Living relatively close to Rancho Cucamonga (well, within an hour and a half drive, that is), I attend quite a few Quakes games each season. During the 2012 season, I attended maybe 15 or 20 Quakes games and closely followed several players. One such player was 20-year-old top Dodger outfield prospect Joc Pederson from Palo Alto, California.

During the 2012 season, Pederson hit a very impressive .313 for the Quakes with 18 home runs and 70 RBIs with a .396 OBP and .516 SLG for a .913 OPS. In fact, on July 1, 2012, Pederson tied a Quakes franchise record when he hit three home runs in a game. He nearly hit a fourth home run that day when he sent the opposing left fielder to the wall to make a leaping catch of his opposite field shot. Had Joc hit that fourth home run, he would have tied the Cal League record. In other words, the Dodgers have another power-hitting outfield prospect in their system besides Cuban phenom Yasiel Puig.

Pederson had his best day ever (thus far) on July 1, 2012 when he hit three home runs and narrowly missed another. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

As expected, Pederson was promoted to Double-A Chattanooga for the final 12 games of the 2012 season, including post-season play in the Southern League. And though Pederson cooled off considerably at the Double-A level (and then went ice cold in the 2012 Arizona Fall League), he is off and running thus far in the 2013 season with the Lookouts.

Pederson, who was named as the Dodgers 2012 Branch Rickey Minor League Player of the Year, is hitting .308 (16 for 52) through the first 13 games of the 2013 season and already has five home runs (including two in Tuesday’s game against the Birmingham Barons) – three more than the highly touted (and closely watched) Puig. Granted, Pederson is not the 5-tool player that Puig is, nor does he possess the raw power of the 6-3 245 pound 22-year-old Cuban defector, but Joc has lived up to his lofty expectations as one of the Dodgers top prospects.

Although Pederson may not have the average or speed that Puig does, he currently has three more home runs than Puig. Of course having Puig batting behind him may have something to do with this. (Photo credit – Tim Evearitt)

Pederson was drafted by the Dodgers in the 11th round of the 2010 MLB Amateur Draft and in addition to being an excellent hitter, he is also an excellent defensive outfielder.

Herein lies the problem. Where does Pederson fit in with an already over-crowded outfield on both the Dodgers and on the Triple-A Isotopes? Puig is clearly ahead of Pederson on the Dodgers’ outfield depth chart both because of his huge $6-year/$42 million contract and because of his overall talent. With the Dodger outfield currently locked up for the next several years, there is simply no place for Pederson (or Puig, for that matter) to go. And while there is speculation that the Dodgers will eventually trade Andre Ethier to make room for Puig, both Matt Kemp and the smoking hot hitting Carl Crawford are signed to long-term contracts that will undoubtedly keep them around for a while.

This makes Joc expendable and he will most likely be on the trading block within the next year or so. The good news is that he is a blue chip trading piece and could help the Dodgers land a top tier third baseman (can you say Chase Headly) or a top-tier starting pitcher.

Regardless of where young Joc Pederson may end up, you can bet that he will bring excitement wherever he goes and he will undoubtedly be on a big league roster somewhere within the next two seasons.