We are experiencing a struggling top of the order with LAD.  But WHAT IF, this is who they are now and will be in the future?

To be considered qualified for league leaders in BA/OBP/SLG/OPS, a player must have 3.1 PA per game scheduled.  There are 25 qualified SS in MLB.  The average age of the 25 qualified SS is 27.08.  Mookie Betts is 32 (turns 33 in August).  Mookie is playing a young man’s position, and at 32 he is really still learning the position.  His offense has taken a serious dive this year.  Mookie says that it is not the position.  Some say it was the illness in the beginning of the year.  Mookie says he is and has been at full strength for some time.  So why?

At present, Mookie is hitting .249/.321/.392/.713 with a 101 OPS+.  That is exactly 1% above league average.  When asked, Mookie says he is simply not hitting.  No reason.  What is he supposed to say?

Here are the 14 qualified SS and ages with an OPS greater than Mookie:

• Jeremy Peña – 27
• Bobby Witt Jr. – 25
• Jacob Wilson – 23
• CJ Abrams – 24
• Elly De La Cruz – 23
• Trea Turner – 32
• Zach Neto – 24
• Francisco Lindor – 31
• Geraldo Perdomo – 25
• Josh Smith – 27
• Gunnar Henderson – 24
• JP Crawford – 30
• Bo Bichette – 27
• Dansby Swanson – 31

Of the 25 qualified SS, Mookie is older than 24.  Only Trevor Story is older, and that is by one month.

Defensively, Mookie is playing well.  Not elite, but very good.  He has an OAA of +4, and a DRS of +7.  I do not know why that would be a surprise.  Mookie is an exceptional athlete.  However, IMO, his value emanates from his bat more than his SS glove, or at least it should.  The team relies on Mookie’s bat at the top of the order.

So maybe it’s age that is creeping in?  Not every SS starts to decline at 32, then again how many Derek Jeter’s have there been.

• @ 32 – .343/.417/.483/.900
• @ 35 – .334/.406/.465/.871
• @ 36 – .270/.340/.370/.710 – Led AL in PA with 739
• @ 38 – .316/.362/.429/.791 – Led MLB in PA with 740

Mookie is a HOF player, but not if you are looking at him as a SS.  He generated his HOF bona fides as a RF.  Mookie says he prefers infield, and I can appreciate that.  But the goal should be…what is best for the team.  I do not have the answer to that, but that shouldn’t dismiss the question.

Mookie is certainly not alone in his struggles offensively.  Shohei Ohtani started his “struggles” once he started pitching.  We continue to hear he has done it before so why should now be different.

Yes, Shohei has pitched and hit before while with LAA.  His offensive numbers while with LAA were .274/.366/.556/.922.  Those were his prime years.  His current slash line is .280/.382/.609/.991.  That line is dropping.  Since June, Shohei is slashing .250/.358/.508/.865.

2023 was Shohei’s best year as a pitcher.  He was #4 in CY voting.  That year he hit .273/.356/.519/.875.

There is absolutely no question that when Shohei pitches he is outstanding.  And he should be considered top of the rotation for the Dodgers.  But is it realistic to expect 2024 offensive numbers when he is also pitching?

What if his LAA numbers and his 2025 June/July numbers are more representative of his production while as a pitcher?  Maybe what we are seeing now is what we are going to see through 2025 and beyond?   As long as everyone else is producing, I can get behind that strategy all day long.

Then there is Freddie Freeman.  At the beginning of the season, Freddie was putting up MVP numbers.  On May 10, Freddie went 4-4 with a Sac Fly, 2 doubles, 1 HR, and 3 RBI.  He was batting – .376/.437/.734/1.170, with 8 doubles, 8 HR and 30 RBI.  That was 29 games, and the Dodgers were 19-10 in those games.

After May 10, in 49 games 207 PA, Freddie is hitting .267/.338/.353/.691 with 15 doubles, 1 HR, and 16 RBI.  The Dodgers are 27-22 in those 49 games.

