clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Will 2016 Dodger prospects be as good the 2006 Dodger prospects?

Russell Martin and Chad Billingsley
Russell Martin and Chad Billingsley
Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

The 2016 Baseball America ("BA") Top 100 Prospects had seven Dodgers on that list. The last time the Dodgers had that many players in the Top 100 was ten years ago, when the Dodgers had nine prospects on the list.

The 2006 list was populated by many prospects who were on the Jacksonville team that won the 2005 Southern League championship. Chad Billingsley, Joel Guzman, Russell Martin, and Jonathan Broxton had major roles on that team. Andy LaRoche came up during the season to continue his great year. Billingsley, Guzman and LaRoche were the No. 5, No. 6 and No. 7 BA ranked prospects in the league. Martin was No. 10 and Broxton was No. 14.

Matt Kemp had a breakout season when he hit 27 home runs at Vero Beach in the Florida State league. LaRoche had 21 home runs there before being promoted to Jacksonville. LaRoche was the No. 1 prospect in that league and Kemp was No. 5.

Scott Elbert and Blake DeWitt played for Columbus in the South Atlantic League. Elbert was the No.1 prospect in the league and DeWitt was No. 7.

Andre Ethier was acquired after the 2005 season and was the No. 6 prospect in the Texas League.

Billingsley, Martin, Broxton, Ethier, and Kemp would form the core of the 2008-2009 back-to-back NL West Division winning teams. These players have produced a combined 105 WAR for their entire careers.

As the chart below shows, nothing is a sure thing, as only five of the players produced more than 10 WAR but six of them made it past their first free agent opportunity which is a success for any farm system.

2006 Baseball America Top 100 Dodgers prospects
Pos Player 2006 age Rank No. 2005 High Level WAR Games PA IP
RHP Chad Billingsley 21 7 AA 16.6 226 N/A 1212.1
3B Andy LaRoche 22 19 AA -0.1 404 1336 N/A
IF/OF Joel Guzman 21 26 AA -0.5 24 62 N/A
C Russell Martin 23 42 AA 33.3 1292 5147 N/A
LHP Scott Elbert 20 55 A 1.4 127 N/A 96.2
RHP Jonathan Broxton 21 63 MLB 8.6 608 N/A 599.2
2B/3B Blake DeWitt 20 82 HiA 1.9 426 1247 N/A
OF Andre Ethier 23 89 AAA 22.0 1417 5361 N/A
OF Matt Kemp 21 96 HiA 21.8 1270 5144 N/A

All nine of these players made their MLB debut as a Dodger. Broxton had pitched for the Dodgers in 2005. Although none of these players started the 2006 season in Los Angeles, Billingsley was the sixth player on this list to play for Dodgers in 2006.

Additionally, James Loney had been on two prior Top 100 prospect lists and would be on the 2007 Top 100 prospect list. Infielder Chin-Lung Hu and right-handed pitcher James McDonald who were also in the Dodger system at this time would be on later Top 100 lists.

Logan White drafted seven of the nine players on the above list. Only Guzman (who was signed as an international free agent in 2001 and Ethier (acquired by trade) were not products of White's drafts.

Logan White and his staff also had a big part in acquiring Dodger prospects on the 2016 Top 100 list. Corey Seager, Julio Urias, Jose De Leon, Cody Bellinger, Grant Holmes, and Alex Verdugo were drafted and/or signed by White and his scouting staff.

Will the 2016 list produce as many quality players that the 2006 did?  I don't know but it will be fun to watch and find out.

*Thanks to Baseball-Reference.com for the WAR calculation, Games, PA and IP statistics