OKC Comets 3 – Sugar Land Space Cowboys (Houston) 2
Bobby Miller drew the start against Houston’s Lance McCullers, Jr. on a rehab assignment in the 3rd and final game of the series.
OKC started the scoring in the 2nd inning. Kody Hoese had a one out single and moved to 2nd on a WP. Hunter Feduccia drew a walk. Both Hoese and Feduccia scored on a Ryan Ward double and a 2-0 lead.
Bobby Miller got through 4.2 scoreless innings before reaching 78 pitches…time for automatic removal. Logan Boyer relieved Miller and completed the 5th. In his 4.2 IP, Miller allowed 2 singles, 2 BB, with 4 K. Of his 78 pitches, 46 were strikes (59%). A lot of 5-6-7 pitches to batters. His fastball sat 97-98 with a peak at 98.8 MPH.
Ben Harris relieved Boyer and gave up a solo HR to Jesus Bastidas in the 6th inning. Julien Fernandez relieved Harris and gave up the tying run in the 7th on a BB and run scoring triple.
In the 9th, Austin Gauthier and Chris Okey led off with singles. Hyeseong Kim moved both runners up on a sacrifice bunt. Dalton Rushing drew the intentional free pass to load the bases. Alex Freeland followed that with an unintentional BB to force in the go-ahead and eventual winning run.
Jack Little entered the 9th in a save situation. He did allow a single and BB, but no runs. Little got the save in the 3-2 victory.
OKC starts a 6-game series at home against El Paso Chihuahuas (San Diego) on Tuesday.
- Chris Okey – 2-4
- Ryan Ward – 1-4, double, 2 RBI
- Alex Freeland – 1-4, 1 BB, 1 RBI
- Hunter Feduccia – 2 BB, 1 RBI, 1 run
- Kody Hoese – 1-4, 1 BB, 1 run
- Austin Gauthier – 1-4, 1 run
Watched the first few innings. Looked to me like Miller was overthrowing the ball a lot.
Yes, he did but the stuff was very very good. One of the two hits he gave up was of the infield variety too.
If he continues like that at the very least he will restore his trade value.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Good stuff. Appreciate these.
Jeff–Who is the AA 3B? Went to sleep not knowing and still don’t know.
Hoese is the 3B at AAA. There is no 3B listed on the roster of Tulsa, the AA team. They are carrying 3 SS and 2 2B as infielders.
Where is Chase Harlan playing?
Harlan is not at either of the A level teams. He is assigned to the ACL Dodgers.
Really? I thought that kid would be with the Quakes right away. I also thought he might move quickly through the organization. They need a slugging third baseman and he appears to be one.
Straight out of high school. Where is Kellon Lindsey starting out?
Lindsay is with the ACL Dodgers
Thanks Bear…
High hopes for both Lindsey and Harlan.
From what I’ve read, scouts think Lindsey will be a quality SS, while Morales and J. Vargas are more likely to shift to other positions.
But if Lindsey could shift from SS to CF like the Pads’ Jackson Merrill, that would be cool.
A lot of talent on the 20U Dodgers.
“Harlan is a Pennsylvania high schooler with a loose, fluid right-handed stroke, and he really knows how to rotate. Nearly everything he hit had backspin and was elevated with authority. He got into multiple balls to the pull side when he was really letting it eat, and he undoubtedly already has above-average raw power in his game. It’s a very efficient and repeatable swing that produced one of the best prep BP rounds of the event. There’s also obvious room for projection on the frame. Harlan hit four balls 108 mph or above during BP. He entered the spring with hit tool question marks that he wasn’t necessarily able to put to rest playing in PA. Because he’s a corner bat, teams may ask him to go to school to prove he can get to his power in games.”
I have high hopes for this guy. I think exposed to it now, he could post high OPS numbers in Low A.
The website for Rancho still has last year’s roster listed.
