For the fifth straight year, the Dodgers will hold their Winter Development Program in Los Angeles, a program designed to help minor league players acclimate to major league life both on and off the field. The week-long program begins this weekend.

Don Mattingly, Tim Wallach, and Dave Hansen from the major league coaching staff will provide instruction, as will several roving instructors and those in player development. In addition to workouts at Dodger Stadium and instruction on diet, media relations, and MLB travel, the prospects will visit various places around Los Angeles. This year, the players will visit a youth center in Los Angeles called A Place Called Home, and will also attend a Los Angeles Clippers' game.

There are 15 Dodgers' prospects taking part in this year's Winter Development Program, including 2011 organizational player of the year Scott Van Slyke (True Blue LA No. 14 Dodgers prospect) and pitcher of the year Shawn Tolleson (No. 8). Joining those two are Alex Castellanos (No. 17), Griff Erickson (No. 19), Tim Federowicz (No. 9), Tyler Henson, Alfredo Silverio (No. 13), Matt Wallach, and pitchers Steven Ames, Michael Antonini, Stephen Fife, Josh Wall, Allen Webster (No. 2), Chris Withrow (No. 6), and established major leaguer Rubby De La Rosa, who is recovering from Tommy John Surgery.

De La Rosa, Erickson, and Ames also participated in the program last year. For Wallach and Withrow, they are the established veterans of the program as this is their third straight year coming to Dodger Stadium in January.

Seven players from last year's program — De La Rosa, Dee Gordon, Jerry Sands, Javy Guerra, Nathan Eovaldi, and Justin Sellers with the Dodgers; and Trayvon Robinson with the Seattle Mariners — played in the major leagues last season.

The Dodgers today announced their 2012 minor league coaching staffs, which for the most part looks quite similar to the 2011 staffs. The most notable addition is Doug Mientkiewicz, who will make his coaching debut as the hitting coach for the Ogden Raptors in the advanced Rookie league. Former Dodger pitcher Matt Herges, who was pitching coach for the Arizona Rookie League Dodgers in 2011, will move up to Class A to be the pitching coach for the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes in 2012.

The complete Dodgers’ minor league staff is listed below (coaching changes in italics):
Field Coordinator: Bruce Hines
Senior Advisor, Player Development: P.J. Carey, Gene Clines, Charlie Hough
Senior Advisor, Latin America: Ramon Martinez
Hitting Coordinator: Eric Owens
Pitching Coordinator: Rafael Chaves
Outfield/Baserunning Coordinator: Damon Mashore
Infield Coordinator: Jody Reed
Catching Coordinator: Travis Barbary
Coordination of Arizona Instruction: Matt Martin
Campo Las Palmas Coordinator: Henry Cruz
Field Coordinator, Campo Las Palmas: Antonio Bautista

Triple-A Albuquerque:
Manager: Lorenzo Bundy
Hitting Coach: John Valentin
Pitching Coach: Glenn Dishman

The staff returns intact. Bundy served as a coach in the XM All-Star Futures Game in 2011.

Double-A Chattanooga:
Manager: Carlos Subero
Hitting Coach: Franklin Stubbs
Pitching Coach: Chuck Crim

Subero returns for his third season managing the Lookouts. Crim saw four of his pitchers (Rubby De La Rosa, Javy Guerra, Josh Lindblom, and Nathan Eovaldi) make the majors in 2011.

Single-A Rancho Cucamonga:
Manager: Juan Bustabad
Hitting Coach: Michael Boughton
Pitching Coach: Matt Herges

Bustabad and Boughton were together with Great Lakes in 2010 and return for their second season with the Quakes, joined by Herges as the new pitching coach.

Single-A Great Lakes:
Manager: John Shoemaker
Hitting Coach: Razor Shines
Pitching Coach: Hector Berrios

Shoemaker returns for his second season as manager of Great Lakers. Berrios was the pitching coach for Rancho Cucamonga in 2011. Shines has eight seasons of experience as a minor league manager, and was last on the major league staff for the New York Mets in 2009 and 2010. Shines' son Devin was drafted by the Dodgers in 2011 and played center field for the AZL Dodgers. It seems the paths of father and son will cross at some point in the next few years.

