It was not that long ago that the Dodgers were considered deep with catching prospects:
- Will Smith
- Keibert Ruiz
- Diego Cartaya
- Conner Wong
- Jair Camargo
Smith (LAD), Ruiz (Nationals), Wong (Red Sox) are starting catchers in MLB. The other two, Cartaya and Camargo will be teammates for Minnesota’s AAA team, St. Paul Saints. If Minnesota is successful in trading their current backup catcher, Christian Vázquez, Camargo figures to take over as the backup catcher for the Twins. Camargo has two options remaining while Cartaya has one.
Wong was part of the package traded to Boston for Mookie. Camargo was part of the package traded to Minnesota in the Brusdar Graterol deal. Ruiz was traded to Washington along with JoJo Gray for Max Scherzer and Trea Turner.
And now, Cartaya has been traded to Minnesota for 20 year old RH pitching lottery ticket Jose Vazquez.
That leaves Will Smith as the lone catcher standing with LAD from that group. Last year, Smith signed a 10 year $140MM extension to be the long term everyday catcher. He will be 38 when he finishes the contract. Time will tell whether that decision was wise or not. However, he is a two-time All Star, and is currently considered the 3rd best MLB catcher.
In 2018, the Dodgers drafted Hunter Feduccia in the 12th round from LSU. I am guilty of overvaluing players from LSU and I became an instant advocate. He has progressed to MLB where he has shown that he can be more than a capable backup catcher.
In 2021, LAD signed Dominican catcher Thayron Liranzo. Liranzo started to move up the LAD prospect ranks and was traded to Detroit in the Jack Flaherty trade.
In 2022, the Dodgers restocked their elite catcher stock while drafting Dalton Rushing from the University of Louisville, same university as Will Smith. Rushing is now the #1 LAD prospect per MLB Pipeline and Baseball America. He is MLB ready right now with the bat, but no place to play with Smith firmly entrenched as the LAD starting catcher. Rushing started to play some LF last year because LAD wanted to increase his versatility to try and take advantage of his bat. With Cartaya moving to Minnesota, Brandon Gomes has told Rushing he is going to back to more catching. With Feduccia and Rushing, OKC is down to 2 catchers. They do have an emergency catcher in Griffin Lockwood-Powell (GLP) who has been moved primarily (almost exclusively) to 1B.
Currently the only catcher on the Tulsa roster is 23 year old Nelson Quiroz. Quiroz is from Navajoa, Mexico, and was signed April 2019. He was at Great Lakes in 2024 and in 202 PA he slashed .255/.322/.299/.621, 6 XBH, 1 HR. He is certainly a contact first hitter. He walked 16 times and struck out 16 times in those 202 PA. That is 7.92% K and BB rate. Unless GLP drops down to AA, AF/BG will be looking for another AA catcher. Quiroz has a career .986 field percentage and a 25.6% caught stealing rate. He looks to be more organizational depth at this point.
In 2021, the Dodgers signed 21 year old (now) catcher from Venezuela, Jesus Galiz. Galiz has impressed in his early years and figures to start his season at Great Lakes. He is currently the #30 LAD prospect, per MLB Pipeline. Galiz is considered a defense 1st catcher with a high baseball IQ. He is probably better slated as another potential backup catcher rather than a frontline catcher.
The second projected Great Lakes catcher is fellow Venezuelan, 22 year old Carlos Rojas. Rojas was signed in 2019. Last year at Rancho, in 310 PA, Rojas slashed .290/.368/.357/.725. Another contact hitter with 48 K vs 29 BB. Defensively, in 1,642 total chances, Rojas has a .991 career fielding percentage. He also has a 30.4 caught stealing rate.
The organizational depth chart of catcher has two catchers at Rancho Cucamonga and two ACL rookie league catchers.
Penciled at catcher to start 2025 at Rancho Cucamonga, 20 year old Victor Rodrigues, another Venezuelan catcher, was signed in January 2022. He ended the 2024 season at Rancho as a 19 year old. The second catcher currently penciled to begin at Rancho is 21 year old Angel Diaz from…you guessed it, Venezuela.
