Dodgers pitcher Shawn Tolleson, who had back surgery in April, has been cleared to resume a throwing program tomorrow.
Tolleson will travel to the Dodgers’ Camelback Ranch facility in Glendale, Ariz. to begin the rehab program. He is targeting an August return.
The 25-year-old right hander appeared in one game this season on April 12 before going on the disabled list due to back spasms.
If it seems like Yasiel Puig has set the bar impossibly high since being recalled from Double-A Chattanooga, you’re not alone.
Puig is 7 for 16 with three multi-hit games, three home runs and nine RBIs after hitting his first career grand slam in a 2 for 4, four-RBI performance Thursday against the Atlanta Braves.
When Puig came to bat with the bases loaded in the eighth inning against Braves reliever Cory Gearrin, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly and first baseman Adrian Gonzalez were standing next to each other on the top step of the dugout.
“(Mattingly) was like, ‘should I squeeze right here?’ I said no, you should hit and run. If anybody asks, say you were trying to avoid the double play,” Gonzalez said.
A silence followed.
“Then I said, how about first career grand slam?”
Puig made Gonzalez a prophet on the first pitch he saw.
The Dodgers’ first-round draft pick, Chris Anderson, is on Twitter.
We combed his feed to learn more about the Jacksonville University pitcher.
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The Dodgers chose Jacksonville University pitcher Chris Anderson with their first selection, 18th overall, in the First-Year Player Draft Thursday night.
Anderson, 6-foot-4 and 225 pounds, has a fastball clocked as fast as the 96-97 mph range. He also throws a curveball, slider and changeup. The right-hander will turn 21 in July.
As a junior in 2013, he went 7-5 with a 2.49 earned-run average, walking 27 and striking out 101 in 104 ⅔ innings. (Complete stats here)
Seven of the Dodgers’ last eight first-round draft picks have been pitchers.
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Tim Federowicz predicted his first major-league home run a few hours before hitting it Saturday in Denver. (Getty Images)
Dodgers catcher Tim Federowicz probably couldn’t do anything to upstage Yasiel Puig‘s thunderous entrance into Major League Baseball, short of calling his first major-league home run.
Funny thing is, he did call it.
Called the next one, too.
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The Dodgers recently signed one international amateur player, 17-year-old outfielder Johan Mieses out of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and are among a number of teams kicking the tires on another.
Cuban-born pitcher Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez, 26, is also on the Dodgers’ radar. According to a source, Gonzalez recently defected and hasn’t held a formal group workout such as the one Yasiel Puig held a year ago in Mexico. MLB has yet to formally declare Gonzalez a free agent.
Gonzalez’s fastball has been clocked as high as 96-97 mph and averages out in the 93-94 range. His arm could need time to get up to major-league speed following a recent elbow injury, but Gonzalez projects as a number-two or -three starter if healthy, according to the source.
Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig said he faced Gonzalez once three years ago.
“He’s got a really good fastball,” Puig said through a translator. “He comes way over the top and has really good control.”
Infielder
Corey Seager (left, with Matt Kemp) was the Dodgers’ first-round draft pick last year. (Associated Press photo)Aaaaand, stop. Put down your pencils.
Time to turn in your mock drafts. The real First-Year Player Draft begins with the first round sometime after 4 p.m. this afternoon and picks up tomorrow with the second round. The Dodgers hold the 18th pick.
SportsIllustrated.com broke down what each draft pick has yielded from 1990 to 2010. The 18th pick has yielded, um, not a lot:
… (R.A.) Dickey’s prominence is just further proof that this has been the worst pick among the top 25 over the last two decades. Beyond Dickey, the only No. 18 picks in the majors are Cardinals shortstop Pete Kozma (2007) and Mets first baseman Ike Davis (2008). Aside from Dickey and Davis, no other No. 18 pick from 1990 to 2010 has produced as much as two wins above replacement. The only No. 18 pick with a career bWAR greater than Dickey’s is Willie Wilson (CF, Royals, 1974)
The Dodgers have drafted pitchers with their first pick in seven of the last 11 years. Corey Seager, a shortstop-expected-to-be-turned-third-baseman was an exception in 2012. MLB.com thinks the Dodgers will buck the trend again and draft juco shortstop Tim Anderson. ESPN, SBNation.com and BaseballAmerica.com believe the trend will continue with (respectively) University of Arkansas right-hander Ryne Stanek, prep left-hander Rob Kaminsky or right-hander Hunter Harvey.