Rookie-advanced Ogden:
Manager: Damon Berryhill
Hitting Coach: Doug Mientkiewicz
Pitching Coach: Bill Simas

Berryhill will return for a third season managing the Raptors, joined by a pair of green coaches. Simas will return as pitching coach in his second year of coaching, and Mientkiewicz will be making his coaching debut.

Rookie-level Arizona League Dodgers:
Manager/Coordinator of Arizona Instruction: Matt Martin
Hitting Coach: Leo Garcia
Pitching Coach: Kremlin Martinez

Martin essentially switched roles with Jody Reed for 2012. Martinez was the pitching coach for Single A Great Lakes in 2011.

Rookie-level Dominican Summer League Dodgers:
Manager: Pedro Mega
Hitting Coach: Keyter Collado
Pitching Coach: Alejandro Peña
Catching Coach: Jose D. Hernandez
Assistant Coach: Rafael Ozuna

Mega will manage his sixth season with the DSL Dodgers. Collado at 25 is the youngest coach in the system, having just retired after catching for parts of six seasons in the Dodgers' system.

Camelback Ranch – Glendale:
Pitching/Rehab Coach: Jim Slaton
Coach: Johnny Washington
Coach: Esteban Lopez

Slaton adds the title of rehab coach to his duties for 2012 in addition to overseeing the pitchers at the Dodgers' facility in Glendale. Washington was the hitting coach for the last two years in Ogden. Lopez was the hitting coach in 2011 for the Dominican Summer League Dodgers.

Scott Van Slyke and Alfredo Silverio were added to the Dodgers 40 man roster yesterday, which didn't come as a big surprise as both players had huge seasons for the Lookouts in 2011 and were eligible for the upcoming Rule 5 draft on December 8th. 

Outside of a solid year in 2009 in the hitter friendly California League, Scott Van Slyke hadn't had much success in his 6 minor league seasons.  The 25 year old broke out in a big way in 2011, however, as he captured the Southern League batting title and ranked 2nd in the league in OB%, SLG%, and OPS.  He split his time in the field between 1st base and the outfield, and while he isn't known as an elite defender he has a strong arm and is serviceable at either position.  Van Slyke obviously has the bloodlines to succeed, and while I don't think he'll really be an everyday big league player he hits lefties well and it looks like he'll at least get a shot in the Show as soon as next year.

Signed way back in 2003, Alfredo Silverio's journey has been even longer than Van Slyke's.  He made all the normal minor league stops along the way, and had varying degrees of success at the different levels.  Scouts always liked his athleticism and he finally broke out in 2011 with the Lookouts.  He still has trouble taking a walk, but he lead the Southern League in Total Bases and had a surprising 18 triples despite failing in 12 of his 23 stolen base attempts.  Silverio played all over the Chattanooga outfield last season, and even though his primary position was center field I'm not sure he'd be able to handle the middle of a major league outfield.

With the Dodgers 40 man roster at 33 including Juan Rivera, there isn't much room for other minor leaguers to be added to prior to the roster freeze on November 18th since the team needs to save room for free agent signings.  That being said, a few more spots can be created if the Dodgers decide to remove some marginal players from their roster like Trent Oeltjen, Dana Eveland, Ramon Troncoso, or maybe even Russ Mitchell, and therefore I wanted to do a full preview of the players who could potentially get added to the 40 man roster.

Rule 5 Draft Eligibility

I know there was some discussion in the comments recently about the exact eligibility for the timing of when players need to be added to the 40 man roster in order to be protected from the Rule 5 draft, but after some thorough research I believe I've been right in my assumptions all along so below is a summary.  Players are eligible for selection in the Rule 5 draft who are not on their major league organization's 40-man roster and:

Were signed at age 19 or older and have been in the organization for three full years, so not counting the year that they were signed.  So in reality, players who were signed at age 19 or older and have parts of 4 years with the organization, they are eligible for the Rule 5 draft.  For example, if a player is signed in 2008 at 19+ years old, they will have been in the system for 2008 (half), 2009 (full), 2010 (full) and 2011 (full), and they would be eligible in the Dec. 2011 Rule 5 draft.

