Here it the next part of my Dodger prospect ranking.  This group includes a few interesting names, including a former first round pick, a player who was injured all of last season, and another who was busted for steroids.  It also includes one of my favorite players in the system, who has performed very poorly over the past two seasons, yet has a lot of potential.  Enjoy

140.  John Hernandez, RHP (14.3 innings in Arizona League in 2009)

Drafted by Dodgers 2009, 28th round

6’0”, 190 lbs, 22.75 years old

2-1. 1.88 ERA, 1.67 WHIP, 7.54 K/9

Prior Year Ranking: N/A

John Hernandez, who was drafted out of Barry University in the 28th round of the 2009 draft, is also called Bobby by his teammates (because his middle name is Robert).  At Barry, Hernandez was a 4 year player, and while his Senior year was decent (5-3, 4.14 ERA, 60 K’s in 67 innings), his most successful season came in 2008 as a Junior.  During that season, John went 7-0, had a 1.58 ERA, and struck out 51 batters in 51 innings.  Also, according to his college website, he was “One of the most dominant pitchers on the Bucs staff ... Great fastball and slider ... Solid change up and curve ... Has good command of pitches ... Hard worker and athletic.”  Upon turning pro, Hernandez had immediate success in the Arizona Rookie League.  His 1.88 ERA was one of the best on the Arizona Dodgers pitching staff, and his 0.90 ERA against righties demonstrates that he knows what he’s doing.  However, upon further review, it appeared that he was getting pretty lucky.  While his ERA was great, his FIP was actually 5.26.  In addition, his WHIP of 1.67 and his .293 batting average against were pretty ugly.  In 2010, Hernandez will be 22 years old, and I expect him to play in Lo-A.  The righty will have to prove himself against tougher competition in order to be considered a legitimate prospect.

139.  Giordanny Chavez, RHP (18.3 innings in Dominican Summer League in 2009)

Signed by Dodgers in 2009

6’3”, 185 lbs, 18.75 years old
0-1, 6.38 ERA, 1.80 WHIP, 5.89 K/9

Prior Year Ranking: N/A

How can you go wrong with a 6’3” 18 year old?  In my opinion, you can’t.  Giordanny Chavez is a Dominican native who made his debut with the Dodgers in 2009.  While his stats were less than impressive, his physical stature screams potential.  Limited to just 18 innings in 2009, Chavez was actually fairly effective against right handed batters, who hit just .246 against him.  What he’ll have to improve is his performance against lefties.  I really don’t know much about Chavez at all besides the fact that he has a very projectable frame.  I think that he’ll improve with experience, and while I’m sure that he’ll return to the DSL in 2010, I expect much better results. 

138.  Melvin Ray, CF (29 games in Arizona League in 2009)

Drafted by Dodgers 2008, 33rd round

6’4”, 205 lbs, 20.75 years old, bats right handed

.130 average, 2 HR’s, 6 RBI’s, 4 SB’s

Prior Year Ranking: 143

So far in his professional career, Melvin Ray has put up atrocious stats.  He had a .162 average in 2008, and then followed up that season by hitting .130 in 2009.  He also struck out at an incredible rate in 2009, going down on strikes in over 56% of his plate appearances.  Nevertheless, I can’t help but like his potential.  Out of all the players in the Dodgers minor league system, I would say that Ray has the best size for an offensive player, as 6’4” and 205 lbs is exactly what you want in an outfielder.  And I’m sure that he is athletic, because as I mentioned last year, he claims to be related to Jackie Robinson.  He also showed some power and speed during his 29 games this season.  In addition, he is just 20 years old, so he has plenty of time to get his act together.  If he can learn to make contact on a more consistent basis, I really do think that Melvin can make a name for himself within the Dodgers minor league system.  I think the Pioneer League is the right place for Ray to play in 2010, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he matured into a legitimate prospect in the years to come. 