Click on those links and there seems to be a consensus of, say, five or six names that will be available to the Dodgers at 18. Remember, unlike most drafts there are no trades in baseball, so the Dodgers have no choice but to make the accursed pick. I’m told that whoever he is might be speaking to the media tonight or tomorrow.
Some bullet points for a Thursday morning:
Dodgers pitcher Scott Elbert will undergo Tommy John surgery on his left elbow next week and miss the remainder of the 2013 season.
Elbert was diagnosed with a complete tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing elbow by team physician Dr. Neal ElAttrache. The expected time of recovery is 12-16 months.
This will be the third surgery Elbert has had on the elbow in the last year. He had operations to repair damaged cartilage in January and September 2012.
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Josh Beckett is 0-5 with a 5.19 earned-run average this season while dealing with tingling and numbness in his right hand. (John McCoy/Staff Photographer)
Josh Beckett was back at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday after what the pitcher called a “whirlwind” three days in Dallas to determine the course of treatment for the compressed nerve affecting his right arm.
Beckett visited with Dr. Greg Pearl at the recommendation of St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Chris Caprenter, who went to Pearl to have surgery last year to correct thoracic outlet syndrome in his right arm.
Beckett is dealing with a compressed nerve in the same area as Carpenter, but he has been told that he does not need surgery for now.
“We’re going to be doing a lot of aggressive rehabilitation of trying to get the outlet where the nerve and the artery and stuff go under the clavicle and above the first rib,” Beckett said. “They’re going to try to open that up.”
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Yasiel Puig signs for fans Monday at Dodger Stadium. (Andy Holzman/Staff photographer)
In case you missed it, Yasiel Puig went 3-for-4 with a double, two home runs and five RBI in his second major-league game last night.
To measure Puig’s first two days with the Dodgers against history took longer than the one hour I had on deadline. So here’s a more comprehensive rundown, courtesy of the Dodgers, the Elias Sports Bureau, ESPN and others:
• Puig had the fourth multi-homer game by a Dodger this season (last: Scott Van Slyke, May 17) and his five RBI were the most for a Dodger since Jerry Hairston Jr.’s five RBI on June 9, 2012 at Seattle.
• Puig is the first Dodger player to have a multi-homer game within his first two career games.
• Puig is the first Dodger player to post five or more RBI within his first two career games since Spider Jorgensen knocked in six in his second career game on April 17, 1947 for Brooklyn against the Boston Braves.
• Puig also doubled, joining Jorgensen as the only Dodgers since 1916 to have a three extra-base hit-game within his first two games.
• Puig is the first Dodger player to post multi-hit games in the first two games of his career since Larry Miller on June 21, 1964 (second game of double-header) and June 29, 1964.
• The last MLB player with five or more RBI in one of his first two games was the Chicago Cubs’ Starlin Castro (six RBI, May 7, 2010 in debut) and the last player with two or more homers through two career games was Baltimore’s Manny Machado with two homers in his second career game (Aug. 10, 2012).
• He is the second player in major league history to have a two-homer, five-RBI game within the first two games of his career, joining Dino Restelli of the 1949 Pittsburgh Pirates.
• He is the second Dodgers player ever to have a two-homer, five-RBI game from the leadoff spot, joining Tommy Brown, who did so in 1950.
• Puig’s first home run landed 443 feet away in left field, the longest home run hit by a Dodger this season.
Tater Trot Tracker confirmed that Puig’s two home run trots were among the fastest all year. I asked Puig if he knew each would go out of the park, or if he was hustling because he thought they wouldn’t. His answer: “I play hard all the time.”
And the beat goes on. Some bullet points for a World Environment Day: