Mitch White started for the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday in their game in Minnesota against the Twins. He was recently traded by the Dodgers along with 20-year-old Alex De Jesus for right-hander Nick Frasso and 20-year-old left-hander Moises Brito.
Although it is a bit of a head scratcher for Dodger fans, it is not for us to know the reason for the trade. That reason may take some time to unfold and is more of a future move than it is a move to improve the Dodgers in the here and now.
In any event, Nick Frasso has been assigned to the Great Lakes Loons and is now one more prospect for us to follow. Perhaps, in the next month, we will better understand why the 23-year-old righty who up until now has tossed only 11 innings at the A+ level was coveted by Andrew Friedman, although perhaps even now we have some clues.
Frasso was born in Torrance, California and attended high school at Palos Verdes Peninsula High in Rollings Hills Estates which is less than four miles from his hometown.
At Peninsula High the 6’5”/200 lb. Frasso played both basketball and baseball. He apparently excelled at both and on the court he could hit from anywhere while he claims his best dunk was his between-the-legs dunk.
Following graduation from high school Frasso headed off to Loyola Marymount University (LMU), a mere 25 miles from Dodger Stadium.
At Loyola Marymount his attention turned solely to baseball, perhaps at the urging of his high school coach, Brian Bowles, who had been selected by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 50th round in 1994.
“I told (Frasso) four years ago that if he made a commitment in the weight room, and started playing catch year round, he’d give himself a chance to play in the big leagues,” Bowles said. “Credit to him, because he put in the work.”
Frasso did bring some of what he learned on the basketball court to the baseball diamond. More specifically, the competitive aspect of basketball where players are constantly going one-on-one.
“Baseball isn’t as physical as basketball, but the competitive aspect was something that definitely translated,” Frasso said. “The aspect of you against your defender compared to you as a pitcher against a hitter.”
As a sophomore at LMU Frasso thrust himself into the national spotlight by shutting down No. 1 ranked UCLA in the College World Series Regionals. Frasso earned the six-out save, getting showered with chants of “L-M-U!” after each out.
“It’s like he doesn’t have a heartbeat,” LMU head coach Jason Gill said of the sophomore. “The fans are screaming and in Nick’s head, I don’t know what he’s singing, but it’s not what everyone else is singing.”
During the 2019 college season he posted a 2.22 ERA and a 0.83 WHIP over 19 appearances and 56.12 innings pitched. He made only five starts and recorded 10 saves along with 73 strikeouts and 17 walks.
Some elbow soreness, a precursor of things to come, and the Covid-19 virus shut down his 2020 season which he expected would seriously affect his draft stock.
That didn’t stop Frasso from continuing to find ways to continue throwing, or stay in shape. He worked out multiple times a week at a friend’s home gym just as his high school coach expected he would. At LMU he followed his high school coach’s advice and added weight as his body filled out and his fastball hit 97 mph.
“I’ve gained 40 pounds in my three years at LMU,” Frasso said, “and it’s just something that helps me gain velocity, be more durable and just be better overall. That’s something I really tried to change.”
His draft stock remained relatively high as he was selected by the Blue Jays in the fourth round of the 2020 First-Year Player Draft, 106th overall.
Being selected by the Blue Jays wasn’t a surprise for Frasso, as the club had kept steady contact with him throughout the scouting process. He was excited to become part of the young core of players being developed by the Blue Jays.
“I know they’re very good at developing players and they really help players get better and reach their full potential,” Frasso said, “so I’m excited for that.”
He was assigned to the Dunedin Blue Jays in the Florida State league for the 2021 season. After five innings the discomfort in his elbow could not be ignored and he was shut down for elbow surgery. Frasso’s procedure wasn’t quite the traditional Tommy John surgery but was a UCL repair with an internal brace coming with a slightly shorter recovery time. Nevertheless less, it meant his 2021 season would be spent as a spectator.
During the current season Frasso has worked as a starter over 10 appearances. In 36.2 innings pitched he has posted a 0.74 ERA and a 0.71 WHIP pitching with the A level Dunedin Blue Jays of the Florida State League and the A+ Vancouver Canadians of the Northwest League. He has struck out 57 and walked 10.
