January 2nd, 2015 at 6:00 am 
by Harold Uhlman The Rancho Cucamonga Quakes are the Dodgers Advanced Single- A minor league team that plays in the highly competitive California League. Rancho Cucamonga is the usual stop for young Dodgers that have been promoted from the Class-A Great Lakes Loons. It has also become a frequent stop for Dodger players on rehabbing assignments providing some added interest for fans.
The 2014 season was a success for the Quakes organization, perhaps more so off the field than on the field, although there were certainly some golden moments between the lines as well.
LoanMart Field, home of the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, was recently named the best ballpark experience in the California League. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)
Following the completion of the 2014 minor league season, the announcement came that the Quakes and the Dodgers will continue their Player Development Contract through the 2016 season as the two teams had signed a two-year extension. Two years is the usual agreement between the parent team and the minor league affiliates.
2014 Awards
- Head groundskeeper Rex Whitney was named the 2014 Groundskeeper of the Year in the California League. It marked the fourth time the Quakes have been honored with the field of the year award.
- Of equal interest Linda Rathfon was named the California League’s Woman of Excellence for 2014. She has worked with the Quakes for over twenty years. She is the Assistant GM/Group Sales a title she has held from the previous year. The award is voted on by all ten teams in the California League.
- On September 19, 2014 Stadium Journey Magazine in ranking the ballparks in the California League named the Quakes experience as the best in the league. “The Quakes continue to be a leader in the California League circuit. Their stadium is perfect because it’s in a highly populated area, yet manages to provide a feeling of serenity in the ballpark. It doesn’t take a Stadium Journey review to know that the Quakes are one of the most reputable names in minor league baseball. Fans have to applaud this organization for staying true to who they are. Despite being so successful over the years, the organization clearly has not taken their eye off the ball.”
- Shortstop Corey Seager and first baseman Chris Jacobs were selected to the 2014 mid-season All-Star team and on August 22nd Seager was named as the Most Valuable Player in the California League.
Between the Lines
- On the field the team experienced its ups and downs including a pair of nine game losing streaks and an 18-2 winning streak immediately after the all-star break. On the season they were 67-73 while finishing well back of the first place Lancaster Jethawks in the first half. Despite the winning streak the Quakes finished the second half of the season with a 33-37 record. With the wildcard in play they still had an opportunity to capture a playoff berth with three games to go in the season. A 6-3 loss to the Lake Elsinore Storm on August 31st eliminated the Quakes from playoff contention causing them to miss the playoffs for the second time in two years.
- The Quakes offense completed the season with a batting average of .257, ninth in the ten team league. The pitching staff experienced more success finishing the season with a 4.43 ERA, third best in the league while giving up only 20 more hits than the league leading High Desert Mavericks. The discrepancy between the offense and pitching resulted in 15 one run losses by the Quakes and 17 two run losses during the season.
- A definite highlight of the season was the appearance of Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw on a rehab assignment with the Quakes. Fans in Rancho Cucamonga had not previously seen Kershaw pitch in LoanMart Field as in 2007 he moved directly from the Class-A Great Lakes Loons to the Class-AA Jacksonville Suns. On April 25th 5 ,152 fans packed the ball park with great anticipation and Kershaw did not disappoint them. He pitched five innings on a low pitch count. In three of those innings he needed seven or fewer pitches to get through the inning. He struck out six and only allowed one run on two hits.
Ongoing highlights during the season were provided by top prospects shortstop Corey Seager and left-handed pitcher Julio Urias
- Seager finished his season with the Quakes with .352 average while hitting 18 home runs and driving in 70 runs in only 80 games. On July 11th he was promoted to the AA Chattanooga Lookouts. At the time of his promotion, he led the California League with 34 doubles, a .633 slugging percentage, a 1.044 OPS, 54 extra-base hits and 207 total bases. An especially encouraging sign was his success against left-handed pitching. A left-handed hitter, he went 30-for-75 against his fellow lefties. Following his promotion to the Lookouts he hit .345 in 38 games with an OBP of .381. He drove in 27 runs and had 21 extra base hits. His addition to the Chattanooga lineup helped propel the Lookouts into the Southern League playoffs. The fans in Tulsa will get to enjoy the Corey Seager show in 2015 as he makes his debut with the Class-AA Drillers.