They have not been finalized. They will be this week. First game is Friday. I will be doing a post on the low three affiliates, but it will probably not be until this weekend to make sure we have all the moves. ACL starts May 3, one month after AA, A+,A, and end July 23. While I certainly have no inside information, one can look at the Dodgers track record and at least acknolwedge that high schoolers generally start out in Rookie League. That does not mean they will stay there long.
ACL. He was a high schooler who was injured and had hip surgery last year. He turned 18 right before the draft and will be playing as an 18-year-old this year. He will not be starting at Rancho.
Yeah, I got that. Wasn’t aware of the surgery. That will put him a few months behind.
What about Gelof?
Gelof is listed on the High A Great Lakes Loons roster. Their games start tomorrow.
Thanks. I guess one of those AA middle infielders will move over to 3B.
Tulsa does not really have a 3B. Perhaps the most logical with who is on the roster is Taylor Young. He is a 2B who has played about 41% his games at 3B The other infielders are Noah Miller, Kendall Simmons, and Aaron Bracho Bracho is a 1B while Miller and Simmons will probably switch and share SS/2B. They lost Jose Izarra due to injuries (60 day IL on March 21).
Great Lakes has 3B Jake Gelof who may not be ready for Great Lakes. They also have three middle infielders who have played minimal 3B: Sean McLain, Sam Mongelli, Jordan Thompson.
Inspiring??
Sasaki says he’s having trouble adjusting to the pitch clock and low quality American baseballs.
Yeah, that’s probably true, but did you see those rings?
Yep. Dodgers don’t play the Padres until June 9th, doubt they will be undefeated by then.
Oh ye of little faith…
Low quality? Someone get #45/#47 on the case!
Good plan.
It’s time for DOGER baseball!
I know I’ll take some heat on that one. Bring it.
That should read “baseballs”. Too late to edit.
hahaha
Ugh…
Why swing a torpedo bat when you can swing a chainsaw?
Once we finish celebrating “Liberation Day,” we can proceed with the invasion of Greenland.
And then Canada….
Yeah, we’ll soon be sick of all this “winning”…
RIP my good friend and drummer for our pickin on the porch group, Butch Klipp. Colorado native and avid fisherman. RIP Butch, you will be missed. Butch is on the far right in the photo. This is before he got his drum pad. Carrying all that drum hardware was a chore.
Sorry to hear that Bear. One by one huh. Soon you’ll have an AI drummer and he will live forever and never miss a beat.
Very true
Feel for you Bear.
Lost my best friend from far gone school days few months ago. We were inseperapble back then. Partners in crime and sports.
He only got to 58, pancreas cancer. Helped his widow who was also a schoolmate of mine back then with all the adminstrative things that come along with a death.
We remembered those days when we were so young and life a lot easier.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
RIP
Very sorry to hear of your loss Bear. My condolences.
Thanks Ohio
Really appreciate the reports from OKC.
I noticed that Kim played CF in this one, with Outman shifting to RF.
They’re competing for next-man-up, in part because of Edman’s versatility. But if Teo or Conforto get hurt, Outman should have the edge….
Nice start for Miller. He’d be a good fit for a few contenders–and maybe still a good fit for the Dodgers.
Now let’s see what Glasnow and May can do…
My only question about the team is CF.
Moving Edman there and playing Kim at 2B might be the only in-house options besides Pages.
Outman doesn’t count.
Harsh.
Because of Mookie’s illness, Outman made the opening day roster in Tokyo. That wasn’t charity. The Dodgers must think he counts.
Still the best CF glove, and still just a sophomore slump removed from finishing 3rd in ROY balloting with a .790 OPS and 23 HRs.
Outman and Bobby Miller have had similar arcs. Promising in ’23 to the pits in ’24 to the Comets in ’25–just a phone call away.
Would you say Miller doesn’t count?
