Rancho Cucamonga Quakes and Dodgers fans received some bad news, perhaps even devastating news, prior to Sunday’s series finale between the Quakes and the Visalia Rawhide. Cuban superstar right-hander Pablo Millan Fernandez, whom the Dodgers signed to a minor league contract on May 19 that included an $8 million signing bonus, was a last minute scratch from what would have been his fifth start for the Quakes and 10th as a member of the Dodgers organization – and by last minute, we’re talking the very last minute.

“When [the Quakes] came out for the bottom of the first, I was fully expecting to see Fernandez take the mound and was shocked to see that it was Kyle Hooper instead,” said Quakes longtime play-by-play man Mike Lindskog. “They normally tell me right away when there’s a late scratch, but I heard nothing.”

Lindskog later learned that Fernandez had been placed on the 7-day disabled list for what he was told was an elbow issue, which is never a good thing.

Little is being said about Pablo Fernandez, who was a last minute scratch on Sunday afternoon.
(Photo credit – Craig-Minami – True Blue LA)

Although the Quakes eventually lost the game by a score of 12-5, they were happy to see their two-time All-Star first baseman (and occasional center fielder) Cody Bellinger back in the lineup after missing nine games from being hit on the right hand by a pitch. Bellinger gave every indication that he was fully recovered when he hit his team-leading 27th home run of the season off of rehabbing Arizona Diamondbacks starter Archie Bradley.

“He was tough to see in that first at-bat, he got nasty on me,” Bellinger said. “I was thinking fastball and he threw it right where I could put my barrel to it and I got a good swing on it.”

That’s the good news.

The bad news is that Bellinger, who was initially in Monday night’s starting lineup against the Lancaster JetHawks, was a last minute scratch himself after experiencing discomfort in his right hand during batting practice.

“It’s still a little sore but it’s getting better,” said Bellinger as he left the batting cage, but apparently not better enough to play in Monday night’s contest – a 10-5 loss to the defending Cal League champions.

The real good news out of Quakes camp is that 20-year-old second baseman Willie Calhoun hit two home runs on Monday – his first two since being promoted to the Advanced Single-A Quakes on August 18 and the ninth and 10th of his brief 60-game minor league career.

In his two home runs on Monday night, Calhoun showed tremendous bat speed and pull power. He hit the ball extremely hard in each of his four at-bats.

The true test will come when Calhoun starts getting pitched outside and whether or not he can adjust and go the opposite way. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Calhoun, who was featured in an article by ThinkBlueLA’s minor league expert Harold Uhlman just last week, was selected by the Dodgers in the fourth round of this year’s First Year Player Draft out of Benicia High School in Northern California and who is clearly on the Dodgers’ fast track. Where Calhoun needs work is with his defensive skills at second base. In 199 total chances – all at second base – he has committed 18 errors for a rather unattractive .910 fielding percentage. This suggests that the 5′-9″- 177-pound speedster may end up playing Winter ball this off-season.

In all likelihood Bellinger will return to the Quakes lineup within the next few days and Calhoun, who has tremendous power and extremely quick hands through the zone, will help the Rancho Cucamonga squad in next month’s Cal League playoffs, but the news on Fernandez could suggest (although purely speculative) that there may be a  Tommy John surgery in his future.