Dodgers notes: River Ryan, Dalton Rushing, Miguel Rojas

Prospect season continues with a team-specific list, with Keith Law unveiling his top 20 Dodgers prospects entering 2023 on Friday at The Athletic.

The top eight on Law’s list were no surprise, as they were the Dodgers prospects named to his top-100 list in baseball back in January. Rounding out the top ten on Law’s Dodgers list are River Ryan at No. 9 and Nick Nastrini at No. 10.

Ryan was acquired last March from the Padres for Matt Beaty, then put up a 2.45 ERA with 70 strikeouts and 21 walks in 47⅔ innings between both Class-A levels in 2022. Ryan struck out 33.8 percent of hitters in Low-A Rancho Cucamonga, then increased that to 37.3 percent in his 14 innings with High-A Great Lakes.

Law noted that Ryan was a two-way player in college at UNC Pembroke before getting drafted in 2021, and that was the plan with San Diego, before solely pitching with the Dodgers.

“The switch saw him take off, especially in velocity, as he’s now 93-97 and has even hit 100 mph in a start, with a ton of vertical break on the pitch,” Law wrote. “He has a three-pitch mix with an above-average slider already, and he’s extremely athletic.”

Ryan was also ranked 10th in the Dodgers system by FanGraphs in January. He was not listed among the team’s top 20 prospects at ESPN nor the top 23 listed at Baseball Prospectus.

Links

A note from last weekend’s Miguel Rojas contract extension, which added one year plus a club option for 2025 to previous deal: per both Robert Murray at FanSided and Jeff Euston at Cot’s Baseball Contracts, Rojas’ $5-million salary in 2023 was converted to a $1.5-million signing bonus and $3.5-million salary. For competitive balance tax purposes, Rojas’ contract counts as $5.5 million in both 2023 and 2024.

Jim Callis, Jonathan Mayo and Sam Dykstra at MLB Pipeline predicted each team’s No. 1 prospect in 2025. Catcher Dalton Rushing, last year’s second-round pick, was selected for the Dodgers. This year, Rushing was named to three national preseason top-100 prospect lists.

Says MLB PIpeline of Rushing: “He has the ability to hit for power and average, his solid arm plays well behind the plate and he should become at least an adequate receiver with more experience.”

MLB teams in spring training will test out an extension of PitchCom that will allow pitchers to call pitches via wristband to catchers, with a possibility of the league approving it for regular season play. Ben Walker at Associated Press has more.