Some early hitting stats:
Edman leads the team in AB, HR & Total Bases
Ohtani leads in H & SB [his 1 is the only on the team] & is tied with Smith in BB]
Conforto leads in 2B
Teo leads in RBI
Betts leads in AVG, SLG & OPS
Smith leads in OBP & is tied with Ohtani in BB]
Freeman is 2nd in SLG
Betts is 2nd in OBP
Smith is 2nd in AVG & OPS
Pages in 2nd in BB
Some early pitching stats:
Gams Pitched–Seven current bullpen members with 3; Dreyer with 2
GS–Waiting on Glasnow & May
QS–None
W–Three with 1
L–None
S–Treinen/Vesia/Scott with 1
Holds–Stupid Stat
IP–Yamamoto with 10
BB–Sasaki with 9 [next closest Snell with 4]
K–Yamamoto with 14 [Yates 7]
K/9–Yates 21.0 [Treinen/Vesia 18.0]
WHIP–Banda 0.0 [Yates .33]
ERA–Five with 0.00, including Knack
Some early managerial stats:
Dave Roberts 5-0
JG – I’m pretty sure Shoehei has 2 stolen bases as I saw him steal second in the Extra Innings win when Mookie went Yard – unless I’m mistaken which is a real possibility!!
I just checked and you’re right it’s only one. I’m sure I saw him steal second uncontested before Mookie hit his Bomb.Must be getting old.
I was surprised that was all we had.
I think Shohei lost one steal to defensive indifference…
Pretty sure he leads in Runs Scored, a stat that is often overlooked though it is arguably the single most important offensive stat.
According to ESPN, he has two SB’s.
Now 6-0…
Snell and Yamamoto only starters with wins. Garcia, Banda and Knack wins for the relief corps.
good catch
Glasnow got the win tonight, Scott gave up a homer and the only Braves run.
It’s early, but Scott sure is off to a shaky start after scoring the big contract.
The Braves are still looking for their first W. Surprising given the talent on that team.
Losing Profar to an 80-day suspension won’t help. But they are expecting Acuna back–and he will help a lot.
I don’t mind seeing the cocky Profar prick getting set straight. His bush league stunts during last season’s playoffs against the Padres made me not like him. Enjoy the 80 games pay cut, chump!!!
And Knack is now in OKC…
Would any of the Dodgers hitters benefit from the Torpedo Bat????
Jame Outman could use a little more meat on his bat. I think they all could see some positive results.
Outman, I think, will always have a lot of swing-and-miss. But maybe not…
But the torpedo bat might help a contact hitter like Kim.
Dodgers should order a few dozen and experiment.
Ohtani might kill someone.
Did you hear that in the StatCast era Ohtani has the top 12 hard hit balls by a Dodger? My son asked me who #13 was and I said, “Great question.”
Would be interesting to see who it is.
Probably someone random like Outman
They said on the broadcast that the first torpedo bats would be in by Wednesday. Max Muncy is one of the players who ordered them. By the way, when I was playing softball in the army in the early 70’s, we had softball bats like that.
interesting.
Trayce Thompson?
I have my office door closed and am watching the Red Sox/O’s game right now.
Waiting for Devers to come up again.
Red Sox nation is about to drown in their chowdah.
He’s 0-16 with 12 Ks.
He does have 2 BBs and 1 RBI however.
(Give an overweight guy a mega-contract, watch him get injured, sign a short-term stopgap to take his job, see him come to ST with a bad attitude, slump to begin year.)
They just extended Crochet for 6 years.
Smart.
I was hoping the Dodgers would trade for Crochet to be the new lefty stud. Instead, the Dodgers kept their prospects and signed Snell–a more proven pitcher but also older.
I’ll be comparing Crochet and Snell as the season progresses.
“The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball announced today that Atlanta Braves outfielder Jurickson Profar has received an 80-game suspension without pay after testing positive for Chorionic Gonadotrophin (hCG), a performance enhancing substance”.
The Beat Goes On
*Cheat
Good riddance to bad trash. Former Dodger Michael Petersen DFAd by the Angels. Braves acquired OF Stuart Fairchild from the Reds.
Profar is trash
Well, now we know why he improved so much last year.
Verdugo signing looking very good right now. I wonder if the Braves had an idea this was coming?
Probably
They just got another outfielder from the Reds, Fairchild.
