Tim Rogers
The Dodgers have hundreds of players in their system but only a few get much recognition from the national press. We get fascinated by various prospect lists an focus on the top few. High draft picks and big international bonus players get a lot of attention but those players are only part of the story.
The draft is 40 rounds deep (except in 2020) and a ton of excellent players have been taken in the later rounds. Tony Gonsolin was drafted in the 9th round, Cody Bellinger the 4th round, Mookie Betts the 5th and Caleb Ferguson was a 38th round pick. Matt Beaty, a 12th round pick and had barely cracked the top 30 of prospects is now a proven Major League ball player.
This article kicks off a series of player spotlights on lesser known players in the Dodgers farm system.
Previous Prospect Work
To get you started we’ll look back on some of the articles I have written for Dodgers Nation that were prospect related.
- My first interview was with Cody Thomas.
- The most important article I’ve written was about the Latin House.
- I had an email with 2018 draftee, James Outman.
- During the 2018-19 off-season I looked at the catching depth and the middle infielders in the system.
- When the Dodgers traded Yasiel Puig to the Reds I wrote about the prospects they got in return.
- My top 5 starting pitcher and relief pitching prospects going into 2019.
- Some under-the-radar starting pitching prospects – this is the vibe this series will be trying to achieve.
- A look at Germany’s Sven Schueller.
- An interview with Jeter Downs.
- Getting to know Edwin Uceta.
- Coverage of the 2019 Cal League All-Star Game.
- Devin Mann coming out of nowhere.
- An overview of Josiah Gray and Niko Hulsizer.
- A look at the amazing 2016 draft.
- The rise of Gerardo Carrillo.
Moving Forward
The new series of articles will be call the “Unheralded Prospect Series”. The articles will first appear on Dodgers Nation and then, when a new site called “Dodgers 2080” is ready, the series will continue there.
On my trip to Spring Training I met some players that will be part of the series and i’ll be doing further research on players that could surprise us in a few years. Expect a new article for this series every few days. Any guesses on who I might write about?
