Another Solid W in the Books

Wow, two solid days of ball by the Dodgers, and now I have a lot to get caught up on.

I guess first we should start with the top of the lineup and Dee Gordon. Going into this spring there were many questions about Dee's ability to take a walk, and how that would reflect on his OBP. We were terrified when Dee stated "In reality, I can hit. So it helps me to be ready to swing and not look for a walk. I could always hit the ball", and yet he has already walked 3 times in less than a dozen plate appearences. It seems that the slight shortstop can't wait to watch analyst put their foot in their mouth as he sets himself up with a solid OBP through hitting and taking walks.

The next starter in the lineup who is showing his swag would be Matt Kemp. After seeing the first few games I started biting my nails, worrying about each at bat as Kemp took long hacks at his Kryptonite, the low and away slider. In his first three games, and nine at bats, Kemp struck out 5 times, almost all of these on sliders low and away. Today though, things were different. Today he had a single, sac fly, and one of his sky high rainbow home runs that just never comes down. Not only that, in his at bats today, the slider that was the thorn in his side before seemed to not be a problem as he laid off them today. My hope is that the first few days Kemp was just testing out which pitches he could hit, and which he couldn't and for the rest of the year he'll lay off the slider low and away.

Andre Either also continued his torrid hitting, grabbing himself a single and a triple. If there were any worries about him not coming back heathy from knee surgury, his base running has put those to rest. And even though we joke about the defense Either puts up in right, with two healthy legs this year, we may even see the tempermental lefty put up a better UZR this year.

The last starter I want to address is AJ Ellis who has also been laughing in the face of his critics. So far this spring AJ has had eight plate appearences with two hits and two walks. For those who were worried that his lack of power would keep him from getting walks, his two hits were both doubles including the one today that flew over the head of Josh Hamilton in center.

Overall four of the eight starters have impressed me so far this spring, and I have to give kudo's to Dave Hanson and his coaching as the Dodger bats look patient and lively so far this spring.
Now onto the guys who aren't going to make the team, but are still being impressive.

The first guy I want to talk about is Justin Sellers, and what a great grinder and ball player he looks to be. When I first saw him play at Dodger Stadium last year I imediately loved his glove, and figured he would be Juan Castro 2.0. But so far he has exceeded my expectations shown real growth as a ball player. All week when he has been playing, people have commented on the fact that a guy with such a small frame swing the bat with his hands at the end of the handle. But they have also noticed that much like Jamey Carrol (who we can't deny was a OBP machine), Sellers will with two strikes will choke up on the bat to improve bat control. Right now in 11 plate appearences, Sellers has 4 hits and 2 walks. With his glove I'd be tempted to give Sellers the everyday 2B position right now, because his glove is just as good as Mark Ellis' and his OBP looks like it could project to be similar to Jamey Carrol's .360, an upgrade from Ellis' career .330 OBP mark.

Also impressing this spring is Josh Fields having 5 hits in 7 at bats including a triple and two doubles. Right now he is showing a swing that made him a first round pick for the White Sox in 04' and helped him hit .365 in 50 games in the Pacific Coast League last year. though he hasn't walked much it seems like he is not getting fooled, and is making solid contact.

Last on this list is Alex Castellanos, whose new nick name seems to be Castle. The former Cardinal who was drafted to play the infield, moved to the outfield, and has now come back to the infield has been on fire this spring. Right now in 7 at bats he has 4 hits including 2 home runs. The most impressive thing so far about his swing is his bat speed, which sends the bat head flying through the air, making his hits laser beams. If he can work on his patience at the plate to draw more walks and strike out less he could be a very potent hitter, especially if he stays at 2B.

A last quick note on hitters, Griff Erikson has 3 at bats and 2 hits, with a double. It looks like his offense may not be an illusion.

