2026 MLB Draft Review: Los Angeles Dodgers

Full list of draftees

The Dodgers had far and away the least draft capital to work with of any team. Their first round pick, already in the back after the World Series win, was pushed back ten spots to #40 due to competitive balance overages. Then they lost their second, third, fifth, and sixth round draft picks after signing Edwin Díaz and Kyle Tucker, leaving them with just two picks in the first six rounds. Their total bonus pool of $3.95 million was more than $1.5 million below the next lowest bonus pool, that of the Blue Jays, and in fact the entire bonus pool was roughly the same value as the #23 pick alone. Still, the Dodgers made do, as they always do. Even with the small pool, they managed to float star prep bat Bo Lowrance down to the #40 pick despite rumblings he could go 20+ picks higher. After that, it was a pitching-heavy class featuring mostly college arms. They did take two high school position players late in the draft, and it remains to be seen if they're signed, though they probably won't have much money left over to do it.
Full index of team reviews here. Full rankings here.
Note that the number before a player's name indicates their draft position. For example, "2-50" would indicate that a player was taken in the second round with the fiftieth overall pick.

1-40: SS Bo Lowrance, Christ Church Episcopal HS [SC]
Slot value: $2.5 million. Signing bonus: $3 million ($493,300 above slot value)
My rank: #21. MLB Pipeline: #21. ESPN: #35.
The Dodgers have done it again. Despite not picking until #40 with very little wiggle room to go over slot, they brought in a near-consensus first round talent and one whose name was thrown around as early as the top twenty picks. Bo Lowrance endeared himself to scouts with a huge senior season in Greenville, South Carolina, projecting as potentially one of the best all-around bats in the prep class when all is said and done. Listed at 6'5", he deploys an effortless left handed swing to make very consistent contact against all levels of competition, including last summer on the showcase circuit and this spring back in a competitive region of South Carolina. For now, he's much more focused on contact than power and it shows in his production, pointing to a hit-over-power profile in the short run. However, given his immense projection and the ease with which he swings, he could add significant pop in pro ball both as he fills out and as the Dodgers look to get him driving the ball in the air. If he can do both of those things without sacrificing the hit tool, he could be a future middle of the order bat. The Dodgers' recent success with prep bats like Zyhir Hope, Chase Harlan, Jaron Elkins, and Easton Shelton pushes expectations sky high for the newest stick in the system. Previously committed to UVA, his $3 million signing bonus swallowed up three quarters of the Dodgers' $3.95 million bonus pool and roughly fit the value of the #33 overall pick.

4-132: RHP Russell Sandefer, Florida
Slot value: $575,300. Signing bonus: $431,475 ($143,825 below slot value).
My rank: unranked. MLB Pipeline: #177. ESPN: unranked.
Going a bit under slot to sign Russell Sandefer for late fifth round money here in the fourth round, the Dodgers picked up a talented arm who could pit it together in pro ball. He began his college career at Division II Saint Leo, but transferred to UCF after one season and continued to throw well as a sophomore. Transferring once more to Florida for his junior year, he dominated at times (7 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 11 K against Ole Miss and 7 IP, 1 ER, 7 K at eventual national champion Oklahoma) but could never quite string together a stretch of strong starts. He has loud stuff, beginning with a low to mid 90's fastball that touches 98 in relief, playing more as a sink and run ground ball pitch than a run and ride swing and miss pitch. He drops in a nice slider which functions as his out pitch, missing bats at a good clip, and he can tighten it into a cutter to run in on the hands of lefties. Sandefer rounds out his arsenal with a solid fading changeup that he also deploys against lefties, giving him four average or better pitches when all is said and done even if none stand out as plus. The 6'1" righty moves well on the mound and profiles for average command, so the Dodgers will look to fine tune his arsenal and help one or more of his four pitches take the step forward to lead his arsenal. This is a back-end starting pitching profile that could work well in long relief.

7-223: LHP Charlie West, Connecticut
Slot value: $260,300. Signing bonus: likely around slot value.
My rank: unranked. MLB Pipeline: unranked. ESPN: unranked.
The Dodgers' third pick comes here in the seventh round, where they'll land an accomplished college arm in Charlie West. West did not pitch much as a freshman at UConn, but threw very well in a swingman role as a sophomore to earn the Friday night role as a junior. In 2026, his 111 strikeouts led all Big East pitchers and a three start stretch in April against Butler, eventual Super Regional participant St. John's, and Georgetown saw him strike out 37 batters in 22.2 innings. What likely sold the Dodgers was a very strong run through the Cape Cod League just before the draft, where he put up a 2.16 ERA and a 26/7 strikeout to walk ratio over 16.2 innings against very good hitters. West is a 6' lefty with a low 90's fastball that doesn't overwhelm with velocity, but plays up from a high release point and massive riding life to create a unique look. His slot works well with a hammer two-plane curveball, while he adds a solid changeup to retire right handed hitters as well. His command comes and goes and will be the key to remaining in the rotation, but jumping to the bullpen could add a few ticks to his fastball and get him into a better velocity band. The Long Island native is also very young for a college junior, set to turn 21 just after the season. If the Dodgers can build off the momentum he showed on the Cape, he could surprise some people.

8-253: LHP Miles Gosztola, Oregon
Slot value: $218,500. Signing bonus: likely a bit below slot value.
My rank: unranked. MLB Pipeline: unranked. ESPN: unranked.
The first West Coast product in this Dodgers draft, Miles Gosztola brings a funky arm that Los Angeles will look to mold into more. He started his career at Gonzaga and spent the better part of two years in the Bulldogs' rotation, where he pitched to uneven results (9-12, 6.05 ERA) but flashed significant upside in two summers on the Cape (1.53 ERA, 31/13 K/BB in 29.1 IP). Oregon scooped him out of the transfer portal and helped him take a step forward in 2026, where he dropped his ERA to 3.61 as a swingman and bumped his strikeout rate to a career best 26.2%. Gosztola works with a low 90's fastball, a sweeping low 80's slider, and a really nice changeup to round things out. The 6'3" lefty has a funky delivery that features significant crossfire to create unusual angle on his pitches, making the ball difficult to pick up especially for left handed hitters watching it run away from them. His command has been fringy throughout his time in school, so in addition to helping him add some power to his arsenal, the Dodgers will look to help him pound the zone a little bit more frequently perhaps by simplifying his longer delivery. The Seattle native brings some of the more unique traits the Dodgers tend to look for and could end up a back-end starter in Los Angeles, or if not he could add some needed power to his arsenal in short stints in the bullpen. His frame, three pitch mix, and youth (he was still 20 on draft day) point to starting upside if he can stay healthy.

11-343: LHP Cody New, Cal Baptist
Slot value: up to $150,000. Signing bonus: likely around $150,000, possibly a little above.
My rank: unranked. MLB Pipeline: unranked. ESPN: unranked.
The Dodgers returned home to Southern California to open the back half of the draft, grabbing Hesperia native and Hesperia Christian alum Cody New in the eleventh round. New crossed the San Gabriel Mountains to play college ball at Cal Baptist, where by his sophomore year he had established himself as one of the better pitchers on the West Coast. Entering 2026 with high expectations, he instead blew out his elbow in his first start and missed the rest of the season with Tommy John surgery. When healthy, New shows the kind of stuff that will profile in a big league rotation. His low 90's fastball touches 96 at peak and it's easy to see him pushing it another couple of ticks, while his feel for spin stands out in particular. New throws the full spectrum of breaking balls and can really make the ball dive across the plate, setting him up nicely for pro hitters. His changeup gives him another strong weapon to round out a true starting pitcher's arsenal, and he has improved his command during his time in Riverside to boot. The 6'3" lefty probably would have gone in the top five rounds if healthy and gives the Dodgers tremendous value here in the eleventh round, even if he won't pitch until 2027. He has a very real shot to become a #3 or #4 starter if he gets healthy and can take another step forward with his velocity.

12-373: RHP Gavin Van Kempen, East Carolina
Slot value: up to $150,000. Signing bonus: $147,500.
My rank: unranked. MLB Pipeline: unranked. ESPN: unranked.
Gavin Van Kempen brings the Dodgers another unique arm they'll try to turn into a monster. He spent three years at West Virginia but never found much consistency, then transferred to East Carolina for his senior year. The results were fantastic, and through six starts he had a 38.5% strikeout rate and a 1.84 ERA. Unfortunately, he went down with an arm injury and had internal brace surgery that knocked him out for the rest of the season. Still, the Dodgers were enticed by the stuff and results and popped him here in the twelfth round. The fastball sits in the low 90's and touches 95 at peak, but plays up with a sky-high release point over seven feet in the air that helps put massive riding life on it. He drops in a downer slider and a sinking cutter, with everything coming straight down on the hitter and secondaries falling even farther. Los Angeles will want to help him incorporate more lateral movement into his arsenal, perhaps with additional shapes on his breaking ball to help him work a little more east-west. At present, it's probably a reliever profile unless he can broaden his arsenal, but the Dodgers are one of the best pitching development machines in baseball and Van Kempen gives them tremendous clay to work with. The 6'7" righty also ran a career-best 7.7% walk rate and, now nearly 21 years old (young for a college senior), seems to be coming into his own.

2025 MLB Draft Review: Los Angeles Dodgers

Full list of draftees

The Dodgers did not get to pick until #40 this year after their first round pick was moved back ten spots, but as usual, they pulled together a very interesting class anyways. After going for more "high floor" types with their first two picks, they turned their attention to toolsy, data-driven projects for much of the draft and brought in a ton of upside even if it will require significant development to draw out. The college-heavy class includes plenty of size, with four draftees clocking in at 6'5" or taller and topping out with the 6'8", 235 pound Robby Porco out of West Virginia. 
Full index of team reviews here. Full rankings here.
Note that the number before a player's name indicates their draft position. For example, "2-50" would indicate that a player was taken in the second round with the fiftieth overall pick.

1-40: LHP Zach Root, Arkansas.
Slot value: $2.44 million. Signing bonus: has not yet signed.
My rank: #34. MLB Pipeline: #42. Baseball America: #40.
The Dodgers like to target lanky flamethrowers with nasty stuff, and while they did some of that later in the draft, they broke their tendency here by bringing on Zach Root, who is built more in the Clayton Kershaw mold than the Tyler Glasnow mold (no, I am not projecting Root as a slam dunk first ballot Hall of Famer). It's more of a crafty lefty profile, but one that I really like and I think has become undervalued in today's game. Root began his career at mid major powerhouse East Carolina, then after productive freshman and strong sophomore seasons, transferred to Arkansas where he immediately jumped into one of the best weekend rotations in the country. A strong season, headlined by an incredible performance against then-#1 Texas on May 1st (8 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 11 K), made him one of the better college arms available this year. Root does not have an overpowering fastball, sitting in the low 90's most of the time with average movement (though he can reach back for 97), but it plays up because of the rest of his profile. He can really spin the baseball with a big, diving curveball complemented by a tighter slider, while an above average changeup drops off the table when he gets it right. It's a true big league four pitch mix, one that keeps even advanced hitters off balance. The 6'1" lefty is a bit on the stocky side but looks durable and has been, throwing 221.1 innings in his three year college career. There is some Kershaw in his delivery as he reaches his glove over his head during a high leg lift, though he turns in towards second base to create a more rotational drive to the plate rather than driving straight down. It creates some funk that can make his stuff hard to pick up. The Florida native may not have the highest ceiling the Dodgers could have gone after, but he's a high probability back-end starter in the mold of a left handed Landon Knack. I like him.

CBA-41: OF Charles Davalan, Arkansas.
Slot value: $2.39 million. Signing bonus: has not yet signed.
My rank: #49. MLB Pipeline: #54. Baseball America: #62.
It's weird to think about the Dodgers wielding a competitive balance pick, something created for small market teams get a leg up, but they acquired this one in the Gavin Lux trade over the offseason. And with that, they'll take a second straight first year Arkansas Razorback who transferred into Fayetteville with ties to the Fort Myers area. Strangely specific, but the Dodgers have their type. While Zach Root grew up in Fort Myers, Charles Davalan began his college career at Florida Gulf Coast University just across town before transferring over to Arkansas. Davalan was a bit of a revelation in Fayetteville, far outperforming his smaller stature and even the numbers he put up against weaker competition in the Atlantic Sun Conference. Listed at a modest 5'9", 190 pounds, he plays much bigger. He's an easy plus hitter with exceptional bat to ball skills that helped him strike out just 27 times in 65 games (just an 8.5% rate) while running contact rates around 90%, an elite mark. Not just a bat to ball guy, he smacked 14 home runs in 2025 while showing off solid exit velocities, giving him a chance to post average power numbers in pro ball. The quick hands and sneaky strength in his sturdy frame likely help him knock 10-15 home runs per season while posting high on-base percentages at the major league level. As it stands, the Quebecer's bat is ahead of his glove. He saw time at second base while at FGCU but played mostly left field for Arkansas, where his speed figures to help him show average there. He did see time in center field at Arkansas and the Dodgers would love it if he could stick there, but he should hit enough to provide value in left field as well.