137.  James Tomlin, LF (108 games in AA in 2009)

Signed by Dodgers 10/2/2006

6’0”, 183 lbs, 27.5 years old, bats right handed

.315 average, 2 HR’s, 34 RBI’s, 12 SB’s

Prior Year Ranking: 138

When you compare Tomlin’s stats between 2008 and 2009, they are almost identical.  Literally, the only difference was that he had a higher walk rate and strikeout rate in 2009.  Everything else was pretty much the same.  Originally drafted in the 7th round by the Twins in 2000, he played 6 seasons with them before moving to the Royals organization in 2006.  He stayed there for only one season, before moving on to the Dodgers in 2007.  In his three seasons with the Dodgers, he has shown very little power, but has demonstrated a little speed, along with the ability to hit for a decent average.  Overall, Tomlin has played 10 minor league seasons and has a career .283 average.  He may never make it up the majors, and was actually selected by the Rangers in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft this past December, so he won’t be back with the Dodgers.  He has decent tools, but I doubt that he has what it takes to make it to the show.

136.  Clayton Allison, RHP (Did not play in 2009)

Drafted by Dodgers 2008, 27th round

6’5”, 235 lbs, 24.5 years old

No stats for 2009

Prior Year Ranking: 96

Allison was part of the 2008 College World Series championship team while playing for Fresno State, and even picked up a big win against North Carolina in the Semi Finals.  He also posted a 3.91 ERA throughout his final college season.  While he wasn’t drafted until the 27th round, the Dodgers gave him a chance because they liked Allison’s size and ability to win.  In his first professional season, he moved all the way up to AA, but only pitched 8 professional innings.  Then, Clayton disappeared in 2009.  While I was pretty sure it was due to an injury, it wasn’t until after the 2009 season that I learned that it was indeed shoulder surgery that caused him to miss the season.  Luckily, he is expected to be back at full strength by the start of spring training.  At 6’5” and 235 lbs, Allison has an ideal pitchers body, and in the future will probably work out of the bullpen.  Given that he missed the entire 2009 season, the Dodgers will probably take it easy with Allison, but he may return to AA since he is already 24 years old.  I’m hoping he’ll have a successful return as I think he has the potential to one day make an impact with the Dodgers.

135.  Jose Capellan, C (50 games in Dominican Summer League in 2009)

Signed by Dodgers in 2009

6’0”, 190 lbs, 19.5 years old, bats right handed

.248 average, 1 HR, 11 RBI’s, 2 SB’s

Prior Year Ranking: N/A

Jose Capellan made his professional debut in 2009 and was the starting catcher for the DSL Dodgers.  While his overall stats make it seem like he did not have a good season, the reality is that Jose had two great months, and one really bad one.  Capellan started the season by hitting .303 in June, but then dropped off considerably in July as he managed just a .125 average.  He finished the season by catching fire in August, however, as he posted a batting average of .326 and an OPS of .827 in 43 at bats.  Throughout the entire season, Capellan showed that he had the ability to make pretty good contact, as he struck out in just 15.4% of his plate appearance.  In addition, he only made 8 errors behind the plate, which is pretty good for a first year catcher.  Capellan played the entire 2009 season as an 18 year old, so he is still very young.  He also is the perfect size for a catcher.  I’m sure he’ll return to the DSL next year, and hopefully he’ll continue to improve and become a more consistent hitter.

134.  Jose Dominguez, RHP (59.3 innings in Dominican Summer League in 2009)

Signed by Dodgers 7/2/07

6’0”, 180 lbs, 19.5 years old

4-5, 3.64 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, 8.65 K/9

Prior Year Ranking: 60

Signed for $50,000 as a 16 year old at the start of the 2007 international signing period, Jose Dominguez impressed scouts back then with a 90 mph fastball and a solid curve.  At the time, Logan White said, “It’s rare to see a kid as polished as he is.”  Last year, I ranked Jose Dominguez 60 overall because I thought that he had a lot of potential.  He posted a 11.79 K/9 rate in 2008, even though he was just 17 years old for most of the season.  In 2009, Dominguez had a lower strikeout rate, but improved his overall performance with an impressive ERA and WHIP.  So why did I rank him so low?  Well, after the minor league season was over, I found this little piece of information on milb.com: “Jose Dominguez of the Dodgers' organization and Waldo Rosario of the Rays' organization each received 50-game suspensions on Monday for violating the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.  Both players, part of their respective clubs' Dominican Summer League team, tested positive for the performance-enhancing substance Stanozolol.  Their suspensions will be effective at the start of next season.”  A 50 game suspension will have a detrimental effect on Jose’s career, both in terms of experience and his reputation.  He could have been one of the youngest players in one of the U.S. based rookie leagues in 2010, but now will have to sit until at least July.  Without the suspension, I probably would have ranked Dominguez in a similar spot as I did last year.  But unfortunately, he is now a huge question mark for me. 