The two catchers slated to start their US debuts at the Arizona Complex League, are 20 year old Dominican catcher, Railin Familia, and 20 year old Nicaraguan catcher, Jose Torrez. Both Familia and Torrez had good DSL seasons.
With Rushing and Feduccia MLB ready right now, the Dodgers have sufficient catching to get through the season. After these two, the Dodgers will be hoping one or two of the remaining AA, A+, A, and Rookie League catchers break through to become legit prospects. Jesus Galiz is currently a notable prospect, but is he really?
Feduccia will be first up if something happens to Smith or Barnes. I think 25 will be Barnes last year with the team, and if he decides to retire, I see him going into coaching or managing at the minor league level. Yankees signed Dominic Smith to a minor league deal. Congrats to the Rams on their dominant win over the Vikings.
You’re probably right that Feduccia, older and more experienced than Rushing, would get called up if Smith or Barnes gets hurt.
But I’d rather see what Rushing can do. He’ll need ML experience if the Dodgers want to bring him up in ’26 to back up Smith.
If Rushing proves worthy, he could be more than a backup. Perhaps it could be more of job share that affords Smith more rest. Perhaps Rushing could also back up Freddie at 1B, play a little LF and pinch hit to stay sharp.
As good as the roster is now, it would be more impressive with Rushing and his power in the mix.
Some fans, I think, believe that Rushing is simply not good enough to replace Smith and too good (potentially) to be a backup–and thus his greatest value to the Dodgers could come in a trade, assuming it’s a fair return.
I disagree.
Rushing is a great insurance policy in case Smith gets hurt. Long-term, he might be Freddie’s successor at 1B. If Freddie gets banged up, Rushing might be his best replacement right now.
And I still think both Smith and Rushing should be taking grounders at 3B to enhance that ‘optionality.’ How many seasons does Max have left?
Smith has played third before, Rushing has not. But maybe the plan is to move Smith eventually to third after Muncy is gone and make Rushing the #1 catcher. Like Jeff said, Rushing is going to get the bulk of his playing time at OKC as the backstop.
Smith’s contract loses A LOT of value if he is a 3B.
I’m not sure that aligns with the front office’s methods.
How much time has Smith had at 3B? I don’t recall a single incident, but I’m walking the dog and can’t look it up.
Smith played third 58 times while he was in the minors. He also played 1 game there with the Dodgers. His career total games at each position, college minors and majors. C 907, 1B 1, 2B 11, 3B 60. Plus 3 games as a DH and 2 in RF. Per his site on baseball reference.
Sasaki allegedly has narrowed down his choice to the Dodgers, Padres and Jays.
Great win by the Rams!
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sick of Sasaki dont really care if we get another Prima Donna or not
Maybe what you’re sick of is the media overhype. I am as well, but I try not to let that influence the facts. Good pitcher, low salary,period.
Sandy, I know it seems like Sasaki is dragging out his signing decision but you have to be aware that the signing period begins tomorrow. He could declare the winner early but why would he? I certainly don’t see that as being a Prima Donna.
Some people need things to get upset about.
I think he probably knows where he wants to be. Why drag it out any further?
Optics. Don’t want it to look like he and the Dodgers had a handshake deal before it was allowed.
Smith will be 30 when the season starts and looking at his stats it would appear, unsurprisingly, that he peaked offensively at age 27, which, coincidentally, is Feduccia’s current age.
This year will be a ‘24 receiver reduex and the Dodgers are fortunate to have who is there. That said I do not expect the WAR out of that group to be commensurate with what it has been. They are all older and residing in, or moving into, post prime.
Who is the Dodger catcher of the future and exactly when does that future arrive? I don’t know the answer to that and it appears to me to be mercurial. I had Ruiz there. Then I had Cartaya there. Then Feduccia. Then Rushing. And now I see more names, of which I have yet to choose any as I don’t know these guys. One of them might be Rushing’s future backup or for all I know they all could be traded. I could blindly pick one or two, but A League players are all crapshoots to me. Every organization has a plethora of those guys.
Anyway, thanks for another well researched and superbly written post Jeff. I’ll trust your judgement on who, if any, among them will rise and stick with the organization.
And for STB Jefe, are you threatened up there?