2-65: RHP Cam Leiter, Florida State.
Slot value: $1.35 million. Signing bonus: has not yet signed.
My rank: #87. MLB Pipeline: #114. Baseball America: #85.
Now this one feels like a distinctly Dodgers pick, and if they get it right, the rest of the league will be put on notice. Cam Leiter is a nephew of Al and Mark Leiter as well as a younger cousin of Jack and Mark Jr., so if the last name seems familiar, that's because it is. Beginning his career at UCF, he struggled to throw strikes but Florida State saw his explosive stuff and brought him in as a transfer alongside fellow UCF Knight Drew Faurot (now a Marlin). He announced his presence with thirteen strikeouts across five one-hit innings against Butler in his FSU debut, but his shoulder gave out after seven starts and he missed the entire 2025 season. Despite not throwing a competitive pitch since March 2024, the Dodgers are bullish on his upside and for good reason. Pre-injuries, Leiter's fastball sat in the mid 90's and touched 99 at peak, playing up further with good riding and great running life to explode past hitters. He has a hard, tight cutter/slider in the upper 80's that flashed plus when he was healthy, while his sharp 12-6 curveball has also flashed plus at times, albeit a bit less frequently than the slider. Additionally, he showed feel for a changeup that lacked consistency but still missed plenty of bats when he got it right. It's among the loudest four pitch mixes in all of college baseball, looking even louder coming from a huge 6'5", 235 pound frame. To this point, Leiter struggled with strikes during both his freshman and abbreviated sophomore seasons, but he moves well on the mound and his size and athleticism point towards better performance in that regard in the future. The Dodgers likely believe that it's just a matter of getting consistent innings, and if he had been healthy these past three years, he'd probably be closer to average command. The upside is tremendous as a starting pitcher with four above average to plus pitches, but he'll need to stay healthy and improve his command considerably to get there.

3-104: OF Landyn Vidourek, Cincinnati.
Slot value: $737,000. Signing bonus: has not yet signed.
My rank: unranked. MLB Pipeline: unranked. Baseball America: #419.
Judging by the commentary around this pick, it is very apparent that Landyn Vidourek was a much more highly valued prospect in scouting and MLB circles than he was in mainstream baseball outlets. Traditional scouting might put him somewhere in the fifth to tenth round range at best, but strong underlying data and a loud batting practice at the MLB Draft Combine in June propelled him higher on model and data-driven draft boards, a category we are certain the Dodgers fall into. Despite Cincinnati moving up in competition from the American Athletic Conference to the Big 12, Vidourek has seen his numbers improve every year and put up a career year in 2025. He rips the barrel through the zone with incredible force, generating elite exit velocities and creating plus power in games. The local Cincinnati-area product also shows a very patient approach that will play up in pro ball, though he also swings and misses at a very high clip and struck out in 26.7% of his plate appearances in 2025. That, combined with a quiet showing in the Cape Cod League, creates some question over whether he'll make enough contact to produce at the pro level. Still, with his usable game power and plate discipline, he has two of the three attributes that make a great MLB hitter and only needs to make enough contact to make it work. At the same time, Vidourek is a plus-plus runner who stole 39 bases in 40 tries this season. The speed plays better on the base paths than it does in the outfield, but the raw quickness there does give him a shot to play center field. This is a high upside, boom or bust type that could wind up following a Spencer Jones path even if he's a bit smaller.

4-135: SS Aidan West, Long Reach HS [MD]
Slot value: $544,900. Signing bonus: has not yet signed.
My rank: #139. MLB Pipeline: #123. Baseball America: #169.
For their first of three high school selections, the Dodgers yet again reached across the country and grabbed Maryland prep Aidan West. While he lacks a standout tool at this point, he has impressed evaluators with his broad array of tools, athleticism, and physicality and looks the part of a future big leaguer. He's growing into some power from a strong 6'2" frame, and the ball is jumping off his bat with more and more authority. The bat to ball is very good, too, ensuring he'll get to that power in games once he learns to elevate a little bit more. For now, the Howard County native has a propensity to chase and needs more reps against higher quality pitching before he shores up his approach. The Dodgers may allow him to take it a little slower, but they have had success with these types and he could emerge a very well-rounded offensive threat in a few years. Drafted as a shortstop, he's an above average runner with the actions to stick in the dirt, though he's a little stiff for shortstop and may fit better at third base. They'll run him out at the former for now and see how it goes. West was committed to North Carolina State and figures to command a large bonus.

6-195: OF Mason Ligenza, Tamaqua Area HS [PA]
Slot value: $317,200. Signing bonus: has not yet signed.
My rank: unranked. MLB Pipeline: #217. Baseball America: #378.
Two rounds later, the Dodgers will go with an even rawer talent in Mason Ligenza. Hailing from the tiny coal mining town of Brockton, Pennsylvania, he's all tools and upside without much polish. Ligenza stands 6'5" and has space to add two or three dozen pounds on his lanky frame. Already, he produces plus raw power from a violent left handed swing and could get to double plus with additional polish. He beat up on rural northeastern Pennsylvania pitching this spring, but looked overmatched on the showcase circuit with a raw approach and even more raw mechanics. The stride and swing get choppy, and he can get caught out in front of good breaking stuff or late for quality fastballs. As slow as the Dodgers may take it with Aidan West, they'll likely take it even slower with Ligenza. If the advanced development environment in the Dodgers system jumpstarts his career as expected, the physicality here could turn him into a thunderous power hitter in time. The Dodgers are buying his bat, but he also runs well and should be above average in an outfield corner going forward. One of the better commits the University of Pittsburgh has landed in recent years, he'll instead likely sign for a large bonus and head west.

8-255: RHP Jack O'Connor, Virginia.
Slot value: $211,700. Signing bonus: has not yet signed.
My rank: unranked. MLB Pipeline: unranked. Baseball America: #246.
The Dodgers are buying low – really low – on a big time arm talent in Jack O'Connor. A blue chip recruit out of Bishop O'Connell High School in Northern Virginia, he immediately seized the spotlight as a freshman at UVA with an impressive freshman season that shot him near the top of way-too-early 2025 draft prospect lists. However, nagging lat issues limited him to just 28.1 ineffective innings (7.62 ERA) between his sophomore and junior seasons, and he underwent internal brace surgery on his UCL this spring that will continue to keep him off the mound in the near future. When healthy, the fastball sits low 90's as a starter and touches 98 in relief, while his hard cutter-slider gives him a real bat misser at the pro level. He also throws a curveball and changeup, which took steps forward during that strong freshman season. The 6'5" righty has a very short arm action that helps hide the ball, relying on his excellent arm strength to power baseballs into the zone. While he threw strikes at an advanced clip for a freshman back in 2023 and in a smaller sample in 2024, he struggled to get into a rhythm in that regard in 2025 as he instead focused on blowing the ball past hitters in his relief role. Given his lack of health over the past two seasons, he finds himself in a similar position to Cam Leiter in that he just hasn't been on the mound enough to build it up. He'll have a lot of work to do to become a big league starter, especially in a system as deep as this one, and may fit as a fastball/slider reliever depending on how he returns from surgery.

12-375: RHP Logan Lunceford, Wake Forest
Slot value: up to $150,000. Signing bonus: has not yet signed.
My rank: unranked. MLB Pipeline: unranked. Baseball America: #145.
Logan Lunceford has seen his stock rise and fall a bit. Beginning his career at Missouri, he spent two full seasons in the Tigers' rotation and pitched to middling results, but Wake Forest saw the arm talent and coaxed him halfway across the country to Winston-Salem. As is the case with many pitchers in that program, his stuff took a leap forward and after five dazzling starts to begin the season (4-0, 1.33 ERA, 0.70 WHIP, 51/9 K/BB in 27 IP) he found himself creeping into the top 100 conversation. However, he faded from there and finds himself here in the twelfth round. Lunceford is undersized at 5'10", putting everything he has into an extreme drop and drive delivery that produces low 90's fastballs topping out around 94. The pitch plays up due to its excellent riding life and missed a lot of bats, especially early in the season. He spins a curveball and slider that both show good depth, but they lack the power and finish to be true strikeout pitches at the major league level. His best pitch is perhaps its changeup, which takes a right turn before it reaches the plate and falls off the table, leaving hitters flailing. The OKC-area native shows decent command, but may have to choose between sharpening that command or reaching back for more velocity in pro ball given his slight frame and loud delivery. The Dodgers could choose to develop him as a back-end starter, especially if they can sharpen up one or both of those breaking balls, or he could see a velocity uptick in the bullpen and live closer to the mid 90's while dicing hitters up with that changeup in short stints.

17-525: RHP Sam Horn, Missouri.
Slot value: up to $150,000. Signing bonus: has not yet signed.
My rank: #107. MLB Pipeline: #128. Baseball America: #221.
This is not a run of the mill seventeenth round pick – Sam Horn is a frontrunner to become the starting quarterback for the University of Missouri this fall. At any school that is impressive, but this is an SEC football program coming off a 10-3 season. Horn has been well known since his high school days in the Atlanta area, where he led powerhouse Collins Hill High School on both the baseball and football fields and was teammates with 2024 Heisman winner and 2025 second overall pick Travis Hunter. Unfortunately, Horn has barely seen either the football or baseball fields in Columbia as he's worked back from Tommy John surgery with just eight pass attempts and fifteen innings pitched to show in three years. Still, the talent is immense. His fastball sits low to mid 90's and has reached 98 with running action, while he has worked to tighten up a slider that is now looking above average. Given that he has barely been on the mound, he doesn't have much of a changeup and his command is very much a work in progress. The Dodgers are instead dreaming on his projectable 6'4" frame, supreme athleticism, and lack of experience that is likely holding back his production on the mound. It's unlikely that he signs here, and even if he does, he'll likely still go out for that QB1 role, but once (if ever) he gives up football, he could leap forward as a potential rotation stalwart. Of course, the A's thought the same thing with Kyler Murray and that didn't quite work out.

2024 MLB Draft Review: Los Angeles Dodgers

Full list of draftees

It might be hard to believe, but #23 is the highest the Dodgers have picked since they took Vanderbilt's Jeren Kendall with the #23 pick in 2017. They forfeited their second and fifth round picks after signing Shohei Ohtani, so they still didn't end up with a ton of draft capital, but that didn't stop them from spending over five million dollars on a pair of high upside prep hitters. After taking five hitters with their first seven picks, they pivoted to pitching for much of the rest of the draft and only signed one hitter the rest of the way. It's a really dynamic, tooled up class filled with players with interesting traits, which is the Dodgers way and has led to great results for them in the past. Again a nice job with limited draft capital.
Full index of team reviews here. Full rankings here.
Note that the number before a player's name indicates their draft position. "2-50" would indicate that a player was drafted in the second round with the fiftieth overall pick.

1-23: SS Kellon Lindsey, Hardee HS [FL] {video}
Slot value: $3.68 million. Signing bonus: $3.3 million ($378,900 below slot value).
My rank: #23. MLB Pipeline: #29. Baseball America: #27.
Picking earlier than usual, the Dodgers got to make a big splash on a premium prep prospect while still saving nearly $400,000 against their bonus pool in the process. Kellon Lindsey was a helium prospect who blew up with an excellent spring down in Florida, earning regular comparisons to Trea Turner and for good reason. First of all, he is one of the fastest players in the entire draft class. But that's not all – long and lean with an angular frame at 6'2", 175 pounds, he has plenty of room to add good weight. While he hasn't been seen too much against top competition on the showcase circuit and his rural Florida high school didn't play in the same deep talent pool as schools in the Miami, Tampa, or Orlando areas, he did what he could and hit anything and everything thrown at him this spring. Lindsey has also begun to show more authority at the plate as he grows into that frame, with the potential to reach average power at peak. For now, it's more of a flat right handed swing geared towards line drives and that's working great for him. Meanwhile, Lindsey has shown well enough at shortstop to warrant consideration there in pro ball, which would elevate the entire profile. The speed carries the profile more than the pure actions in the dirt, but he's young. If he has to move to center field, that speed could make him a plus defender there. He had initially been committed to Florida but he'll be heading west instead.

3-98: 3B Chase Harlan, Central Bucks East HS [PA] {video}
Slot value: $745,000. Signing bonus: $1.75 million ($1.05 million above slot value).
My rank: #76. MLB Pipeline: #112. Baseball America: #118.
Despite not having a second round pick, the Dodgers spent second round money on third rounder Chase Harlan (roughly the slot value for pick #52) to keep him away from a Clemson commitment. While Kellon Lindsey is all speed and projection, Harlan is less about athleticism and more about pure strength. Standing 6'3", he already has a big league body with a barrel chested frame and plenty of power already. The raw power is already plus, flashing plus-plus potential when he really gets into one. He's also a disciplined hitter that recognizes pitches and controls the zone well, giving him a chance to access that power in pro ball. At this point, he has to adjust his swing when he doesn't get the ball where he's looking for it, leading to more weak contact than you'd like from a power hitter, so the pure barrel to ball ability is fringy. Harlan has been noted for his ability to make adjustments in his approach as well, which should serve him well in pro ball. It's definitely a power over hit profile, albeit one that could produce 25-30+ home runs annually with solid on-base percentages. The Philadelphia-area native will have to work hard to stick at third base, as he's adequate there now but could slow down with age and he can't really afford that. He has a plus arm that plays down a tick with a slower, more deliberate transfer. One last plus in the profile is age, as he only turned 18 shortly before the draft. I like Harlan a lot as a prospect and I'm not sure why MLB Pipeline and Baseball America left him outside their top 100 – probably questions about the athleticism and pure hit tool.

