Last March I compiled a list of players that were 20-years of age or younger in the Dodger farm system that I felt were the best at their positions. Now I am looking back to the 2014 season to see how they have progressed and also to again determine who would be on the scorecard as members of the 2015 edition of the 20 and Under Team.

Seventeen players were included on the 2014 team. Five of those players are still young enough to be on this year’s team. Two of them – Jesmuel Valentin and Victor Arano – were traded to the Philadelphia Phillies in the deal that brought Roberto Hernandez to the Dodgers. Four others are now 21 years of age. The other six, still very young, did not progress as well as they as they most likely had hoped.

This year’s group includes four players who are regularly being listed in the Dodgers Top 10 Prospect lists with another three included in the Top 20 list. It also includes seven 18-year old prospects. The age given – in parenthesis – is the age as of today’s posting:

Julian Leon (19) – Catcher: Leon played the entire season with the Ogden Raptors as an 18-year old. Signed out of Mexico in 2012 he batted .332 with a .420 OBP while totaling 12 homers and 14 doubles in short-season ball. His 57 RBI ranked second in the Rookie Pioneer League as was his .985 .OPS. He and fellow pitcher Jose De Leon were selected as league all stars. Both are now moving close to or into Top 10 Prospect lists. The pair also recently attended the annual Winter Development Camp at Dodger Stadium.

Julian Leon
(Photo courtesy of Munger English Sports Management)

Cody Bellinger (19) – First Base: Bellinger also played most of the 2014 season as an 18-year old. After a slow start during the 2013 season with the Arizona League Dodgers he demonstrated why he was drafted by the Dodgers in the fourth round of the 2012 First Year Player Draft. With the Rookie League Ogden Raptors in 2014 he posted a triple slash of .328/.369/503 which ranked him in the top ten in all three categories. His 49 runs were the third most in the league. Gifted with a sweet swing the young left-hander had 21 extra base hits on the season and finished the year with seven multiple hit games in his last eight games. He was a returning member of the 20 and Under Team.

Carlos Aquino (19) – Second Base: Jesmuel Valentin would have been a repeat member to the 20 and under team but was traded to Phillies at the MLB trading deadline. Carlos Aquino as a member of the Dominican Summer League Dodgers moves into this slot. He saw his batting average in the DSL improve to .281 after a dismal .181 in 2013. Over his last ten games he hit 425. He demonstrated his versatility by also spending some time at third base as well as shortstop.

Corey Seager (20) – Shortstop : Seager was named the California League Most Valuable Player although he played 38 games with the Class-AA Chattanooga Lookouts. With the Class-A+4 Rancho Cucamonga Quakes before his promotion he had a triple slash of .352/..411/.633 and an OPS of 1.044 along with 18 home runs and 70 RBI. He didn’t skip a beat with the Lookouts posting a triple slash of .345/.381/.535. Baseball America recently named Seager as the Dodgers top prospect.

Many believe that Seager play at Dodger Stadium in 2015 – most likely as a September 1 call-up.
Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Jared Walker (18) – Third Base: Walker had a bit of a slow start to his season with the Arizona League Dodgers but finished strongly with .357 matting average in his last ten games. He was drafted in the fifth round of the 2014 First Year Player Draft. Baseball America’s scouting report noted, “The left-handed hitter has hitting instincts and a line-drive stroke with natural strength.”

Alex Verdugo (18) – Center Field: Selected by the Dodgers in the second round of the 2014 First year Player Draft Verdugo did not disappoint in 2014. He hit .347 along with an OBP of .423 and an OPS of .941. In 49 games with the Arizona league Dodgers he drove in 33 runs while contributing 11 doubles, three triples and three home runs. He walked 20 times and struck out only 14. Promoted late in the season to the Ogden Raptors he contributed a .400 batting average and eight RBI on 20 plate appearances. Verdugo has made it onto some Dodgers top ten prospect lists after his first season of professional baseball.

Johan Mieses (19) – Right Field: the Dodgers July Pride Award winner, had the best offensive year with the DSL Dodgers. The nineteen-year-old right fielder led the team in most offensive categories including stolen bases with 29. He hit .299 with 24 extra base hits among his 61 hits. Signed out of the Dominican Republic as a seventeen year old, Mieses is playing in his second year with the Dodgers. He hit particularly well after the All-Star break posting a .360 batting average, a .417 OBP and a .975 OPS.

