Los Angeles Dodgers: Top 10 Rookie-Eligible Prospects for 2018

We have reached the point of the offseason where prospect lists abound. We continue our top 10 prospects for every team with the Los Angeles Dodgers!

Our team top 10 prospect lists at Call to the Pen are spearheaded by Benjamin Chase. Today, he gives us the top ten prospects for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

This season, we will be going through teams by division, in order of 2017 record. The AL East will be first, followed by the AL Central and AL West. Then the focus will shift to the National League in the same order.

The format will be as it was last season for the same lists, with a system review, which will include last season’s list. The top 10 will follow in reverse order, two players per page in order to give adequate space to each player. Major trades or international signings will lead to an updated top 10!

Finally, don’t go away after #1 is revealed as each list will also contain a player either signed in the 2017 international free agent class or drafted in 2017 that isn’t part of the top 10 and should be tracked. Last season’s mentions in that area made over half of the top 10s this season, so this is a great way to get to know a player who could be making a big splash in the organization.

System overview

Last year’s list

The Los Angeles Dodgers have been able to utilize their funds in an intelligent way. They don’t just load the major league team with talent with their funds, they also have put together an impressive minor league system and spend the money on development and scouting to ensure even their late draft picks are able to be productive players in their farm system.

The Dodgers have invested heavily with prospects from Asia and Cuba, invested heavily into their scouting department, and invested heavily in development and development analytics to find the best way to maximize each player’s talent level as well as working to keep them healthy in the process.

This has created a team that is able to churn top-level prospects to the big league club while being in the running for the best players in free agency year after year. That is a rare combination in the game, and they are still a top 10 farm system in the game.

Let’s take a look at that system….

Next: #9 and #10

10. Dennis Santana, RHP

Birthday (age on opening day 2018): 4/12/1996 (21)
2017 teams/levels played for: high-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, AA Tulsa Drillers
2017 Stats: 24 G, 21 GS, 118 1/3 IP, 4.11 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 8.6% BB, 24.5% K

Info: Originally a shortstop when he was signed out of the Dominican Republic in 2013, Santana was moved to the mound after failing to hit better than .200 in the DSL. He’s been a project as a pitcher, which is why he opened the season at high-A, but he really showed a lot by the end of the year and reached the upper minors in his age-21 season.

Santana’s bread and butter pitch is a high-velocity sinker that is well-known for its movement and weight

Santana’s bread and butter pitch is a high-velocity sinker that is well-known for its movement and weight. He sits mid-90s and touches 97-98 with his pitch, and the pitch moves a ton late, which has kept the ball off of bats, but it’s also cost Santana calls as the ball moves into the zone late. He pairs this with a slider that is an above-average pitch.

Lefties were able to see his fastball and slider well out of hand, so seeing his change take a big step forward in 2017 was big for his chances at being a future starter. He shows good arm deception with the pitch, though he is still working on getting consistent with the movement on the pitch.

Santana still works with a delivery that leads many to think his long-term future is in the bullpen, but his improvement in movement on his fastball and arm deception on his change could give him a shot at being a solid mid-rotation start. The Los Angeles Dodgers will keep him in the rotation until he forces his way to the pen, returning to AA to start 2018.

9. Will Smith, C

Birthday (age on opening day 2018): 3/28/1995 (22)
2017 teams/levels played for: high-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, AA Tulsa Drillers
2017 Stats: .231/.358/.446, 308 PA, 11 HR, 7 SB, 37/72 BB/K

Info: While Smith was able to handle some pretty elite pitchers during his time at Louisville, he showed athleticism behind the plate that made him highly desired in the 2016 draft, where the Los Angeles Dodgers grabbed him with the 32nd overall pick.

Smith is quite athletic behind the plate, with good hands and quick feet behind the plate. He also does control the run game well with an above-average arm that plays up even further due to his excellent footwork putting him in great position to throw with accuracy and giving him elite pop times.

That athleticism carries to his offensive profile as well, where Smith is definitely a better runner than the average catcher when he is on the bases. He has worked on his swing and tapped into more power. The swing changes brought down his batting average some in 2017 as the season wore on, but after continuing to work with team officials, he went to the Arizona Fall League and used that altered swing to hit .371/.452/.565 with 4 doubles, a triple, and 2 home runs in 18 AFL games.

Smith’s defense is incredibly elite, and that will be enough to move him quickly through the farm system. The Los Angeles Dodgers will allow him to continue working with his new swing in AA to open 2018 as his elite defense plus a quality bat would be an All-Star level player.

Next: #7 and #8

6. Mitchell White, RHP

Birthday (age on opening day 2018): 12/28/1994 (23)
2017 teams/levels played for: Arizona Rookie League Dodgers, high-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, AA Tulsa Drillers
2017 Stats: 19 GS, 73 2/3 IP, 2.93 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 10.3% BB, 29.2% K

Info: After Tommy John surgery in high school bumped him out of consideration for a lot of top college programs and MLB teams for a high school draftee, and it meant that he was a late bloomer in college. That late bloom led to helium that had him picked by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2nd round of the 2016 draft.