He was named the Northwest League Pitcher of the Week for the week of July 4-10. He struck out eight consecutive hitters – one shy of tying the league record – and struck out a total of ten over four hitless innings.
Frasso, now listed at No. 26 on the Dodgers Top 30 list, following his elbow surgery has touched 100 mph while sitting in the 95-97 mph range.
There some scouting reports around but I thought I would let Nick Frasso assess himself. He seems like a rather articulate young man. That is, to see where he feels he is currently at with his pitching repertoire.
He does have a three-pitch mix which at this point, according to Frasso, are not all developed. Nothing surprising there. He is especially fond of his fastball.
“I like my fastball a lot obviously, so I use it a good amount,” said Frasso. “I think it makes my off-speed pitches better using my fastball quite often early in counts and finishing with off-speed stuff or vice versa.”
The righty feels his slider tunnels pretty well off his fastball,
“Yeah, I feel my slider tunnels pretty well,” explained Frasso. “Obviously I’m still getting into the details of that and figuring out what I need to do so it can be the best it can be. But for the most part I feel it tunnels pretty well.”
Frasso also likes the development of his changeup in pro ball,
“My changeup is developing well,” Frasso added. “In college it was a little hit-or-miss. Some days it’d be on and others it wouldn’t. Since the transition to pro ball, I’ve been able to get that pitch a little more consistent. I’ve been able to use it a little more especially in recent outings which is good.”
It no doubt is expected, at this point, that he will continue in a starting role but with a good two pitch mix – fastball and slider – he may return at some point in his career to a late inning high leverage role.
Welcome to Great Lakes and Dodger Blue Nick.
Given that, Machado was asked if he was concerned about how the Padres match up with the Dodgers — a team they seem destined to face in the postseason.
“Concerned?” he shot back. “Why would I be concerned? Not at all.”
What gave him that confidence?
“I’m f—ing Manny Machado,” he quipped.
Well, he isn’t wrong. He is f—-ing Manny Machado.
Frasso looks impressive. 6’5”, freakishly athletic, throws 100 mph.
Brito?
“The other player the Dodgers are getting in the trade is a bit more of a mystery. Brito is a 6’5, 20-year-old left-handed pitcher, who has a 1.86 ERA in the Dominican Summer League, striking out 32 and walking just one in 29 innings. That’s about anybody seems to know for now. We’ll likely find out more when he moves stateside.”
32 K’s and 1 walk in 29 iniings? I’d like to know more about this buy
Machado has a long history of winning, right?
Friedman planning the Dodger future with the White trade and if Gonsolin hangs in and Anderson keeps repeating what he did last night, and Pepiot, Buehler, and Kershaw pitch some good innings down the stretch, that trade will be a chess move.
He won over $300 million. No championships of course, just money, so that makes him Manny F—-ing Machado. I never liked him, even the 60 some games he was a Dodger. He swallowed a massive olive in his final series with the Dodgers.
The White trade seemed odd, especially in lieu of Kershaw going down right away. But, maybe Gonsolin can do something he’s never done and Anderson can do something he hasn’t done since he was 28. If that’s the case, this team can play to November
Machado was being critized for not hustling after a grounder that got away from him and dribbled into short left. Left fielder hustled in to prevent runner from scoring. No harm, no foul but had the left fielder also not hustled after it, that would have been embarassing for Machado.
It will be fun to watch Frasso and Brito develop.
It IS fun to watch players like Noda, Lockhart, DeLuca, Nastrini, Burns and Kopp develop.
It IS ludicrously fun to watch this team and organization right now on almost all levels.
Interesting note from my Twitter feed. The Dodgers were reportedly interested in this player going into the draft:
Seems to be a loud industry opinion that Milwaukee Brewers 2nd Rd pick RHP Jacob Misiorowski is the steal of the draft. A whole lot of “He’s a Top 100 guy already” going on. Got paid like a first rounder too. Up to 102. Low 90s SL. Unbelievable athlete for his 6-7 frame.
Will be interesting to watch him too.
He’s 6’7” 190. He’s in the Top 10 in Skinny, only 20 years old, so it might be a good idea to back him off 102, hit the weight room and start spotting 97 with spin. Yes, it would be interesting to watch him, but I’ll leave that up to you Bluto. I’m watching Who Do You Think You Are with Bradley Whitford.
