July 17th, 2019 at 7:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka Although there has been no official announcement from the Dodgers or any of their minor league affiliates yet, ThinkBlueLA has learned from a trusted source that 21-year-old right-hander Josiah Gray, one of the two key players acquired from the Cincinnati Reds (along with highly touted 20-year-old middle infielder Jeter Downs) in the trade that sent Yasiel Puig, Matt Kemp, Alex Wood and Kyle Farmer to the Queen City on December 21, 2018, has been promoted from the Dodgers Advanced Single-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes to the Double-A Tulsa Drillers.
For those familiar with the hard-throwing 6′-1″ / 190-pound New Rochelle, NY native, who was originally selected by Cincinnati in the second round of the 2018 MLB First-Year Player Draft out of LeMoyne College in Syracuse, NY, this moves comes as anything but a surprise. In the 12 games (all starts) that Gray appeared in with Rancho Cucamonga, he has been their best starter, with an 8-0 record and outstanding 2.14 ERA. In his combined 67.1 innings of work, he struck out 80, walked only 13, while giving up only three home runs.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)
Worthy of note is that Gray, who is currently ranked as the Dodgers 17th overall prospect by MLB Pipeline, began the 2019 season with the Dodgers Low Single-A Great Lakes Loons out of spring training, while the 20-year-old (for another 10 days) Downs, their seventh overall ranked prospect, began the season with the Quakes. However, Gray was promoted to Rancho Cucamonga on May 11 after making only five starts with the Loons and posting a 1-0 record and 1.93 ERA. Whether or not this suggests that Downs, who was indeed named after that Jeter, will soon follow Gray to Tulsa remains to be seen – but it could soon happen.
In the 78 games that Downs has played in for the Quakes (70 at shortstop, three at second base and five as the designated hitter), he is slashing an impressive .257 / .333 / .476 / .809, with 19 doubles, three triples, 14 home runs and 53 RBI. He has also stolen 20 bases; second most on the team behind only outfielder Brayan Morales‘ 26.
As of this writing, a corresponding move to replace Gray on the Quakes roster is not yet known.
Play Ball!
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Posted in 
This move should’ve been made the very moment MacKenzie Gore (Padres’ top pitching prospect and the No.1 LHP prospect according to MLB right now) was finally promoted to AA just recently. Many times Gray faced off against him in the Cal League this season and every time Gray ended up either matching him virtually pitch-for-pitch or, dare I say it, OUTPITCHED him entirely! He may be ranked 17th in the Dodger system for now, but he really should be in the Top 5 by season’s end because he’s clearly separated himself from the pack as the 2nd-best SP prospect the Dodgers have currently. Might even go so far as to say he should be considered “untouchable” in any potential trade talks along with Gavin Lux, Will Smith, and Dustin May.
As for Downs, he’s definitely been making steady progress offensively of late but still needs to get his average against righties up to AT LEAST around .250 or slightly better before sending him off to Tulsa. Otherwise, could end up with a platoon-type player not unlike what Enrique Hernandez has pretty much become for the Dodgers these days. Besides, I see Devin Mann and Donovan Casey gettin’ promoted well ahead of him anyway due to those two already making the necessary adjustments to warrant such a move.
@RCQuakes @TulsaDrillers @JGrayy_ @jeter2downs 😭😭😭😭
The Dodgers better get ready to stand aside and make room for these two guys.
Sorry but Jeter Downs does not have a .333 bating average. Jeter has a .333 on base percentage.
Sorry but Jeter Downs does not have a .333 bating average. His batting average is .257 and .333 is his on base percentage.
Fixed. Thx.
The Quakes website has the slash-line in different order than on B_R, which is what I usually use.