OR

Were signed at age 18 or younger and have been in the organization for four (full) years, so not counting the year that they were signed.  So in reality, players who were signed at 18 years old or younger and have parts of 5 years with the organization, they are eligible for the Rule 5 draft.  For example, if a player is signed in 2007 at 18 years old or younger, they will have been in the system for 2007 (half), 2008 (full), 2009 (full), 2010 (full) and 2011 (full), and they would be eligible in the Dec. 2011 Rule 5 draft.

College Players & 19-year old HS players drafted in 2008:

Now let’s look at the different groups of players who are eligible for the 2011 Rule 5 draft.  We’ll start with college players drafted in 2008, plus the high school players drafted in 2008 and were 19 years old when they signed.  These players are: Ethan Martin, Kyle Russell, Tony Delmonico, Jon Michael Redding, Cole St. Clair, Nick Buss, Jordan Roberts

The most intriguing name on this list has to be Ethan Martin, who was a first round pick just 3 year ago but was 19 years old when he signed so from what I can tell is eligible for this Rule 5 draft.  Despite his struggles he still has an electric arm, and his recent transition to a reliever gives other big league teams even more of a reason to take a Rule 5 flyer on him since he can be hidden at the back of a bullpen.  The rest of the names on this list don't really seem close to contributing to a big league team, especially since Kyle Russell still has a big time strikeout problem, so I can't imagine the Dodgers would give a roster spot to any of them.

The rest of the eligible players are after the jump...

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The Dodger minor league season is officially over, so this will be the last minor league report of 2011.  But don't worry, they'll be plenty of minor league coverage in the off-season including a recap of each minor league team, Fall/Winter League updates, and of course my annual ranking of all Dodger minor league players.

Also, if you haven't heard already the Dodgers named Scott Van Slyke the Minor League Player of the Year and Shawn Tolleson the Minor League Pitcher of the Year.  In the TBLA poll earlier this week, Van Slyke ranked 2nd behind Angelo Songco for this award (51% to 39%), and Tolleson also placed 2nd as he was narrowly edged by Nathen Eovaldi (40% to 39%).  Both will be at Dodger Stadium for Friday's game to receive their award.

Minor League Player of the Day – O'Koyea Dickson - 1 for 4, 1 2B, 1 RBI.  Tough to give this award to anyone in the final game of the Dodger minor league season, but I had to pick someone so I chose Dickson as he drove in the Raptors' only run and his double was one of just two extra base hits.  He hit .333 during the short post season and obviously had a great year overall.

AAA – Season over

AA – Season over

HiA – Season over

LoA – Season over

Rookie Ogden – The Raptors scored four batters into the game in this must win contest, but were never heard from again and were defeated by Great Falls (White Sox) 7 - 1 in the Pioneer League championship.  This is the second year in the row that Ogden has lost in the championship series, but it's still quite an accomplishment to be the 2nd best team in the league.  As mentioned above the Raptors got off to a quick start as O'Koyea Dickson doubled in Joc Pederson (who had walked) in the very first inning, but their bats cooled off significantly after that.  There were only 5 more hits in the game for the good guys, with the most notable being a double by Justin Boudreaux and two singles by Jeff Hunt.  On the mound, starter Derek Cone ended the season on a sour note as he allowed 7 hits and 5 runs (3 earned) over 4.2 innings.  Raydel Sanchez came in from the bullpen for the first time all season, but he was also victimized by a pair of unearned runs in his 3 frames.  Matt Shelton threw the final pitches of the Raptors season as he recorded the final out in the loss.

