The Los Angeles Dodgers rookie level minor league affiliate is the Arizona League Dodgers playing in the Arizona Rookie League. The rookie Dodgers became part of the Arizona League when the Dodgers moved their spring training base of operations from the Grapefruit League to the Cactus League in 2009. Up to that point, the young Dodgers were part of the Eastern Division of the Gulf Coast League in Florida at the legendary complex in Vero Beach, affectionately known as Dodgertown.

The Arizona League has been run by Major League Baseball since 1989, presently with thirteen major league affiliates. Teams are located in and around the Phoenix area. The Dodger facility is Camelback Ranch in Glendale with a seating capacity of 12,000. The facility is shared by the Chicago White Sox.

The AZL Dodgers play in the Central Division of the League along with teams from Cleveland, Milwaukee and Cincinnati.

The Arizona League teams play a shortened season of 56 games starting after the First Year Player Draft in June. In 2014 the draft was held from Thursday, June 5th through Saturday, June 7th while play in the Arizona League began on Friday, June 20th.

The Dodgers finished the season with a 25-31 record a full 13.5 games behind the AZL Indians. In the second half of the season they were 13-15 good enough for second place behind the Indians. Since the Indians won both halves of the season the Dodgers made it to the playoffs by virtue of having the second best overall record in the division. They were 12-12 in their last 24 games while losing seven of those games by one run. The one run scenario followed them into a playoff game with the AZL Mariners as the Dodgers lost 4-3 eliminating them from further play.

One of the highlights of the season was a no hitter on August 28th spun by four young pitchers: Jairo Pacheo (6 IP), Kam Uter (1 IP), Yeuri Gonzalez ( 0.2 IP), Harlen Richer (1.1 IP). Thirtieth round draft pick Brant Whiting was the lucky catcher or might have been the instrument of the luck in spinning the no hitter.

Jairo Pacheco (fourth from left) threw six no-hit innings to begin what would be a combined no-hitter on August 29 for the AZL Dodgers. L to R: Yeuri Gonzalez, Harlan Richter, Brant Whiting (catcher), Pacheco and Kameron Uter. (Photo courtesy of DodgerInsider.com)

During the season sixteen of the Dodgers June draft selections played part of or the entire season with the AZL Dodgers including Grant Holmes the Dodgers first round selection, twenty-second overall. The Dodgers roster featured an international flavor with a number of young players who had graduated from the 2013 Dominican Summer League Dodgers as well as left fielder Federico Celli from Rimini, Italy and right-handed pitcher Takumi Numata from Nagoya, Japan.

Because many of the players are so young and either pitched few innings or had minimum at bats it is difficult to determine how they might achieve at the next level. However there were a number of intriguing prospects with the AZL Dodgers in 2014 and some did get a cup of coffee with the Ogden Raptors late in the season.

Alex Verdugo would be my pick to click but I am sure he is for everyone else who followed the AZL Dodgers during the 2014 season. The 18-year old center fielder was selected by the Dodgers in the second round of the 2014 First Year Player Draft out of Sahuaro High School in Tucson, Arizona. In 49 games and 170 at bats Verdugo hit .347 with an OBP of .423. He displayed great bat control striking out only 14 times while coaxing 20 walks. Among his 59 hits were 20 extra base hits. He played the final five games of the season with the Ogden Raptors of the rookie level Pioneer League. In 20 at bats he hit .400 with an OBP of .400.

Right fielder Michael Medina played most of the season as a 17-year old and showed dramatic improvement over his 2013 season with the Dominican Summer League Dodgers. He hit .274 with an OBP of .384. In the second half of the season he had a .362 batting average and a .444 OBP. Look for his power numbers to grow as he fills out his 6’2” 190 lb frame.

Pitching was a strength for the AZL Dodgers in 2014 so I had to pick and choose who I would highlight.

Eighteen year old Jairo Pacheco continued his impressive play from 2013 in the Dominican Summer League. During the 2014 season with the AZL Dodgers he sported a 2.27 ERA. After a bit of a slow start he finished the season giving up only three earned runs in his last 38 innings. He struck out 54 while walking 16 in 47.2 innings. His WHIP was 1.15. Pacheco was part of the August 28th no hitter and perhaps had given an indication of things to come by tossing with six scoreless in his previous start on August 23rd. On July 21st he was part of yet another near no hitter. Pacheco pitched three scoreless innings while teammate Yeuri Gonzalez gave up but one hit in his six innings. In that game neither pitcher issued a free pass. It will be interesting to see how the rather slight Pacheco at 6’0” 165 lb left-hander performs at the next level.

Kevin Guzman also continued his strong play from the Dominican Summer League in 2013. He finished with an ERA of 3.33 and a WHIP of 1.15 while striking out 48 and walking twelve in 54 innings. Guzman pitched the entire season as a nineteen year old. On August 16th he came within a walk of pitching seven perfect innings. He too has some filling out to do. The 6’3” right-hander weighs but 165 pounds.

Except for one game in mid-July, first round draft pick Grant Holmes pitched pretty much as expected. Early in the season he gave up four earned runs in five innings which pushed his ERA for the season to a still respectable 3.00. Even with his one bad outing he gave up only 20 hits in 30 innings while striking out 33 and walking seven. His WHIP was a tidy 0.90. He was promoted to the Ogden Raptors in mid- August. His first outing with the Raptors was a bit of an ugly relief appearance but he followed that up with three starts pitching 15 innings and giving up only three earned runs. Holmes will turn nineteen in March and most likely will see time with the Great Lakes Loons in 2015.

In 7 games with the AZL Dodgers (6 starts), 2014 number one draft pick Grant Holmes was 1-2 with a 3.00 ERA, earning him a late season promotion to the Ogden Raptors of the Pioneer Rookie League.
(Photo credit – Noall Knighton)

Derrick Sylvester was totally dominating with the AZL Dodgers in 2014. He was drafted by the Dodgers in the 31st round of the June First Year Player Draft. In 12 relief appearances he had a 1.16 ERA, a 0.77 WHIP, struck out 26 in 23.1 innings and walked but 3. A big right-hander Sylvester is 6’6” tall and weighs 200 pounds. The catch is that he is 23 years old and will turn 24 in April. His dominance among younger players therefore is not a surprise. I think his innings and level were restricted as he had pitched 93.2 innings as a starter at Southern New Hampshire University prior to being drafted. I expect he will begin the season with the Class A Great Lakes Loons and with success at that level may well finish the season with the Class AA Tulsa Drillers, especially in a relief role.