If what we are seeing at Dodgers spring training camp at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona is any indication, the 2018 Oklahoma City Dodgers are going to be a very, very good team in 2018. We’re talking better than several major league teams are going to be in 2018.

But barring a miracle, and with absolutely no disrespected intended whatsoever, guys like Alex Verdugo, Omar Estevez, DJ Peters, Matt Beaty, and even spring training superhero Jake Peter, who currently leads the Dodgers with his 12 RBI, is tied for the team lead in home runs with Matt Kemp at three, and who owns an alien-like slash-line of 412 / .389 / .1,118 for an impossible 1,507 OPS, have little chance of making the Dodgers Opening Day roster on March 29.

Dodgers top outfield prospect DJ Peter is one of 14 guys competing for three starting outfield spots (and perhaps two bench spots) this spring. But even though he is currently hitting .500 and has slugged two (very long) home runs this spring, he figures to begin the 2018 season at Triple-A Oklahoma City.
(Video capture courtesy of SportsNet LA)

It’s not that these guys – and several others – aren’t good enough; it’s just that there simply isn’t any place to put them on a Dodgers 25-man roster that is chock full of existing – and very good – MLB veterans. As such, and barring any unforeseen injuries over the next three weeks, these guy will more than likely be assigned to the OKC Dodgers when major league spring training camp breaks on March 27.

But what spring training 2018 has shown us thus far (and what it’s designed to show us) is that the Dodgers are blessed to have a minor league system that is among the best – and deepest – in all of baseball.

We all get that spring training wins and losses have no baring whatsoever on which two MLB teams will be playing in the 2018 World Series. But what spring training games do show us is who might be suiting up for the 2018 Fall Classic after a grueling 162-game regular season and even more grueling postseason. I mean, let’s be honest here; who actually believed that Chris Taylor and eventual 2017 National League Rookie of the Year Cody Bellinger, both of whom began the 2017 season at Triple-A Oklahoma City, would end up being in the 2017 World Series?

The point here is that through the first 12 games of spring training, we have witnessed some absolutely stellar baseball by the aforementioned five and a handful of other excellent young Dodgers prospects. But the cold, hard truth is that they will begin the 2018 season on the OKC Dodgers Opening Day roster, not the Los Angeles Dodgers Opening Day roster. As such, the 2018 OKC Dodgers – under the extremely talented Bill Haselman as their manager – are going to be very good … perhaps of the likes we have never seen before at the Dodgers Triple-A level.

It goes without saying that several OKC Dodgers will undoubtedly be called up to the bigs during the 2018 season due to injuries and / or poor performance by some who do make the LA Dodgers Opening Day roster. That being said, it’s reassuring to know that if / when this happens, the defending 2017 National League Champions will still have a team that is projected to return to the World Series in 2018.

Although there have been a number of ‘stars’ in the early stages of spring training 2018, it’s hard to argue that aforementioned soon-to-be 25-year-old utility infielder / outfielder Jake Peter hasn’t been among the biggest and brightest. The 6′-1″ / 185-pound Mason City, Iowa native and former seventh-round draft pick out of Creighton University (by the Chicago White Sox) was acquired by the Dodgers as a secondary piece in a three-way deal that also brought veteran left-hander Scott Alexander to the Dodgers, while sending left-hander Luis Avilan to the White Sox and minor league right-hander Trevor Oaks and minor league infielder Erick Mejia to the Kansas City Royals. The ChiSox also received right-hander Joakim Soria and cash considerations in the deal.

I would be remiss if I did not mention that catchers Keibert Ruiz and Will Smith, and utility infielders Matt Beaty and Omar Estevez are also having an outstanding spring thus far. Although these top Dodgers prospects are doing well offensively, with Ruiz hitting .625, Estevez .500, Beaty .357, and Smith .300, it is their defense that has been absolutely brilliant this spring. In fact, Estevez is drawing comparisons to another Omar – that of former 12-time Gold Glove shortstop Omar Vizquel.

In the five spring training games in which Estevez had played in thus far – three at second base and two at shortstop – he has made several dazzling defensive plays without committing an error at either position.

Dodgers infield prospect Omar Estevez has been nothing short of brilliant on defense this spring. His .500 batting average isn’t bad either. (Photo credit – Jennifer Stewart)

Another area in which Haselman’s OKC Dodgers will be strong in 2018 is with their starting pitching. Although there is still a possibility that Dodgers 2015 first-round draft pick Walker Buehler may break camp on the Dodgers Opening Day roster, the safer bet is that he will work his way back from his August 5 2015 Tommy John surgery as an OKC Dodger. And even if / when he does make it to the LA Dodgers, it probably – at least initially – would be as a reliever until he is 100 percent healed. So, too, with Dodgers left-handed phenom Julio Urias, as he works his way back from his June 27, 2017 surgery for a torn anterior capsule in his left shoulder. The Dodgers have already announced that the 21-year-old Culiacan, Mexico native will begin the season on the Dodgers 60-day disabled list, whereas Buehler’s Opening Day status – regardless of where it will be – has yet to be determined.

We’ve been hearing it all spring long from Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and is never more true than when describing the extremely intense competition for a very limited number of unfilled Opening Day roster spots:

“It’s a good problem to have.”