The torpedo bat.
I may have told this story before but it’s worth telling again.
A good buddy of mine in Oklahoma taught me how to find the sweet spot on a bat. I never knew, and assumed it was where the barrel is the thickest. It is not.
How to find it:
Hold the bat with two fingers toward the center. Take a wooden spoon, or some other similar hard object, and start tapping the bat from the end toward the label. You will feel the bat vibrate with each tap until you get to the sweet spot, which is closer to the label than you might think. And the bat is actually narrower there. What the torpedo bat has done is moved the widest part of the barrel down to where the sweet spot actually is. It’s ingenious. And I’m blown away nobody has thought of this until now.
Or you just have James Outman use the bat and see the spot where the ball never hits
Neither Orel or Joe understand sweet spots.
Don’t tell their wives
What a great defensive asset Tommy Edman is! Love this guy
Born to be a Dodger. Remember Eric always saying defense did not matter if a guy couldn’t hit.
It’s called the Point of Percussion in science and in percussion instruments. My friend was a coach for a couple of decades, is a master woodworker and turned a lot of his own fungo bats. He sent me pictures of his bats, one was hickory and the end was bored out 3” down the barrel with the hole reduced about 1/8th” every inch. Made the bat considerably lighter and didn’t significantly change the sweet spot.
I should amend that last statement.Any weight removed from the end of the bat does move the sweet spot some. The torpedo bat kinda does that with the tapered end. This will move the point of percussion a bit towards the hands.
Badger 4 Equipment Manager!
Request on a topic: Is Andy Pages the answer at CF?
He doesn’t need to be great, mind you, but is he good enough?
Not yet. His defense does seem to be improving. Needs to at least OPS .750 to be a real answer.
Nope.
As OD says, not yet. Will he get there? So far he’s hitting .158 with more Ks than hits. Outman can do that with better defense. And Kim can do that with more speed and better defense. It’s way too early to make a determination but it’s a bad start for Andy.
That catch he made robbing the homer was sweet. Looked effortless.
If it’s play I’m thinking of, he robbed a double.
Pages is improving, but I don’t think the Dodgers see him as a full-time answer in CF–at least not yet.
The Dodgers love that “optionality” stuff. Edman’s ability to shift between CF, 2B and SS enables them to optimize the use of Pages, Kike, Rojas and Taylor. …
With Freddie out and Sale pitching, today’s lineup is loaded with RH bats. Except for Shohei and Edman (a switch-hitter), its all righty swingers.
My thinking is he is not in CF for his defense so he needs to be producing offensively. Obviously he is young and cheap but I don’t see him as a HR threat right now. I think he has toned down his swing to try to cut down on strikeouts, but his power has suffered. Every so often he has a good at-bat [goes 3.-2 then lines a single to CF] but the impact bat is lacking. The good news is his defense appears to be improving.
Edman moving to CF mid-year to accommodate Kim or Freeland seems possible; simply trading for a MLB CF is also on the table. The presence of Keekay makes a move not urgent, but I’m sure we’ll evaluating Pages daily. The better the team, the more apparent it is when a link is weak.
Good take
This offense can give a player like Pages a runway to figure it out. The question is how long a runway will it be. The league has discovered his weakness. He needs to fix it.
In the mean time his OPS of .515 in front of Ohtani sucks begonias. They might consider Edman, .865, or Kiké, .821, for the 9 hole and place Pages at 8. Just a thought.
Nice job by Glasnow and the pen last night. I really like this Dreyer kid. Teo and Kike do it again. Last time they did that, they sent the Dodgers to the NLCS.
Dreyer is excellent. I admit I hadn’t even heard of him when he was protected on the 40-man roster. He is a strike-thrower who trusts his stuff. Although he is probably second in line to lose his spot when reinforcements arrive, he could make it a hard decision if he keeps putting up clean innings.
With Scott, Vesia, Banda & Dreyer, this might be the best group of LH relievers we’ve had in a long long time.
Maybe someday soon Kopp joins the fray.