4-128: LHP Jakob Wright, Cal Poly {video}
Slot value: $556,300. Signing bonus: $553,800 ($2,500 below slot value).
My rank: #142. MLB Pipeline: #146. Baseball America: #217.
After back to back prep bats, the Dodgers pivoted to a California college arm with some interesting traits. Wright grew up in Paso Robles about halfway between Los Angeles and the Bay Area, then stayed close to home to attend Cal Poly. He didn't pitch as a freshman, then tossed just 18.2 innings as a sophomore before breaking out for a big junior year. The fastball is nothing special in the low 90's, topping out at 94 with average life, but the show stealer is the breaking ball. Wright gets tremendous finish on his plus-plus slider, which dives across the plate and misses bats in bunches. He can work it into a tighter cutter, which is average, and shows a fringy changeup as well. The command is fringy to average, but he can command that slider better than most. The 6' lefty is a bit undersized as well but he moves well on the mound and could take leaps and bounds forward in pro ball, especially in an organization like the Dodgers'. Wright's a bit of a one trick pony at this point with the breaking ball, but it's a great trick and a big left handed breaking ball is a hot commodity these days. He's on the younger side for the class with sneaky athleticism and if any organization can get creative, it's the Dodgers.

6-190: RHP Brooks Auger, Mississippi State {video}
Slot value: $315,500. Signing bonus: $197,500 ($118,000 below slot value).
My rank: unranked. MLB Pipeline: unranked. Baseball America: #187.
This is a savvy pick by the Dodgers, one that could provide sneaky value. Brooks Auger spent his freshman season at Hinds JC in Mississippi, then transferred to Mississippi State as a sophomore and had a solid season, only to miss his junior season with Tommy John surgery. He returned in 2024 with a very successful season as a swingman on an extraordinarily talented Bulldog pitching staff, cementing his rise with a massive eight inning, thirteen strikeout performance against Ole Miss in the SEC Tournament opener. Auger has a very solid mix of stuff and pitchability. The fastball sits in the low to mid 90's, touching 97 with ride from a high slot, and he can work it into a nice little cutter to give hitters a different look. There's a solid slider in there as well with nice late bite, while his firm changeup dives late to miss bats. Auger has feel to land all four pitches for strikes and repeats his simple, upright delivery well. That, combined with a big 6'5" frame with projection still remaining, gives him a real chance to start despite making just five starts in his three years in Starkville. The Louisiana native will have to prove his durability given that lack of starting experience, and while he lacks a true swing and miss offering, he also lacks really any major flaws in his profile. If there is one drawback, it's his age, as he'll turn 23 shortly after the season.

7-220: SS Elijah Hainline, Oregon State {video}
Slot value: $247,900. Signing bonus: $197,500 ($50,400 below slot value).
My rank: unranked. MLB Pipeline: unranked. Baseball America: #298.
Back to the West Coast for round seven. Elijah Hainline began his career at Washington State, where he parlayed a breakout sophomore season into an opportunity to play at Oregon State.  The numbers weren't quite as loud in Corvallis, but the Dodgers liked what they saw and took a flyer. Much like Brooks Auger doesn't have a single out pitch, Hainline doesn't have one carrying tool but he does a lot well. He's a very patient hitter that is adept at laying off both fastballs and offspeed stuff outside the zone, though pitchers have found success against him when they take advantage of the passive approach and attack the zone. He's just 5'10", but he produces a lot of torque in his right handed swing and shows above average raw power, which he taps in games with a bit of a pull-oriented approach. Meanwhile, he's a serviceable shortstop who should be able to fill in there in pro ball, with enough arm to play third base and enough range to play second base. It's a pretty clear utility infielder profile, with the only main concern being his tendency to concede strikes in the zone both by taking them and by swinging through them. If he can make enough contact in the zone, the Spokane native has a shot to knock 15-20 home runs per season while playing all over the infield. So far, he's hitting .214/.450/.214 in five games with Low A Rancho Cucamonga.

8-250: OF Brendan Tunink, Newman Central Catholic HS [IL] {video}
Slot value: $205,800. Signing bonus: $412,500 ($206,700 above slot value).
My rank: unranked. MLB Pipeline: unranked. Baseball America: unranked.
Sandwiched between a set of underslot picks, the Dodgers went above slot to give Brendan Tunink late fifth round money to sign away from a Notre Dame commitment. He was a bit of a late riser in the class as the weather warmed up in northwestern Illinois, especially impressing down the stretch leading up to the draft. He's not huge at 6', but it's a very physical frame that should continue to tack on strength. He shows big time bat speed that should help him get to above average power in games, with nice leverage in that frame to add to the impact potential. Tunink is also an above average runner with a shot to play center field at the big league level, adding to a pretty dynamic profile. He's unproven against higher level pitching but showed very well against rural Illinois competition, creating many fans in the industry. The Dodgers are excited to buy into the power/speed combination at his young age and think they have a real sleeper here.

13-400: RHP Mike Villani, Long Beach State {video}
Slot value: up to $150,000. Signing bonus: $147,500.
My rank: unranked. MLB Pipeline: unranked. Baseball America: #453.
Mike Villani has been all over the state of California and the Dodgers want to keep him home. He grew up in Oceanside, a far northern suburb of San Diego, where he attended El Camino High School. After starting his college career at Santa Clara, he transferred back home to Palomar JC in San Marcos before transferring a second time to Long Beach State for his junior season. It's a pure relief profile, but one the Dodgers could get creative with. The main attraction is a low to mid 90's fastball that has touched 97, playing up further with running and sinking action to stay off barrels. His slider has some power in the low to mid 80's, but he struggles to finish through it and the pitch backs up regularly. There's also a firm changeup that he doesn't use much. At his point, Villani can get a little inconsistent with his fastball command as its movement at times carries it away from his intended location. He's reasonably well built at 6'2" and has some projection remaining, but he's shouldered a light workload in college and doesn't seem likely to be stretched out. The Dodgers will probably keep him in the bullpen, where he can continue to work off that fastball and perhaps get even more effective with his execution of the pitch in a pro development setting. They'll also try to bring along his secondaries, which he's going to need against pro hitters.

14-430: RHP Will Gagnon, Reedley JC [CA] {video}
Slot value: up to $150,000. Signing bonus: $147,500.
My rank: unranked. MLB Pipeline: unranked. Baseball America: unranked.
The Dodgers stayed in the Golden State again in the fourteenth round, this time going to the Central Valley. Will Gagnon grew up in Reedley, California, a small town about twenty miles southeast of Fresno. After graduating from Reedley High School, he hopped across Reed Avenue to play at Reedley JC, where he spent two years in the starting rotation sandwiched around a strong run through the Appalachian League (28/6 K/BB in 17.1 IP). He was coming to Los Angeles either way, having committed to UCLA after his strong season at Reedley. Gagnon has a low 90's fastball that he runs up to 96 with running action and shows a full spectrum of breaking balls. He can cut his fastball to run it in on lefties, or he can work it into a truer slider. There's also a true 12-6 curveball in there with nice depth, and his command has improved throughout his time with the Tigers. It's still probably a reliever profile with a bit of a jerky delivery and command that remains fringy, but he's trending in the right direction and won't turn 21 until the end of the offseason, so he's younger than the college juniors he was being evaluated against for the draft. He's also done a very good job adding strength to a now very strong 6'1" frame.

18-550: RHP Isaac Ayon, Oregon {video}
Slot value: up to $150,000. Signing bonus: $147,500.
My rank: unranked. MLB Pipeline: unranked. Baseball America: unranked.
Isaac Ayon gives the Dodgers a second Central Valley pitcher. Isaac Ayon grew up in the Fresno suburb of Clovis, where he played in a powerhouse Buchanan High School program that included five future professional baseball players at once: Ayon, Brock Jones, T.J. Fondtain, Jacob King, and Jamal O'Guinn (and they just missed two more in Grant Gambrell and Zach Ashford who graduated just before this wave arrived). Ayon made 39 appearances over his first two seasons at Oregon, but missed all of 2023 and 2024 with elbow problems that eventually led to Tommy John surgery. Back when he was on the mound, he had a low 90's fastball with running and sinking action to limit damage, while his sharp slider had nice two-plane action and his changeup gave him a third reliable pitch. Additionally, he had solid average command and was a pretty advanced pitcher for his age, and all that combined with his physical 6'4" frame adds up to a legitimate starting pitching prospect. Of course, he hasn't thrown a competitive pitch since 2022, so it's hard to say exactly what the Dodgers are getting these days. Still, he only turned 22 in June and could be a real sleeper if he can recapture what he had going a couple years ago.

2023 MLB Draft Review: Los Angeles Dodgers

Full list of draftees

Luxury tax penalties pushed the Dodgers' first pick outside the top 35 for the second year in a row, but they're one of the best teams in the league at drafting and developing so they can withstand the bump. Last year, they picked Louisville's Dalton Rushing with their first pick at #40 overall, and all he has done since is tear the cover off the ball in the low minors and looks like a steal already. And though they had that first pick pushed back, they did get two extra picks after the fourth round as compensation for losing Trea Turner and Tyler Anderson to free agency. Overall, this class leans on athleticism more so than present physicality and projection, with many draftees clocking in at 170 pounds or less. The Dodgers are looking for unique, unteachable traits that they can then leverage in their excellent player development system, something they've had a lot of success with in the past.
Full index of team reviews here. Full rankings here.
Note that the number before a player's name indicates their draft position. "2-50" would indicate that a player was drafted in the second round with the fiftieth overall pick.

1-36: OF Kendall George, Atascocita HS [TX] {video}
Slot value: $2.36 million. Signing bonus: has not yet signed.
My rank: #68. MLB Pipeline: #65. Baseball America: #114. Prospects Live: #59.
If you look at most public boards, mine included, this pick may appear to be a bit of a reach. But we know better than to question the Dodgers' draft strategy at this point. Kendall George is a legitimate talent that rode a very loud spring down in the Houston area to this high pick. He has always been a plus-plus runner, a tool which carries his profile and especially adds value in today's game with more stolen base attempts. After looking overmatched last summer on the showcase circuit, he looked like a different ballplayer this spring and rocketed up draft boards. He's not the biggest kid in the world at a skinny 5'10", but he has lightning quick hands that whip the barrel through the zone with authority and help him pack more punch than you'd expect. The power is well below average for now and home runs will never be a primary part of his game, but as he fills out a little bit that explosive bat could help him tap 10-12 home runs per season down the line. The swing works well to all fields and lends confidence that he can continue to get on base regularly in pro ball. Defensively, the speed makes him an asset in center field, though he doesn't have much of an arm. George projects as a top of the lineup table setter that can wreak havoc on opposing pitchers and catchers, with enough pop to keep pitchers honest and great defense in center field. He's committed to Arkansas and at this point in the draft, I wouldn't expect his bonus demands to be too outlandish.

2-60: 3B Jake Gelof, Virginia {video}
Slot value: $1.34 million. Signing bonus: has not yet signed.
My rank: #54. MLB Pipeline: #35. Baseball America: #40. Prospects Live: #74.
Jake Gelof had an unremarkable freshman year at UVA, but over the past two seasons he has been without question one of the best hitters in the ACC, slashing .347/.450/.735 with 44 home runs over 123 games. The younger brother of A's rookie and Team Israel veteran Zack Gelof, Jake's bat packs a little more punch than his brother's in exchange for being slightly less of a pure hitter. The younger Gelof takes huge hacks from the right side, getting to baseballs all over the zone with his arms extended and catching them out front to elevate with authority. Despite the big hacks, he has very strong feel for the barrel and projects as a potential average pure hitter, with a fairly patient approach and solid contact rates. Although not very projectable, he's plenty strong right now with a filled out 6'1" frame and shows plus raw power already. It's the kind of bat that profiles in the middle of the order at his ceiling so long as he continues to make contact and control the zone against more advanced pitching. Defensively, he has shown well at third base and has enough arm to stick over there, though he has heavy feet and may move to first base if he slows down at all with age. That will put more pressure on the bat, but you don't put up the numbers he did in the ACC by accident. This is a little later than he was expected to get drafted but as a college player, I imagine he'll probably sign around slot value.

