of the bullpen and now feel confident about that. I think that's the windup. Although you mentioned all the different pitches that he has, it definitely could be a possibility, especially as he goes into his career and finds a way to limit a little bit more hard contact against lefties. This is going to be one of the things to perhaps be able to watch, and especially if, hey, we're going to need a starter at some point, and we want to think unconventionally about that. It's either use him high leverage in the bullpen out of the bullpen, or perhaps make a tradition. I had not thought about Enriquez starting in actually quite some time, so glad he brought it up. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:05

Well, um, I I just have a uh quick question. You mentioned uh uh his confidence and then Will Klein, and Will Klein had a performance last night that it it wasn't all that great. It it might have affected his confidence a little bit, and then we all know what happened the night before uh with Tanner Scott. What can you tell a pitcher uh like that who has a bad night, who is struggling, and and uh uh gives up runs like that uh to a team like the Rockies, uh when uh he uh all the fans in the stands just expect him to just mow him down.

SPEAKER_03 45:46

Yeah, it's it's really tough being a bullpen arm because you get one inning, or you get a lot of times you get one inning at a time. And especially when a lot a lot of us look at stuff like ERA. ERA is a great thing, however, with bullpen type of arms, man, if you have a performance where man, you give up two runs, it's gonna take several different weeks to be able to help overcome that and perhaps get back to the place that you were beforehand uh with somebody like a Will Klein with that performance. One, it's not necessarily all his fault, defense didn't really help him out with that, plain and simple. Uh, and so I think a lot of that can't be a putting all the blame on yourself. This is also one of the things that they've got to be able to go through as different pitchers, as baseball players, is being able to turn the page after a performance like that for uh the defense, for somebody like Miguel Rojas, being able to turn the page from a defensive performance that was sub what they are accustomed to being able to do. I think with Will Klein, he's gonna be able to do that. This is a guy who obviously came in and saved game three of the World Series for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and that's gonna be the biggest thing that he's gonna be taking away from his career, at least to this point. Um but he also has turned into an absolute weapon out of the Dodgers bullpen, has been one of the main right-handed relievers. He was somebody that going into the season, I was expecting, okay, he's probably gonna be that up-down guy or one of the up-down guys coming out of the bullpen. Now he's also one of these guys where man, you can't really option him down as well. And I have no idea once Edwin Diaz is back, who's gonna be the guy that they're gonna be able to option down. I think that confidence that they've been able to have with him, combined with the fact that, okay, that wasn't necessarily all my fault. Um, I think that can be a okay, I can still have confidence because 90% of the time, Miguel Rojas is gonna be able to turn that double play. Uh vast majority of the time, we're gonna be able to do that. And look at what I've been able to do this season. Look at what I did in game three of the World Series. I'm still that type of player, and be able to get back into that type of headspace, I think it's something that he is capable and will get back to doing.

unknown 47:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 47:58

Awesome. Absolutely. Uh, well, we've hit some of the names that we wanted to uh you know talk about today. Um, but before we get into our call your shot segment, um I really wanted to do a quick hit uh a quick hit prospect questions for you. Um so it's just like uh quick hit. Uh we have a list of them here. Kind of like the lightning round in a game show. The lightning round, yeah. Um okay, so I've got one for you. Uh give us two prospects that fans are not talking enough about.