- On the mound Julio Urias, who turned eighteen on August 12th, was limited to 87.2 innings during the season but continued his impressive play that began in 2013 with the Great Lakes Loons. On the season he featured a 2.36 ERA and a 1.106 WHIP. Opposing batters hit .194 against Urias while striking out 109 times. The first half of the season was very good for a 17-year old. However his second half was almost off the charts. In 45 innings after the All-Star break he struck out 62 while limited the opposition to a .162 batting average. His ERA was 1.20 combined with a WHIP of 0.98. In his final appearance of the season he allowed just one batter to reach base in five shutout innings of work as he earned a 9-0 victory for Rancho Cucamonga over the Lake Elsinore Storm. That win put the Quakes in a tie with High Desert for a possible Wild Card berth in the postseason with two games left in the schedule.
That is not to suggest that Corey Seager and Julio Urias were the only Quakes to have good seasons. Twenty-five year old Chris Jacobs had a team high 25 home runs and 94 runs batted in. Chris Anderson, the Dodgers first round draft selection in 2013, had a season solid enough to earn him a promotion to the Tulsa Drillers for the 2015 season. So too did Tom Windle, the Dodgers second round draft pick in 2013. However, he recently was traded to the Philadelpha Phillies as part of the Jimmy Rollins transaction. After a very slow first half of the season outfielder Jeremy Rathjen had an all-star type finish in the second half of the season and was certainly one of the best hitters in the league in July earning him the Dodger Pride Award for the month.
Chris Jacobs had a career year with the Quakes in 2014 setting several franchise records and earning a late season promotion to Double-A Chattanooga. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)
There were other players making a strong contribution to the season who were far from early round draft selections. In the second half of the season right-hander Lindsay Caughel (23rd round 2012) went 6-2 with an ERA of 2.45 and a WHIP of 1.22. He struck out 49 in 47.2 innings while walking 15 and giving up only three home runs.
Although right-hander Lindsey Caughel didn’t receive all of the ink that Anderson, Windle and Urias did in 2014, he was an absolute workhorse for the team until sidelined with a late season injury.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)
Jharel Cotton (20th round 2012), also a right-hander, was a dominant force in the second half winning five games along with an ERA of 2.55 and a WHIP of 1.03. He struck out 93 in 84.2 innings whole allowing only 69 hits. With 18 walks he had a 5/1 strikeout to walk ratio after the all-star break.
Left-hander Daniel Coulombe (25th round 2012) earned a late July promotion to the Chattanooga Lookouts. Between the two levels he pitched 65.1 innings, all in relief. He had a combined ERA of 2.89 and a WHIP of 1.19. He struck out 92 and walked 27 while allowing only 51 hits. In September he pitched 4.1 innings with the Dodgers giving up two earned runs and striking out four.
Daniel Coulombe became one of very few players in Dodgers history to make it from Single-A to the big leagues in the same season. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)
There were two mysteries with the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes for me in 2014. The first is that the Quakes games are not carried by MiLB.TV and I cannot gain access to the radio broadcasts making the Quakes the only Dodgers minor league affiliate that I cannot watch or listen to live.