Hey Badger, thanks for asking.
So far, we’ve been lucky. Fires all around us but nothing close enough to evacuate.
Expecting more high winds today and tomorrow so holding our breath that our luck holds.
In the meanwhile, the devastation we see from tv coverage is one huge gut punch. It will take years to rebuild the homes and businesses that were destroyed, not to mention so very many lives that have been totally turned upside down.
It’s nice to have Roki and Dodger baseball to take one’s mind off of all the bad stuff that’s going on.
Which part of town are you in?
God bless you and your family, STB. I had no idea you were in harms way and so close to the fire. It’s impossible to imagine what this must be like. My thoughts are with you.
Good to hear brother.
Roki. Totally agree.
I’ve been thinking of you and your location and should have reached out to you. May it rain on your party.
Appreciate the concern from all of you.
We’re up here in the North Valley near the 118 Fwy and Tampa for those of you who know where that is. We had a small fire break out about 5 minutes from us in Granada Hills, but luckily they put that one out very quickly.
My nephew lives in Altadena and was incredibly lucky as the fire got to within 50 yards of his house and stopped.
My 89 year old mother-in-law lives in the Glendale area and she had to evacuate for a few days and stayed with us.
All things considered we’ve been far more fortunate than so many others.
My brother lives in Chatsworth, that’s reasonably nearby right?
Pretty much right next door.
Where are you?
We are down in the Larchmont Village area?
I mean, I’m not questioning where I live, but I’m trying to be very general and I’m not sure if you would know that general area.
You should be safe no matter what (except for an earthquake).
from your mouth…
STB, I too wish you nothing but Godspeed with this horrific fire. I know the area you live. I was the Controller of the Development Company that built most of those homes. I moved into Granada Hills 1978, and was on my roof with a hose putting out embers when the 1988 Porter Ranch hit. I had friends whose homes were destroyed and damaged in that fire. I do not think many understand how fierce the Santa Ana’s are in the Granada HIlls/Porter Ranch area. We would routinely find our back yard furniture in our neighbor’s back yard.
We still have many friends in the area and we check on them every night. Our prayers were with you once we heard about the fire, and they remain so.
Thanks so much, Jeff.
As I said above, we’ve been a lot luckier than many others. We were supposed to have bad winds today, but it never got too bad. Supposed to be bad again tomorrow. Hopefully that won’t get too bad either.
Of course the Smith contract was smart. Locked up a core member of championship team for ~&12m tax hit.
I am not arrogant enough to believe the Dodgers are so good they are just going to waltz to another title. SD and AZ will be good enough to scare some people. The Giants pitching is still pretty decent. Only the Rockies are non-contenders. Outside the division, most of the good teams have made moves. It should be a dogfight for the pennant this year.
I agree. I think that is a good thing. Every year we just waltzed to the division title and played no meaningful games down the stretch, we went one and out in the playoffs. Last year we had to battle until the very end of September and came out playing much better in the playoffs.
It would be nice to get through a season Bear where we didn’t struggle to the finish line with about 3 starting pitchers left. My huge hope for this season is to reduce the number of arm injuries.
I wonder what the Dodger brain trust is doing to help curb arm injuries? Seemed like they were going to “investigate” the problem at the end of last season. Clearly their current methods don’t seem to keep their pitchers off the IL.
I agree on that. To me, the biggest surprise was that they won, and used a bullpen game in each series and they shut out the Pads with one of them.
Baseball Prospectus giving LAD 2 top ten prospects. Zyhir Hope is 8th top prospect and Josue De Paula is 9th. They still have a lot to prove, but it is encouraging .
In addition to Hope and De Paula, Baseball Prospectus has placed three additional LAD prospects on their top 101.
Dodgers did not miss on drafting Michael Busch. The Dodgers turned Busch into two of their top four prospects in a year.
It is evident to me that it is not that Rushing has dropped in rankings. It is clear that BP loves the potential of 2 OF that have skyrocketed past Rushing in the rankings. But Rushing in his own right has improved 14 spots from last year.