Rookie Arizona – Season over

DSL – Season over

Coming up - Looks like most full season minor league teams will begin their 2012 season on April 5th, so you'll have to wait until then for the next official Dodger minor league report.

Ogden Raptors Box Score (Rookie)

http://firstinning.com/daily/la

Minor League Player of the Day – Chris Reed - 5 IP, 4 Hits, 1 Run, 7 K's.  Reed took the loss as the Quakes were eliminated from the playoffs on Tuesday, but was very impressive in the longest outing of his career.  I didn't get any radar readings or hear how he was mixing his pitches, but based on his stats I'm guessing he had good stuff.  Great way for him to head into the offseason.

AAA – Season over

AA – Season over

HiA – The Quakes were one of the hottest teams in the California League in 2011, but on Tuesday Rancho was eliminated from the playoffs by the Lake Elsinore Storm (Padres) via a 1 - 0 loss.  The shutout defeat was obviously an anticlimactic ending to a great season, and the offensive output on this night was the exact opposite of how the team hit all season long.  The Quakes led the league in almost every offensive category during the regular season, but were limited to just 2 hits in their final game of the year.  Blake Smith doubled and Angelo Songco singled, but that was it.  The news was better on the mound, however, because 2011 1st round pick Chris Reed was very effective as he allowed just 4 hits and 1 run over 5 innings while striking out 7.  Bret Montgomery pitched the final 3 innings and was even better, facing the minimum over 3 innings with 4 K's.  At the end of the day is was 3 straight singles in the 4th that got the Storm the win.

LoA – Season over

Rookie Ogden – The Raptors outhit Great Falls (White Sox) on Tuesday, but 14 of Ogden's 15 hits were singles and the result was a 9 - 7 loss in game 1 of the Pioneer League Championship.  The Voyagers were the opposite of the Raptors in that they made good use of their hits by crushing 4 homers and scored in 6 different innings.  No Ogden pitcher was safe as all 4 hurlers were touched up for at least 1 run.  Ryan O'Sullivan started the game and gave up 7 hits and 5 quick scores in 3 frames, then Juan Noriega has his worst outing since joining the Dodger organization as he allowed a homer and 2 runs.  Jason West and Yimi Garcia finished the game with 2 innings each and gave up a run while striking out 3.  At the plate, Ogden could almost single at will but failed to come up with the big extra base hit to win the game.  Noel Cuevas went 4 for 5 and Scott Schebler had 3 hits, but neither drove in a run.  Joc Pederson and O'Koyea Dickson had 2 singles each and both brought home a run, while catcher Chris O'Brien finished the game with 3 RBI's

Rookie Arizona – Season over

DSL – Season over

Coming up - The Raptors are the only Dodger minor league affiliate still alive, and even Ogden is barely hanging on as they must win the next two games on the road to capture the Pioneer League Championship.  Wednesday is an off day for the club, and on Thursday they will send Derek Cone to the mound to try and extend the series.

Rancho Cucamonga Quakes Box Score (HiA)

Ogden Raptors Box Score (Rookie)

http://firstinning.com/daily/la

Minor League Player of the Day – Matt Magill - 6.2 IP, 3 Hits, 2 Runs, 4 K's.  Magill's final stat line might not look overly impressive, but through 6 innings he was brilliant as he had only allowed 1 hit.  Good to see Matt throwing well this late in the year since his final 6 appearances in the regular season were mediocre at best.

AAA – Season over

AA – Season over

HiA – The Quakes season is on the ropes after a 3 - 2 loss to the Storm (Padres) on Monday.  The game was actually scoreless through 6, but Lake Elsinore struck first and never looked back.  Starter Matt Magill was outstanding through 6 innings as he had allowed just 1 hit, and even struck out the first 2 batters of the 7th before giving up back to back singles which got him pulled.  Scott McGough came in and promptly served up a 2-run double, then was saved as Blake Smith threw out a runner at the plate when the next batter singled.  Rancho quickly tied the game on a two-run homer by Anthony Jackson, but the Storm answered back with another RBI double to seal their victory.  Besides the Jackson homer, there were no other offensive highlights for the Quakes except for a pinch RBI double by Austin Gallagher.  On the pitching side, besides the players mentioned above it should be noted that Aaron Miller picked up the loss when he walked a batter who eventually scored the winning run, while Juan Rodriguez got out both batters he faced.

