Dodgers: Pitching Prospects to Keep an Eye On in 2017

Baseball is in full swing at every level of the professional sphere, and the Dodgers’ minor league talent has been dispersed around the country to their respected affiliates. While the big league club is still tinkering with the rotation and bullpen, the youth of the organization is fighting for their chance to crack the 25-man roster.

The Dodgers have already taken an early hit, losing Rich Hill to the 10-Day disabled list with the same blister issue that pestered him all of last year. The club has enough depth to navigate its way through troubles like these with relative ease and even manager Dave Roberts called this “not a big issue.” The short-term solution to his rotation spot will be either Alex Wood or Ross Stripling – Wood getting the first chance – but what about the rest of the season?

Regardless of if it is Hill or another rotation mate, these things happen during the course of the year. Although the club will rely on its bullpen to answer this problem, Los Angeles has plenty of other arms waiting in Oklahoma City and beyond.

At some point, the Dodgers will reach down and start bringing these guys up to spot start, fill in pen roles, and just eat the innings needed of them, while getting experience to set them up for the future.

There are certainly more players that could and should be named on this list, but this is a small sampling. Next time we will get into some deeper cuts but let’s take a look at some of the Dodgers’ top pitching prospects across all levels of the minor leagues.

Walker Buehler

Although he will not be up in the big leagues this year, Walker Buehler has had an interesting road to becoming arguably the Dodgers’ top pitching prospect. After being rated higher than Vanderbilt teammate and future first overall pick Dansby Swanson, injuries and poor performance lowered his value before the 2016 draft. The difference was a fall from maybe the top overall pick to a late first rounder, but Buehler absolutely has a chance to meet the earliest expectations set for him.

After being drafted and having Tommy John surgery, he has been impressive in his little time back on the field. His five innings pitched in the minors aren’t enough for a fair evaluation, but they were still all scoreless. In his one inning during Spring Training with the big league club, he allowed three runs, also not a fair indicator.

What we do know about Buehler – besides his college career – mainly comes from the coaching staff and upper management, rather than what we have seen on the field.

Dodgers’ pitching coach Rick Honeycutt was recently quoted saying Buehler is one of the guys in the organization with “elite stuff” in regards to his pure pitching ability. And it is to be noted that whenever Buehler throws, there are usually members of Dodgers’ upper management on hand to watch and make sure things go smoothly.

Buehler was said to have touched 99 in a side session over the last year, but his velocity realistically projects to the mid-90s. He has two legit secondary pitches in his slider and curveball, with the latter being named the best of its kind in the Dodgers’ minor league system.

The Kentucky native will start out at Rancho Cucamonga with the Quakes in High-A. However, with his swing-and-miss ability and plus fastball, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him move up quickly this year. The biggest hurdle may just be how quickly the Dodgers let him work with his past injury history. Either way, a possible future rotation led by Julio Urias from the left side and Buehler from the right sounds pretty ideal.

Brock Stewart

Fans got a taste of Brock Stewart last year, as he threw close to 30 innings for the MLB club, but he has still retained his rookie status heading into 2017. The 25-year-old is currently sidelined with shoulder inflammation, a tricky injury just because no one can really set a timetable for it and some just heal faster than others. Even with the sore wing, Stewart has a chance of making more noise at the highest level this year if he can get back on track.

Stewart burst onto the scene last season after making his way from High-A Rancho all the way to Los Angeles. In over 120 minor league innings, Stewart posted a 1.79 ERA with a cool 0.88 WHIP to go along with it.

He will sit consistently from 92-95 with a medley of worthy speed pitches to match, the changeup being the best of the bunch. Stewart’s command of the strike zone with the fastball, and his ability to make that fastball cut, sink, and run give him some real value for the 2017 Dodgers.

Once the shoulder issue is taken care of, Stewart will probably start the season in AAA. If he can continue with the numbers he put up last year, there is no reason he won’t see a few spot starts as the year goes on.

There is also a possibility that Stewart’s future may be on the trading block. As is the case with most on the list here, he serves as a valuable asset for the club in case they need to go and get a bat, or, as a piece of a deal to bring in another elite starter. A lot of fans feel comfortable with the top three in the Dodgers’ pitching rotation, but as Rich Hill has shown, things can change quickly with injuries.

Trevor Oaks

Trevor Oaks is another righty arm that will be in the starting rotation for the Dodgers’ AAA affiliate to start the year. As I wrote earlier in the spring, Oaks has the consistency and stuff needed to be a major league starter and he has certainly proven capable in his chances.

His fastball command, like Stewart’s, is on par with those at the highest level, and Oaks ranks amongst the best in the Dodgers farm system. His scoreless streak from the spring continued in his AAA debut this year, throwing another four scoreless innings while striking out two.

Although the Opening Night starter for a minor league club isn’t quite the honor it is at the major league level, it still says a lot about Oaks that he was handed the ball Day One for that club.

Another big positive about Oaks has been his ability to stay healthy. In a day and age where pitchers’ arms are treated as they were made of paper, Oaks has been able to consistently rack up innings in the farm system. His ability to pitch week after week with no disruption bodes well for a player waiting for the last minute call up that happens ever so often.

Oaks’ biggest issue, if his pitching stays on point, may simply be that he is in a crowded system when it comes to talent. On many other clubs, he could have even been on the Opening Day roster, but he will have to wait patiently here and hope his number gets called. In the meantime, maybe he can play some piano.