The first week of minor league player began on Thursday, April 9th. Although it was an abbreviated week, there were certainly some highlights among the Dodgers four full-season affiliates, mostly with pitching.

The rosters were announced earlier in the week and there were not many surprises, although as always, there were a few placements that could be considered to be unexpected.

Perhaps shortstop Corey Seager returning to the Double-A Southern League was the most puzzling. Seager ended his 2014 season with a 38 game stint with the Class AA Chattanooga Lookout in which he produced a triple slash of .345/.381/.534 along with 16 doubles, three triples and two home runs. The placement was explained by Dodgers Director of Player Development: “We believed wholeheartedly that additional reps in Double-A would be beneficial to his growth as a player and as a human being. The decision was made with his best interests squarely in mind.” In his first four games with the Tulsa Drillers he has a triple slash of .438/.412/.500.

Most expected soon-to-be 21-year-old Corey Seager to being the 2015 season at Triple-A OKC, but a crowded roster forced the Dodgers to send him to Double-A Tulsa – for now, that is.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Rancho Cucamonga center fielder Devan Ahart was selected by the Dodgers in the sixteenth round of the 2014 First Year Player Draft. After a very successful start with the Ogden Raptors of the Rookie Level Pioneer League he finished his season with 16 games in Midland with the Class-A Great Lakes loons. He continued to hit well with the Loons posting a .304 batting average. However, it was a bit surprising to see him start the present season with the Quakes. In his first three games in 2015 he is hitting .333. He did miss one game after being hit by a pitch.

It was also a bit surprising to see 19-year old first baseman Cody Bellinger break spring training with the Quakes moving up from the Ogden Raptors in 2014. He did hit well in the rookie league with a .328 batting average and .368 OBP. In his first four games with the Quakes he is hitting .250 and has walked four times while also making an appearance as a replacement in center field. Bellinger was taken in the fourth round of the 2013 June Draft .

Twenty-five year old Yadir Drake began his first season of professional baseball with the Loons on Sunday, April 12 – his birthday. The first three games of the Midwest schedule had been postponed due to rain and wet grounds. Drake was signed by the Dodgers as an international signing from Cuba last August. He apparently made an impression in spring training. “I had never heard of him and didn’t know anything about him before spring training,” Great Lakes Loons hitting coach Jay Gibbons said. “But he killed it in spring training. He was hitting everything. It was pretty impressive.” In his first game with the Loons he had two hits in four at bats and also drew a walk.

I was also surprised that left-hander Chris Reed did not start the season with Triple-A OKC Dodgers as he had completed the 2104 season at the AAA level. However, the long expected decision to convert him to relief pitching finally came and he made his first relief appearance with the AA Tulsa Drillers on Friday, April 10th. In three innings of work he held the San Antonio Missions hitless, walked none and struck out four.

The day before the minor league season opened, catcher Chris O’Brien was traded to the Baltimore Orioles along with pitcher Ben Rowen for Ryan Webb, a competitive balance round selection in the 2015 June Draft and catcher Brian Ward. Ironically, Webb was released by the Dodgers on Monday afternoon with speculation that he refused to accept a minor league assignment.

Thus far in the early games the Dodgers minor league affiliates have had a good start.

As mentioned The Class A Loons had their first three games canceled because of weather and field conditions. On Sunday the Loons won their first game of the season defeating the Fort Wayne TinCaps 5-1.

The Class A+ Rancho Cucamonga won their first three games before dropping the fourth contest to the Bakersfield Blaze 7-2 on Sunday.

Meanwhile the AA Tulsa Drillers evenly split a four game series with the San Antonio Missions with one of their losses being by a 1-0 score.

The newly minted AAA OKC Dodgers took three out of four from the Round Rock Express.

It seems it always takes the bats longer to heat up in the season than the arms on the mound. Nevertheless the Dodgers minor league teams pitching staffs had a commendable start regardless of the timing.

Right-hander Brock Stewart went five innings in the Great Lakes Loons first game of the season giving up five hits, one run and striking out six. Stewart had pitched almost exclusively as a reliever with the Ogden Raptors in 2014 after being drafted by the Dodgers in the sixth round of the First Year Player Draft.

Jose De Leon, Zachary Bird, John Richy and Scott Barlow started for the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes and all pitched five innings in their starts giving up a total of eight hits, four earned runs and striking out 19. The centerpiece in these four starts was that of Jose De Leon.In his five innings he gave up one hit, no earned runs and struck out 10.

The four Tulsa Drillers starting pitchers – Dan MaGuire, Chris Anderson, Julio Urias, Jeremy Kehrt – also pitched a combined 20 innings yielding 13 hits, six earned runs and striking out 18. Although he did not look over powering Julio Urias gave up only two hits in five innings with no earned runs and struck out four.

Not to be outdone, the OKC Dodgers foursome of Zach Lee, Carlos Frias, Scott Baker and Mike Bolsinger pitched a total of 22 innings in their four starts. They allowed only 14 hits, five earned runs and struck out 26. The best performance was a six inning one hit, nine strikeout performance by Mike Bolsinger. Zach Lee was not far behind pitching six innings, giving up only two hits and one run. He struck out six.