When the 2016 Rancho Cucamonga roster was released on Monday, April 4th it included a number of names familiar to Dodgers fans who follow the parent team’s minor league system. There seemed to be an overall depth to the roster that would give Quakes new manager Drew Saylor plenty with which to work. To date that has most definitely been the case.

One roster entry was not familiar to me, and perhaps not included in the memory bank of a large number of Dodger fans. Andrew Toles was listed among the outfielders and started in left field in the Quakes season opener at home against the Lake Elsinore Storm. In his first game as a Dodger farm hand he had two hits, one a double, and stole third base.

My interest in Toles was piqued when I received a note from ThinkBlueLA’s Ron Cervenka asking: “What do you know about Andrew Toles? I really like this kid.” That and his great start with the Quakes prompted me to pay more attention to the native of Dacatur, Georgia.

Andrew Toles
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Toles was initially selected by the Florida Marlins in the fourth round of the 2010 First Year Player Draft out of Sandy Creek High School in Tyrone, Georgia. He chose not to sign as a high school player and was picked again in the 2012 June Draft, this time by the Tampa Bay Rays who selected him out of Chipola College in Florida in the third round of the draft.

Chipola College is a state college in Florida that has had some notable alumni over the years including Orioles manager Buck Showalter, Toronto slugger Jose Bautista and former Dodgers favorite catcher Russell Martin.

At the time he was selected by the Rays, Tampa’s General Manager was Andrew Friedman, none other than present Dodger President of Baseball Operations.

Toles was considered a top of the line prospect and by 2013 he was named the Rays Minor League Player of the Year. With the Bowling Green Hot Rods of the Class A Midwest League he had a triple slash of .326/.359/.466 along with with 62 steals in 79 attempts and 53 extra-base hits in 121 games. Baseball America named him the No. 19 prospect in a loaded Midwest League.

The 5’10” – 185 lb outfielder who bats left and throws right started the 2104 season with the High Class A Charlotte Stone Crabs of the Florida State League. After a slow start Toles was heating up by hitting safely in 17 of 22 games in May.

His season and career took a nose dive on May 25th when he was pulled from the game which was to be his last game until August 19th. The reasons for his shut down – and in essence suspension – were never totally clarified although terms like “personal reasons”, “lack of hustle”, “lackadaisical” were sprinkled in conversations used to explain the situation.

Charlotte’s coach Jared Sandberg offered his explanation for shutting Toles down: “It started in the first inning when he didn’t run hard to first base. If you don’t play the game the right way, you don’t play. The way he caught the fly ball and the way he acted, that’s the reason why he came out of the game. If you don’t play hard, you don’t play.” The length of the sentence just didn’t seem to fit the crime and although it seems that it might have been correctable, the Rays with other prospects on the horizon, simply lost interest in trying to do so.

Toles played six games with the Gulf Coast Rays in August and following Spring Training in 2015 he was subsequently released by the Rays.

With his baseball career apparently over Toles did not play in 2015 but unexpectedly was signed by Andrew Friedman and the Dodgers as a free agent in October of 2015. Perhaps it should not have been all that unexpected as Friedman most likely still had the earlier Andrew Toles/Carl Crawford comparison in his data bank.

The 23-year old Toles looking to make up for lost time and reward the Dodgers for offering him a second chance came out swinging with the Quakes. In 21 games to start the 2016 season he hit safely in 18 of them, 10 with multiple hits. He posted a triple slash of .370/.414/.500 along with an OPS of .914, tenth best in the Cal League. Hitting in the lead off spot Toles stole nine bases while drawing six walks and striking out 13 times. His batting average at the time of his promotion to the Tulsa Drillers was the second highest in the league while his OBP ranked 6th.

In the field Toles played nine games in left field, seven in center field and five in right field. In 50 chances he committed only one error.

On Thursday Andrew Toles made his debut and his first foray into Class AA baseball with the Tulsa Drillers starting in right field and batting second.

In his first at bat with the Drillers on the very first pitch he faced at the AA level, the heavily bearded Toles lined a home run over the right field wall giving the Drillers a 1-0 lead.

In his second at bat in the third inning he struck out on a slow breaking ball but not before taking his toll on Arkansas Travelers starter Troy Scribner by forcing the right-hander to throw 11 pitches to record the strikeout.

The other story playing out in the game was the four perfect-inning start for right-hander Chase De Jong, who needed only 50 total pitches to set the Travelers down in order.

The Drillers scored again in the top of the fifth inning on a single by first baseman Lars Anderson and a triple by catcher Tyler Ogle who barely missed a home run. The next hitter, third baseman Paul Hoenecke, didn’t miss as he lined a 1-2 pitch over the right field wall providing De Jong with a 4-0 lead.

Chase De Jong
(Photo credit – Matt Barnard)

Cody Bellinger, playing left field, manufactured another run in the top of the sixth inning. Following a walk he stole second, advanced to third on a ground out and scored on a wild pitch.

Andrew Toles came up to bat for the third time in the seventh inning with shortstop Brandon Trinkwon standing on second base. Toles was able to advance the runner to third base with an infield out to the right side. Trinkwon scored the Drillers sixth run an a single by designated hitter Jacob Scavuzzo.

Meanwhile, De Jong completed seven innings giving up one hit, one walk and striking out eight on 94 pitches.

The Drillers tacked on another run to forge ahead 7-0 in the top of the eighth inning. Second baseman Willie Calhoun started the inning with a lead off double, advanced to third on a fly ball and scored on a ground out.

Toles led off the ninth inning for his fourth official at bat of the game and flew out to left field. His first game as a Driller was productive and there was certainly no evidence of a lack of hustle. What’s not to like about this kid?

Reliever Dustin Richardson gave up a run in the bottom of the ninth inning before striking out the side as the Drillers came away with a 7-1 win for starter Chase De Jong.