After really impressing in his draft season, White set out to do the same in his first full season in the Dodgers system in 2017, but missed a month and a half due to a broken toe, and it was clear that the toe issue caused him to struggle in improving the main area he still has to master, his control.

White features a hard sinking fastball that tops out at 98 and sits 94-96 with regularity with plenty of late wiggle along with his heavy sink on the pitch. He works that in congruence with a plus to double-plus slider that he can spin multiple ways to give hitters multiple looks on the pitch.

He also can work in a curveball that flashes plus, and his change shows promise with good movement, but some obvious difference in arm speed.

He tends to get his upper half out of sync with his lower half in his delivery, which leads to streaks of control issues, but he tends to go in streaks of elite control and horrid control and his primary time spends at about an 8% walk rate. That is still too high and needs to come down to reach his potential as a #2 starter with even frontline potential if the change can come forward a bit.

White made a good impression in AA in 2017, but due to the time missed with injury, it would not surprise if the Los Angeles Dodgers start him there again in 2018. He should be on his way quickly to the big league rotation, perhaps as soon as 2019.

5. Jeren Kendall, OF

Birthday (age on opening day 2018): 2/4/1996 (22)
2017 teams/levels played for: advanced rookie Ogden Raptors, low-A Great Lakes Loons
2017 Stats: .253/.311/.444, 177 PA, 3 HR, 9 SB, 13/45 BB/K

Info: One of the elite college prospects in the country coming into the 2017 season, Kendall ended up slipping to the Los Angeles Dodgers at 23rd overall after a ho-hum draft season.

Kendall is a plus or even double-plus defender

Kendall is a plus or even double-plus defender with excellent instincts, double-plus speed, and a plus arm in the outfield to throw out runners. He’s also got a flair for the dramatic, making leaping catches and diving grabs frequently.

It was at the plate where Kendall had issues in 2017. He struggled with holes in his swing, which hurt his average and never allowed him to get to his plus raw power. The Los Angeles Dodgers put Kendall to work on his swing in fall instructs and in 2018, they’ll send him to low-A to see how he handles game work with his revamped swing.

Next: #3 and #4

4. Yadier Alvarez, RHP

Birthday (age on opening day 2018): 3/7/1996 (22)
2017 teams/levels played for: high-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, AA Tulsa Drillers
2017 Stats: 21 G, 18 GS, 92 1/3 IP, 4.68 ERA, 1.52 WHIP, 12.1% BB, 23.4% K

Info: Many in baseball were surprised when the Los Angeles Dodgers gave Alvarez $16 million because he had struggled to even make the Cuban team due to his wildness.

Alvarez has all the tools you’d want as a scout or pitching coach

Alvarez has all the tools you’d want as a scout or pitching coach with a great frame for pitching, good physicality, long arms and legs, and an easy delivery that generates triple digit velocity.

Paired with his power fastball, Alvarez throws a hard slider with plenty of movement. He also has a change that works in the upper 80s with good movement, but Alvarez’s control was so bad that he could not make great use of any of it.

If Alvarez can put even average control together with all three pitches, he could end up an elite starter. If he can work up to fringe-average, he could be a dominant closer. The Los Angeles Dodgers will open Alvarez at AA to hopefully hone that control.

**Writer’s note: For the Dodgers, I truly think #4-7 are interchangeable. I’ve had them in basically every order possible along the way, and any argument for their order is completely defensible to me.**

3. Keibert Ruiz, C

Birthday (age on opening day 2018): 7/20/1998 (19)
2017 teams/levels played for: low-A Great Lakes Loons, high-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes
2017 Stats: .316/.361/.452, 411 PA, 8 HR, 25/53 BB/K

Info: Already defensively gifted as a young teenager, the Los Angeles Dodgers gave Ruiz $140K to sign out of Venezuela in 2014. He’s exploded with the bat ever since to become one of the top catching prospects in all of baseball.

Those elite defensive skills have never been in question, with premium athleticism and a good build to both get body in front of the ball, yet also be quick laterally to get out on balls to the side as well. His arm is average to maybe a tick above-average, but what hurts him is that he often sets up to maximize his blocking and framing behind the plate and leaves his feet in poor position when he does that, leading to subpar pop times in the run game.

At the plate, Ruiz is a switch-hitter who has the chance to be a special talent for a catcher with the bat. His contact abilities are a definite plus grade from both sides of the plate, getting good bat to ball from both sides, though he tends to get much better barrel to ball from the left side, resulting in better power output.

Ruiz is still a teenager, so it’s not surprising that he has work to do yet in his defense and in getting his best swing on balls, but if he can do those things, he could be the type of guy who puts up quality average, 20+ home run seasons behind the plate. One scout quickly tossed out Jorge Posada as a comparison, but then quickly added that he thought Ruiz could have even more upside than Posada offensively due to his ability to make consistent contact.

Ruiz is truly a special talent that could end the season as one of the top 10-15 prospects in the entire game. The Los Angeles Dodgers will move him up to AA to open 2018, but with one of the deepest catching systems in the game, they won’t have to rush his development by any means.