SPEAKER_03 48:37

Okay, not talking enough about. Okay, um, for this, I'm gonna go with Great Lakes. With uh for a lot of these, I'll probably go with Great Lakes. I I'm gonna try to avoid some of the top prospects at the end. Although I'll just give a little bit of special shout-out. Christian Zazweda is so good, he's so good. Pitching prospect with great legs. Like, like you're talking about uh I mentioned strikeout minus walk percentage being one of the main pitching statistics I looked at. I think he's fourth in minor league baseball with at least 40 innings pitched in that metric out of 800 some. And there's another guy in Ontario, I'll just mention him briefly, Brady Smith, who's 10th in that category. Dodgers have two of the top 10 by strikeout minus walk percentage as starters in that category. Really good guys. Um, some of the other underrated guys that are part of the system. Um, Aiden Fuller, who actually made the start for Great Lakes tonight, super underrated starting pitcher that probably a lot of Dodgers fans don't necessarily know about. Uh, he is somebody that he's got pretty good fastball VLO, but really what the main part about him, his stuff is electric. Baseball America, prominent baseball publication, did an article last year. The top Dodgers pitcher by stuff plus, meaning the who's grades out as having the best stuff, was Aiden Fuller, starting pitcher. And it prominently has to do with his fastball. He's gonna go out and really hammer his fastball, which might think, okay, he's just got more VLO than everybody else. But it's not just the VLO that's there, which is a mid-90s VLO type of guy. He's also somebody that's got really high induced vertical break on his fastball. That's the exact same metric that Jack Dreyer and Alex Bestia have to be able to keep their fastball up in the zone. Aiden Fuller has that similar-ish type of IVB according to baseball America with better VLO, which can lead to a lot more swing and miss on his fastball. Now it's all about being able to help develop his secondary pitches as well as be able to locate his fastball. And then you're talking about potentially a major league starter or potentially a bullpen weapon coming out of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Hitting wise, there's a lot of different guys you could turn to. You could go to Chase Harlan, who just recently got promoted, who is one of the better third baseman prospects in the game of baseball. This year, hitting a 151 WRC plus on the season, tore up Ontario, 19 years old. Uh, it's got really good power on the season. Um, you could go to some other guys that are part of this. Like, there's so many different guys that we can turn to. Eduardo Quintero is so good, he's a top prospect, but he's got five legit 5-2-0 potential. Uh, there's so many different names that we could turn to.

SPEAKER_02 51:19

Yeah, and uh there's Zach Root, right? Uh starting pitcher 11Ks, just tearing it up.

SPEAKER_03 51:27

Yeah, Zach Zach Root is really good. Um, he has struggled uh just just briefly at times with giving up some hits. There is like a three-game stretch where he gave up 20 hits in three games, primarily with just one start. But that all comes down to okay, fastball Vila was just a touch off, and he wasn't locating it as much. When he's able to locate that, man, that kid is absolutely dominant. Left-handed first round pick for the Dodgers last year. They also drafted Chuck Davilin in that position, getting a lot of swinging miss. It's 34% strikeout percentage, doesn't necessarily walk a whole lot, got a lot of different secondary pitches, as well as a fastball that can hit 94 to 96, typically is where his fastball is sitting. He's a really good pitcher, Zach Rudd. I I would not be surprised if he's one of those names that gets called up to Tulsa at some point over the next couple of weeks, if not next month or so. That's interesting.

SPEAKER_02 52:22

Uh George, what's your question?

SPEAKER_00 52:25

Yeah, I guess out of all the prospects that you've seen, and sounds like you've seen a lot, who would you say has been the most improved or maybe surprised you this year so far?

