Kind of a quiet week on the farm for the Dodgers affiliates. The Loons went 4-1, but the other three affiliates didn’t play .500 ball.

The pitching seemed to lack this week more than the offense, but there have been some impressive early-season performances thus far.

—–

Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes (2-5)

Player Of The Week

Scott Van Slyke – 1B

.435/.517/.957/1.474, 3 HR, 6 RBI, 3 2B, 7 R, 5 BB, 4 K

Van Slyke is on fire to start the season. Not only is he hitting the cover off the ball, he’s walking, too. He’s slimmed down and it appears to be helping him. He’s a late-bloomer for sure, but this is ridiculous — in a good way.

Pitcher Of The Week

Matt Magill – RHP

5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 7 K

Magill’s first start wasn’t great, but his second start was much better. He has the skill set to pitch in the Pacific Coast League, especially with his ability to get the strikeout. It’ll be interesting to see how Magill fares in the extreme hitter’s league this season.

—–

Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts (2-4)

Player Of The Week

Yasiel Puig – OF

.304/.333/.609/.942, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 2 2B, 1 3B, 1 BB, 5 K

Puig wasn’t as good as last week, but he still was able to smack four extra-base hits while trying to help the mediocre-thus-far Lookouts’ offense. Joc Pederson was a close second.

Pitcher Of The Week

Zach Lee – RHP

7 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 HR, 1 BB (Intentional), 7 K

Lee pitched like the Dodgers’ best pitching prospect this week, as he spun a gem against the Tennessee Smokies. He’s off to a fast start this season, and could re-establish his prospect status (even though he didn’t do a whole lot to hurt it in 2012) with a strong performance in Double-A.

—–

High-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (3-4)

Player Of The Week

Scott Wingo – 2B

.400/.571/.467/1.038, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 5 R, 4 BB, 3 K, 2 HBP

Wingo is an on-base machine, or at least he was this week. He gets pushed to the bottom of the lineup thanks to Darnell Sweeney and Noel Cuevas, but it’s nice to have that on-base ability to turn the lineup over.

Pitcher Of The Week

Pedro Baez – RHP

2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K

Kind of a rough week for Quakes’ pitching. Ross Stripling pitched relatively well, but still gave up three runs in five innings. Baez is not the Quakes’ closer right now, but he could be by mid-season, due to either promotions or performance.

—–

Low-A Great Lakes Loons (4-1)

Player Of The Week

Paul Hoenecke – 3B

.476/.500/1.262/1.762, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 3 2B, 7 R, 1 BB, 3 K

Hoenecke has been the Loons’ best hitter by far. He’s providing the middle-of-the-order presence Great Lakes’ terrible offense needs. Corey Seager has struggled (statistically), and the team isn’t getting much offense from anyone else.

Pitcher Of The Week

Ralston Cash – RHP

6 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K

Despite giving up six runs in his first start, none of them were earned. That explains the 0.93 ERA and 4.09 FIP this season, but still, he’s striking batters out (15 in 9 2/3 innings). This is a big year for the former second-rounder.

=====

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.

Garrett Gould throws during the June 5th game against the Stockton Ports. Photo by Dustin Nosler.

Baseball America has released their Best Tools rankings for 2012 and it includes four Dodgers prospects and one Dodgers manager.

Tim Federowicz of the Albuquerque Isotopes was named Best Defensive Catcher in the Pacific Coast League. His manager, Lorenzo Bundy, was voted as the Best Managerial Prospect in the league. Garrett Gould of the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes was voted as having the Best Breaking Pitch in the California League. His teammate, C.J. Retherford, was named as the Best Defensive 3B in the league. James Baldwin of the Great Lakes Loons was voted as the Best Baserunner in the Midwest League.

I’m quite certain that Federowicz could do a better job than Matt Treanor right now, but one gets the feeling that the team believes he can be a starter down the road, so they want him getting regular playing time. Gould is a prospect that both Dustin Nosler and I like, and his recognition is well deserved. Retherford is not a prospect at this point in his career and Baldwin might be a great baserunner, but he’s not a great hitter. As for Bundy, if he wants to manage in the MLB someday, he’ll probably have to take a job outside the organization, as I don’t think Don Mattingly is going anywhere for a while (nor should he).

—–

The Dodgers recently released the rest of the names of their international signing class of 2012. It had previously been revealed that the team had inked Cristian Gomez out of the Dominican Republic, William Soto out of Venezuela, and Lenix Osuna, Victor Gonzalez, and Julian Leon out of Mexico. The rest of the names, though, had not been revealed until now.

They are Martin Rosario out of Puerto Rico, Luis Subero and Angel Pena out of Venezuela, and Rafael Gomez King, Omarlin Franco, Luis Alcantara, Luis Jimenez, Ezequiel Guzman, Albert Romano, and Jorlin Javier Chales out of the Dominican Republic.