It is clear the Dodgers need the first of the season Freddie.

Of course there is time for Freddie to turn it around, but what if age is catching up to the 35 year old (36 on September 12)?  What if the post May 10 production is more in line with what we can expect?

If I am Dave Roberts, Freddie gets no more than 3 innings and 2 PA in the All Star game.

I know I can include Teoscar Hernández (32) in this post.  His 2025 numbers are just about the same as his 2023 numbers with Seattle.  Was 2024 the anomaly?  I was not opposed to re-signing Teo, but was not thrilled for 3 years.

With the above 4 struggling, where would the Dodgers have been without Max Muncy.  Max has been out 5 games, and the team is 1-4, with the lone win against CWS.

One other trait I have noticed, and I do not have the time to research it, but it sure seems that the Dodgers lead the league in called 3^rd strikes.  With all of the analytics, it sure seems they are up at the plate guessing what is coming rather than reacting. They get fooled and watch pitches right down the middle of the plate.  Houston didn’t seem to guess.  They reacted to the pitch.  Altuve hit a single into RF on a pitch that may have been a foot outside.

Another observation – with the 3B moving closer to the SS position when Hyeseong Kim is batting, why isn’t he bunting for a hit?  If he puts the bunt down he is going to get a single.  Yeah, I know, a single is only 1 base for SLG and OPS, and that will mess up the strategy of hard swing and launch angle approach to hitting that the Dodgers hitting coaches are so enamored with.  Every hitter is different, and every hitter’s strategy should reflect them and not what the coach thinks they should do.  Shohei and Muncy are going to swing as hard as they can, because that is who they are.  That is not who Hyeseong Kim and Tommy Edman are.

The team is getting Tyler Glasnow back on Wednesday.  Blake Snell and Blake Treinen will be joining the team after the All Star break and before the trade deadline.  Ohtani may be up to 3.0 IP by then.  If the team is going to continue to minimize Ohtani’s innings, the team better look for some better relievers than Matt Klein, Lou Trivino, and Julian Fernández.  Treinen is one.  But will he stay healthy for the remainder of the year?

Is Emmet Sheehan going to stay in the rotation making it a 6 man?

• Yoshinobu Yamamato
• Clayton Kershaw
• Tyler Glasnow
• Dustin May
• Shohei Ohtani/Ben Casparius
• Emmet Sheehan

Or is Yamamoto going to take Sheehan’s place on Sunday?  What happens when Blake Snell joins the rotation.  Dustin May to the pen?  Or Casparius to the pen and May piggy back with Ohtani?

Regardless as to where the pitching is, the top of the order has to produce or it is going to be a long 2^nd half.

MiLB GAME SUMMARY REPORTS

OKC Comets 2 – Sugar Land Space Cowboys (Houston) 1

Kyle Funkhouser completed 5.2 scoreless innings.  He allowed 4 hits, issued 2 BB, and recorded 5 K.  In the 6^th, Sugar Land got a 1-out and single, and a batter reached on a 2-out fielding error.  Edgardo Henriquez entered and struck out Jesús Bastidas for the final out of the 6^th.

OKC broke a 0-0 tie with a solo HR by Noah Miller in the 5^th.  It was his 2^nd HR since being assigned to OKC.

In the 7^th, Henriquez issued a BB who scored on a one-out triple to tie the score.

In the 8^th, OKC broke the 1-1 tie. With 2 outs, 4 Comets drew consecutive BB to force one run in and the eventual 2-1 win.

José Rodríguez entered the 8^th and issued a BB, but recorded 2 K.  In the 9^th, Rodríguez got one out, but walked 2.  The Comets called on Jack Little to close out the game, and recorded the final two outs for his 11^th save.

Other than Miller’s HR, the only other hit by a Comet was a one out double (18) by Ryan Ward in the 4^th inning.

