Dodgers minors: Outfield promotions & larger bases

It was moving day in the Dodgers minors for a trio of outfielders on Thursday, after the trade of Double-A Tulsa outfielder Carlos Rincon to the Mets on Wednesday in the Billy McKinney deal.

Taking Rincon’s place on the roster in Tulsa is outfielder James Outman, who was promoted from High-A Great Lakes. The 24-year-old hit .250/.385/.472, a 135 wRC+ with nine home runs, eight triples, and 12 doubles in 65 games, plus a team-leading 21 stolen bases in 23 attempts. Outman also played with Great Lakes in 2019 when they were a Low-A affiliate, and on Tuesday set the Loons franchise record for career home runs. Outman added another on Wednesday, a perfect send off before getting promoted.

Jonny DeLuca was promoted from the Low-A Rancho Cucamonga to Great Lakes after hitting .287/.376/.592, a 145 wRC+. DeLuca, a 25th-round pick out of Oregon by the Dodgers in 2019, led Rancho Cucamonga in home runs (15) and doubles (17), all with a walk rate (12.2 percent) and strikeout rate (18.8 percent) both better than league-wide rates in the Low-A West (10.4-percent walks, 26.7-percent strikeouts).

With DeLuca moving up to the Loons, Rancho Cucamonga get a reinforcement in Jose Ramos, called up from the Arizona Complex League. The 20-year-old signed out of Panama in 2018 was hitting .383/.456/.633, a 173 wRC+ with three home runs and six doubles in the ACL. Ramos was named Arizona Complex League player of the week for the week ending last Sunday.

Ramos is the highest-rated prospect of the group, ranked as No. 18 in the system by FanGraphs, with Eric Longenhagen noting, “Ramos is center field prodigy with a 70 arm.” Outman is rated 34th, while DeLuca didn’t rate among the club’s top 56 prospects.

On his first day with the Quakes, Ramos played right field and batted leadoff, and homered in his Low-A debut. He had two hits on the night.

Player of the day

Yoshi Tsutsugo hit a two-run home run for Triple-A Oklahoma City, reaching base in his 10th straight game. With the Dodgers, Tsutugo was just 3-for-25 (.120/.290/.120), then on a rehab assignment in Triple-A was 8-for-58 (.138/.227/.310) in his first 15 games. Since getting outrighted off the 40-man roster on July 7, Tsutsugo is 12-for-38 (.316/.409/.658) with four home runs.

Triple-A Oklahoma City

An unearned run in the ninth lifted the Sugar Land Skeeters (Astros) over OKC. In addition to Tsutsugo’s home run, Matt Davidson homered as well for Oklahoma City.

Also in Triple-A West beginning Thursday were new larger bases.

These bases are 18 inches square compared to the old 15 inches, a rules change announced in March by MLB with a stated goal of reducing player injuries and collisions.

From MLB in March: “The Competition Committee also expects the shorter distances between bases created by increased size to have a modest impact on the success rate of stolen base attempts and the frequency with which a batter-runner reaches base on groundballs and bunt attempts.”

Double-A Tulsa

Ryan Noda homered and Donovan Casey double in Tulsa’s win over the Northwest Arkansas Naturals (Royals). Both had three hits.

High-A Great Lakes

Three runs in the 11th lifted the Loons over the Lake County Captains (Cleveland). Brandon Lewis homered again for Great Lakes, his 10th with the Loons and 20th on the season. Deacon Liput also homered.

Logan Boyer struck out three in two scoreless innings to start the game.

Low-A Rancho Cucamonga

The Quakes hit three home runs to beat the Visalia Rawhide (Diamondbacks), hit by Eddys Leonard, Ramos, and Ismael Alcantara.

Hyun-il Choi, who got the win by allowing two runs in 5⅓ innings, walked none for a fifth straight appearance. He’s up to 69 strikeouts against only five walks this season, including 26 strikeouts since his last walk.

Transactions

Triple-A: Outfielder Zach Reks was optioned to Oklahoma City.

Double-A: Outfielder James Outman was promoted from Great Lakes.

High-A: Outfielder Jonny DeLuca was promoted from Rancho Cucamonga.

Low-A: Outfielder Jose Ramos was promoted from the Arizona Complex League.

Thursday scores

• Sugar Land 5, Oklahoma City 4
• Tulsa 6, Northwest Arkansas 3
• Great Lakes 8, Lake County 5 (11 innings)
• Rancho Cucamonga 9, Visalia 4

Friday schedule

• 4 p.m. PT: Great Lakes (Clayton Beeter) at Lake County (Daniel Espino)
• 5:05 p.m.: Oklahoma City (Aaron Wilkerson) vs. Sugar Land (Austin Hansen)
• 5:05 p.m.: Tulsa (Bryan Brickhouse) vs. Northwest Arkansas (Yefri Del Rosario)
• 6 p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (Kendall Williams) at Visalia (Liam Norris)