3-95: RHP Brady Smith, Grainger HS [TN] {video}
Slot value: $705,500. Signing bonus: has not yet signed.
My rank: #192. MLB Pipeline: #138. Baseball America: #422. Prospects Live: #313.
In the third round, the Dodgers went down to Northeast Tennessee to grab a skinny right hander with big time stuff and athleticism. Many in the industry saw Brady Smith as a candidate to get to college at Virginia Tech and fill out a little bit, but the Dodgers bit early and will see what they make him into. Smith currently sits in the low 90's with his fastball, topping out around 95 with flat plane and carry that makes it play up. He shows real feel to spin a breaking ball, with a sharp curveball and an improving slider in addition to a decent changeup. It all comes from a very skinny 6'2" frame that has some room to fill out, though for now he's not overly physical. Smith is also a great athlete that gets down the mound well with great extension. There's a lot to like in the whole package between the loose arm, feel for spin, and athleticism, though his development does hinge on his physical development. He'll need to add about twenty pounds of muscle to stick as a starting pitcher and withstand a full season's workload, something the Dodgers have plenty of experience with in the arms they've developed. This is probably the best possible landing spot for the kid from Bean Station, Tennessee. This is earlier than he was expected to get drafted, but with that Virginia Tech commitment in hand, I imagine he'll still require more than the $705,500 slot value to sign.

4-127: LHP Wyatt Crowell, Florida State {video}
Slot value: $516,800. Signing bonus: has not yet signed.
My rank: #127. MLB Pipeline: #112. Baseball America: #135. Prospects Live: #228.
Wyatt Crowell is a very interesting one. A key member of the Florida State bullpen as a sophomore in 2022 (2.12 ERA, 72/17 K/BB in 51 IP), he was poised to step into the rotation after the Seminoles lost their entire weekend rotation to the draft and transfer portal. Crowell showed extremely well in fall practice to push himself into second round consideration, but his velocity backed up as a junior and he ultimately succumbed to Tommy John surgery. In short stints, the Atlanta-area native can sit in the mid 90's and touch 98 with his running fastball, though this spring it dipped closer to 90 in longer outings. Still, he managed to put up a strong, albeit brief season (0.87 ERA, 33/11 K/BB in 20.2 IP) on the strength of his plus slider, a deadly offering that misses bats in bunches. He has worked in a curveball and a changeup at times before, but right now the money is on the slider. Before his injury, Crowell showed great ability to harness his lively stuff with average albeit inconsistent command, utilizing a loose delivery and an athletic frame. Like Brady Smith, he's not very physical at all, with less projection in his skinny 6' frame. The size, combined with his uneven 2023 and the surgery, makes his future in a major league rotation a big question mark. The Dodgers tend to blur the line between starter and reliever anyways, and he likely profiles as a slider-heavy lefty long reliever in the long term. I'm very interested to see where Los Angeles goes with this one once he gets healthy next spring. I imagine he may require a little bit above slot value to sign.

4C-136: OF Dylan Campbell, Texas {video}
Slot value: $473,700. Signing bonus: has not yet signed.
My rank: #164. MLB Pipeline: #171. Baseball America: #360. Prospects Live: #189.
Dylan Campbell struck me as a guy that would get drafted earlier than most public boards had him, and that turned out to be the case. He has gotten better and better every year at Texas and put up a career year in 2023, slashing .339/.436/.603 with 13 home runs and a 43/39 strikeout to walk ratio over 64 games, at one point riding a 38 game hitting streak. Though he may not have the highest upside in this class for the Dodgers, he does nearly everything well on the diamond starting with a patient approach in the box and a simple right handed swing that helps him get the barrel to the ball extremely consistently. He packs plenty of strength into his 5'11" frame, showing off average power in games despite rarely selling out to get to it. He actually performed better against his Big 12 schedule (.385/.455/.667) than he did overall, showing a scalable offensive profile that should be able to transition easily to pro pitching. Ultimately, he may not project to be more than a platoon bat/fourth outfielder, but he'll be a good one. In the field, the Houston native is a good runner with a plus arm (as evidenced by this incredible throw in the Stanford Super Regional) that will fit well in right field and should be able to handle center in a reserve role. It's about as well-rounded a profile as you're going to find in this range of the draft. In this range of the draft, he might take a slight under slot deal, but as a junior I don't imagine it will be too steep of a discount.

4C-137: RHP Eriq Swan, Middle Tennessee State {video}
Slot value: $469,000. Signing bonus: has not yet signed.
My rank: unranked. MLB Pipeline: #240. Baseball America: #209. Prospects Live: #263.
Eriq Swan is a project for the Dodgers, but they're always up for those. After two unremarkable seasons at Middle Tennessee State, he broke out with three excellent appearances in the Cape Cod League last summer, but promptly put up a 6.49 ERA and a 71/45 strikeout to walk ratio over 61 innings as a junior back in Murfreesboro. Swan is all arm strength, comfortably sitting in the mid to upper 90's over long starts and touching as high as 101 with his fastball. It lacks deception, though, and plays down from its velocity. He shows flashes with a hard, downer slider and a fading changeup, but they're inconsistent for him right now. The biggest issue with Swan is his below average command, which leads to him falling behind in the count and letting hitters sit on his fastball, which is hittable over the plate when hitters know it's coming. The 6'6" righty has short arm action and doesn't have too much wasted movement in his delivery, but Los Angeles will have to find a way to get him in the strike zone more consistently, both with his fastball and with his offspeed stuff. Swan looks like a reliever in pro ball, where he could sit around 100 with his fastball and not worry so much about hitting spots exactly. He hasn't signed yet but I don't imagine he'll be too terribly expensive in this range.

5-163: 1B Joe Vetrano, Boston College {video}
Slot value: $364,400. Signing bonus: has not yet signed.
My rank: unranked. MLB Pipeline: #186. Baseball America: #318. Prospects Live: #240.
Joe Vetrano climbed prospect lists with a hot run at the end of the season, and was one of the next players I would have looked more closely at if I had more time before the draft. Like Dylan Campbell above him, he's gotten better and better every year at Boston College and had his best yet in 2023, slashing .315/.407/.671 with 22 home runs and a 58/34 strikeout to walk ratio over 56 games. Vetrano takes thunderous hacks from the left side, showing off plus-plus raw power from a strong 6'3" frame and tapping it consistently in games. He's fairly aggressive and shows more swing and miss than you'd like from a first baseman, but with his power that's a tradeoff the Dodgers will make. A former pitcher, Vetrano shows off a strong arm but will likely wind up an average defender at first base, where his bat will have to carry him. He profiles as a platoon or bench bat, but the power gives him considerable upside. He won't be too expensive a sign at this range in the draft.

9-280: RHP Ryan Brown, Ball State {video}
Slot value: $173,600. Signing bonus: has not yet signed.
My rank: unranked. MLB Pipeline: #237. Baseball America: #265. Prospects Live: #249.
This feels like a classic later round Dodgers pick. Ryan Brown has a lot he does well, but he also has a lot he does not do well, and the Dodgers have a strong track record with these types of arms. After redshirting his true freshman season, he showed well as a reliever during his redshirt freshman season at Ball State (2.14 ERA, 65/38 K/BB in 46.1 IP) and got off to a red hot start in 2023, striking out 27 of the 43 batters he faced (62.8%!) over his first three appearances against Charlotte, Rutgers, and Canisius. However, his season got a bit derailed from there, as he ran into a buzzsaw at Wake Forest, later hurt his knee, then eventually went down with Tommy John surgery, finishing the season with a 4.76 ERA and nearly a walk per inning. Brown sits in the low to mid 90's with his fastball, touching 96 with the flat plane and carry the Dodgers love and do well with. He spins in a fringy slider that he lacks feel for, but his go-to out pitch is a plus-plus splitter that left MAC hitters simply confounded. The 6'2" righty is athletic on the mound but has a lot of moving parts in his delivery, leading to below average command that often ends up with him leaving his pitches up, spiking them in the dirt, and falling behind in the count. The Dodgers will look to clean up that delivery and help get him executing his pitches more effectively, which given the athleticism and arm talent should be a doable task. Brown is also young for the class and won't turn 21 until October, so he'll still have plenty of time to work through things once he comes back from surgery. He profiles best as a reliever in the mold of a fellow small Indiana school-turned Dodger, Ryan Pepiot, though Pepiot has managed to stay in the rotation with better feel for spin. Brown has not signed yet and it's hard to project what it will take to get him to do so.

15-460: SS Jordan Thompson, Louisiana State {video}
Slot value: up to $150,000. Signing bonus: has not yet signed.
My rank: unranked. MLB Pipeline: unranked. Baseball America: #377. Prospects Live: #326.
It took fifteen rounds, but the Dodgers finally got their first Californian with their seventeenth pick. Jordan Thompson hails from Chula Vista in the San Diego area, but headed across the country to play at LSU and ultimately win a National Championship. He's a three year starter at shortstop for the Tigers, proving central to the team's recent success. He's a loose bodied defender with great range and buttery smooth actions around the dirt, and during LSU's run towards the championship, head coach Jay Johnson actually shifted him back and forth between shortstop and second base depending on where he thought the batter was more likely to hit the ball. This may have been to Thompson's detriment as he made numerous unforced errors in that time, but it doesn't change his reputation as one of the better gloves in the class. At the plate, he doesn't necessarily stand out, with a career .260/.363/.419 slash line and 25 home runs over 195 games. Despite standing 6'1", he's not very physical and employs a line drive approach with a loose right handed swing. He can turn on the ball for moderate power with metal bats, but it remains to be seen how that power will play with wood, with below average power the most likely outcome. He has a moderately patient approach, but struck out at a 22.7% rate in 2023 and might be a fringy pure hitter as well. There's not a ton of offensive upside, so the Dodgers are buying the slick glove with the hope that his extensive experience against premium pitching in the SEC will translate to enough offensive impact that he can hold down a utility infielder role. And who knows, with his athletic frame and the Dodgers' player development system, they could change his approach in the box to help him attack pitches with more intent and tap a little more power.

18-550: LHP Sterling Patick, West Hills HS [CA] {video}
Slot value: up to $150,000. Signing bonus: has not yet signed.
My rank: unranked. MLB Pipeline: unranked. Baseball America: unranked. Prospects Live: unranked.
Sterling Patick wasn't ranked by any major outlet and seems like a candidate to get to school at UC Santa Barbara, but the Dodgers took him here in the eighteenth round just in case they could find the money to change his mind. He's a hometown kid, coming out of South Hills High School in West Covina, about twenty miles east of Dodger Stadium on I-10. Patick sits in the upper 80's with his fastball for now, touching 91 with crossfire angle. He drops in a big, looping curveball with two-plane bite similar to Reid Detmers when he grips it right, and does possess a changeup. It's a pretty free and easy delivery from a very skinny 6'1" frame that has room to get stronger, and he's young for the class which helps the projection a little bit. Patick will need to add considerable physicality to his frame in order to add velocity to both his fastball and his offspeed stuff and make it as a starter.

20-610: TWP/QB D.J. Uiagalelei, Oregon State
Slot value: up to $150,000. Signing bonus: has not yet signed.
My rank: unranked. MLB Pipeline: unranked. Baseball America: unranked. Prospects Live: unranked.
To be honest, I know nothing about D.J. Uiagalelei as a baseball player and I don't feel inclined to research it, but this is certainly a unique pick. Uiagalelei was reportedly up to the mid 90's with his fastball in high school and the Dodgers appear to be interested in giving him a shot to pitch if his football career doesn't work out. For now, the former St. John Bosco (Bellflower, CA) star is competing for the quarterback position at Oregon State after transferring from Clemson, where most college football fans likely heard his name or saw him play.

2022 MLB Draft Review: Los Angeles Dodgers

Full list of draftees

The Dodgers had their first round pick pushed back ten spots due to luxury tax penalties, then also lots their second round pick after signing Freddie Freeman, leaving their first two picks at #40 and #105. Still, the Dodgers always draft well and were able to extract good value from the position they were in, with a very bat-heavy draft that didn't see a pitcher taken until Virginia lefty Brandon Neeck. There was also some California flair with picks out of UCLA, St. Mary's, and Westmont in addition to two additional picks (Arizona State's Sean McLain and Baylor's Kyle Nevin) that grew up in Southern California.
Full index of team reviews here. Full rankings here.

2-40: C Dalton Rushing, Louisville. My rank: #37.
Slot value: $1.95 million. Signing bonus: likely around slot value.
The Dodgers may have had their pick pushed back, but they still got a very good player at number forty. Dalton Rushing didn't play much over his first two years at Louisville, but hit .319/.406/.543 with seven home runs in 39 games in the Cape Cod League and significantly raised his profile. His rise continued this spring, when he hit .310/.470/.686 with 23 home runs and led Louisville to super regionals. Rushing has a strong, compact 6'1" frame with a compact swing from the left side, but he produces plus power from it that he has tapped more and more in games. He does swing and miss some, but he's disciplined at the plate and draws a ton of walks, so the transition to pro pitching should not be an issue. It's a really appealing offensive profile that could produce 25-30+ home runs a year, with relatively high walk-driven on-base percentages. The defensive side isn't quite as clear, as he hasn't received consistent reps behind the plate and he's looked just decent back there. The Dodgers can choose to be patient with him back there, but with long term answers like Will Smith and Diego Cartaya already in the organization, they may not need to. If he's not a catcher, the Memphis-area product will probably be confined to first base or DH since he's not nearly fast enough to play the outfield. Still, the bat has a chance to be good enough to profile anywhere, and if he does manage to stick behind the plate, it's a potential All Star profile. I expect he'll sign somewhere around slot value.