Michael Medina (18) – Left Field: Medina was signed by the Dodgers out of Santo Domingo in 2013 just after his sixteenth birthday. He struggled in his first year with the Dominican Summer League Dodgers but played the full season as a 16-year old. He did hit 10 home runs. With the Arizona League Dodgers in 2014 he showed more of the promise Dodgers scouts had seen in him. In 36 games he hit .275 with an OBP of .384. along with five home runs. On defense he committed no errors, had seven outfield assists and participated in four double plays.

Julio Urias (18) – LH Starter: With the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes in 2014 Urias pitched most of the season as a 17-year old finishing with a 2.36 ERA and 109 strikeouts in 87.2 innings. In 45 innings following the all-star break he was almost unhittable giving up only 25 hits. His ERA was 1.20 and his WHIP 0.98, both hard to believe for a 17-year old pitching against opponents several years older than him in the hitter friendly California League.

Legendary Dodgers scout Mike Brito stands by his claim that Julio Urias will be pitching in the major leagues as an 18-year-old. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Jairo Pacheco (18) – LH Starter:Like Julio Urias Pacheco returns to the Dodgers 20 and Under Team again in 2014. With the Arizona Dodgers he had a 2.27 ERA in 47.2 innings with a WHIP of 1.15. He struck out 54 and walked 16. Also like Urias he finished with a flourish. In his last 38.1 innings he gave up only three earned runs while striking out 46 and walking 14.

Zachary Bird (20) – RH Starter: Bird also returns to the Dodgers 20 and Under team. Selected in the ninth round of the 2012 First Year Player Draft he was a workhorse on the Great Lakes Loons staff in 2014 pitching 118.2 innings. His statistics were not overly impressive but showed considerable improvement over his 2013 season. He stuck out 110 and posted an ERA of 4.25. The issue for the hard throwing right-hander is control which often kept him pitching from behind in the count. He walked 55 producing a 2:1 strikeout to walk ratio, a definite improvement from the previous season.

Grant Holmes (18) – RH Starter: Holmes was selected by the Dodgers in the first round of the 2014 First year Player Draft. He has been compared to Chad Billingsley and has already made his way onto Dodgers Top 10 Prospect lists. With the Arizona League Dodgers in 2014 he had an ERA of 3.00 and a WHIP of 0.90 while allowing only 20 hits in 30 innings. He struck out 33 and walked 7. He had a rough outing in his first start with the Ogden Raptors but followed that with three strong starts allowing only three earned runs in 15 innings. He continued to have good control by striking out 25 in 18 innings while walking six.

Kevin Guzman (20) – RH Pitcher: Guzman continued his strong play from the Dominican Summer League in 2013. He finished with an ERA of 3.33 and a WHIP of 1.15 while striking out 48 and walking twelve in 54 innings. Guzman pitched the entire season as a nineteen year old. On August 16th he came within a walk of pitching seven perfect innings. In the second half of the season he posted an ERA of 1.88 and a WHIP of 0.87.

Dennis Santana (18) – RH Relief: From San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic, Santana was signed as a shortstop and converted to pitching because of his arm strength. The change seems to have worked as in 2014 Santana posted an ERA of 1.05 and a WHIP of 0.99 in 20 appearances. He struck out 38 in 34 innings and walked 15. He finished the season by allowing one earned run in his last 20 innings.

Honorable Mention:

Robert Fernandez (19) in 2013 in limited innings he struck out 16 and walked 13. In 2014 he struck out 48 and walked 20 with an ERA of 2.14 and a WHIP of 1.04.

Hector Rodriguez (20) threw the equivalent of an 11 inning no hitter during the season. In a June 7 game he pitched five perfect innings and pitched six hitless innings on July 24. In the two games he struck out 10 and walked two in the second game. On the season he had an ERA of 1.98 and a WHIP of 0.86. He struck out 42 and walked 12.

Miguel Urena (19) improved his ERA from 7.76 in 2013 to 1.60 in 2014 and finished the season by allowing one earned run in his last 19 innings. He posted a WHIP of 1.10 along with 36 strikeouts and 18 walks.