133.  Christian Gonzalez, RHP (12 innings in Arizona League in 2009)

Signed by Dodgers 11/1/04

6’1”, 169 lbs, 21.75 years old

0-0, 2.25 ERA, 1.42 WHIP, 5.25 K/9

Prior Year Ranking: 129

After spending four seasons in the Dominican Summer League (one at 3rd base, two in the outfield, and one as a pitcher), Gonzalez made his U.S. debut in 2009.  While he only made nine appearances throughout the season, his results were quite good.  Not only did he have an impressive ERA, but he showed great control by walking only one batter during his 12 innings.  He did have his weaknesses however, as demonstrated by his low strikeout rate and the fact that opposing batters hit .333 against them.  Overall, Gonzalez is not a big player, and I see him staying in the bullpen throughout his career.  At 21 years old, he’ll probably climb the later up to the Pioneer League in 2010, and hopefully the Dodgers will give him a longer look next year by allowing him to pitch more innings.

132.  Jovanny Rosario, CF (55 games in AAA, 18 games in HiA, 12 games in AA in 2009)

Signed by Dodgers 6/2/03

5’9”, 160 lbs, 25 years old, switch hitter

.258 average, 1 HR, 11 RBI’s, 14 SB’s

Prior Year Ranking: 99

Rosario played at three different levels for the Dodgers in 2009.  He started in AA, and while he didn’t perform particularly well there, he was promoted up to AAA in May during the Dodgers outfield shuffle, in which both Xavier Paul and Jamie Hoffmann were promoted to LA.  Rosario wasn’t a full time player in AAA, but he did get into 51 games and had average results.  Once August hit, the Dodgers decided that they should give Rosario some more playing time, so he was sent to Inland Empire and played almost every day for the rest of the season.  All in all, Rosario ended the season with a mediocre average, an awful slugging percentage, and an even worse walk rate (he walked just 4 times all season).  In addition, Jovanny didn’t really utilize his speed, which is his biggest asset.  Sure he ended the season with 14 steals, but 9 of those steals came at Hi-A against easier competition, and only one steal came during his time in AAA.  To make matters worse, Rosario is currently hitting just .214 in the Dominican Winter League through 56 at bats.  A minor league free agent at the end of this past season, the Dodgers already re-signed Rosario for 2010.  Now almost 25 years old, I predict he’ll play a similar role in 2010 as he did in 2009, and while he reminds me of a switching hitting version of Juan Pierre, I don’t think he has what it takes to make it to the next level.

131.  Joe Torres, LHP (18.3 inning in HiA, 22 innings with other organization in 2009)

Signed by Dodgers 7/20/09

6’2”, 195 lbs, 27.5 years old

0-0, 0.98 ERA, 1.53 WHIP, 8.35 K/9

Prior Year Ranking: N/A

Once upon a time, Joe Torres was a great prospect.  He was the #10 overall pick in the 2000 draft (by the Angels), and signed for $2.08 million.  In 2001, he was ranked by Baseball America as the Angels’ #1 prospect, and at the time he drew very high praise.  He consistently hit 93 and was clocked as high as 95.  His curveball was the best in the organization, and he had a promising changeup.  Baseball America also predicted he would be in the major leagues by the age of 23.  Unfortunately, things went downhill from there.  He pitched a few mediocre seasons, and had trouble with his delivery, which ultimately led to his Tommy John surgery in 2004.  He was back pitching for the Angles in 2005, but then left as a minor league free agent to sign with the White Sox in 2007.  He stayed with the White Sox until 2008, and then signed with Texas in 2009.  He only lasted a few months with the Rangers before signing on with the Dodgers.  He was placed on the Inland Empire roster and proceeded to record an ERA under 1.00.  However, his other stats were not quite as impressive, especially his 1.53 WHIP and his 3.86 FIP.  While he had a limited sample size, I will venture to say that Torres isn’t the prospect that he once was.  He’s 27 and a half years old and was playing in A ball.  While he still shows flashes of brilliance, he is much too old to make it to the big leagues.  He was obviously a minor league free agent at the end of the 2009 season, and I highly doubt he’ll return to the Dodgers system next season.