Dodgers Down on the Farm: Top to bottom MiLB reports

If you take out All-Star breaks and off-days, from now until September, the Dodgers will have all five of their affiliated ball teams in season.

Rookie league Ogden kicked off on Friday night and the Low-A through Triple-A have been underway since April. It’s at this time of the year that watchers, scouts and fans can get a really good feel for who is legitimate within the system’s ranks and who may not be worth such a look.

With the seasons a green light from top to bottom, some top performers at each level become worth recognizing and as has been done already a few times this year, this will be an article shedding some light on players to keep an eye on from top to bottom in the Dodger system.

We’ll take a look from rookie ball through Triple-A for the first time in 2019.

Is it too soon to judge anyone on the Raptors? Yes, absolutely.

The Rookie ball level team in the Pioneer League just began their season a few days ago and with just three total games completed at the time of this article, there is not even a hint of who will truly do what as the year progresses.

However, early as it may be, there have been some flashes of greatness in the team’s first three contests and those small glimpses of greatness are indicators of what could be for some of the system’s lowest level players.

Ogden is off to an offensive explosion to start the campaign and that operation has been spearheaded by first-year Dodger farm-hand Justin Yurchak.

Between the first and second game of the season alone, Yurchak was responsible for plating a quarter of the teams 24 runs scored in the first 18 innings of 2019.

On opening night, the big-bodied first baseman went 4-4 with two doubles and two homers and followed up the big performance with a 2-4 night the next day, a line that included two RBI’s and his third big fly of the season.

The SUNY Binghamton product was a 12th round selection by the White Sox in 2017 and was traded to the Dodgers when farm-hand pitcher Manny Banuelos was sent to the South Side. Through the earliest goings of the season, Yurchak has made the Dodgers end of the deal look significantly more attractive than what the White Sox received and he has certainly highlighted himself as a player to keep an eye on.

Just now in his first full professional season, Niko Hulsizer has been putting on a show with the Low-A Great Lakes Loons.

At 6’2 and 220 pounds, the Morehead State product was drafted by the Dodgers in the 18th round of last year’s draft. A fleet-footed corner-outfielder, Hulsizer stole 12 bases with rookie league Ogden in 2018 but perhaps more impressive than the speed was the immediate display of power. In 48 games played with Ogden, Hulsizer smashed nine home runs, hitting bombs at a rate of one every 17 at-bats.

Hulsizer’s mission in 2019 was to prove the power was no fluke and 58 games into the 2019 season with the Loons, he’s done exactly that.

Hulsizer leads the team in home runs by a metric mile with 15 long-balls and a home run rate of one per every 14 AB’s.

Hulsizer has also pushed 49 runs across this season and is tied for the team lead in doubles with 17.

Hulsizer is not in the Dodgers top-30 organizational prospects but a season like this should push him into the bottom five if not better. His power is proven and the only thing that needs improvement is his strikeout tendencies as he’s already punched out a team-worst 75 times.

I’ve written about this player too many times to count at this point and you can get my full and in-depth thoughts by clicking here, but Marshall Kasowski will continue to run away with my Double-A player to watch until he’s promoted.

Kasowski is electric. This season he’s appeared in 21 games for the Double-A Tulsa Drillers and in them, he hasn’t disappointed. The 21 appearances have yielded 24.1 innings and an absolutely ridiculous 41 K’s (15.2 K/9).

The right-handed pitcher works predominantly with a fastball that, with his interesting delivery, is extremely hard to pick up and has great rising life to it out of the hand.

Compound that with his ability to work out of trouble and Kasowksi could be an interesting piece to watch as a candidate to join this year’s major league bullpen. The Dodgers need reinforcements there and they wouldn’t have to trade anyone to add one of the best strikeout guys around.

Kasowski’s biggest roadblock preventing that from happening is the walks.

This year, he’s walked 14 batters, 5.2 per nine innings and he’ll have to reign that in as his career progresses.

It feels a bit like cheating because he’s already been up this year but, Will Smith has been putting on a show in Triple-A and protecting him and his service time are really the only reasons he isn’t in the majors to stay.

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This year between Triple-A and the Show, Smith is hitting .288 with 14 home runs (12 in Triple-A and 2 in the majors) and has collected 39 total RBI’s.

Dodgers general manager, Andrew Friedman has said on multiple occasions how special Smith is and has said, “he is a gold glover at the big league level.” In his short stint with the big league club, Smith his two bombs and accumulated .3 WAR in just 21 AB’s. With Triple-A, he has a .984 OPS.

Smith is the player to keep an eye on mostly because everyone already is.

The Dodgers will almost certainly employ the young catcher full-time next year and he should be joined sometime in the next two years but backstop companion Keibert Ruiz. When the Dodgers add Ruiz to the roster, the tandem pair behind the plate could be one of the best duos in the majors.

For now, Smith will be in the spotlight and in it he has and should continue to perform.