Pitching was the story for the Dodgers‘ farm system this week, but one positional prospect stood out and was recognized for his great offensive performance.

It’s nice to see youngsters take advantage of their given opportunities.

—–

Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes (1-6)

Player Of The Week

Matt Angle – OF

.333/.448/.583/1.031, 1 HR, 1 2B, 1 3B, 2 RBI, 5 R, 2 SB, 4 BB, 9 K

Angle, who somehow remained on the 40-man roster for the entire 2012 season, is having a decent 2013 so far. He’s getting consistent playing time with the injury to Alex Castellanos. He, along with others, are going to have to pickup the slack with Tim Federowicz and Scott Van Slyke playing in LA these days.

Pitcher Of The Week

Kelvin De La Cruz – LHP

4 1/3 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K

De La Cruz was an under-the-radar minor-league signing this winter, and so far, he’s pitching well. He’s getting a lot of strikeouts (13.1 K/9) and proving to be a valuable reliever out of the Isotopes’ bullpen.

—–

Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts (4-2)

Player Of The Week

Joc Pederson – OF

.619/.692/.810/1.502, 1 HR, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 3 SB, 5 BB, 2 K

Pederson was somehow not named Southern League Player Of The Week, but he continues to do nothing but hit for Chattanooga. He’s making all kinds of noise and is quickly becoming a more realistic option to be recalled than Yasiel Puig.

Pitcher Of The Week

Ross Stripling – RHP

6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K

Not bad for a Double-A debut. The 23-year-old was promoted to Chattanooga and was thoroughly impressive. Stripling is proving to be a fast mover and could be some time in LA next year.

—–

High-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (3-4)

Player Of The Week

Ryan Mount – 3B

.556/.571/1.074/1.645, 3 HR, 3 2B, 1 3B, 12 RBI, 6 R, 1 BB, 3 K

Mount was named the California League Player Of The Week with an outstanding performance that included a 5-for-5 game. The nearly 27-year-old is this year’s version of C.J. Retherford. Honorable mention goes to Darnell Sweeney, who hit for the cycle in a game this week.

Pitcher Of The Week

Duke Von Schamann – RHP

6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K

The Quakes’ starter had another good week and is adjusting to the Cal League rather nicely. With Stripling having been promoted to Double-A, Von Schamann is the most consistent starting pitcher the Quakes have remaining.

—–

Low-A Great Lakes Loons (1-5)

Player Of The Week

Kevin Taylor – 2B

.348/.423/.391/.814, 1 2B, 4 RBI, 2 R, 3 BB, 3 K

Taylor got his first action of the season this week and performed well. Too bad he’s about the only Loon who hit even remotely well. Corey Seager is on the disabled list and the “veteran” hitters aren’t hitting right now.

Pitcher Of The Week

Angel Sanchez – RHP

13 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 16 K

It’s disappointing to see Sanchez repeating Low-A, especially at the age of 23, but it’s nice to see he’s pitching well thus far. It’ll be interesting to see if he can continue it, get a call-up to High-A, and try to do better this time around.

=====

Dustin Nosler is the founder of the site Feelin’ Kinda Blue. He also co-hosts the weekly podcast Dugout Blues. Follow him on Twitter @FeelinKindaBlue or like his site on Facebook.

The Dodgers are facing an interesting situation heading into the 2013 season — at least, the Albuquerque Isotopes and Chattanooga Lookouts are.

Following a Twitter exchange with Chris Jackson (@TopesWriter) and Evan Chavez (@newmexicofan), it occurred to me: The Isotopes and Lookouts are going to have some awfully crowded outfields — especially the ‘Topes.

The following outfielders are, at this point, slated to begin the 2013 season in Albuquerque:

Alex Castellanos: Could play second or third base.
Brian Cavazos-Galvez: Left fielder with some experience at first base.
Scott Van Slyke: Corner outfielder who the Dodgers don’t view as a 1B anymore (h/t to Jackson).
Kyle Russell: Corner outfielder who could fill in at center field in a pinch.
Blake Smith: Same as Russell, but better defensively.

