Dodgers 7/6/12 Minor League Report - 1st and 2nd Round Picks from the 2012 Draft Make Their Debuts

Corey Seager and Steven "Paco" Rodriguez both made their professional debuts on Friday, with Seager going 1 for 3 and Rodriguez striking out 2 in a scoreless inning.

Minor League Player of the Day – Stephen Fife - 7 IP, 2 Hits, 2 Walks, 0 Runs, 2 K's. I'm a big believer in strikeouts at the minor league level so I hesitated in giving this award to Fife, but he deserved it with 7 innings of 2-hit ball. The right hander definitely had a rough start to his season, but he's improved each month and now has a respectable 4.53 ERA.

AAA – Albuquerque scored 10 runs for the second night in a row, but this time they didn't need a walk-off homer as they crushed Round Rock (Rangers) 10 to 1. Several offensive players contributed to this victory, starting with the red hot Josh Fields who went 2 for 3 with a double, 2 walks, and a team high 4 RBI's. The two base knocks for Fields means that he's had more than one hit in each of the last 6 games. Surprisingly Trent Oeltjen's two-run homer was the only other extra base hit for the Isotopes, but Tim Federowicz did collect 3 singles and a matching number of RBI's. Alex Castellanos and Jerry Sands also had 2 singles apiece. On the mound Stephen Fife had one of his best outings of the season as he gave up just 2 hits and 2 walks over 7 shutout innings. He only struck out 2, but that didn't seem to matter on this night. Blake Johnson tossed a perfect 8th, while Angel Guzman allowed the only run in the 9th.

AA – The Lookouts just didn't have it on Friday as they lost to the Stars (Brewers) 4 to 2. The offense managed just 6 singles in this game, with nobody collecting more than one hit. Rafael Ynoa had the club's only RBI, while Matt Wallach reached base a team high two times with a pair of walks. Starter Aaron Miller had another mediocre outing as he gave up 6 hits and 3 runs over 6 innings with 4 K's. The loss was his 5th of the season, and his ERA now stands at 4.31. Geison Aguasviva hurled the final two frames and allowed a run on 2 hits.

HiA – The Quakes lost again with Matt Kemp in the lineup, this time falling to the 66ers (Angles) 4 to 2. Kemp did collect one hit and walked once, but he struck out in his other 2 at bats. Joc Pederson, fresh off the #3 ranking in Baseball America's weekly hot list, had the big game as he went 3 for 4 with 2 doubles, an RBI, and a stolen base. Since the calendar turned to July, Joc is hitting .379 with an OPS upwards of 1.150. Casio Grider went 2 for 5 but that was about it for the offensive highlights. Jon Michael Redding started this game and allowed all 4 runs over 6.1 innings, although only 2 were earned despite the fact that he gave up 9 hits. Ryan O'Sullivan threw the final 1.2 innings and did not allow a run.

LoA – It was an extremely ugly day for the Loons in Lansing as Great Lakes got hammered by the Lugnuts (Blue Jays) 15 to 2. Gustavo Gomez did not make it out of the 1st inning as he allowed 6 hits and 8 runs (5 earned), but that was just a sign of things to come. Jose Dominguez made it through the next 2.1 frames without giving up a run, but Daniel Coulombe got crushed in his second Midwest League appearance to the tune of 3 hits, 2 walks, and 4 runs. Joel Lima also got hit around, but one bright spot was the fact that 2012 2nd rounder Steven "Paco" Rodriguez struck out 2 over one inning in a scoreless professional debut. The Loons at the plate were awful as well as they collected just 3 hits, although Pratt Maynard did homer and O'Koyea Dickson connected on his first triple of the year.

Rookie Ogden – The Loons weren't the only team to get crushed on Friday as the Raptors also got clawed by the Owlz in a 12 to 3 loss. Similar to my recap above the Ogden pitchers got lit up early as Carlos De Aza gave up 7 hits and 6 runs in just 3 innings. Jason West then came in but provided no relief as he allowed 5 more runs to come in to score. After that the bullpen settled things down, but by that point the game was so out of hand that infielder Kevin Thompson pitched the 9th (and was the only pitcher of the night to not allow a hit). On offense the big news was that 2012 1st round pick Corey Seager made his professional debut, and the 18 year old went 1 for 3 with a walk while playing the entire game at shortstop. Devin Shines' 4th homer of the year was the team's only extra base hit, while both Eric Smith and Jeremy Rathjen collected a pair of singles.

Rookie Arizona – The Dodgers improved to 11 and 2 on the young season as they defeated the Brewers 7 to 3. Starter Miguel Sulbaran continued his dominance of the Arizona Rookie League by allowing just 4 hits and 1 run over 5 innings, striking out 7 without issuing a walk. Samuel Taveras threw a hitless inning of relief, as did Ricky Perez who has given up just 3 hits so far this season (over 6.1 innings). The Dodgers scored several of their runs on the Brewers' 5 errors, but John Sgromolo had a huge night as he went 4 for 5 with a double and a RBI. Joey Curletta also doubled, while Tyler Ogle drove in his 14th run of the year which is good for 3rd place in the league.

DSL – The Dodgers fell behind early and just couldn't generate enough offense to overcome a 3 - 2 loss to the Royals. The Dodgers actually outhit the Royals 5 to 3, but it was a pair of early walks by starter Nelson Sandoval that came back to haunt them. Sandoval was pulled after just 1.1 innings in favor of Wascar Teodo who actually gave up just 1 hit over the next 5.2 frames. The Dodgers just couldn't do enough at the plate to come back, however, as they didn't score after the 4th inning. Josmar Cordero did drive in a run with a double and Melvin Santana connected on a triple, but that was about it for the offense.

Coming up – Albuquerque will hope for the continued resurgence of Elymania as John Ely takes the mound for the Isotopes, while Allen Webster will start for the Lookouts. Brandon Martinez is scheduled to throw for the Quakes, and Raydel Sanchez will try and continue his no-hit streak for the Loons.

Minor League Transactions – LoA: Paco Rodriguez was assigned to the Loons while Nick Akins was placed on the DL.

Albuquerque Isotopes Box Score (AAA)

Chattanooga Lookouts Box Score (AA)

Rancho Cucamonga Quakes Box Score (HiA)

Great Lakes Loons Box Score (LoA)

Ogden Raptors Box Score (Rookie)

Arizona Dodgers Box Score (Rookie)

Dominican Dodgers Box Score (DSL)

Minor League Central - Daily Dodger Recap