On the subject of strike throwers, Glasnow threw 79 pitches 48 for strikes, which isn’t awful but 3 walks in 5 innings, 5.4 BB/9, is. That was more walks than hits. With his stuff he could easily get 6 innings on 80 pitches if he cut down on his BB’s.
He got squeezed by the home plate umpire several times. Belino is not a great strike caller.
Fair point.
100% the case last night. There were several head-scratching calls. Other than a brief spell in the 2nd inning when he lost the zone completely for a couple batters, Glasnow had excellent command the entire night.
He’ll never go deep into games because he’s the quintessential modern pitcher, but if it weren’t 3/31 he would’ve gone at least one more inning.
https://x.com/brownsonjacob2/status/1907149106503356795?s=46
much respect to Passan for this
Good on him
Still on pace for 162-0.
Some thoughts on last night’s game:
Glasnow was awesome, especially the first inning. They talked about the work he’s put in on his mechanics and it looks good to me. One of the things I promoted and looked for in both hitters and pitchers is Balance, Posture and Alignment. Balance includes staying over your belly-button at three critical phased; at lift and load over the rubber, at front foot strike and at release. Tyler showed up perfectly at all 3 phases and it was especially evident as the ball came out of his hand. He pitched downhill and just powered that 4-seamer 12 to 6 through the strike zone. There was no flying open early which apparently he worked on. He lost it temporarily with runners on. Since he throws everything from the stretch, that wasn’t a difference but he seemed to outrun his arm and not staying back when he went to a slide-step. But he got it back and was mostly great with his mechanics for his 5 innings and on par with his pitch count. Very nice to see.
Jesus, what happened to Dan Belino’s strike zone for a few hitters. Did he take a cat-nap?
Who was the Dodger scout that sold Ned Colletti to draft Grant Holmes in the first round in the 2014 draft for $2.5 million? The guy’s a midget to start with. Good for him to finally make the show after 10-years in the minor leaguer, but unless something drastic changed he doesn’t look like a first rounder.
Teo’s signing was the best Dodger move of the off-season.
A quick tip for Muncy; please try harder to throw the ball to Edman in the air at 2nd base on a potential double play. Tommy has bailed Max out 2 game in a row from short-hopping the ball into right field.
I’m liking Conforto’s swing more and more.
Orel made mention of on Ohtani’s slide into second for second time. I was thinking the same thing. For a change he didn’t rely on sticking his left hand in the dirt to slide. Back in the day, we were taught to slide touching your butt and back on the dirt and throwing the hands in the air. That keeps that damaged elbow from more injury.
What is the exact job description of the Dodger’s “Skills Coach?”
Ohtani practiced that slide during spring training. For some reason, the other day he reverted to his old habits.
Muscle memory is a bitch
We were taught both hands in the air.
Like you didn’t care?
Jesse Chavez was DFAd by the Braves this afternoon. Brett DeGues was picked up off of waivers by the Phillies.
In the least surprising news of the day, Manny Machado and Tatis offered their support for Jurickson Profar after his 80 game suspension for testing positive for a banned substance. Tatis, of course, had his own PED suspension in 2022.
Birds of a feather. And some wondered what was wrong in the Padres clubhouse and why the team fell apart?
Thug mentality seems to rule the day in SD, or so it appears. Machado has toned it down on the field but what’s he really like in the clubhouse?
More punk than thug
Really excited for May tonight! Rooting for the young man
Dodgers released a lineup that sits Max and Conforto against Sales, going with Rojas and Taylor instead.
Will this be Taylor’s first action of the season?
I think so Duke. CT3 replace Teo in RF last nigh in the 7th and didn’t get an AB. I don’t remember Japan but he hasn’t played much if any.
And that’s fine with me by-the-way.
Stop the game and get the ball if he puts one in play against Sale.
So happy for May. Awesome performance. Dodgers helpless against Sale’s slider. Listening to Braves broadcast. Francoeur is great color commentator. He gives insightful observations and statistics even for Dodger players.