SPEAKER_03 52:37

Oh, this year. I I was thinking of uh I'll I'll talk about last year, then we'll go ahead and talk about this year because I had to think okay, who's the most improved this year? Um, person that was most improved, or perhaps the person that I was most impressed with last year, and it's legit Kendall George. Now, Kendall George starting off the season last year, for those of you who are not familiar, he's the guy who stole 100 stolen bases last year. I was actually in Lake County when he stole his 100th stolen base. Really cool moment for him. The dugout went absolutely nuts, but it's not the stolen base aspect that really impressed me with Kendall George. You go at the beginning of the season, he was a very high strikeout guy. First month of the season, he was like 30% strikeout, which with not being able to hit for a whole lot of power, and especially with relying on speed, man, you're not gonna have a whole lot of success if your sole determining factor of being able to get on base is be able to get on base and then use your speed to be able to help take advantage. He turned from a 30-ish percent strikeout percentage type of guy to a sub to a about a 12% strikeout percentage type of guy, really was able to get into contact. He's so good at being able to take the baseball opposite field and being able to get base hits that way. He's so good at being able to lay down bunts. There was a play last year where he was on second base, it was a ground ball to shortstop, and he scored from second base. Now, granted, he took off on the pitch, but he scored from a routine ground ball to shortstop from second base. Insane type of speed that he has. He really was able to transition into that type of player. Um, when it comes to this year, the biggest player that has made the most improvements is a starting pitcher, not super uh looked into, I would say, or at least by a lot of different main publications. Brooks Auger. Brooks Auger. I got to see him in Great Lakes last year, spent the entirety of the season, really good start of the season. Stuff really wasn't biting though, and it really he it was hit pretty hard by the rest of the league. Not a whole lot of swing and miss. Somebody that was hit quite a bit. He has completely turned his season around. The stuff seems to be biting more. He went from somebody that was probably sub-20 strikeout percentage type of guy. Granted, he's like a former fifth or sixth round pick from Mississippi State, really prominent school with somebody that had a good prospect degree, but now all of a sudden, he is starting to get a lot of swing and miss. He went from like a sub-20 strikeout percentage type of pitcher to now being a 33.5% strikeout percentage. And you can just see the confidence that he is pitching with as well. He's turning into one of the better strikeout pitchers in this league, and a team that is just filled with strikeout pitchers. Great Lakes at the high level of the Los Angeles Dodgers is just filled with the ability to throw get strikeouts. Their strikeout percentage across all of affiliate ball is the highest among any team out of all 120 minor league teams, not including the complex or Dominican Summer League or anything like that. Great Lakes Loons has the highest strikeout percentage. Brooke Brooks Auger unexpectedly is playing a massive role in that.

SPEAKER_02 55:59

And um, also to point out, Kendall George just had a walk-off, I think it was yesterday, right? Four-hit game, walk off win. Um, walk-off hit. Um, so yeah, I I I am excited to see more of him. Um, and I I'm gonna keep an eye on it. And what was the Brooke Auger?

SPEAKER_03 56:19

You said, yeah, Brooks Auger is his name. Yeah, yeah. He's he's a little bit older for the Midwest League, he's about 24 years old. So you could be looking at him being somebody that could get that call up to the Texas League. It's all gonna be about how confident he is in his stuff, and especially with that fastball veal, it's it was a little bit lower 90s, I want to say, um, just from what I can remember last year, is now sitting a little bit more mid-90s, 96, maybe even uh for Brooks Arthur. If he's able to stay to that, and if he's able to, because he's been a little bit more of an in-zone, not necessarily walking as much type of pitcher, if he's able to stay towards that, I think he can be somebody that can have a little bit more success. But he's been really awesome to watch this year. Nice.

SPEAKER_02 57:03

Uh Bobby, what's your question?

SPEAKER_01 57:06

Okay, so Austin, which prospect, in your opinion, other than Elijah Hainlin, of course, has the highest ceiling uh outside of the obvious names, Elijah Hainline.

