2010 Dominican Dodgers Season in Review

Starting with the DSL Dodgers, I will be recapping each of the Dodgers minor league seasons.  The posts will be pretty extensive, and as a result I’ll be including some information about a lot of players.  Please keep in mind that just because I am writing about a player, that doesn’t mean he is a prospect.  I simply wanted to do a fairly in depth position by position breakdown of each of the Dodgers minor league teams.  While I’ll usually mention if a guy is worth keeping an eye on, you’ll have to wait for my upcoming prospect ranking to fully understand who I consider prospects and who are simply organizational players.  I hope you enjoy this series.

Record:  40 – 31

Season Result:  3^rd place in their division, 2.5 games out of first place

Season Recap:   The Dominican Dodgers had a pretty good season, finishing 9 games over .500.  They went 16 – 11 in June and 15 – 9 in July before wavering down the stretch with a 9 – 9 mark in August, which caused them to miss the playoffs.  The Dominican Dodgers were known in 2010 for their solid pitching, and yet their hitting was also pretty decent when compared to the league as a whole.  The Dodgers ranked 9^th in the league with a 2.83 ERA (out of 34 teams), and their hitting ranked 12^th with a .241 team batting average.  However, while a couple of players emerged as pitching prospects for the Dodgers, nobody really stood out as a potential hitting prospect. 

League Leaders: 

Offensive MVP:  Nobody really stood out at the plate this season for the Dodgers, but based on overall stats I’m going to have to give this award to Jose Ramirez.  The 22 year old isn’t a prospect by any means, but did rank among the DSL Dodgers leaders in several offense categories.  His 5 homers were tops on the team, as was his .763 OPS (for batters with at least 80 at bats).  He also ranked 2^nd with 33 RBI’s and 14 SB’s, and did not make an error all season while playing all over the outfield. 

Best Offensive Prospect:  To be honest, there isn’t really an offensive player on this team who can currently be considered a legitimate Dodger prospect.  There are maybe one or two guys who have potential and might turn into prospects in the future, but right now the pickings for this award are pretty limited.  That being said, I’ve selected Abdul Nieto as the best offense prospect despite the fact that he has posted awful stats since his debut in 2009.  The 18 year old hit just .176 with 1 homer in 91 at bats this season, which was actually an improvement from last year.  So why is he the best offensive prospect?  Well he is a big guy at 6’3" and has shown pretty good patience at the plate.  Also, he was actually listed as one of the better prospects coming out of Panama prior to the 2009 season, which makes him pretty much the only guy on the team who was even mentioned by a baseball website prior to signing.  In addition, he is still very young, and while he played 1^st base this season, he roamed the outfield last season which is where I’m hoping he’ll end up.  Finally, like I said above, there just isn’t anybody else worthy of this award.

Pitching MVP:  There we a couple of qualified candidates for this award, but I am going to have to give the honor to Daniel Tamares.  Despite hurling 57.1 innings in 2010, Tamares fell just short of qualifying for the league leaders in ERA and WHIP because he was shut down in early August for some unknown reason.  But if he had thrown just a couple of more innings, he would have ranked 8^th in the league with his 1.41 ERA, and his 0.77 WHIP would have placed 3^rd.  In addition, batters hit just .141 against him, and he ranked 2^nd on the DSL Dodgers with 5 wins.  Another remarkable thing about his season is that over his final 4 starts, which spanned 25 innings, Tamares allowed just 6 hits.  2010 was Daniel’s 4^th season in the DSL, but he is still just 20 years old so it is possible that the Dodgers will give him a chance in a US based league in 2011.

Best Pitching Prospect:  I’m giving this award to Leonel Beras, who was also a strong candidate for the team’s Pitching MVP award.  Beras just turned 19 this past May, yet already has 3 years of professional experience under his belt.  He was very good in his 17 year old debut season in 2008, posting a 2.18 ERA in 20 innings, but his ERA ballooned to 7.07 in 2009.  He got back on track in 2010, however, with a 2.26 ERA with a team high 71.2 innings while striking out almost a batter per inning.  His FIP was also very good at 2.99 for the season.  The left handed Beras is listed at just 5’11" and 143 pounds, but those measurements haven’t changed since he was 17 so I’m guessing he’s bigger now.  I’m sure he’ll move to the Arizona Rookie League in 2010 so he can face some tougher competition.

1^st Base: Webster Rivas was the team’s primary 1^st baseman, but despite leading the team in both doubles and RBI’s, he isn’t much of a prospect.  The other note about Rivas is that he is extremely tough to strikeout (just 12 K’s in 239 plate appearances).

Carlos Mercedes also spent some time at 1^st base, and actually posted a pretty good OPS of .779 considering that the DSL Dodgers team OPS was just .644 for the season.  However, in his 2^nd season with the Dodgers, the 19 year old Mercedes struck out in over 40% of his plate appearances.

Finally, the aforementioned Abdul Nieto spent 10 games at 1^st base, and was the DH in all his other appearances.  As I wrote above, however, I still hope he ends up in the outfield.

2^nd Base:  Leo Rodriguez played the most games at 2^nd base, although he also spent time at 3^rd base and shortstop.  Rodriguez is 18 years old and held his own at the plate with a .277 average and a .682 OPS.  The 5’11" infielder also demonstrated great plate discipline and made good contact as he walked almost as much as he struck out in 2010.