Box Score

Arkansas Travelers 6 – Tulsa Drillers 4

The Tulsa Drillers struggles continued Tuesday night with a 6-4 loss to the Arkansas Travelers in the first game of a six-game series between the two teams.

The game’s first batter, Taylor Young, drew a leadoff walk and moved into scoring position with a swipe of second base. Yeiner Fernandez brought him home with a run-scoring single.

The Travelers answered in the bottom of the second with a Lazaro Montes HR.

Two more runs in the third put the Travs in front, and they used stolen bases to produce both. Michael Arroyo led off with a base hit, stole second and scored on single from Bill Knight. Like Arroyo, Knight moved into scoring position by stealing second base, then scored on hit by Montes.

The same formula allowed Arkansas to up its lead to 4-1 in the bottom of the fifth after a single, SB, and run scoring single.

The Drillers trimmed their deficit to just one run in the sixth inning. John Rhodes led off with a double and came home on Chris Newell’s triple. Newell scored to make it 4-3 on Kendall Simmons’ ground out.

The Travs got the two runs back in the bottom of the seventh against reliever Jeisson Cabrera. A hit batter, a walk and a wild pitch set up a two-run single.

Young reached base for the fourth time in the game when he drew a leadoff walk to open the ninth. After advancing all the way to third on a ground out by Kole Myers, Young scored on another hit by Fernandez.

With Fernandez on base and the potential tying run at the plate, a ground out and a fly out ended the threat.

Tulsa stranded ten runners on base in the loss.

Fernandez had three hits in the game, all singles. It was his fifth three-hit game of the year, most on the team. Fernandez is also tied with Ezequiel Pagan for the most multi-hit games on the team with 20.

Tulsa starting pitcher Peter Heubeck was tagged with the loss, allowing the four runs in five innings. He allowed seven hits, but did not walk a batter while striking out eight, just one shy of a season high.

The double by Rhodes in the sixth inning continued his hot streak. He has hit safely in five straight games and in eight of his past nine.

With the win, the Travelers took a 7-6 lead in the season series between the two teams.

• Taylor Young – 2-3, 2 BB, 2 runs
• Yeiner Fernandez – 3-5, 2 RBI
• John Rhodes – 1-3, 1 BB, 1 run, double (11)
• Chris Newell – 1-4, 1 BB, 1 run, 1 RBI, triple (1)

Box Score

Great Lakes Loons 3 – Lansing Lugnuts (A’s) 2

Lansing got out to a 2-0 lead off SP Wyatt Crowell.  In the 4^th, Crowell issued a BB and 2 singles scored the 1^st run.  In the 6^th, a single, WP, and single scored the 2^nd run.

In the 7^th, Zyhir Hope led off with a BB,  Jake Gelof followed with a single.  Both scored with a Cameron Decker 3-run HR.

There were no multi-hits by any of the Loons.

Box Score

Rancho Cucamonga Quakes 10 – Inland Empire 66ers (LAA) 3

The Rancho Cucamonga Quakes opened their six-game home stand on the right foot, blasting the Inland Empire 66ers on Tuesday night, 10-3.

After falling behind 3-1 in the third, Rancho scored the game’s final nine runs, on their way to their 16^th win in 19 games against Inland Empire this season.

Eduardo Quintero smashed his league-leading 14^th homer to open the bottom of the first, as the Quakes answered a homer from Raudi Rodriguez in the first, tying the game at 1-1.

Rancho starter Samuel Sanchez gave up single runs in the second and again in the third, before the Quakes’ offense got busy in the bottom of the third, scoring four times.

Niko Perez smashed a two-run double to break a 3-3 tie, as the Quakes took the lead for good at 5-3.

Mairo Martinus, who had two hits and three RBIs on the night, clubbed his second homer of the year in the fifth, as the Quakes took a 6-3 lead.

Rancho got another in the seventh and then put it away with three in the eighth, including two from a two-run single by Elijah Hainline.

Quakes’ reliever Justin Chambers, making his Cal League debut, tossed two innings of hitless relief to net the win.

Box Score