When the Dodgers’ Advanced Single-A affiliate Rancho Cucamonga Quakes won the 2015 California League Championship, they did so in huge part because of the outstanding starting pitching by right-handers Chase De Jong, Scott Barlow and Trevor Oaks. But unlike De Jong and Barlow, when Opening Day 2016 rolled around, Oaks found himself as the only one of the trio still at Advanced Single-A, with De Jong and Barlow having begun the season at Double-A Tulsa.

…but not for long.

After only four starts with the Quakes – including Opening Day – Oaks was promoted to Tulsa where he was reunited with his former Cal League champion buddies and all was well in the universe. So well, in fact, that on June 8, 2016, Oaks threw a one-hitter against Northwest Arkansas while striking out four and walking only one through seven brilliant innings. And even though the Drillers fell short of making it into the Texas League championship round, De Jong, Barlow and Oaks had an excellent combined record of 26-13 with a very impressive combined ERA of 3.15. In fact, De Jong’s 14-5 record and 2.86 ERA earned him Texas League Pitcher of the Year honors and Oaks’ 8-1 record and 2.14 ERA a June 21 promotion to Triple-A Oklahoma City. De Jong, who himself just missed a ho-hitter with Tulsa on July 22, would later join Oaks in OKC on September 3, where he picked up the win in his only start for OKC Dodgers while striking out eight and walking one in his 5.1 innings of work.

Like right-hander Brock Stewart and outfielder Andrew Toles, Trevor Oaks began the 2016 season at Advanced Single-A Rancho Cucamonga. And though he didn’t make it to Dodger Stadium in 2016, as did Stewart and Toles, he did win eight of his 10 starts at Triple-A Oklahoma City.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

But while many (most) Dodger fans were focusing their attention on the incredible emergence of Dodgers rookie lefty phenom Julio Urias and rookie right-handers Ross Stripling, Jose De Leon and Brock Stewart, and deservedly so, Trevor Oaks – who had begun the season at Advanced Single-A Rancho Cucamonga – had compiled an outstanding 5-1 record and 3.00 ERA with the Triple-A Oklahoma City Dodgers. In other words, the 23-year-old Riverside, California native and Dodgers 2014 seventh-round draft pick out of California Baptist University in Riverside was probably but one injury away from making his MLB debut with the Dodgers in 2016.

“A lot of movement, a lot of changes, three different clubhouses … just trying to get a feel for each one,” said Oaks, of his whirlwind 2016 season. “You move up to Double-A and then to Triple-A – just a lot of different clubhouse chemistry stuff. But it was a good experience. I learned a lot about myself and just learning how to pitch at each different level. It’s been a lot of fun and definitely a year to remember.”

Oaks took his under-the-radar progression in stride and maintained a positive attitude while most of the focus and attention was elsewhere within the Dodgers organization.

“I feel like there’s a lot of buzz around people sometimes and your job is to go out there and pitch. So that’s what I do and I just try to be as efficient as I can,” said Oaks. “I’m not going to throw a hundred miles an hour but I’m going to get my team to seven or eight innings every time and get you a W.”

While there were others within the Dodgers organization getting more attention and more ink than he did, Oaks is confident that his accomplishments this past season didn’t go unnoticed by the powers that be.

“I think the media is one thing but I know where I stand with the front office and I think that I’m definitely an option this coming year,’ Oaks said. “I’m trying to prove that to them and just show them that I can eat some innings, try to be a guy who can eat two hundred innings, be the guy who can go out there and connect the starter to the bullpen without just going like a five-inning thing.

“I just try to be as efficient as I can and hope that that can be my best selling point, and I’m trying to improve in my off-speed and all my different areas so I can get more strikeouts and be a little bit more appealing,” added Oaks. “But I think just being efficient is my best thing moving forward, my best thing to offer.”

There is another reason for the success that Oaks enjoyed this past season – one that, for the most part, he has been relatively quiet about.

“I did add one pitch, I added a cutter and that really helped, just having something to go along with my sinker,” Oaks said. “It comes in on the same plain and a similar speed, so one will go left and one will go right and that’s kind of been the difference-maker this past season.”

But Wait! There’s More!

“I’m working on a splitter, so I’m going to try to add that third element – third dimensional plain – and hopefully that can get me some strikeouts and stuff and just play off my fastball even more.”

Asked who taught him the new cutter, Oaks’ answer may surprise you. Then again, maybe it won’t.

“I taught it to myself pretty much,” said the 6′-3″/220-pound right-hander. “I work out during the off-season with [fellow Dodgers pitching prospect] Caleb Dirks and we were both working on the cutter at the same time,” Oaks said. “I kind of had a pretty good feel for it and going into the season I worked with Dom Johnson – he’s a pitching coach out of Poway (California) and he and I worked on that quite a bit, so he helped out a lot.”

As for the splitter, Oaks is getting help from someone from within the Dodgers organization, albeit a relative newcomer  … and then some.

“We have [former Tampa Bay Rays pitcher and new Dodgers pitching coordinator of performance] Brandon Gomes. He’s been involved with that process. Greg Maddox kind of showed me some stuff later on in the season, it was definitely being talked about,” Oaks added. “So I’m just trying different grips at this point, I just started throwing it. I had thrown it a little in college but I didn’t really understand it too much. So now I’m actually going to add it and try to make it going forward.”

Ironically but probably no coincidence, Chase De Jong added a cutter to his arsenal this past season as well and also had success with it. When asked what it was like coming up through the Dodgers ranks with De Jong, Scott Barlow, Jose De Leon, Brock Stewart (among others), Oaks said that it has been a lot of fun and very enjoyable.

“It’s nice to have those familiar faces in the clubhouse with you and Chase has been a good friend since we got him in the trade [from the Toronto Blue Jays],” said Oaks. “He’s a good guy and it’s nice to have somebody that you can have faith in moving forward too, like you can trust in that guy as a friend. Yeah, we definitely help each other out.”