If this is your jawn, then check out Eric Stephen’s 3-inning-save podcast where he has the great Jeff Paternosto on to discuss the BP list and the Dodgers:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dodgers-top-10-prospects-with-jeffrey-paternostro/id1380573519?i=1000683946990
I personally found this interesting:
“They’re both likely to be good defensive outfielders, with De Paula a better shot to stick in center overall.”
Also, speaking of catchers, Thayron Liranzo also made the BP list.
Tried to look up the word jawn, figured it might be lawn, not sure, so moved right to Thee Inning Save. First thought was, that title sure doesn’t apply to the Dodgers (when was the last one put up by a Dodger?) but, the content was interesting. Appreciate the information. Thanks.
And something else that I would find interesting, we see these prospect evaluations every year. Over the last decade or so, how many of them a. stuck with the organization until arrival at the ML level and 2. how many of them are still here?
You never saw Creed?
Sure I did. Great movie. Don’t remember jawn. So, it’s ketchup?
No way JDP plays CF. Some think he might even have to move to 1B or DH he is such a lumberer.
So, when do all three make their debuts and who among them will do so as a Dodger?
Should change his name to Zohir Hype.
Trading Lux for a younger player, signing Kim, obtaining Hope and perhaps Ferris looks like there is a long term plan to build the future as well as win now.
Speaking of Roki Sasaki this morning, there is a very long but interesting article about his childhood trauma and his pitching prowess, in the Athletic by Stephen Nesbitt. I had zero knowledge of this kid’s history other than as a pitcher.
Maybe all his critics can settle down and let the guy make up his mind about his future? He can’t even sign until tomorrow legally so what’s the rush?
I know that Roki’s signing is holding up the Dodgers signing other International prospects and it would be nice to know his future but he has every right to make his decision on his time. It’s not my business to tell him what to do.
I just read this morning he has until the 23rd. My point was, why wait that long? I think he knows where he wants to go, just announce it tomorrow.
Exactly. It would be the right thing to do so the teams that don’t get him can get on with business.
Maybe are getting bonus money together for him.
Say less
AZ has a team that finds a way to win with speed and timely hitting. The Dodgers seem to be adding players with speed and ability to make contact not to mention position flexibility. Regarding flexibility and catching we shouldn’t forget about Yeiner Fernandez who can play multiple positions and be an emergency catcher.
Sure hope Sasaki makes his decision a few days before the Jan 23 cutoff date so teams that don’t get him can sign other international players with their allotted funds.
Or sign Flaherty
Once he delays his decision beyond the 15th I would guess that a lot of players who committed to the Dodgers, Pads or Jays might seek other opportunities. But the only deadline on the 23rd is Sasaki’s posting. The international signing period goes all the way to this coming December.
Dodgers get second Sasaki meeting Tuesday per the Athletic.
Per Francys Romero (I may have posted this last night)
Dominican INF Teilon Serrano, who was set to sign with the Dodgers in the upcoming 2024-25 international signing period, withdrew from his agreement and is back on the market, per sources.
Serrano will now look to sign with a new MLB organization.
That makes 3 they have lost for sure.
Sasaki meeting with LA today, and this time the team is allowed to bring players to the meeting. Not sure who they might have there. Per MLBTR.
Had a great meeting with my medical team today. About 3 weeks from being discharged so I can head home.
Glad to hear Bear! Just in time for pitchers and catchers!
Great news Bear! I know it’s going slower than you’d like but at least you’re making progress.
Were any of the Dodger players at your meeting or were they all with Roki today?
Crazy! Crazy gossip from Longenhagen on mlb radio:
he (Eric L) heard a rumor that a team has a deal lined up with the Dodgers to trade 3 million in IFA slot money for….
JOSUE DE PAULA.
he says he is skeptical. but he threw it out there.
If that rumor turns out to be true (and I don’t believe it is), that would indicate to me that the Dodger front office has decided JDP isn’t as good as he’s been cracked up to be. Otherwise he’d be worth a lot more than 3 mil.
I hope it doesn’t come down to a few million dollars. It hope he believes it’s about the future. He will make more money with the Dodgers than any other team. Winning makes everybody wealthy.
Your ketchup joke was worse
Yeah, I know. Sometimes they stick, sometimes they fall off the wall.
But it was kinda funny.