SPEAKER_03 57:20

Yeah, outside of Elijah Hainline. Um, yeah, uh I I I gotta give crop I gotta give props to um the the two guys that are gonna be towards the top of the system, uh Joshua Depala and Mike Sorota. Uh I'll just mention Joshua de Paula. He has taken so many different steps from what I've seen than what he had last year in Great Lakes. Like Great Lakes, he at Great Lakes, he was really good. He was 35, 40% better than a league average hitter with not a whole lot of strikeouts, but it wasn't something where he was tapping into his in-game power as much. It was a little bit more of a okay, he'd get singles, he'd get some doubles. Occasionally he'd be able to hit a home run, but that but the ability to be able to consistently pull the ball in the air wasn't necessarily there. He's got all the offensive skills besides that, and was not necessarily swinging as much. Now he's swinging a little bit more, being a little bit more aggressive, and pulling the ball in the air, which means that he's really getting into all the different aspects that are gonna help make him and mature him into being a great offensive player. The other person that's gonna be fairly obvious is Mike Sorota. Mike Sorota. Oh my goodness, this kid is so good. Like this kid isn't not only is he on Bay Street, which is what 69 games at this point, something ridiculous down there. Yeah, yeah. This kid is unreal with the confidence that he has in the batter's box, with the power that he has, and it's not just pull side power. You look at right center field, is where a lot of his power is gonna be able to come forward. It's gap to gap power, home run hitting ability. He's a patient hitter at the play, gonna draw a ton of walks, confident inside the batter's box. He also has been one of, if not the very best hitter in minor league baseball, not just from this super long on base streak that he has. Another metric, another statistic I get to throw you guys at you weighted runs above average. This is, if you look at WRC Plus, this is the cumulative aspect of WRC Plus. Reason why I mentioned cumulative aspect of WRC Plus is let's say that you have two players. I mentioned I've done this different observation before. Say you have two different players with a 150 WRC plus, somebody that has 50 plate appearances, somebody has 500 plate appearances. Which one has been more valuable for your team? By WRC Plus, they're exactly the same. However, with a cumulative aspect, you're able to tell which one has been better. It's a one with 500 different plate appearances. And if we look at the minor league baseball, Mike Sorota has been the second best player by weighted runs above average, only behind Andrew Fisher of the Milwaukee Brewers. He has been the one of the very best hitters across baseball, able to hit it so very well. Like this kid is one of those where man, you have Jose Depala, you have Mike Sorota. I legit don't know how you can trade those guys with as much talent as they had. And that's not even including somebody like Eduardo Quintero, who legit has five tool potential, ability to steal bases, ability to play defense with an insane arm out in the outfield, ability to hit for power, which he's now starting to do, which Eduardo Quintero, by the way, hit a home run earlier today against Dayton. Um bat to ball skills are really good. Like those guys right there, those three that I had mentioned, which is not discounting any of the other players within the system, are just so high in their potential that they could have to where, man, I'd love to see a Dodgers outfield with at least two of those guys out there. The tricky part is I don't know if they necessarily can do that. They could probably do one of those, but at least for the next couple of years with Kyle Tucker signing the contract, it's very likely going to be a one, or unless you have to move one of those to a different position, like you mentioned earlier, potentially a Josué de Paula to be able to fit another outfielder into the mix. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:23

Yeah, we'll have some space, right? I mean, there's rumors of Freddie potentially, you know, calling the quits a little earlier than expected, and you know, Muncie is um, you know, it's getting older, so there are opportunities in other positions. Um, but who knows, right? Um, Priscilla, what's your question?

SPEAKER_05 1:01:43

If the Dodgers make a trade deadline move, which prospect do you think the other teams would be asking about?