Delvis Morales also played quite a bit of 2^nd base, but shortstop was his primary position so I’ll talk about him later.

3^rd Base:  Jorky Infante was the Dodgers everyday 3^rd baseman, and made 13 errors at the hot corner in 49 games.  At the plate, however, Infante proved to be a pretty good all around player, hitting .270 with a couple of homers and stealing 13 bases.  A switch hitter, Infante also showed good plate disciple as he walked 28 times against just 27 strikeouts.

Faustino Oguisten played all over the infield, but played the most games at 3^rd base.  The 2^nd year player only got 83 at bats during the season and hit .253 without a homer.

Shortstop:  Delvis Morales was main shortstop for the Dodgers this season, but he isn’t much of a prospect because he is already 20 years old, made 17 errors at the position, ,and hit .220.  He is slightly intriguing, however, because he is a switch hitter, and because he is yet another patient hitter as he lead the team with 37 walks (against just 33 strikeouts). 

Vladimir Martinez, who joined the team halfway through the season, is probably the better shortstop prospect because he is barely 18 years old and is also a switch hitter.  He is already 6’2", however, so if he keeps growing he may have to find another defensive position.

Catcher:  Seven different players put on the gear for the Dodgers this season, but not all of them are worth mentioning.  Josmar Cordero played the most innings behind the plate and by far had the best season among the bunch.  Cordero threw out 48% of potential base stealers, and also had a very strong showing with the bat.  He finished 2^nd on the team with 4 homers, and had a .705 OPS.  He also played the entire season as an 18 year old, so he is still pretty young.

The only other catcher worth mentioning is Jose Capellan.  Capellan was with the team in 2009, but he did not join the 2010 club until late July for an unknown reason.  He did his best to make up for lost time, however, hitting .323 in 46 at bats to go along with a .828 OPS.  He is about to turn 20 years old, however, so he’ll have to move to a US based league next season or else his career is probably finished.

Outfield:  The Dodger outfield was relatively strong in terms of stats, and also contained a couple of young players that could have some potential.  The team MVP, Jose Ramirez, was the main right fielder, although he also spent some time in center.  You can read more about his season above.

18 year old switch hitter Gregory Pena was the primary center fielder, and I had some high hopes for him before the season started.  But unfortunately his offensive stats were pretty dismal in his professional debut as he hit just .212 in 179 at bats.  He does have some speed, however, as he stole 14 bases.

Arce Rodriguez played left field, and he is another player I was hoping would succeed.  Rodriguez won’t turn 18 years old until December, so the good news is that he gained a full year of experience before even becoming an official adult.  The bad news is that A-Rod hit .222 and showed dismal plate disciple with 3 walks in 154 plate appearances. 

A couple of other guys spent a pretty significant amount of time at both outfield positions, but there isn’t much to write about either Ronny Lugo or Ricardo De La Rosa.

Starting Pitchers:  In addition Leonel Beras and Daniel Tamares, who I already wrote about above, there were three other main starting pitchers for the Dodgers.  Giordanny Chavez was by far the most impressive of the bunch, although his peripherals don’t really compliment his ERA of 1.85.  The 19 year old had a FIP of 3.73, and he only struck out 6.22 per inning.  Nevertheless, Chavez has a good pitchers frame at 6’3" and could potentially turn into a prospect next season if he gets promoted to the Arizona League.

Luis Mesa also had a pretty good season, and in fact had a better FIP than Chavez at 3.18.  The 6’4" righty also had a solid ERA of 3.02 in 56.2 innings, and improved dramatically from last season when he posted a 6.37 ERA.  Mesa is 20 years old and is another candidate to move up to the Arizona League next year. 

18 year old Moises Tamarez rounded out the Dodgers rotation, and with mediocre stats demonstrated that he can probably use another year of DSL seasoning.  His 4.06 ERA wasn’t bad, but he only struck out 5.7 batters per inning and batters hit .285 against him.  He’s 6’3" with a solid pitching frame and still very young, so he is still worth keeping an eye on.

Relief Pitchers:  Several Dodger relief pitchers had good seasons, and a few of those are guys are even young enough to be considered potential prospects.  Jackson Mateo, who played almost the entire season as a 17 year old, was actually the main closer for the Dodgers as he led the team with 7 saves.  He also was extremely impressive in his 22 innings as he posted a 1.23 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP to go along with a .169 batting average against.  Listed at 6’0", it is still possible for him to grow a few inches since he is still so young.

Abdiel Velasquez was equally impressive as he had a 2.53 ERA and a .150 batting average against in 32 innings, yet won’t even turn 18 years old until next March.  He is 6’3", so he already has the makings of a great pitcher’s frame.  He is definitely somebody to watch in 2011. 

Ariel Pena was on the opposite end of the statistical spectrum as he recorded an ERA of 5.29 to go along with a 7.14 FIP, but he’s worth mentioning because he is still just 18 years old and already stands at 6’4". 

Finally, Adner Ruiz, Leandro De Dios, Ariel Botello, and Victor Araujo all also had good seasons in relief, but all are too old to be taken seriously as prospects.