Those guys are all but certain to be ‘Topes in 2013. Castellanos and Van Slyke have a chance to be on the Dodgers bench, but I’ll believe that when I see it. Nick Buss, who spent the entire 2012 season in Chattanooga, is another guy, and if things fall his way he could actually be the Isotopes starting center fielder. Of the guys listed above, Buss is the only true center fielder.

Then there are the players who aren’t even members of the Dodgers yet. Perennially, those are the likes of Trent Oeltjen and Matt Angle. Hell, Tony Gywnn Jr. is still under contract and could find himself back in New Mexico as well.

Bottom line is, the Isotopes are going to be jam-packed in the outfield.

—–

Including all of the guys above doesn’t even take into account players who could be promoted during the season based on performance — mainly, Bobby Coyle, Joc Pederson, and Yasiel Puig.

Coyle was a late-season call-up to Chattanooga and I think he’d have the best chance of playing in Albuquerque in 2013. Pederson is only 20 and should be with the Lookouts for the entire season (save perhaps a playoff call-up, as he was this past season for Chattanooga).

The wild card though is Puig. There’s no telling where he’ll begin, but it won’t be any lower than High-A Rancho Cucamonga. If he makes it to Double-A and flourishes, I could see him don an Isotopes uniform before the conclusion of the 2013 season.

Any of the trio being promoted quickly would make for even more of a mess than it already appears to be.

—–

Heading into last season, the Dodgers minor-league depth came in the form of right-handed pitchers and outfielders. They’ve already traded away a lot of the RHP depth and now it looks like the OF surplus could be next.

Too much of one position isn’t usually a bad thing, but the concern is that it could stunt the development of a few players, so it’ll be interesting to monitor the situation and see how it plays out.

=====

Dustin Nosler is the founder of the site Feelin’ Kinda Blue. He also co-hosts the weekly podcast Dugout Blues. Follow him on Twitter @FeelinKindaBlue or like his site on Facebook.

The Dodgers outrighted both Blake Hawksworth and Matt Angle to AAA yesterday.

Neither move is shocking nor particularly noteworthy, but it’s important nonetheless because it frees up a couple of spots on the 40-man roster that has to be set for the Rule 5 Draft by next month.

Angle did little for the team both on the field and off the field besides causing Dodger fans to ask each other constantly why he’s on the 40-man. Blake’s greatest contribution to the Dodgers was introducing us to his sister, Erin Hawksworth, and assisting in ditching Ryan Theriot. Well, that and calling Matt Kemp a fatty on Twitter.

Now that rosters have expanded, let the speculation on who gets the September call begin!

Pump the brakes a bit though, because unfortunately for the people who wish to see young players show their stuff: 1) the 40-man roster is full 2) guys on the 60-day DL are due to return 3) um … the team just traded away all of the top prospects that were close to contributing.

—–

One of the primary issues is that Rubby De La Rosa and Jerry Sands are still on the Dodgers 40-man roster, so it creates a bit of a mess in terms of roster spots. This is especially true because Ted Lilly (maybe) and Dee Gordon are set to return, which means guys will have to get designated just to fit them in. Perhaps Chad Billingsley, Kenley Jansen, or Scott Elbert could be placed on the 60-day DL, but that creates more holes, not less.

Either way, guys like Adam Kennedy, Juan Uribe, Matt Angle, Elian Herrera, and Stephen Fife might not want to get too comfortable on the 40-man, depending on what direction the team decides on. However, due to the roster crunch, those hoping for players not on the 40-man roster to get called — like John Ely, Tony Gwynn Jr., and Bobby Abreu — might be left disappointed.