SPEAKER_03 1:01:53

Yeah, so the ones that they would be asking about, uh obviously the first ones you're gonna ask about are the two highest prospects that would be Sorota and Dipola. I don't think it's likely that the Dodgers are gonna trade them, perhaps a little bit more with Sorota, but I really don't think that's unlikely. Then you go a little bit down the line, okay. What about somebody like Eduardo Quintero? I don't think the Dodgers necessarily want to move him. Then you're looking for some of the prospects that um it comes down to a question, okay, is it from what other organizations want to be able to trade for? Or is it a question of, okay, perhaps these are ones that Dodgers might be a little bit more movable on with some of the ones that the other teams might want? They're looking for potentially guys with a little bit more helium that they could see um wanting to be able to help them. Somebody like I think of Christian Zazweda would be a perfect example because now he's starting to have a lot of helium, a lot of momentum. He's had three really good starts at Tulsa combined with his ability to throw strikes and get a lot of swing and miss. I think he's somebody that's gonna be at the top of the list for a lot of different teams in the evaluating process. And you can see him starting to move up a lot of the different rankings. Mention King Taro being one of those. You're looking for some of the other risers, perhaps uh somebody like a Chase Harland, although he's, I would say, a little bit more bat first right now and still young kid that's part of this mix, but still could be another name that you could be looking for. From the Dodgers perspective, though, I think what the Dodgers are going to be looking for, especially with the crop of outfielders that they have, they really need to clear up some of the log jam that they have with the outfielders, which means that they could be looking for different trades with some of the upper miners outfielders. I I I've said this from the moment that he was added to the 40-man roster for the Los Angeles Dodgers because I knew the inevitability that this had. Somebody like Ryan Ward, I would love to see the Dodgers trade him. Not because he is I want him off the Los Angeles Dodgers, but because I think he is deserving of at least somewhat of an opportunity with another organization. And if the Dodgers have their outfielders healthy, there really isn't some type of role for him. And even if something happened, like I had mentioned on the show that I did on Monday, I think there is a non-zero percent chance, might be a little bit of a bold take. I don't I think there is a non-zero percent chance that the Dodgers trade somebody like even like an Alex Call as part of their mix. I think I don't even think Ryan Ward fits that because Ryan Ward is not a defensive center fielder. I think you need somebody that's a little bit normal natural. The reason why I mentioned Alex Call potentially being part of that mix because the Dodgers also have somebody by the name of Zach Earhart who is doing great and is hammering against right-handed, against left-handed pitching, I should say, which is exactly the type of role that Alex Call is. And there's a lot of other teams that need right-handed bats at this point. But you're looking at other upper minor league outfielders, guys that could be close to eligible for the rule five draft, which is something that the Doubters take into account because they can't add all these guys to the 40-man roster. Guys like a James Tibbs could be part of that. Zar Earhart, as I had mentioned, uh could be part of this mix. Zaire Hope, because you have too many outfielders and he's really starting to break out again, and another team could give a really good piece for him. I think a lot of those outfielders are real, especially the outfielders in the upper minor leagues, that can allow them to be able to perhaps promote some guys that are deserving of a promotion to be able to push them and get them to the next level, so then that can clear up some of the some of the log jams that you have at the minor leagues, create paths of development going forward, while also, and this is the path that they could go down, potentially be able to reinvest in the farm system to where you add some guys that are pretty far away, they're gonna be in the lower levels of the minor leagues, if not complex level or lower, but are gonna be years away. That could be some guys that the Dodgers have identified as being to talented players, like the Dodgers did with what Caleb Ferguson for somebody like a Christian Zazweta, who turned out to be really good, like the Dodgers did with Gavin Lux for somebody by the name of Mike Sorota, who's really good, like the Dodgers did for countless different examples. I think. You're going to be looking at that as being the focus of the Dodgers. So while other teams might want the top guys, I think these are still really valuable pieces. Might even be closer to big league ready, which could be attractive to other teams that the Dodgers could perhaps be willing to be able to make a trade for.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:17

Yeah, definitely no shortage of depth in this team, right? Um one last question from me. Um, if September call-ups were tomorrow, who's getting the call?

