When Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman traded outfielders Yasiel Puig and Matt Kemp, left-hander Alex Wood, and utility infielder / catcher Kyle Farmer to the Cincinnati Reds on December 21, 2018, his target in the transaction was not 32-year-old right-hander Homer Bailey. In fact, the La Grange, Texas native and 13-year MLB veteran was unconditionally (and unceremoniously) released the following day – this in spite of the fact that he was still owed $5 million. (Note: Bailey subsequently signed with the Kansas City Royals, with whom he is 2-3 with a 5.70 ERA).

No, in addition to a very obvious salary dump, Friedman’s real target of the trade was 21-year-old right-hander Josiah Gray, whom the Reds had selected in the second round of the 2018 MLB First-Year Player Draft out of LeMoyne College in Syracuse, New York, and even more so 20-year-old middle infielder Jeter Downs, whom the Reds had selected in the first round of the 2017 draft out of Monsignor Edward Pace High School in Miami Gardens, Florida.

Why on earth would Friedman trade four well-established and proven major leaguers for two unproven minor leaguers regardless of their drafting positions – you ask?

Good question with a great answer: Because Gray and Downs both have very legitimate shots at not only making it to the majors, but becoming superstars when they do.

Gray began the 2019 season with the Dodgers Low Single-A Great Lakes Loons of the Midwest League where, through his first five starts, he is 1-0 with a ridiculous 1.93 ERA. But wait, there’s more! In his 23.1 innings pitched thus far, he has walked only seven while striking out 26. As such and by every indication, the 6′-1″ / 190-pound New Rochelle, New York native will be put on a Walker Buehler / Dustin May-type fast track and may soon soon see action with the Dodgers Advanced Single-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes of the highly competitive California League; perhaps as early as the All-Star break.

As for Downs, he did begin the 2019 season at Rancho Cucamonga, having spent the 2017 season in the Pioneer Rookie League and the 2018 season in the Midwest League while a member of the Reds organization. And even though the 5′-11″ / 180-pound middle infielder has yet to put up numbers even remotely close to his namesake (yes, he was named after soon-to-be first ballot Hall of Famer Derek Jeter) through the first month of the 2019 season at Rancho, he is beginning to heat up … and fast.

In his last five games with the Quakes, the San Andres, Colombia native is 5-for 19 (.263) at the plate. Four of those five hits went for extra bases – two doubles, one triple and one home run – with three of them coming in Tuesday’s 8-3 pounding of the Lake Elsinore Storm (Padres) at LoanMart Field.

Dodger fans may recall that Downs appeared in six games with the big league club during spring training, three at shortstop, two at second base, and one as a pinch-runner. Offensively, he went 3-for-9 (.333) at the plate with a double. And even though he did not commit an error in his combined 14 total chances on defense (11 at short, three at second), a couple of his throws from the shortstop position were a bit iffy. But hey, zero errors is zero errors, right?

With the Quakes, Downs has appeared in 21 of the team’s 27 games thus far this season, 20 at shortstop and one at second base. He did not commit an error in seven chances in that one game at second base and has three errors in 68 total chances at shortstop for a .956 fielding percentage.

The caveat, of course, is that there are several good shortstops above Downs within the Dodgers minor league system, with two-time All-Star, two-time Silver Slugger and 2016 National League Rookie of the Year Corey Seager having an absolute lock as the Dodgers (almost) everyday shortstop. That being said, the Dodgers do not have what you would call an everyday second baseman at the major league level. Now this certainly isn’t to say that utility infielders / outfielders Kiké Hernandez, Chris Taylor, and Max Muncy aren’t capable of doing a good job at second base. It’s just that a guy like Jeter Downs, who not only plays a very good second base, but could also spell Seager at shortstop when he needs an occasional blow, as they say. As such, Downs might be a better second base option than Hernandez, Taylor or Muncy.

Then again, Downs is only 20 years old and still three full minor league levels away from The Show … at least for now. But if he continues to hit the ball the way he has of late, and continues to play good defense, those three levels could soon become two, and then one, and then…

No matter how you slice it and regardless of how well (or poorly) Messrs. Puig, Kemp, Wood, and Farmer do in Cincinnati, by every indication, the Dodgers won the trade.

Play Ball!

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