LoA – Season over

Rookie Ogden – Pioneer League Finals start today

Rookie Arizona – Season over

DSL – Season over

Coming up - The Quakes are one loss away from elimination, and will send 2011 1st round pick Chris Reed to the mound to try and save the season and tie the best of 5 series at 2.  The Raptors begin the the Pioneer League Finals on Tuesday against the Great Falls Voyagers.  It is a quick best of 3 series and the starter has not yet been announced, through my guess would be 2011 4th round pick Ryan O'Sullivan.

Rancho Cucamonga Quakes Box Score (HiA)

http://firstinning.com/daily/la

Minor League Player of the Day – O'Koyea Dickson - 3 for 5, 2 HR's, 3 Runs, 4 RBI's.  Not much more can be said about the 2011 12th round pick as he has dominated the Pioneer League and won this award quite a few times.  His two homers on Sunday were definitely a big reason why the Raptors won this series, and hopefully he'll continue to be a force to be reckoned with in the Finals.

AAA – Season over

AA – Season over

HiA – The Quakes continued their late inning magic on Sunday as they defeated the Storm (Padres) 6 - 5 in 11 innings to tie the best of 5 playoff series at 1.  Rancho was down 5 to 3 through 7 frames, but JT Wise started the rally with a solo shot in the bottom of the 8th.  That still left the Quakes a run short in the 9th, but Jaime Pedroza doubled with one out to put the tying run in scoring position.  Rafael Ynoa singled which advanced Pedroza to 3rd, then a RBI ground out by Nick Buss knotted the game at 5.  The grounder by Buss actually should have been a game ending double play, but a bad throw to 1st extended the contest.  The two teams exchanged zero's in the 10th, but in the bottom of the 11th Austin Gallagher doubled to lead off the inning, his second 2-bagger of the game.  Gallagher moved to 3rd on a wild pitch, the the Storm opted to walk the bases loaded with nobody out.  That brought up Buss again, and with the outfield drawn in he delivered another RBI as he skied a single over the center fielder's head.  The recap above pretty much covers all the notable offensive performances (except for a Blake Smith solo homer), so we'll move to the pitching.  Jon Michael Redding allowed 3 runs (2 earned) over 5 innings to keep his team in the game, but Geison Aguasviva gave up 2 runs without allowing a hit because he walked 3.  From there the bullpen was brilliant as Scott McGough (1.2 IP), Logan Bawcom (2 IP), and Andres Santiago (1 IP) closed out the game with 4.1 shutout innings.

LoA – Season over

Rookie Ogden – The Raptors crushed 4 homers on Sunday and defeated the rival Owlz (Angels) 12 - 9 to clinch the Pioneer South League pennant.  Ogden will now head to the Pioneer League Finals for the second year in a row, and hopefully this time they will come away with the title.  O'Koyea Dickson was the star of the game as he bombed two of the team's homers and finished the contest by going 3 for 5 with 4 RBI's.  Scott Schebler also went 3 for 5 and connected on a homer to drive in 3 runs, while Scott Wingo rounded out the homer barrage with a 3-run shot in the 3rd inning.  Joc Pederson didn't have a hit but walked twice and managed to score 3 runs, and Joe Winker knocked in a pair with a 2-run single.  Despite the win the Raptor pitching staff had a rough night as 5 pitchers combined to allowed 14 hits and 9 runs.  Starter Raydel Sanchez lasted just 3 innings and allowed 4 hits (including 2 homers) and 5 runs, then Yimy Rodriguez gave up 5 hits and a run but was able to pick up his 2nd win of the series.  Matt Shelton pitched two frames late in the game and did pretty well, but got into troubled in the 9th and was replaced by Eric Eadington who struck out league MVP Taylor Lindsey to end the game.