3-105: SS Alex Freeland, Central Florida. Unranked.
Slot value: $582,400. Signing bonus: likely around slot value.
Alex Freeland was in that next group of guys I would have added to my list if I had the bandwidth, but he's coming off a very solid sophomore season at UCF in which he hit .282/.419/.570 with eleven home runs in 42 games. With an August birthday, he's eligible this year but still younger than most other college eligible players and carries some leverage, so I don't think he'll take much of a discount if at all. Freeland is a polished switch hitter that works counts well and draws plenty of walks, also showing off some pull side power when he can get his arms extended and catch the ball out front. He did not hit well on the Cape last year (.211/.348/.250 with no home runs in 28 games) but his strong sophomore season does alleviate some of those concerns. I'm not fully convinced that the power will play up with wood, but he's young, polished, and has a good 6'2" frame to build off. The Dodgers also have a lot of success with this type of player, as they do with most types of players. Defensively, he may have to move off shortstop (especially in a system as deep as the Dodgers'), but the Southwest Florida native should be athletic enough to handle second base and third base adequately. It's a utility outlook for now, but certainly with a chance for more if he can impact the ball with wood bats the way he did in the AAC this year.

4-135: OF Nick Biddison, Virginia Tech. My rank: #175.
Slot value: $435,000. Signing bonus: likely below slot value.
Nick Biddison will follow Saige Jenco and Carson Taylor on the Blacksburg to LA pipeline, and he'll do so as the very last player to crack the public portion of my rankings this year. Biddison had an up and down career with the Hokies, earning some draft interest heading into his junior year after a strong shortened 2020 campaign, but he slumped to .235/.331/.388 as a junior and came back to school. That decision paid off, as he broke out for a .351/.434/.598 slash line with 14 home runs and 21 stolen bases while hitting atop the best lineup in the country. The Richmond-area native is a sparkplug on the field, one who can impact the game in a lot of ways. He's disciplined at the plate and makes a lot of contact, and despite his compact 5'10" frame, he has sneaky power and can hit for impact to all fields. Biddison is an above average runner as well and knows how to deploy his speed, helping him on both sides of the ball. He's as versatile as it gets, having played every position except pitcher and shortstop during his time in Blacksburg (yes, including 28 games at catcher!), but he's probably a full time outfielder for the Dodgers and that's what they drafted him as. Despite being a senior, he's young for the class and was still 21 on draft day.

5-165: SS Sean McLain, Arizona State. My rank: #218.
Slot value: $325,200. Signing bonus: likely around slot value, perhaps a bit below.
The Dodgers went local in grabbing Beckham (Tustin) High School grad Sean McLain, the younger brother of current Reds prospect Matt McLain and the older brother of highly regarded prospect and Arizona State prospect Nick McLain. Sean has been a very steady hitter for the Sun Devils over the past two seasons, hitting .328/.410/.487 with ten home runs over 113 games. He possesses a quick, compact right handed swing that sprays line drives to all fields with great consistency, helping drive high batting averages wherever he's played. For now, the power is below average and I don't think he'll ever be much of an over the fence threat, though he has been an extra base machine in Tempe with 31 doubles and four triples over the past two seasons as he consistently finds gaps. The Orange County native is fairly aggressive at the plate, but he controlled the zone better as a sophomore and I feel confident he'll handle pro pitching well. A good runner that manned shortstop for Arizona State this spring, he profiles better at second base going forward but could fill in there in a pinch. I see a classic utility profile here, one that can hit for average and make a little noise on the basepaths.

6-195: SS Logan Wagner, P27 Academy [SC]. My rank: #145.
Slot value: $253,200. Signing bonus: likely well above slot value.
For their first high school pick of the event, the Dodgers will likely go way above slot value to pull Logan Wagner away from a Louisville commitment. A Chicago-area native, he transferred down to P27 Academy in the Columbia, South Carolina area as a senior to face better competition and it paid off big time. He put up a huge senior season that had scouts rushing in to see him play, and likely would have gone a couple rounds higher if signing bonuses didn't play such a big role. A switch hitter, Wagner shows off a powerful operation from both sides with a rotational operation that sees him put loft on the ball with authority. He was a bit inconsistent last summer on the showcase circuit, but he made a lot more contact in the fall and this spring, enough for the Dodgers to feel very confident he will tap his above average power against pro pitching. As with most prep prospects, there is a lot of ceiling here as a potential every day guy that adds value to the Dodger lineup. Although he was drafted as a shortstop, he figures to slide over to third base in pro ball due to a lack of quickness, though his strong arm should help him make it work there.

7-225: SS Christopher Campos, St. Mary's. Unranked.
Slot value: $199,700. Signing bonus: likely below slot value.
The Dodgers picked up their second Southern Californian in Christopher Campos, who grew up in Hacienda Heights and attended Damien High School a little to the north in La Verne. He was a two-way guy at St. Mary's, but it looks like the Dodgers want him as a shortstop only after he hit .299/.361/.373 for the Gaels this year despite a late season slump and injury. Campos struck out in just 10% of his plate appearances this spring, making a ton of contact and making defenses worse. However, he's undersized at 5'10" and didn't make a ton of hard contact, so his production for now is very dependent on his BABIP as he also doesn't walk much. There's raw strength in there, as Campos also had a 2.16 ERA and a 23/8 strikeout to walk ratio across 16.2 innings on the mound where he ran his fastball up to 95, so he'll have the arm strength to stick on the left side of the infield. Los Angeles will work to bulk him up just a little bit so that he can hit for some impact at the big league level and really put those excellent bat to ball skills to work.

12-375: RHP Jacob Meador, Dallas Baptist. My rank: #150.
Slot value: up to $125,000. Signing bonus: probably around $125K if he signs.
Jacob Meador is not a lock to sign here (though I think it's likely), but if he does, it's a very interesting profile to inject into the Dodger system. Again if he does, the Dodgers have a really interesting prospect on their hands. Meador was a known commodity out of his Fort Worth-area high school, but instead opted to attend TCU and build his stock. He struggled to break through their deep pitching staff and transferred just down I-20 to Dallas Baptist, where he got the innings he was looking for but still couldn't quite put it together. In all, Meador posted a 5.24 ERA, a 1.53 WHIP, and a 91/44 strikeout to walk ratio across 68.2 innings. The 6' righty has an explosive fastball that can get up to 96 with great riding action, settling more often in the low 90's. His curveball is a true hammer, eliciting ugly chases when he's at his best, while his changeup also flashes above average on his best days. A good athlete, he has all the ingredients to turn into a real impact arm, but his command has been very inconsistent and he gets into too many hitters' counts. The Dodgers have done a great job with Nick Nastrini, a similar pick a year ago with perhaps a more extreme profile, and they have a chance to turn Meador into a solid starting pitcher if they can get him to throw more strikes. If not, he has the nasty stuff to play up in the bullpen.

13-405: OF Chris Newell, Virginia. My rank: #199.
Slot value: up to $125,000. Signing bonus: probably around $125K if he signs.
Signing bonus-wise, Chris Newell is probably in the same boat as Jacob Meador in that he'll probably sign, but on day three of the draft nothing's ever a certainty. Newell was an even better prospect than Meador out of high school, where he had a chance to go in the top one hundred picks in 2019, but elected to head down south to Virginia to build his stock further. The move initially looked like it paid off after he hit .407/.545/.729 over 18 games in his shortened freshman season, but he's been much less consistent over the past two seasons and has slashed .258/.354/.432 with a 30.6% strikeout rate in that timeframe. A very good athlete, the Philadelphia-area product flashes above average raw power that he does sometimes get to in games, including twelve home runs this past season. His hands are very quick in the box and he gets uphill in his swing to create loft, but he struggles to reach fastballs up in the zone and for now has trouble recognizing offspeed, leading to a much less refined approach at the plate than most hitters coming out of UVA. Newell is also an above average runner that will stick in center field, providing some value when his bat is cold. While he has suffered through long stretches of futility at the plate, there are also few players out there more dangerous when he's hot, and Los Angeles will hope to bring that best side out of him more often.

15-465: SS Nicolas Perez, B-You Academy [PR]. My rank: #174.
Slot value: up to $125,000. Signing bonus: likely well above $125,000 if he signs.
Nicolas Perez is less likely to sign than Meador and Newell as a high school product with a Florida State commitment in hand. If he does sign, it will be well above the $125,000 threshold for day three picks and will count against the bonus pool. Perez won't turn 18 until September, which makes him one of the youngest players picked in the entire draft. He's steadily commanded more and more attention in Puerto Rico before exploding for an excellent showing at WWBA in the fall, and the Dodgers are buying into the trajectory here. He's not huge at six feet tall, but he has room to fill out his frame and continue to add strength, which will play up because he has strong feel for the barrel as it is from a powerful right handed swing. For now, he's an aggressive hitter, but it hasn't hurt him to this point and again, he's so young that you have to expect it. He's also a solid defender at shortstop with a chance to stay there as he gets bigger, faster, and stronger, and could become an all around contributor at the next level.

2021 MLB Draft Review: Los Angeles Dodgers

Full list of draftees

The Dodgers went for a pitching-heavy class here, taking arms with seventeen of nineteen picks and not even drafting a position player until the sixteenth round. They started it off with two high school arms with massive upside, the kind that an excellent player develop pipeline like theirs can turn into aces. Behind them, they picked up a mix of quite a few different types of arms, all of whom have a chance to become legitimate impact prospects in this system. It's easy to like what the Dodgers do when you know they're going to maximize the talent of the guys they brought in. If I had to pick one favorite pick, it would be third rounder Peter Heubeck.
Full index of team reviews here. Full rankings here.

1-29: LHP Maddux Bruns, UMS-Wright HS [AL]. My rank: #88.
By looking at the draft ranking, you might think I don't like this pick. And honestly I don't love it, but you have to think about the team drafting the player as well as who the player is. The Dodgers, frankly, have some of the best player development in the league, and Maddux Bruns' raw talent fits right into this system. Bruns has some of the best raw stuff in the class, coming in with a low to mid 90's fastball that has touched as high as 98 in addition to a hammer of a curveball a distinct slider, and a changeup. It all comes from a big 6'2" frame and seems to get a little extra oomph on it as he works aggressively downhill with his entire body. Named for Greg Maddux, Bruns differs from his namesake in that his control and command are very much a work in progress. He had times over the summer where he lost complete control of the strike zone, and while he looked better during his spring season in Mobile, he's still firmly below average in that regard. The lefty is also old for a high schooler, having turned 19 in June, theoretically giving him less time to develop that finer feel for pitching. That's why he's a perfect fit for the Dodgers, who consistently bring out the absolute best in their players and could turn him into a monster. Though he's committed to defending champion Mississippi State, it looks like the Dodgers got him early enough in the draft that the $2.42 million slot value should be plenty and he could even go a bit below slot.

3-101: RHP Peter Heubeck, Gilman HS [MD]. My rank: #54.
If I were a Dodger fan, I would be thrilled with this pick. Peter Heubeck had legitimate top fifty upside, and if he were still available at this point in the draft, you'd have thought he'd be headed to school. The Dodgers snagged him anyways and will likely pay him a hefty bonus, and when you pair him with Maddux Bruns, the rest of the NL West should be scared. Heubeck is a 6'3" righty that comfortably sits in the low 90's with his fastball for now, topping out around 95, but with plenty of room to add more velocity. He adds a downer curveball that has gotten more consistent this spring, flashing plus at times, and has shown feel for a changeup as well. Over the summer, he struggled to repeat his delivery at times and that led to inconsistent command. However, he quieted it down a bit this year and did a better job of filling up the strike zone, and the more consistent delivery helped his stuff play up as well. One of Heubeck's best aspects is his ability to get down the mound and release the ball out in front, putting nice ride and high spin rates on his pitches. There's top of the rotation upside here, though like Bruns, he's old for the class and will turn 19 shortly after I publish this article. The Baltimore native is committed to Wake Forest and will likely require a signing bonus well above the $577,000 slot value.

4-131: RHP Nick Nastrini, UCLA. My rank: #219.
Staying right in their backyard, the Dodgers headed over to Westwood to make their next pick. Nick Nastrini came into the season with the chance to pitch his way into the top two rounds, but instead saw his command completely implode and finished with a 6.89 ERA and a 48/38 strikeout to walk ratio over 31.1 innings for UCLA. Heading into the season, he was a guy who did a lot of things well and was waiting to put it all together, especially considering he was finally on the mound consistently after a couple of years of battling thoracic outlet syndrome and a pandemic shutdown. His fastball ticked into the low to mid 90's and reached as high as 98, while he also showed the high spin curveball, slider, and above average changeup that he's always had. However, after showing average command in his first two years at UCLA, Nastrini simply could not find the zone in 2021 and walked nearly a quarter of the hitters he faced. The command spiraled downward as the season progressed, too – after walking only ten batters in his first 17.2 innings, he walked fifteen over his next ten innings and thirteen over his final 3.2. At that point, you have to think it's in his head more than anything else. When he's on, you have a well-built, 6'3" righthander with a full arsenal, a history of throwing strikes, and a relatively clean delivery (albeit with a bit of a late arm), so there's definitely starter upside here, but he's a reclamation project for the Dodgers' development staff. Slot value here is $430,800, but I expect the San Diego native to sign for less.

