July 17th, 2019 at 10:30 am 
by Ron Cervenka ThinkBlueLA has learned from a trusted source that the Dodgers Advanced Single-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes have released just-turned-27-year-old right-hander Wes Helsabeck, with 22-year-old left-hander John Rooney and 20-year-old right-hander Guillermo Zuniga being promoted from the Low Single-A Great Lakes Loons.
Helsabeck made 29 relief appearances with Rancho this season, posting a very good 5-0 record with 61 strikeouts and 27 walks. Unfortunately, he also had a 4.34 ERA, this in spite of having allowed only two home runs over his 45.2 innings pitched this season.
(Photo credit – Jerry Espinoza)
At Great Lakes, Rooney was 5-2 with a very good 2.63 ERA in his 11 appearances (all starts). He struck out 44 and walked 25 in his 54.2 innings pitched, while allowing only two home runs. He was selected by the Dodgers in the third round of the 2018 MLB First-Year Player Draft out of Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY.
(Photo credit – Alex Seder)
Zuniga, a native of Cartagena, Colombia and signed by the Dodgers as an international free agent in 2016, was 4-1 with a 4.08 ERA in his five appearances (all starts) with the Loons. He struck out 59 and walked 22 in his 53.0 innings of work, while allowing seven home runs.
Wednesday’s moves off-set the promotion of Dodgers 17th-ranked right-handed pitching prospect Josiah Gray to the Double-A Tulsa Drillers, as reported here on ThinkBlueLA early Wednesday morning.
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Was waiting for the pipeline at the lower levels to start flowing more freely again, whew! Bye Helsabeck, we hardly knew ye and 27 is the equivalent of being an old-timer in High-A ball (lol). HELLO, ROONEY! Expect him to finish up his season at Rancho, unless his command continues to improve to the point where he’ll force management to bump him up to AA Tulsa by season’s end (doubt it, though). He’s one of my personal faves to watch dating back to last season as he’s got a high baseball IQ to go along with THE best pick-off move in the minors, in my not-so-humble opinion. See it in action the moment he starts a home game down there at some point, will ya?
😉
Btw, that Zuniga promotion came as a bit of a surprise as I thought Jose Chacin or Justin Hagenman would get that honor. Still, can’t complain too much as Zuniga is a young flamethrower with legit late-inning bullpen upside to work with in the meantime.