Rookie Arizona – Season over

DSL – Season over

Coming up - The Raptors will have an off day to prepare for the Pioneer League Finals, which will begin on Tuesday.  The Finals will be another best of 3 series, with Ogden playing the first game at home before heading to Great Falls for the second and possible third game.  The Quakes will continue their best of 5 series with the Storm on Monday and will send Matt Magill to the mound in the first road game of the series.

Rancho Cucamonga Quakes Box Score (HiA)

Ogden Raptors Box Score (Rookie)

http://firstinning.com/daily/la

Minor League Player of the Day – J.T. Wise - 2 for 2, 2 Walks, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 Run.  The Quakes didn't win on Saturday, but Wise had a perfect day at the plate and also took one deep to earn player of the day honors.  The catcher had a very solid season for Rancho in 2011 with 17 HR's and a .887 OPS, but was often overlooked due to his age and the emergence of Griff Erickson.  A big playoff run could get his name back on the map, however, and he's well on his way to making that happen.

AAA – Season over

AA – The Lookouts can officially head home for the off-season as Chattanooga was swept by the Smokies (Cubs) via a 7 - 2 loss on Saturday.  Starter Allen Webster allowed all 7 runs on 6 hits and 3 walks in 3.2 innings, but he struck out 6 and only 3 of the runs were earned thanks to a couple of errors.  His bullpen was great as they threw 5.1 frames of 2-hit ball, but that wasn't enough to avoid the defeat.  Steven Ames tossed two innings and struck out 2 in his season finale, while Shawn Tolleson K'ed a pair in his final minor league relief appearance of 2011.  At the plate, Alfredo Silverio finished off his season with a bang as he smacked a solo homer in the very first inning, while Jake Lemmerman had a breakout game with 3 hits, a walk, and a RBI.

HiA – The Quakes lost their playoff opener against the Storm (Padres) on Saturday in a 8 - 5 defeat.  Starter Red Patterson got lit up for 8 hits and 5 runs in just 4 frames as he allowed a pair of home runs.  Bret Montgomery was solid as he gave up just 1 run over the next 3 innings, but Steve Smith also had a rough game as he permitted 2 runs to cross the plate in his 2 innings of work.  Despite the loss, the Rancho offense was relatively solid as the Quakes jumped out a 4 - 0 lead thanks to early homers by Wilberto Ortiz and JT Wise.  Wise was actually perfect on the night as he went 2 for 2 with a pair of walks.  Austin Jackson also contributed with 3 hits, while Nick Buss went 2 for 5 for the only other multi-hit game of the night.

LoA – Season over

Rookie Ogden – Starter Brandon Martinez pitched a great game for the Raptors on Saturday, but Orem's starter Daniel Vargas-Vila was even better as the Owlz (Angels) beat Ogden 5 - 2 to even the best of 3 playoff series at 1 game apiece.  Vargas-Vila actually had a perfect game going through 6.1 innings before Justin Boudreaux broke through with a single, but he ended the night by allowing just 1 hit in 7 frames with 9 K's.  B-Mart was also very good for the Raptors as he gave up just 4 hits and 1 run over 5 innings, but a costly error by Bourdreaux allowed 3 unearned runs to score against reliever Jason West which sealed the loss.  As you can imagine there wasn't much offense for Ogden in this defeat, however Joc Pederson did drive in a run in the 9th with a double while Joe Winker had a pinch hit triple and scored a run.

Rookie Arizona – Season over

DSL – Season over

Coming up - Since the Lookouts were eliminated on Saturday, just 2 teams remain in the Dodger minor league playoffs.  The Raptors will send Raydel Sanchez to the mound in their sudden death game with Orem, and Jon Michael Redding will try and even the Quakes' series in a home game against the Storm.

Chattanooga Lookouts Box Score (AA)

Rancho Cucamonga Quakes Box Score (HiA)

Ogden Raptors Box Score (Rookie)

http://firstinning.com/daily/la