Dodgers: What fans need to know about PTBNL acquired in Ross Stripling trade

One of the moves the Los Angeles Dodgers made during the 2020 season was trading pitcher Ross Stripling to the Toronto Blue Jays in August. Given their pitching depth, there wasn’t much of a need for the right-hander.

So Andrew Friedman cashed in and acquired two players for the 31-year-old. But at the time of the deal, we only knew one of them (Kendall Williams) after it was made known there would a player to be named later sent to Los Angeles.

The trade was finally completed on Tuesday and the Dodgers announced minor league outfielder Ryan Noda was that PTBNL. Here’s everything fans need to know about Noda and the rest of this trade.

The 24-year-old was selected in the 15th round back in the 2017 MLB Draft by the Jays out of the University of Cincinnati. Since making his professional debut that year, he’s made stops in the rookie league, Single-A and High-A before missing all of 2020 due to the pandemic.

The most significant aspect of Noda’s development has been his increase in power and his ability to get on base. In college, he hit just 22 homers and owned a .370 on-base percentage in 167 games. In 307 minor league games, he has 40 homers and a .422 OBP, and throughout each of those levels that latter mark has been well over 100 points higher than his batting average. And he steals bases! He’s got 35 total in his minor league career.

Though he took a step back when he reached High-A, his power (largely) and OBP remained. He saw a bigger decline in his slugging percentage and batting average. A quick note on his slugging: he only had one triple and hit seven fewer homers in seven fewer games in 2019 compared to 2018, but smacked 27 doubles, which were three more than he had in seven more games in 2018.

Even with that slight regression, his overall stats are still that good, which gives the Dodgers a really favorable situation in terms of developing him further.

And just a quick refresher on the pitcher the Dodgers got in this trade — Kendall Williams — the right-hander is just 20 years old and made his pro debut when he was 18 (before missing all of 2020, like Noda). In the Blue Jays’ rookie league, he pitched in six games (five starts) and registered a 1.13 ERA and 0.81 WHIP across 16 innings.

If you ask us, that’s a pretty damn good haul for a player the Dodgers didn’t even need. Be sure to follow their progress in 2021 when the minor league season kicks off in May.

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