Dodgers notes: Hyun-seok Jang, Ryan Pepiot, Fernando Valenzuela, Kenley Jansen

Newly signed Dodgers pitcher Hyun-seok Jang was formally introduced at a press conference in Seoul, South Korea on Monday, which provided a glimpse into what plans the team has for its new 19-year-old pitcher.

Jang was considered to be the top prospect in the upcoming Korean Baseball Organization draft, but the right-hander decided to instead try his talents in Major League Baseball, eventually. The Dodgers signed Jang to a $900,000 bonus on August 8 after trading two minor league pitchers to the White Sox for international slot bonus space to clear room in order to sign the right-hander.

Jee-ho Yoo covered the press conference for Yonhap, and recapped the day with a number of articles.

Dodgers director of Pacific Rim scouting John Deeble was present at Monday’s press conference, and told Yoo at Yonhap that the organization hopes to have Jang at Camleback Ranch in early February for a pitchers camp, a month before his 20th birthday.

From Yoo:

“He’ll start out in spring training. His ability will determine where he goes. There’s a chance he may jump Rookie ball. That hasn’t been even discussed yet,” Deeble said of Jang’s immediate future in the Dodgers system. “We need to get him over and get him evaluated. The one thing that we want to make sure is he’s in the best possible shape he can be before we push him up to higher levels.”

Links

• Ryan Pepiot pitched the game of the year in the Dodgers minors leagues on Sunday in Tacoma, taking a perfect game into the seventh inning. He finished with 11 strikeouts in 6⅔ scoreless innings for Triple-A Oklahoma City. On Monday, Pepiot was named Pacific Coast League pitcher of the week, the sixth time an OKC pitcher has won the weekly PCL honor, joining William Cuevas (April 24-30), Matt Andriese (May 9-14), Mark Washington (May 30-June 4), and Gavin Stone (July 3-9 and August 1-6).
• Jay Jaffe of FanGraphs was at Dodger Stadium Friday for Fernando Valenzuela’s number retirement ceremony. He wrote about the experience, and also looked at the feasibility of Valenzuela’s Hall of Fame case. “The case for Valenzuela rests upon his status as a trailblazer and ambassador on top of his 1980–86 burst,” Jaffe wrote.
• Kenley Jansen talked to David Laurila at FanGraphs about his memories as a 19-year-old catcher on the then-Low-A Great Lakes Loons in Midland, Michigan in 2007, a team that included Clayton Kershaw and Carlos Santana (who split time at catcher with Jansen and current Tulsa coach Juan Apodaca), among others. “I loved everything about that city, man,” Jansen told Laurila. “It was cold, but probably also my favorite city from my time in the minor leagues.”
• On this week’s Three-Inning Save podcast, Jacob Burch and I dissect the Dodgers’ red-hot August and see who’s in the bullpen ““trust tree.”
• J.D. Martinez, who has missed the last seven games with tightness in his groin and hamstring, and who has only started twice in the last 14 games but could conceivably return to the Dodgers lineup on Tuesday, took batting practice at Loyola High School in Los Angeles on Monday’s off day, which was noticed by Eric Sondheimer of the Los Angeles Times: