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.