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Old McCourt Had a Farm
My did the Dodgers look horrible in their 5-1 loss against the Cardinals today. For that reason, I’m going to look forward to the future of the Dodger organization.
One hope for optimism lies in 19-year old left handed pitcher Clayton Kershaw. With the single-A Great Lake’s Loons of the Midwest League, Kershaw struck out 134 batters in 97.1 innings pitched, a 2.77 ERA, 12.39 strikeouts per nine innings pitched and 1.25 walks and hits per innings pitched. Unfortunately he did give up 50 walks which indicates he still needs to work on his location.
Kershaw was just called up to AA Jacksonville this past Monday. If he keeps working on his pitches, he should come up in the next two years. He was picked by the Dodgers in the first round of the 2006 draft and looks to be the future ace of the team.
A prospect that’s a bit closer to being in the big leagues is right handed pitcher Jonathan Meloan. He’s pitched 57 innings with 81 strikeouts, 21 walks, a 2.05 ERA, 12.79 K/9 and 0.95 WHIP. Opponents are hitting only .166 against him. During Ned Colletti's web chat on Tuesday he did mention Meloan has a chance of making the team when rosters expand on September 1.
Some other prospects of note:
* Joshua Bell, 3B, A+ Inland Empire 66. He's batting .291 with an OPS of .828 mostly in Class A Great Lakes.
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* James McDonald, RHP, AA Jacksonville Suns. He has an 1.10 ERA in six games started for the team. Batters are hitting only .207 against him. This is another pitcher Colletti is hinting at bringing up on September 1.
* We've already seen Andy LaRoche and Tony Abreu this season. Both are in AAA Vegas, and both are injured.
Hopefully we should see these guys in the big leagues soon. More on the Dodger's skid soon.
Farm Photo by xcom via flickr
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