The second mystery is what the plan may be for catcher Tyler Ogle. That plan has been a mystery since he began his professional career in the Dodgers minor league system. He has been used as a catcher, a first baseman and a designated hitter. A personal favorite of mine since watching him play with the Loons, I cannot understand why he played in only 81 of the Quakes 140 games during the past season. Perhaps he had an injury of which I was not aware. A ninth round draft pick in 2011 he had a very consistent year in 2014 hitting .273 with an OBP of .383. He struck out 59 times and walked 44. During his career he has struck out 168 times and walked 162 times. Ogle likes to catch and it seems he should at least have Chris O’Brien or A.J. Ellis potential. I’m certainly hoping Tyler Ogle doesn’t get the J.T. Wise treatment in the Dodgers farm system. Wise won the Johnny Bench Award, an award given to the best catcher in college baseball in 2009, and by 2012 he became a full time first baseman with the Chattanooga Lookouts. He now plays in the Texas Rangers organization at least getting some time behind the plate.
I’m looking to have Tyler Ogle behind the plate and back in listening range with the Tulsa Drillers in 2015.
Posted in 
RT @Think_BlueLA: New: A look back at the 2014 Rancho Cucamonga Quakes – http://t.co/V9wxKQKpZ6 #Dodgers @RCQuakes
As you well know, Harold, I am closer to the Quakes than any other Dodgers MiLB affiliate – literally and figuratively. As such, I follow them quite closely and often cover their games live and write about them frequently.
On opening day 2014, I interviewed both Matt Herges and new manager P. J. Forbes and both had exceptionally high hopes for their team in 2014 – especially with their incredible starting rotation. Unfortunately, Chris Anderson, Tom Windle, and Julio Urias did not come out of the chute as hot as Lindsey Caughel did and it seemed that they never all got on the same track at the same time.
Additionally, the Quakes bullpen was an absolute disaster (gee, that sounds familiar), at least early in the season.
But with the emergence of Corey Seager and Urias in the second half, and with the incredibly hot and powerful bat of Chris Jacobs, the Quakes won their first nine games of the second half and it appeared that they couldn’t be stopped.
But then the bottom fell out, as they went on a brutal 10-game losing streak that saw them go from six games up in the Cal League South to a tie with the Lake Elsinore Storm (Padres) for first in the division. They then played below .500 ball the rest of the way (having lost Seager to Double-A Chattanooga) and finished the second half four games back and out of playoff contention. It was very painful to watch.
Although you fondness for Tyler Ogle is understandable and warranted, I expect to see Kyle Farmer and eventually Spencer Navin and even more so Julian Leon eventually pass him on the Dodgers catching depth chart. He could, however, be a huge trade chip in the not-too-distant future.
My concern with Tyler Ogle is that I don’t understand what the role is for him as I didn’t with the Loons. He was named as a semifinalist for the 2011 Johnny Bench Award presented to the nation’s best college catcher. Is the Dodger farm system where catchers come to die? – see J.T. Wise.
I don’t get to see them play with RC but he and Kyle Farmer are the same age born in the same month. At this point I expect Ogle’s bat is ahead of Farmer’s. Maybe the new player development people will get it sorted out for Ogle.
Much like Triple-A success does not necessarily equate to MLB success, college success does not necessarily equate to MiLB success. As such, Ogle’s Johnny Bench trophy might look good on the mantle but it is basically nothing more than a dust collector in the big scheme of things.
To be perfectly honest, I do not see Ogle or Farmer (or even Chris O’Brien or Pratt Maynard) ever making it to the bigs as a Dodger. That said, any one of these guys might make it with another team. I have yet to see Navin or Leon in person (and probably won’t in 2015), but I will definitely be monitoring their progress at Great Lakes and/or Ogden in 2015. I am especially interested in Leon.
Keep in mind that all of these guys are Colletti/Watson/White draftees, and not Friedman/Zaidi/Kapler guys. It will be interesting to see how this plays into the big picture. The new Dodgers brain trust has already shown that they have little faith in players acquired by their predecessors – with a few huge exceptions, of course.
Needless to say, the 2015 draft is going to be VERY interesting, that’s for sure.
Actually I think Austin Barnes acquired in the Dee Gordon trade may have leap frogged over the Dodgers catching prospects including Chris O’Brien. He also plays 2B and 3B. He was back up behind J.T. Realmuto with the Jacksonville Suns hence play at second and third.