5-162: RHP Ben Casparius, Connecticut. My rank: #174.
Ben Casparius is a pretty different arm from Nick Nastrini. After beginning his career at UNC, he transferred back home to Connecticut in 2020 and after sitting out the pandemic-shortened season, he burst onto the scene as UConn's ace. In fifteen starts, the Westport, Connecticut native put up a 4.03 ERA and a 127/36 strikeout to walk ratio over 91.2 innings, though that ERA actually sat at 3.07 until his final start of the season in which he allowed eleven earned runs to a white hot Notre Dame offense. Casparius doesn't have any plus pitches, but he gets it done with three average to above average offerings in a low 90's fastball, a slider, and an above average changeup that functions as his bread and butter. A dogged competitor, his command may be average in a vacuum, but it plays up due to his willingness to attack the strike zone and go after hitters, and he's been noted as a hard worker off the field as well. Almost 22 and a half, the 6' righty might not come with the upside of Bruns or Heubeck, but he should work as a bit of a balance for this draft class and work his way up as a back-end starter. Slot value is $318,200, but I don't expect him to need that much to sign.

6-192: RHP Emmet Sheehan, Boston College. Unranked.
Emmet Sheehan was a breakout performer for Boston College this spring, putting up a 4.23 ERA and a 106/34 strikeout to walk ratio over 76.2 innings. He has a pretty average profile on the surface, but again, it's an interesting one that a team like the Dodgers would love to mold. Hailing from the same region of southwestern Connecticut as Ben Casparius, Sheehan brings a low 90's fastball that was ticking into the mid 90's more often as the season went on, adding in a curveball and changeup that are average for now. However, there's a lot the Dodgers can do here. His fastball rides while his changeup fades, and while his curveball lacks power, it has plenty of depth when he snaps it right. A tweak here and a tweak there, and you have a very interesting starting pitching prospect. The 6'5" righty needs to get more consistent with his changeup, add a little power to that curve, and tighten up his command just a little bit to help tunnel his pitches better, all very doable things for the Los Angeles development pipeline. This will be a fun sleeper to follow. Slot value is $247,000 and I doubt he'll require more than that to sign.

11-342: LHP Justin Wrobleski, Oklahoma State. Unranked.
To start off day three, the Dodgers opted for an injured arm in Justin Wrobleski, who went down with Tommy John surgery in April. Wrobleski began his career at Clemson, transferred to the State College of Florida, then on to Oklahoma State for his junior year. His brief time there was up and down, as he posted a 4.20 ERA and a 50/26 strikeout to walk ratio over 40.2 innings, though it should be noted that four of those walks came in his final inning before the injury. He's a 6'1" lefty with a low 90's fastball that gets up to about 95, while his best pitch is an above average slider that flashes legitimate plus from the left side. Coming from a closed off delivery, he gets a nice combination of sweep and depth on the pitch and it can be deadly against both lefties and righties. He also throws an average changeup. Command has come and gone for the Atlanta-area native, and ultimately he may not profile as more than a reliever, but I noted him as an interesting sleeper coming into the season and it will be interesting to see what happens once he gets some consistent innings in the Dodgers system, if he's signable. Wrobleski is also young for the class and didn't turn 21 until the day after the draft, which may make him less signable, so we'll see.

12-372: LHP Ronan Kopp, South Mountain JC [AZ]. Unranked.
Now this is a player development project if there ever was one. Ronan Kopp is a massive, 6'7", 250 pound lefty out of Arizona. He grew up in Scottsdale and was originally set to head due south to Arizona State, but instead of heading to Tempe, he switched his commitment to South Mountain JC just a bit to the southwest in Phoenix proper. There, he was inconsistent, with a 2.84 ERA and a 38/25 strikeout to walk ratio over 25.1 innings. Kopp generates easy, easy velocity with his massive frame, running his fastball into the upper 90's at times without expending much effort or working his kinetic chain as effectively as he might be able to with more coaching. There's also a breaking ball that has looked good at times, but he has never found any consistency with it whatsoever. Throw in well below average command and a delivery that needs to be cleaned up considerably, and you have a lot of work to do. But Kopp's combination of size, strength, and handedness is hard to find, and the Dodgers are hoping to strike gold and bring it all out of him. Working in Kopp's favor is age, as he's very young for his class and is actually a little bit younger than Bruns and Heubeck. Signability is always a question with teenagers in the twelfth round, but considering he switched his commitment from Arizona State to South Mountain in part to be eligible this year, you have to think there's a good chance he is signable.

2020 Draft Review: Los Angeles Dodgers

1-29: RHP Bobby Miller, Louisville
2-60: RHP Landon Knack, East Tennessee State
CBB-66: RHP Clayton Beeter, Texas Tech
3-100: OF Jake Vogel, Huntington Beach HS (CA)
4-130: C Carson Taylor, Virginia Tech
5-159: RHP Gavin Stone, Central Arkansas

By picking up the bonus pool's best friend in the 2020 draft, Landon Knack, the Dodgers were able to spread some money around and pick up a really nice class despite not picking until #29. Headlined by two big college arms in Bobby Miller and Clayton Beeter, they also grabbed an interesting local high school bat out of Huntington Beach in Jake Vogel in addition to the high ceiling Carson Taylor and the high floor Gavin Stone. Interestingly, every single one of their picks took a big step forward in the shortened 2020 season – Miller and Beeter with their command, Knack and Beeter with their velocity, Stone in showing he could start, and Vogel and Taylor with their bats.
Full index of team reviews here

1-29: RHP Bobby Miller, Louisville (my rank: 38)
Some arms are just easy to fall in love with, and Bobby Miller is certainly one of them. Hailing from the Chicago area, Miller brought his huge fastball to Louisville and has steadily gone from thrower to pitcher. His stuff played down somewhat as a sophomore (3.83 ERA, 86/38 K/BB in 80 IP), putting him in the second round range and causing evaluators to put reliever grades on him, but he looked significantly more refined in 2020 and put up a 2.31 ERA and a 34/9 K/BB in 23.1 innings. The difference was command, as Miller pitched from behind in the count much less often in 2020, allowing him to to mix his plus fastball/slider combination much more effectively. Coming from a huge 6'5" frame, Miller reaches way back in his delivery and hurls his fastball consistently in the mid 90's, showing the plus arm strength to hold that velocity deep into his starts. It's not just a straight fastball, either, coming in with heavy life, routinely missing barrels, and causing some very painful foul balls off the skinny part of the bat. The slider is also a plus pitch, coming in with upper 80's velocity that plays really well off his lively fastball – if he can command both pitches enough to effectively tunnel them off each other, hitters might not have a prayer. As with a lot of young pitchers, Miller needs to improve his changeup, but he's shown feel for it and it's coming along. While the command was much improved in 2020, there's still more work to do on that front if he wants to start, but it's gone from below average to roughly average. If he's forced to the bullpen, he's hit 99 in that role before and might be untouchable. Slot value is $2.42 million at the back of the first round. Pre-draft profile here.

2-60: RHP Landon Knack, East Tennessee State (my rank: 124)
A Northeast Tennessee lifer, Knack grew up in Johnson City (yes, the one from Wagon Wheel), headed to Walters State CC in Morristown to start his college career, and came back to his hometown to pitch for East Tennessee State after that. Now nearly 23, he gave up hitting as a senior this year and was absolutely dominant, posting a 1.08 ERA, a 0.52 WHIP, and an insane 51/1 strikeout to walk ratio across 25 innings. He's done this with pinpoint command of a mid 90's fastball that can run as high as 98, completely overwhelming weaker competition in 2020. The secondary stuff isn't quite as robust, but he does have a full set of offspeed pitches and they were looking better this year. If he continues to sharpen them, that could help him stick in the rotation, but at nearly 23 years old, he may be better off just jumping in the bullpen and fast tracking to the majors. A little bit of a stockier guy at 6'2" with a decent delivery, he might fit better there anyways. That said, with his combination of command and velocity, he's a high probability major leaguer that could provide value in a setup or long relief role, or as a #4/#5 starter at best. Maybe the biggest thing he provides the Dodgers, at least for right now, is that he'll likely sign way under the $1.16 million slot value for the 60th pick, and that will save significant money to go after guys like Clayton Beeter and Jake Vogel.

CBB-66: RHP Clayton Beeter, Texas Tech (my rank: 48)
While Dodgers fans are going to see a lot less of Mookie Betts than they hoped, they can take a little bit of solace in the fact that they also acquired this pick from the Twins in the trade, and Clayton Beeter brings significant value. A product of the Fort Worth area, Beeter wasn't much of a prospect by the time he went down with Tommy John surgery as a freshman at Texas Tech. He flashed big stuff as a redshirt freshman in 2019, striking out 40 in 20.2 innings of relief, but he also walked 20. However, 2020 was a revelation: 2.14 ERA, 33/4 K/BB in 21 IP. That alone rocketed him into top two round conversations, and his stock continued to inflate even after the shutdown as teams got a look at his pitch metrics. He's added fastball velocity and can now sit in the mid 90's, and the pitch plays up coming from his over the top release point and subsequent downward angle and high spin rates. He has a plus downer curveball that doesn't pop out of his hand, but bites hard down in the zone nonetheless. He mostly lived off those two pitches this year at Texas Tech, but his slider shows plus potential as well and he has a changeup that could surprise some hitters in pro ball. His command improved from well below average in 2019 to above average in 2020, making him a pretty complete pitcher over the four start sample this year. However, that track record was just four starts against relatively weak competition, and he was knocked around a bit in his only start against a stronger lineup (4 IP,  4 ER, 3 BB, 8 K vs Tennessee). Throughout the spring, more and more teams were comfortable with considering his progress the real deal, and he even received some first round rumors. As a redshirt sophomore, he has a little bit of leverage in this spot, and he might need a little bit over the $1 million slot value to sign. Pre-draft profile here.

3-100: OF Jake Vogel, Huntington Beach HS, CA (my rank: 109)
After going to Kentucky, Tennessee, and Texas for their first three picks, the Dodgers came back home to pluck Jake Vogel out of Huntington Beach High School just thirty miles south of the stadium. The UCLA commit will be an expensive sign, but the Dodgers believe he'll be worth it. Though he's smaller at 5'11", he stands out for his plus-plus speed that even tops Mets second rounder Isaiah Greene (Corona, CA) for the best in the west coast high school class. More than just a speedster, though, he makes a lot of line drive contact with a loose swing from the right side, though he'll need to get a bit more direct with it to continue to hit for impact at the next level. There isn't much present power and his smaller frame doesn't project to add a ton, but the aforementioned swing changes could help get him close to average in that regard. Either way, his blazing speed helps him stretch singles into doubles and doubles into triples, which will undoubtedly be a boon for his offensive production. He'll stick in center field and could be a plus defender there once he learns to refine his reads and routes a bit, taking some pressure off his bat. In all, he projects for average on-base percentages, maybe 10-15 home runs per year at best, and plenty of doubles, triples, and stolen bases, a leadoff projection at his ceiling and possibly more of a #7/#8ish hitter at his median outcome. Committed to UCLA, it will likely take significantly more than the $581,600 slot to sign, money that will come from Knack's likely underslot signing.

4-130: C Carson Taylor, Virginia Tech (unranked)
Had it not been for Ian Seymour going 73 picks earlier to the Rays, Carson Taylor would have been my alma mater's highest pick since Mark Zagunis went 78th overall to the Cubs in 2014. A draft-eligible sophomore who grew up in the Atlanta area, Taylor hit well as a freshman (.290/.389/.413) before taking it to another level as a sophomore, hitting .431/.541/.690 with a pair of home runs and far more walks (12) than strikeouts (5) over 16 games. He brings a very advanced approach at the plate that enables him to tap some solid raw power from a 6'2" frame, though his plate discipline is ahead of his hit tool and he has some holes in his swing. Those came to light in the Cape Cod League over the summer, where he hit just .188/.250/.313 in 15 games, but he did hit two home runs and showed the plate discipline he's known for. That solid pitch selection has enabled him to keep his strikeouts low, giving the Dodgers hope they can iron out the swing and help him tap his power more consistently. He's raw behind the plate and is in no way a lock to stick back there, but he shows impressive tools and is trending in the right direction defensively. Overall, the bat looks a lot more impressive if he can stick, but it might be fringier if he has to move to first base or the outfield. As a draft-eligible sophomore, he might not take a discount from the $434,300 slot value at pick 130.

5-159: RHP Gavin Stone, Central Arkansas (unranked)
I've been to Gavin Stone's hometown of Lake City, Arkansas – it's a true map dot of about two thousand people tucked up against a levee holding back the St. Francis River in the Mississippi Delta. After three years at Central Arkansas, it's time for the bright lights of LA for the righty, who no-hit Southeastern Louisiana in his final college start. It was part of a really nice career in Conway for Stone, who put up a 1.44 ERA and an 89/17 strikeout to walk ratio over 75 innings between the 2019 and 2020 seasons. A 6'1" righty, he sits in the low 90's with his fastball and tosses an average slider and changeup, the former bringing a lot of lateral movement. He's a skinnier guy who was a reliever up until this season, so he hasn't proven that he's durable enough to handle a full season's workload, but his above average command gives him every chance to hold down a rotation spot. The Dodgers will hope to bulk him up and perhaps sharpen the stuff a little, which could make him a #4 starter, or they could send him to the bullpen if he can't hold his stuff over a longer season. He's been up to 96 in shorter stints, so he could thrive in that role. Either way, the command is the selling point here. Slot value is $327,200, and he might take a bit of a discount.