SPEAKER_03 1:06:28

Who that is a that's a really good question. It's also so difficult of a question um because of the the space that the Dodgers have on this roster and the way to be able to do that. Rosters expand by two for September call-ups. So that there's there's a little bit more space that the Dodgers have. However, let's take a little bit of a step back and look at this Dodgers position player group and let's assume health or guys are able to come back healthy. Dodgers position player side. Let's say that the Dodgers don't trade Alex Call. Let's say that my idea is scrapped. And I'm again, I'm not saying that that will happen. I'm just saying there is a chance that that could happen with the depth that the Dodgers have and with the talent wanting to be able to get Alex Call actual playing time instead of sitting on the bench 90% of the time in Los Angeles. Um, if that is the case, everybody comes back healthy. Kike Hernandez takes Alex Freeland spot, then there's no room for Alex Freeland, there's no room for Hayes on Kim, there's no room for really any other guys on this roster. My guess for September call-ups, one of those guys is able to come back, probably just by the way the organization has played him, probably an Alex Freeland. Also, Hayes on Kim has really struggled at Oklahoma City since being returned back down. That would probably be the case. Some underrated guys, um, you could look at upper levels of the minor leagues. Kenschley, I mentioned a little bit earlier, Zach Earhart. You could be looking at James Tibbs III. The difficulty about that is, man, they don't really necessarily get a whole lot of play, wouldn't necessarily get a whole lot of playing time at the major league level. So, how much do you want to bring guys up, start their clock early without being able to give them a whole lot of playing time? My guess is the Dodders don't necessarily want to do that. So it could be a re-calling up of somebody like a Freeland or a Kim, it could be somebody like a Jack Sowinsky who starts still part of the organization or somebody like that, uh, that has a very clear specific role. Um, when you get to the pitching side, too, it's gonna become down to a main question of okay, who's healthy? But again, uh, this is the funny thing because I've been starting to look at some of the potential postseason type of rosters that the Dodgers could go ahead and put together. And this pitching staff is insane and loaded. This is uh this is this is part of the thing I did on the show on Monday. This is assuming Snell, Glasnell, and Edwin Diaz come back healthy, and assuming somebody like a Brock Stewart is able to stay healthy. If the postseason were to start, Dodgers would typically carry probably about 12 pitchers on the roster. Postseason, you're typically looking at 11 or 12 pitchers in the first couple of rounds. They typically don't carry all the different pitchers, they carry a lot of extra position players because they don't need all the pitchers, and you're looking for different platoon advantages in the postseason. This could be the Dodgers' postseason pitching roster. I'll get this back in into the potential September call-ups in just a minute. This is what the Dodgers postseason pitching roster could look like. Yamamoto, Otani, Snell, Glasnell, four starters, Robleski, Tanner Scott, Alex Fesia, Edwin Diaz, Jack Dreyer, Edgardo Enriquez, Will Klein, Brock Stewart. You know who that does not include? Does not include Emmett Sheehan, does not include Roky Sasaki, does not include Eric Lauer, does not include Evan Phillips, does not include Kyle Hurt, Blake Trinan, or River Ryan. Seven players who very well could play a prominent role for the Los Angeles Dowders in the postseason if needed, assuming that those guys are healthy, could find themselves out of a postseason type of roster scenario. And you could just look at building that. The reason why I point that out is a question of man, where is there room to be able to put those guys? Even with an extra pitcher being able to add to this mix, where would you even put those? And that's 12 guys right there. Let's say you add Evan Phillips to the mix. Let's say you want to keep an MH and Oro Rookie Sasaki around. There's really not a whole lot of room to be able to add, guys. One guy that I've been a huge advocate for down in Oklahoma City, which still needs some work coming back from an injury, missed the first half of the season. Keep an eye out for Jose Rodriguez. He has insane swinging miss stuff uh with percentage is crazy. His changeup is one of the best swinging miss pitches in all of minor league baseball. Keep an eye out for him, not saying that he will make the big leagues, but he's a name that's at the minor league level to keep an eye out for going forward, just with his swing and miss stuff. Nickname, actually, funnily enough, Tebu, uh, which is a little bit shark-like, which I'm sure he felt a little bit slighted with all the Roblesky Sharp nickname type stuff.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:15

Yeah, yeah. Uh, well, I mean, I think we can we're gonna have to bring you on again because this has been very, very informative. Um, I I love talking prospects, and honestly, just getting your take on a lot of this has been very uh refreshing, at least for me. Um so, but Austin, like I said, thank you. This has been awesome. Uh, before we let you go, uh, we do want to look ahead to Friday's game, right, against Arizona. Uh the Dodgers open a series against the Diamondbacks, and if everything lines up the way it's looking like, uh Otani is uh is expected to take the mound on Friday. Uh now it's time for one of my favorite segments. It's time to call your shot. It's time to call your shot. All right, so Austin, uh give us your prediction for the Dodgers versus Diamondbacks game one.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:18

Yeah, so this is something that I don't typically do a whole lot on my show. So this is something a little bit brand new for me. So I'm glad to be able to step in with you guys on this. Uh, I believe it's gonna be uh Eduardo Rodriguez that's gonna be in the mount for uh the Diamondbacks, correct? Um, and I think uh it's one of those things where okay, left-handed starter that's gonna be on the mount. Okay, what are you what are you looking at for different matchup wise? Probably there's gonna be a lot of very specific bats that are gonna be in the lineup, right-handed bats. One of them made a mistake during the game most recently. Uh, Miguel Rojas made a mistake during the game. I think he's gonna be able to take it revenge on that particular moment. He's either gonna, I don't know whether to say he's gonna have two hits off of Edgardo or Eduardo Rodriguez, or if he's gonna have a home run. But thinking back to game seven of the World Series, even though it was against a righty and not a lefty, I'll say Miguel Rojas is able to have a home run, get some redemption from some of the mistakes that he had in that game. He's been so good against left-handed pitching this year. He on this season, it's a 155 WRC plus against lefties. That's the reason why Miguel Rojas is on this roster. He's really struggled against righties, but against lefties, he's able to hit, which means that since there's a lefty on the mount, he will almost certainly be in the lineup. And since he's in the lineup, I say he's gonna do some damage. I love that.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:41

