Dodgers continue being one step ahead as 2022 draft pick is mashing

The Los Angeles Dodgers are going on a decade of dominance, as they remain the team that best blends small-market analytics with a big-market budget. Despite often having one of the highest payrolls in the sport and dipping into their prospect pool time and time again for trades, the Dodgers have one of the top farm systems in baseball.

Los Angeles has seven players in MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 after the midseason update while also having the second-ranked farm system in baseball. Not bad for a team that is also on pace to win over 110 games this season.

Despite not having a first-round pick in the 2022 MLB Draft, Andrew Friedman and Co. still made the most of the team’s first pick in the draft by taking Louisville catcher Dalton Rushing with the 40th overall pick.

Rushing checks in as the ninth-rated prospect in the Dodgers system and he likely won’t hold onto that spot for long, as he could skyrocket up the rankings. Rushing has hit the ground running as a professional, slugging five home runs with 11 RBI and an average over .500 in his first 11 games at Low-A Rancho Cucamonga.

A lefty catcher with a swing that smooth? Sign us up.

The Dodgers continue to be the best team in the league in finding catching talent.

For one reason or another, the Los Angeles Dodgers have absolutely dominated the catcher landscape in recent years. Will Smith is currently one of the best catchers in the entire sport with his offensive prowess, and there is plenty more where that came from.

Top prospect Diego Cartaya, who is now ranked inside the top 10 league-wide, has been mashing in the minor leagues and likely will become a top three prospect before he gets his eventual call to the big leagues.

Before Cartaya the highly-touted catching prospect in the Dodgers’ system was Keibert Ruiz, who, you know, was traded in the Max Scherzer and Trea Turner deal that could result in the Dodgers getting their franchise shortstop for the next decade.

It will be interesting to see how the Dodgers handle Rushing and Cartaya together in the same farm system. College prospects typically do not take as long to make the big leagues and Rushing is just under a year older than Cartaya.

At some point, one of them is going to have to change positions or be traded, as you cannot have three different catchers this talented vying for playing time behind the plate.

Dodgers own Padres yet again, this time with the Matt Beaty trade

The Los Angeles Dodgers have gotten the best of the San Diego Padres both on the field and in negotiations as the team has already won the Matt Beaty trade.

But that is a bridge that the Dodgers will cross when they get there. For now, the organization will be more than happy to see their catching prospect continue to rake in the minor leagues.