2020 Prospect Depth Chart: Los Angeles Dodgers

Even after graduating guys like Corey Seager, Cody Bellinger, Walker Buehler, Julio Urias, and Alex Verdugo in recent years, this system remains very deep, aided by the successful Yasiel Puig/Matt Kemp trade with Cincinnati that brought Josiah Gray and Jeter Downs, both of whom broke out in 2019. Of course, the two headliners of the system are Gavin Lux, who could be an All Star at second base, and Dustin May, a potential ace, both of whom could compete for the NL Rookie of the Year Award in 2020. The system is pretty deep and balanced throughout, with the notable exception being the outfield after the graduation of Verdugo, as there are no true impact prospects at this point and the two with the highest ceiling, Andy Pages and Luis Rodriguez, are both very far off.

Affiliates: AAA Oklahoma City Dodgers, AA Tulsa Drillers, High A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, Class A Great Lakes Loons, rookie level Ogden Raptors, complex level AZL and DSL Dodgers

Catcher
- Keibert Ruiz (2020 Age: 21-22): Will Smith put on a show after his May call-up with 15 home runs in 54 games, but the Dodgers have another stud catcher coming up right behind him. In 2019, Keibert Ruiz slashed .261/.331/.347 with six home runs and a 22/30 strikeout to walk ratio over 85 games at AA Tulsa and AAA Oklahoma City, though a broken finger ended his season in August. Developing young catching is hard, but Ruiz has made it easy by reaching AAA the day after his 21st birthday in 2019 due to just exceptional strike zone judgement as well as good defense behind the plate. He puts the bat on the ball really, really easily, which has enabled him to handle advanced pitching at a young age. The Dodgers continue to hope that some power will come, and he did hit 12 home runs in 101 games in AA in 2018, though that will require a chance in his contact-oriented approach. He's still very young for a catcher that's already knocking on the big league door, so he has time to add impact at the plate, and he'll need to do so if he wants to eventually take the starting role away from Smith.
- Connor Wong (2020 Age: 23-24): The Dodgers drafted Wong in the third round out of the University of Houston in 2017, and he's hit well in pro ball, most recently slashing .281/.336/.541 with 24 home runs, 11 stolen bases, and a 143/32 strikeout to walk ratio over 111 games at High A Rancho Cucamonga and AA Tulsa in 2019. Wong isn't the most disciplined or the most physical hitter at a skinny 6'1", but his quick uppercut helps him produce plenty of power and get to it consistently. The aggressive approach didn't hurt him in AA, where he actually hit .349/.393/.604 in 40 games then raked in the playoffs, and the Dodgers would like to think this will carry over to the highest level. The defensive situation might get interesting, because Will Smith has the better glove and Ruiz is probably a bit ahead of him in that regard as well, but Wong won't be forced to first base because he can actually handle second or third base. Since Smith and Ruiz probably have the catching position locked up for the long term, so Wong could be an interesting super-utility type who starts all over the field, including behind the plate.
- Diego Cartaya (2020 Age: 18): The Dodgers gave Cartaya $2.5 million to sign out of Venzuela in 2018, and he made a strong impression in his first pro season in 2019 by slashing .281/.343/.432 with four home runs and a 42/16 strikeout to walk ratio over 49 games between the complex level affiliates in the Dominican Summer League and the Arizona League. He has a simple, clean right handed swing that's hit over power for now, but he creates enough leverage that he should be able to grow into some power, perhaps above average power. Defensively, he's very advanced and only figures to get better, and he will play all of 2020 at just 18 years old so he has plenty of time to develop further.
- Keep an eye on: Hunter Feduccia, Marco Hernandez

Corner Infield
- Edwin Rios (2020 Age: 26): Rios has worked his way up slowly since being a sixth round pick out of Florida International University in 2015, repeating AAA in 2019 and slashing .270/.340/.575 with 31 home runs and a 153/37 strikeout to walk ratio over 104 games there, also hitting a strong .277/.393/.617 with four home runs and a 21/9 strikeout to walk ratio over 28 major league games. Rios strikes out a lot, but he uses his 6'3" frame effectively to get great extension on the ball and drive it out to all fields. Combining his fringy hit tool with his fringy defense means that he probably won't ever be a full time starter in Los Angeles, plus Justin Turner and Max Muncy already have the infield corners locked down, but his power could make him a nice role player or platoon bat in the near future.
- Miguel Vargas (2020 Age: 20): After the Dodgers signed Vargas for $300,000 out of Cuba in 2017, he made a strong first impression by slashing .330/.404/.465 in his first pro season in 2018, then took another step forward in 2019 by slashing .308/.380/.440 with seven home runs, 13 stolen bases, and an 83/55 strikeout to walk ratio over 124 games at Class A Great Lakes and High A Rancho Cucamonga. Lean and strong at 6'3", he's an extremely competent hitter who stands out most for his ability to find the barrel with ease against advanced pitching at a very young age. Vargas hits for mostly extra base power for now, and he did hit 38 doubles in 2019, though he could grow into some power as he begins to get those extra base hits over the fence. He doesn't need to in order to be a valuable hitter, though, as he should be able to post high on-base percentages to go along with those extra base hits at the major league level. He's still a work in progress defensively and may have to move to first base, which would put pressure on him adding power, but he'll play all of 2020 at just 20 years old and has a lot of time to figure out who he is as a player.
- Kody Hoese (2020 Age: 22-23): Hoese put up a massive breakout season at Tulane in 2019, then rode that to a late first round selection to the Dodgers, where he slashed .299/.380/.483 with five home runs and a 25/18 strikeout to walk ratio over 41 games between the complex level Arizona League and Class A Great Lakes. He uses a simple right handed swing and the natural leverage in his 6'4" frame to hit for potentially plus raw power, and his plate discipline is advanced enough that he should be a fairly safe bet despite his lack of a track record. If his massive 2019 wasn't a mirage, he could hit 25-30 home runs annually at the major league level while posting solid on-base percentages. While his .264/.330/.385 line at Class A was pretty decent for a hitter in his pro debut, he still does have to prove that his power will play up against advanced pitching. He's a decent defender at third base but should stick there.
- Michael Busch (2020 Age: 22): The Dodgers picked Busch out of UNC just six picks after Hoese in 2019, though he slashed just .125/.371/.125 with a 5/7 strikeout to walk ratio over ten games between the Arizona League and Class A Great Lakes before a broken hand ended his season. Busch is an interesting hitter – he has good power, and he's proven he can get to it consistently against advanced competition in the ACC and in the Cape Cod League. Meanwhile, he does have some swing and miss in his game, but he has such a great feel for the strike zone that he can mitigate most of it by not chasing bad pitches. He's a pretty safe bet to be a solid contributor with both power and on-base percentages, but the bigger questions surround his defense. He played first base and left field in college, both pretty mediocrely, and the Dodgers have tried him out so far as a second baseman. He's not fast nor does he have a strong arm, so the Dodgers are just going to have to figure out where he's the least bit of a liability.
- Brandon Lewis (2020 Age: 21): Lewis, a fourth rounder out of UC-Irvine, gives the Dodgers a third 2019 draftee that figures prominently into their future infield scheme. A graduate of Bishop Alemany High School in Mission Hills, he also gives them another hometown kid to root for behind Lakewood's Justin Turner. Lewis is on an upward trajectory if one ever existed, as he was barely recruited out of high school, attended Pierce College for a couple of years, then broke out for the Anteaters in 2019. In his pro debut, he slashed .297/.365/.534 with 13 home runs and a 58/19 strikeout to walk ratio over 56 games between the Arizona League, rookie level Ogden, and Class A Great Lakes, showing both the tremendous raw power that got him drafted and the swing and miss issues that mean he'll be a bit of a project. The fact that he was able to get to his power consistently in the Pioneer League was a nice sign, as were the two home runs he hit against moderately advanced pitching in the Midwest League playoffs. He has a high ceiling as a power hitting third baseman, but there's also a chance he has to move to first base and that will put more pressure on his ability to make contact. As someone who will play all of 2020 at 21 years old, he's young for a college draftee, so he'll have a bit of extra time to develop.
- Keep an eye on: Cristian Santana, Dillon Paulson, Justin Yurchak

Middle Infield
- Gavin Lux (2020 Age: 22): There's no way around it that Lux is one of the best prospects in baseball and already a leading candidate to give the Dodgers a third NL Rookie of the Year in five years. A late first round pick out of a Kenosha, Wisconsin high school in 2016, he took a little bit to find his footing but broke out by slashing .324/.399/.514 in 2018 after he reworked his approach. He was even better in 2019, slashing .347/.421/.607 with 26 home runs, ten stolen bases, and a 102/61 strikeout to walk ratio over 113 games at AA Tulsa and AAA Oklahoma City, then he hit .240/.305/.400 with a pair of home runs and a 24/7 strikeout to walk ratio over 23 major league games. Lux is pretty much the complete package as a player, showing above average power with exceptional feel for the barrel and the strike zone that enables that power to play up consistently and helps him post high on-base percentages. He's solid average at second base if a bit above, and he has enough speed to be a threat on the base paths. The Dodgers are committed to Lux as their starting second baseman in 2020 and beyond, and he could hit 20-25 home runs annually with high on-base percentages and a few stolen bases to boot – an All Star profile.
- Jeter Downs (2020 Age: 21-22): Downs was a Reds competitive balance pick out of a Miami-area high school in 2017, then was shipped to the Dodgers in the Yasiel Puig/Matt Kemp deal, which is now looking like a coup for the Dodgers. In his first season in the Dodgers' system, he had a breakout season offensively, slashing .276/.362/.526 with 24 home runs, 24 stolen bases, and a 107/60 strikeout to walk ratio over 119 games at High A Rancho Cucamonga and AA Tulsa, also adding 35 doubles and four triples. Downs just knows how to play the game, with advanced feel for the barrel and the strike zone for his age and the athleticism to make his average raw power play up in games. He's also a smart baserunner that can make his average speed play up on the bases, and he's parlayed that into 61 stolen bases over the last two seasons. Overall, the package is actually somewhat similar to a base-model Gavin Lux, just take half a grade off each tool and flip him to the other batters' box.
- Omar Estevez (2020 Age: 22): Estevez is a Cuban defector who received $6 million to sign with the Dodgers in 2015, and they quickly assigned him to Class A shortly after his 18th birthday. He hasn't moved as quickly as originally hoped, but he still reached the upper minors at just 21 years old in 2019 and slashed .292/.353/.429 with six home runs and a 78/33 strikeout to walk ratio over 90 games between AA Tulsa and some complex level rehab work. He has advanced feel for the barrel that helped him finish second in the minors with 43 doubles in 2018, and his powerful swing helps him produce at least a little bit of power from a smaller 5'10" frame. He's most likely to end up a high on-base guy who gets a lot of extra base hits, though the glove is kind of fringy and he fits best at second base. Overall, that's probably a utility projection.
- Jacob Amaya (2020 Age: 21): Right behind Estevez is Jacob Amaya, another local kid who attended South Hills High School in West Covina before being drafted in the eleventh round in 2017. In 2019, Amaya slashed .260/.369/.391 with seven home runs and a 98/81 strikeout to walk ratio, standing out more for his feel for the game than any individual tools. Amaya makes consistent contact with his quick right handed swing, though he tends to swing over the ball and put it on the ground a lot. He's not the biggest guy at six feet tall, but he does have the leverage in his quick barrel to eventually get close to average power. Perhaps his best offensive tool is his patience, as he is more than willing to work counts and draw walks without getting into trouble with strikeouts, which boosts his on-base percentages considerably. He's also not the flashiest defender, but he gets the job done and could fit at shortstop in more of a utility role rather than a full time one. If he can add a little pop, there is the chance he could end up a starting second baseman down the line, though the presence of Gavin Lux and Jeter Downs complicate that a bit.
- Keep an eye on: Drew Jackson, Devin Mann, Eddys Leonard, Alex De Jesus