It was a statement weekend to be sure. The Padres scored 4 runs in 3 games, one earned (if you want to call it that). Gloat on it for a day, and then it is back to work. I doubt that this will be the same Padres team the Dodgers see in September.
It also may not be the same LAD team in September. Cody Bellinger and Max Muncy are showing signs of getting comfortable for the stretch run. Both players are capable of carrying the team on their back. So if they get hot with the others, this really will be the offense everyone was looking for. But I am not holding my breath. Been there done that. I need to see more consistent barrels and hard hit balls. But Cody’s two Left-Center HR’s yesterday could be a good omen. He also had a couple of blistering doubles over the weekend. This could be the change.
It appears that Graterol and May will be ready in August; Treinen, Kahnle, and Kershaw in September. Buehler? With Jackson and Pepiot, there SHOULD be enough arms for November.
Just a ton of depth on every organizational level.
Remember there were some dingbats on the other board who worried about the team getting 100 wins during the season’s first quarter.
I just saw something on another site about this team’s record. They have 54 games left, and if they go 31-23 the rest of the way, they will match last year’s 106 wins. That is a .574 rate. They are on a 112 win pace.
The Dodgers are now 5.5 games ahead of NYM and NYY, and 6 games ahead of Houston. The Padres are only 1.5 games ahead of Milwaukee for the final WC team. The Giants play the Padres for three starting tonight. I am pulling for a SF sweep.
Dodgers have claimed infielder Rylan Bannon off waivers from the Orioles. He was one of the 5 players we sent them in the Machado trade.
We had an open spot on the 40-man so no one needs to be lopped off to accommodate Bannon, but with all the guys due to return from the 60 day IL shortly I can’t imagine Mr. Bannon will be here for long.
AF might be hoping to sneak him through waivers when that happens, but we all know that when Andrew claims a guy and then dfa’s him, everyone else suddenly gets interested.
Here is an excellent analysis by Eric Stephen as he breaks down the first and second third of the season.
https://www.truebluela.com/2022/8/8/23293292/dodgers-2022-season-middle-54-games
Also see below an analysis of the “trades” and also an editorial as to why the Dodgers should have traded for Juan Soto all by Future Dodgers’ Justin Lorber. This is a go to site for me, and I know Singing The Blue also is very complimentary of this site.
I most certainly am complimentary of Justin’s site. He does great work, with a number of terrific spreadsheets that he updates on a regular basis.
He just came out with his revised Top 100 Dodger prospects and he’ll be doing write-ups on them this week I believe. They will include this year’s draft signees, if appropriate.
He also keeps a spreadsheet on all Dodger prospects and when they become eligible for the Rule 5 draft. The list for this winter includes quite a few players that we like. Some very tough decisions ahead for the front office.
I beleive Justin is going to predict which players will be protected in the Rule 5 draft with his update. I am going with three absolute and three probable.
Absolute – Diego Cartaya, Michael Busch, Andy Pages
Probable – Jonny DeLuca, Jose Ramos, Carlos Duran (in that order)
OK, Dr. Predicto, now give me 6 players currently on the 40-man who won’t be there next year so that we can protect the 6 you named.
I know that’s a difficult task, but hey, it should give us something to do tonight while there is no game.
That is a tough question. We do not yet know how many on the 40 man will be released to make room for who is going to be activated from the 60 day. But I am going to assume Jake Reed, Eddy Alvarez, Reyes Moronta, Rylan Bannon. If it goes to 5 or 6, that could impact my options below.
David Price
Joey Gallo
Craig Kimbrel
1 of Andrew Heaney, Tyler Anderson, and Clayton Kershaw
Only if Jose Ramos is added – 1 of JT, Max Muncy, and Edwin Rios .
Only if Carlos Duran is added – 1 of Justin Bruihl and Phil Bickford
If the Dodgers stick with only three, the last three will not be necessary. But I do think the 4th option above is probable. Jonny DeLuca would be #4.
After adding a little muscle, Stone’s breaking out. Listed at 6-foot-1, 175 pounds, he’s reportedly up to 195 pounds,