At this point, I'm actually more excited about the Dodgers AAA team then the Major league team. Right now with FedEx, and JD Closser catching, Sands at 1B, Castellanos at 2B, Sellers at SS, Josh Fields at 3B, and an outfield of Scott Van Slyke, Matt Angle, and Cory Sullivan, they are practically a Quad A team, and could most likely beat some major league teams, like the Astro's or Mariners. If I were in charge I'd take a long look at some of these guys to enhance the Dodger offense (if Colletti had not blocked them with multi year deals), and for things to be done sooner rather than later, as many of them are getting a little to old to still be prospects (Fields is 29, Sellers is 26, Van Slyke and Castellanos are both 25)

Also quick note on the pitching: starters seem ok, the bullpen looks to be awesome. I'd look for Scott Rice to possibly be picked up as a second lefty reliever after the spring he's been putting up.

Dodger's Minor Victory

Hooray! Today was the first day of spring ball, and despite all the worries about offense, the Dodgers won the game with a 5 run 6th inning. Unfortunately that offense was put together by the minor league players and not the Dodger regulars. As for pitching, the first two innings saw a good outing from Billingsley, as only Alexi Ramirez was able to get a hit off of him with a line drive that dropped in front of Juan Rivera in left. The other six batters looked slow to recognize pitch location as they tried to shake off their winter rust. For as "flat" as the Chicago offense looked, the Dodger's regulars for the most part looked the same. Mark Ellis, AJ Ellis, and Matt Kemp all put up some decently long at bats, which the announcers called "professional". Andre gave me some hope that he would have a good season when he hit a fly ball to right during his first at bat and showed decent speed legging to hit out to a double. AJ Ellis also hit a nice double the other way to right field with Loney on, unfortunately Loney tried to score from first, and was cut down by a great relay from Fukudome to Beckham to the plate. Overall not a bad performance by the regulars for the first spring training game, but also nothing to be excited about either.
Onto the Minor league players. After a great first inning in relief, where he struck out two, Eovaldi showed some control problems in his second inning. Eovaldi walked two in a row, (they were Konerko and Dunn in his defense) but it led to him becoming a little unraveled. Eovaldi has great stuff, but I'm starting to think that one more season in the minors, to grasp some better control and poise on the mound may not be a bad thing for him. Now for the real exciting part; to open up the sixth inning Gywnn hit a solid single right up the middle. He then took advantage of a rookie mistake by the pitcher (he took way to long to the plate) and stole 2nd by a wide margin. Gwynn even had enough time to do a foot first slide instead of head first. Then Justin Sellers in his first at bat of the spring, showed poise and baseball knowledge. with a runner on second he slapped the ball the other way and hit the ball into the corner, scoring Gwynn. Sellers had the chance to stretch the play into a triple, but with no outs, and remembering how Loney was thrown out at home by Fukudome an inning earlier, he played things smart, and showed patience holding at second. Then Ivan Dejesus with a runner on second, showed solid baseball knowledge slapping another hit into the right field corner to score Sellers. Then I'm going to give Sellers another kudos as he could be seen moving from 3rd to home, waving Dejesus on to third. It's great that Sellers, was not only worried about himself, but kept an eye out for his teammate, giving another pair of eyes on the field to let the runner know where the ball is. After a strike out by Trent Oeltjen, prospect Scott Van Slyke was up. At 6'5" Van Slyke is a big man in the box, and he almost looks uncomfortable standing very tall at the plate. But despite his awkward stance, his swing looks smooth as silk. On a letter high fastball Scott uncoiled and blasted a 400+ line-drive past the left field wall. As soon as the laser beam came off his bat, the only question in spectators minds was how far away would the ball land. So for all the worries about Van Slyke's age, his power looks to be real. Assuming he can show poise and control at the plate, the Van Slyke's may be soon become a two generation major league family.
In summary, the regulars looked just about that, regular. The minor leaguers had some interesting at bats, but, unfortunately there are no spots to play for on the major league roster, we can hope maybe some injuries will open up some chances, but it's unlikely. It's sad to see a franchise, once praised for it's great minor league system, stifle it's homegrown talent so completely.