Outfield
- DJ Peters (2020 Age: 24): Chalk up another LA native for the Dodgers, as Peters is a graduate of Glendora High School who ended up at a Nevada community college for school, then earned a fourth round selection in the 2016 draft. He's hit his way up through the system and reached the top in 2019, slashing .249/.358/.453 with 23 home runs and a 168/61 strikeout to walk ratio over 125 games at AA Tulsa and AAA Oklahoma City. He's got considerable power, but there's a bit too much swing and miss for it to fully play up in the majors, and with the Dodgers' deep outfield situation, he most likely profiles as a power hitting fourth outfielder or platoon bat. Of course, with the way Dodgers prospects just always seem to play better at the major league level, there's always the chance that the 6'6" slugger taps into some of that magic and hits 25+ home runs in the majors, but he will have to cut down on the swing and miss that's caused him to strike out 559 times over the last three seasons.
- Zach Reks (2020 Age: 26): It's been a long road for Reks, who originally enrolled at the Air Force Academy in 2012, lasted one season, then transferred to Kentucky as a student, not a baseball player. He eventually walked onto the team and hit well enough over a couple of years to be drafted in the tenth round in 2017, by which time he was a fifth year senior and already 23 years old, then just kept on hitting once he hit pro ball. Mostly a contact hitter at first, he busted out the power stroke and slashed .291/.385/.536 with 28 home runs and a 131/63 strikeout to walk ratio over 121 games at AA Tulsa and AAA Oklahoma City, and now he's knocking on the door to the big leagues. Reks generates a lot of raw power from a big left handed swing, but he controls it well enough to keep his strikeout rate from ballooning too high, and he also draws enough walks to balance it out. The Dodgers are so deep in the outfield that I honestly have no idea how in the world he'll hit his way onto the team, but in another organization, he could get a crack this year at being a fourth outfielder/platoon bat who can crush right handed pitching.
- Andy Pages (2020 Age: 19): Pages signed for $300,000 out of Cuba in 2018, then burst onto the scene in 2019 by slashing .298/.398/.651 with 19 home runs and a 79/26 strikeout to walk ratio over 63 games at rookie level Ogden at just 18 years old. Pages was more noted for his contact ability and feel for the barrel when he signed, but that's quickly manifested itself into real power (he also hit 22 doubles) real quickly as he's added significant loft to his swing already. There was some swing and miss, but he was also an 18 year old playing up in the Pioneer League, and the fact that he could get to his power enough for 43 extra base hits in 63 games is enough to know that the hit tool will play up, at least for now. He's a real sleeper to be an impact hitter and his full season debut in 2020 should be watched closely.
- Luis Rodriguez (2020 Age: 17): Rodriguez signed for nearly $2.7 million out of Venezuela in 2019, so he has yet to play in affiliated ball, but the Dodgers are certainly excited about his upside. He's a 6'2" right handed hitter that is already very advanced for his age, with the ability to work  counts and find the barrel consistently. He has a lot of room to grow into his frame and potentially add power, and he's already shown the ability to put significant leverage on the ball. A solid defender in the outfield, he probably profiles best in right field, but it's also far too soon to make any concrete projections, either about the bat or the glove. For now, he should just be watched to see what he develops into.
- Keep an eye on: Connor Joe, Carlos Rincon, Jeren Kendall, Starling Heredia

Starting Pitching
- Dustin May (2020 Age: 22): If anyone on this team has a shot at challenging Gavin Lux for the NL Rookie of the Year Award, it's Dustin May. May was drafted out of a Fort Worth-area high school the same year as Lux, in the third round in 2016, and he's gotten better every year, with a 3.38 ERA, a 1.13 WHIP, and a 110/29 strikeout to walk ratio over 106.2 innings at AA Tulsa and AAA Oklahoma City in 2019, as well as a 3.63 ERA and a 32/5 strikeout to  walk ratio over 34.2 major league innings. He's hard to miss on the field – an absolute string bean at 6'6", his bright red, shoulder-length hair makes him one of the most recognizable prospects in the game. May's fastball now sits firmly in the mid 90's with a ton of late life, and he adds a whole group of unique secondary offerings. His hard downer curve is tough to square up, while his hard cutter can touch 92 and his changeup has taken a big step forward lately. Perhaps most importantly, he can command it all pretty well, which points to a long career as at least a #3 starter with a good chance for more.
- Tony Gonsolin (2020 Age: 25-26): Gonsolin, a native of Vacaville, California between Sacramento and the Bay Area, was a ninth round senior sign out of St. Mary's College in 2016 and has transformed as a pitcher in his brief time in the system. In 2019, he posted a 4.35 ERA, a 1.50 WHIP, and a 50/21 strikeout to walk ratio over 41.1 innings at AAA Oklahoma City, but he was actually better in the majors with a 2.93 ERA, a 1.03 WHIP, and a 37/15 strikeout to walk ratio over 40 innings for the Dodgers. He's added a solid five miles per hour to his fastball in pro ball, now sitting in the mid 90's, but his best pitch is his splitter, a true plus pitch that just falls off the table at the last second while looking like a fastball the whole way. He also adds a very good downer curveball and mixes in a slider, giving hitters a wide variety of pitches they need to be ready for. With solid command, he should be a #3 or a #4 starter if he can break into the Dodgers' deep rotation in 2020.
- Josiah Gray (2020 Age: 22): Gray alone is going to make the Yasiel Puig/Matt Kemp trade look like a steal, and together with Jeter Downs, it's looking like a coup. When the Dodgers acquired Gray from the Reds, he was a recent competitive balance pick out of Division II Le Moyne College in New York who had only recently switched from shortstop to pitcher, albeit having made a strong impression in his pro debut (2.58 ERA, 59/17 K/BB in rookie ball). In his first season in the Dodgers organization, he took off, posting a 2.28 ERA, a 0.99 WHIP, and a 147/31 strikeout to walk ratio over 130 innings at Class A Great Lakes, High A Rancho Cucamonga, and AA Tulsa. He now sits in the low to mid 90's with his fastball and adds a full array of secondary pitches, led by a slider that's flashing plus more often than not, a new curveball, and a quickly improving changeup. He has also been filling up the zone as he's gotten better and better about hitting his spots, and he looks nothing like the light hitting Division II shortstop he was just a couple years ago. With his upward trajectory, he has the ceiling of a #2 starter and a really good shot at becoming at least a mid-rotation guy.
- Mitchell White (2020 Age: 25): White, a San Jose native, was a second round pick out of Santa Clara in 2016, and he's reached the top of the minors but finds himself a bit behind some of the other prospects looking to crack the Dodgers rotation in 2020. In 2019, he posted a 5.09 ERA, a 1.30 WHIP, and a 105/31 strikeout to walk ratio over 93.2 innings at AA Tulsa and AAA Oklahoma City, pitching really well at the lower level but struggling a bit with a promotion to the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. White is very close to major league ready with a low to mid 90's fastball, a pair of very good breaking balls, and a decent changeup, though he needs to get more consistent overall, especially with his average command. In most systems, he'd probably be good enough as is to compete for a rotation spot out of spring training, but May, Gonsolin, and Gray are likely ahead of him on the depth chart as more complete pitchers. I wouldn't count him out as a starter just yet though because the talent is clearly there.
- Edwin Uceta (2020 Age: 22): Uceta signed for just $10,000 out of the Dominican Republic in 2016, but a strong 2018 put him on the map and he kept up the good work in 2019, posting a 2.77 ERA, a 1.28 WHIP, and a 141/49 strikeout to walk ratio over 123.1 innings at High A Rancho Cucamonga and AA Tulsa. Uceta doesn't stand out for any particular pitch or skill, instead doing the little things right across the board to work his way up in a deep system. He's got a low 90's fastball, a decent curveball, and a changeup with nice fade, which he commands just well enough to make it all play up. He's a smaller guy at a listed six feet tall and 155 pounds, but he has topped 120 innings in back to back seasons, so he's proven durable to this point. He could be a #4 starter, or in the bullpen he could play off his fastball/changeup combination.
- Leo Crawford (2020 Age: 23): Nicaragua is mostly a soccer country, though there have been a few players to make the majors, most notably 1991 perfect game-thrower Dennis Martinez, and Leo Crawford is looking to add another to the short list. There isn't a ton of public information on Crawford, as he's only recently put himself on the map with a strong 2019 in which he posted a 2.81 ERA, a 1.26 WHIP, and a 134/27 strikeout to walk ratio over 121.2 innings at High A Rancho Cucamonga and AA Tulsa. He's a crafty lefty with a lot of moving parts in his delivery, but he has good body control that enables him to throw plenty of strikes and hit his spots. I couldn't find much information, but it looks like he throws a fastball, slider, and a changeup, the latter of which has nice drop and can be an out pitch. That changeup, combined with his command and his ability to change his delivery and keep hitters off balance, has worked very well for him even up through AA, so he'll be an intriguing dark horse candidate to crack the rotation in 2020 or 2021.
- Michael Grove (2020 Age: 23): Grove was an out-of-nowhere pick in the second round out of West Virginia in 2018, as he was sitting out the year with Tommy John surgery and wasn't really on anybody's board. He finally got back on the mound in 2019 and posted a 6.10 ERA, a 1.55 WHIP, and a 73/19 strikeout to walk ratio over 51.2 innings in an aggressive assignment to High A Rancho Cucamonga. The ERA is a bit ugly and he didn't throw a whole lot of innings, but otherwise, I'd actually consider this season a success. He controlled the zone well with a 73/19 strikeout to walk ratio, and he did so in High A despite not having pitched since 2017 in the Big 12. Grove also looked better as the year went on, regaining his feel for pitching, and the Dodgers will be ready to turn him loose in 2020. Grove gets by with a low to mid 90's fastball and a very good slider, and refining his changeup is probably the last step for him to reach his ceiling as a #3 or #4 starter.
- Ryan Pepiot (2020 Age: 22): Pepiot slipped a little on draft boards with an inconsistent junior year at Butler in 2019, but the Dodgers eventually grabbed him in the third round and watched him post a 1.93 ERA, a 1.20 WHIP, and a 31/13 strikeout to walk ratio over 23.1 innings between the complex level Arizona League and at Class A Great Lakes. Pepiot stands out for his low 90's fastball and his excellent fading changeup, though he got in trouble at times when a) his two decent breaking balls began to run together or b) his command wavered. The combination of not having a true swing and miss breaking ball and spotty command might eventually push him to the bullpen, but the Dodgers will try to clean him up and get him more consistent overall, hoping that the presence of four pitches can keep him in the rotation and push him towards a ceiling of a #3 or #4 starter. The strong pro debut is at least a good sign.
- Jimmy Lewis (2020 Age: 19): The Dodgers picked Lewis up in the second compensation round in 2019, making him the second pick out of his own Austin-area high school after Mets first rounder Brett Baty. He's a projectable 6'6" righty that sits in the low 90's with his fastball and adds a curveball that looks really good at times, though it can soften up at times. He also throws a changeup that is fairly advanced for a high schooler, and he has the fairly advanced strike throwing ability to match. Overall, it's a nice combination of current ability and projection for a high school arm, with all the building blocks necessary to put together an impact starter and some of them already together.
- Keep an eye on: Gerardo Carrillo, Andre Jackson, John Rooney, Robinson Ortiz, Jack Little

Relief Pitching
- Dennis Santana (2020 Age: 24): With five highly regarded pitching prospects knocking on the door to the big league rotation, Santana and Mitchell White are probably in the second tier, and Santana's most likely path forward is probably the bullpen. In 2019, he had a 6.94 ERA, a 1.76 WHIP, and a 105/53 strikeout to walk ratio over 93.1 innings at AAA Oklahoma City, and he also has a 9.35 ERA and a 10/5 strikeout to walk ratio over 8.2 career major league innings. He's always had the stuff, most notably a mid 90's fastball with sink and a good diving slider, also adding a decent changeup that can get too firm, but the command has been an issue throughout his career. There is some jerk in his delivery that can pull him off alignment, and now set to turn 24 at the start of the season, I'm not sure how much better it's going to get. That's why he's probably a reliever with all this pitching depth, where his fastball could hit the upper 90's and his slider could hopefully get a bit more consistent.
- Marshall Kasowski (2020 Age: 25): Kasowski, unlike Santana, is a true-relief prospect, one who posted a 2.27 ERA, a 1.07 WHIP, and a 51/16 strikeout to walk ratio over 31.2 innings between AA Tulsa and complex level rehab work despite missing some time with injuries mid season. He was a 13th round pick out of West Texas A&M in 2017, two years after surviving a car accident that nearly killed him, but since hitting pro ball he's struck out 37.1% of his opponents – 177 in just 107.2 innings. He's gotten most of those with just one pitch, a mid 90's fastball that comes from a higher than high overhand slot and is extremely difficult to pick up. He's got a curve to give hitters a different look, but really it's just the fastball. With mediocre command, he's probably more of a middle reliever than a late inning guy, but improving his command a little bit could help him move towards an eighth or ninth inning job.
- Aaron Ochsenbein (2020 Age: 24): Ochsenbein signed as a fifth year senior after being drafted in the sixth round out of Eastern Kentucky in 2019, so he'll already turn 24 in spring training (well technically, he's only turning five because he was born on February 29th, leap year day). He was an unremarkable prospect until he turned 23, when he broke out for a monster redshirt senior season and carried it over into pro ball, where he had a 1.44 ERA, a 0.92 WHIP, and a 35/6 strikeout to walk ratio over 25 innings between the complex level Arizona League, rookie level Ogden, and Class A Great Lakes. He has a low to mid 90's fastball and an excellent splitter that misses bats in bunches, in addition to an average slider, that will help him move quickly through the minors. With a little bit of deception in his delivery and good solid command, he's a good middle relief prospect to track.
- Keep an eye on: Logan Salow, Jordan Sheffield, Brett de Geus, Melvin Jimenez, Mitchell Tyranksi