Um if it's a homer, real quick, if it's a homer, pull side or appo.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:46

Oh man, I don't I don't know if he can do appo anymore. I'm gonna say pull side.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:50

Okay, all right. Uh let's go with Priscilla. What's your shot? Call your shot.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:56

Oh man, I'm gonna go with something way too obvious for anybody's liking. I live in Arizona, I know how much they do not like Shoheil Tani, which makes me an even bigger fan of him. So I'm gonna call my shot with Shoheil Tani coming and doing something crazy against the D-backs, both pitching and uh hitting.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:14

Nice. I like that. George.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:18

I'm gonna go with I reckon Mookie's gonna go D. I just like a left. You know, they tend to prefer a left on left, but I'm gonna go left on right here. So we can get to a left-handed pitcher, hopefully. And again, doesn't go too many Oppo, but I reckon center field might get a might get a show for that.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:40

Okay. I like that. Uh Mookie's been a lot better of late, right? So um I can I definitely would like to keep seeing more of that from Mookie Betts. Um, Bobby, what's your prediction?

SPEAKER_01 1:14:53

Not much of a uh superstitious person, but I went to Walmart after work today and I had to get a few things on the receipt at the total uh at the bottom said 23 23. So I gotta go Kyle Tucker. I know he I know I know he's kind of been warming up a little bit, so he he I don't think he had any hits in last night's game, but I I think he's gonna break out uh to on uh Friday night against the D backs.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:24

Okay, all right, I like that. Um, I'm gonna go with uh I'm gonna uh agree with Priscilla on this one. I'm gonna go with Tawny. Um the guy has just been just hot these last few games, um, you know. So, and I think that you know, they used they say that June Tawny is a real thing, right? Is that is that what it is? I think this is trickling into July uh this year because he had a kind of a slow June this time around. Uh so yeah, I'm gonna go show hey's gonna go deep. Um and uh hopefully he keeps keeps up the good momentum on the pitching side too. So um, but that's all the time we have for you guys today. Thank you for watching or listening to this episode of Blue Dynasty Unplugged. If you're watching on YouTube, don't forget to like this video, subscribe, do all of that stuff, and make sure you're following Blue Dynasty on all of our socials. Uh, remember you can listen to this podcast on Spotify, Apple, really wherever you get your podcast. Uh, we're aiming to bring you an episode, one new episode every week. So make sure you subscribe so you stay up to date. Um, Austin, thank you so much, brother. I really appreciate you coming on. Um, we got to do this again.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:41

Yeah, this was a lot of fun. I appreciate you guys for letting me on. One quick note because I legit just looked this up. Miguel Rojas apparently is seven for ten against Engardo Enriquez. So I'm actually feeling pretty confident about my shot that I was able to call. Legit did not know that going into this. That was just stuff that I was able to come up with. Uh, I appreciate you guys for being able to come up with these different questions for me, for giving me the platform to be able to speak and talk about each one of these guys. There is so much talent within this farm system. And any any chance that I'm able to get to be able to highlight the farm system, the guys that don't necessarily get the coverage that they necessarily should. Every one of these stories is a story that should be told uh and is valuable. So I'm I I'm very excited to be able to have that. Thank you guys so much for having me on.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:28

Love that. I love that. I love that. Um, and for those of you at home, don't forget, you can call your shot uh before every Dodgers game by visiting the blue uh Blue Dynasty on all of our social medias. Uh drop your prediction before the uh the first pitch, and if you get it right, you may be highlighted on Blue Dynasty the next day. Um other than that, I think that's it. I'm Robert Medina. Thanks for watching, and as always, go Dodgers.