Next: #1 and #2

2. Alex Verdugo, OF

Birthday (age on opening day 2018): 5/15/1996 (21)
2017 teams/levels played for: AAA Oklahoma City Dodgers, MLB Los Angeles Dodgers
2017 Stats: Minors: .314/.389/.436, 495 PA, 6 HR, 9 SB, 52/50 BB/K; Majors: .174/.240/.304, 25 PA, 1 HR, 2/4 BB/K

Info: Blessed with not just a powerful arm, but a very polished one coming out of high school, Verdugo had many teams who liked him better as a pitcher than a hitter in the 2014 draft. The Los Angeles Dodgers drafted Verdugo in the 2nd round as an outfielder, knowing his development would likely be slower in that path. Instead, Verdugo has rocketed up the system.

A big reason that Verdugo has moved so quickly is that he has shown advanced understanding of the strike zone at the plate, as evidenced by his total of equal 54 walks and strikeouts combined between AAA and MLB, a very impressive thing. However, his advanced approach has also meant he’s moved so quickly that he’s not developed the raw power that he has, reaching the majors without really tapping into the above-average raw power he possesses in the cage.

Verdugo has impressive instincts in center field, and that’s why he is able to play above-average to even plus center field defense even though he has average speed (a double-plus arm doesn’t hurt either). Verdugo is never going to be a guy to steal many bases due to that average speed, but he uses good instincts on the bases to take extra bases quite often.

Unless the Los Angeles Dodgers find a taker for Matt Kemp, Verdugo may open 2018 back in AAA, but he could be a key to a midseason trade or find his way into a key role in the 2018 Dodger lineup the way Cody Bellinger did early in the 2017 season.

1. Walker Buehler, RHP

Birthday (age on opening day 2018): 7/28/1994 (23)
2017 teams/levels played for: high-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, AA Tulsa Drillers, AAA Oklahoma City Dodgers, MLB Los Angeles Dodgers
2017 Stats: Minors: 28 G, 19 GS, 88 2/3 IP, 3.35 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 8.7% BB, 34.9% K; Majors: 6 G, 9 1/3 IP, 7.71 ERA, 2.04 WHIP, 18.2% BB, 27.3% K

Info: If Buehler were to walk up to you on the street, you would have a hard time believing that this skinny guy can throw a triple digit fastball! However, after taking time to come back from Tommy John surgery after being drafted 24th overall in 2015 by the Los Angeles Dodgers, Buehler has one of the most electric arms in all of the minor leagues.

Buehler has one of the most electric arms in all of the minor leagues

Buehler previously had sat 93-95 in college, touching 97-98, but he returned from surgery with a fastball that sits 96-98 deep into games and touching 100, even late into starts. He has an easy delivery that generates this velocity, but the fastball is fairly straight, which means he needs excellent secondaries to pair with it.

True to form, Buehler has a pair of plus breaking pitches that allow his straight velocity to play up. His slider has big, late break and runs up into the low-90s in velocity. His curve is a sharp-breaking 12-6 variety that works in the low-80s. He commands his change, but currently struggles to get consistent arm action on the pitch to allow it to play up to even average at this point, but he did show big progress over the course of 2017 on the pitch.

His raw stuff would make him a future frontline starter in projection, but his great work ethic and the raves that coaches and opponents alike give to Buehler for his mentality on the mound of competitiveness.

Buehler’s 2017 was still a building season in innings, but he already reached the majors. He’s going to make the Los Angeles Dodgers have to strongly consider his future in 2018 as he could immediately be an impact multi-inning reliever at the major league level, but building up his arm strength further could also allow him to become a future ace to pair alongside Clayton Kershaw.

Next: Newcomer to watch

2017 Acquisition: Connor Wong, C

Birthday (age on opening day 2018): 5/19/1996 (21)
2017 teams/levels played for: Arizona Rookie League Dodgers, low-A Great Lakes Loons
2017 Stats: .276/.336/.495, 108 PA, 5 HR, 1 SB, 7/27 BB/K

Info: Wong made the transition from shortstop to catcher in college at Houston and became a very impressive defensive backstop, especially in his blocking and lateral movement. The Los Angeles Dodgers made him the 100th overall selection in June, adding to their already deep stable of catchers.

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While he played around the diamond for Houston, still getting reps at all three outfield spots, second, and third, Wong only played catcher for the Dodgers in his time in pro ball after being drafted.

Wong has a plus run tool that allows him to be very successful on the basepaths. He has plus arm strength behind the plate that belies his rough success in catching runners in his pro debut, and a lot of that is due to some issues with his footwork that many scouts saw marked improvement on through his short time as a pro already, projecting him to be a plus defensive catcher as he develops.

Wong’s offensive profile is a bit more questionable as he has inconsistent bat path in his swing, but he does show good zone discipline and above-average power in the cage that he flashes in game, but struggles to access consistently due to his inconsistent swing.

The Los Angeles Dodgers certainly have shown an ability to develop players with Wong’s profile, so he’s definitely in the right organization. He will be sent to high-A to open 2018.

Next: CTTP's Top 150 prospects

So that is the Los Angeles Dodgers top 10 prospects for 2018. Who is too high? Too low? Missing entirely from the list? Comment below!!