—–

Among those who I feel could help the team immediately are Tim Federowicz, Javy Guerra, Josh Wall, and Alex Castellanos. I already went over the reasons Guerra could contribute, as I believed sending him down to begin with was foolish. Wall, despite just an average year at AAA, has the raw stuff catch fire and help stabilize a suddenly shaky bullpen. Federowicz is not as good a hitter as his .296/.371/.465/.836 line in AAA would indicate, but he’s a good defender and is an upgrade over Matt Treanor right now. Castellanos could provide right-handed thump off the bench, as his .338/.431/.610/1.041 line in AAA would somewhat indicate. I’d rather see him get a chance than continue to run Juan Rivera out there, that’s for sure.

Other possibilities on the 40-man are Scott Van Slyke and Fife. Van Slyke could do much the same as Castellanos, but I have less confidence in his bat. Still, he can hardly be a worse pinch hitting option than Uribe or Kennedy or Nick Punto. I’m not sure Fife would fit in the bullpen, but if he’s not going to get designated then he could be called up to use as a long man.

Ely, Gwynn, and Abreu could all help, but I have to think they’re long shots due to the roster crunch reasons I mentioned earlier. Personally, I would have no problem designating about a half dozen players, but the team has somehow managed to resist doing that all year, so I don’t see why they would start now. With that said, if a starter goes down with injury, Ely deserves a chance after putting up a 3.20 ERA in 168.2 innings with solid peripherals in that league. Gwynn has put up a .304/.400/.393/.793 line at AAA and I really feel like he has to be added to the 40-man and called up somehow, if for no other reason than to pinch run. If Abreu’s healthy, he could probably do what Shane Victorino is producing in left right now sans the defense, so he could be a useful bench guy.

—–

Assuming Billingsley, Jansen, and Elbert return from injury, and that Gordon will be back but not Lilly, I would call on Federowicz, Guerra, Wall, Castellanos, Van Slyke, Gwynn, and Abreu while designating Uribe, Angle, and Herrera.

Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times reports that Clayton Kershaw will throw a bullpen session on Friday after getting his original bullpen session postponed due a sore back on Wednesday. Additionally, Mike MacDougal postponed a bullpen session due to a back injury.

Ah, Spring Training!

—–

Ken Gurnick of MLB.com reports that the Los Angeles Dodgers have claimed Matt Angle off waivers from the Baltimore Orioles and moved Rubby De La Rosa to the 60-day disabled list.

My question? Why him?

He’s a 25-year-old outfielder that hit .177/.293/.266/.559 in the majors last year, and only .271/.347/.344/.692 in the minors. Plus, Ned Colletti signed enough outfielders to have five or six of them on the roster, and all the Dodgers have in the minors is potential reserve outfielders.

Confusing.

—–

Don Mattingly thinks Chad Billingsley can do much better, which isn’t surprising given his 2011, but the mechanics part off the story is interesting.

“I think there’s more there,” manager Don Mattingly said. “Honey [pitching coach Rick Honeycutt] thinks there’s more there. I think Chad thinks there’s more there. That’s the thing we want to help him with, just to get a little better.”

According to Honeycutt, scouting director Logan White provided video of Billingsley pitching in high school, when he dominated Ohio preps, leading to his first-round selection by the Dodgers. Back then, he kept his foot under his body as he lifted his lead leg. In recent years, he kicks out the foot before shifting his body weight from right leg to left. He worked during the winter on regaining his high school form.

“I’m trying to keep my foot closer and that allows me to be more consistent in my rhythm and timing,” Billingsley said. “We looked at some video and noticed that it was different from a few years ago. It doesn’t seem like a big thing, but a little adjustment can make a difference.

“It’s not really about confidence. My confidence is fine. It’s more like when you’re pitching or hitting and it doesn’t feel effortless. There are times when I feel I have to force my body to get into position and I have to work at it. I fight myself, kind of. We all try to throw the fastball down and away. For me, to do that, I feel like I’m throwing across my body and it leads to cutting the ball.”

Would love to have that video of him in high school so I can compare, but it’s still something worth monitoring.

Enjoyed how he threw in that part about his confidence just so that people can get off that schtick for once.