Dodgers minor leaguers: where will they begin the 2017 season?

Josh Fields

Pitcher Josh Fields will report to Triple-A Oklahoma City to begin the season. (Hans Gutknecht/Staff photographer)

The season-opening rosters for the Dodgers’ minor league affiliate teams were posted today.

Here are the players who will report to the full-season affiliates:

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Dodgers extend affiliation agreements with three minor league affiliates.

The Dodgers extended their affiliation agreements with Triple-A Oklahoma City, Double-A Tulsa and low Single-A Great Lakes on Wednesday.

Minor league affiliation agreements last two years at a time. Each affiliation agreement was set to expire at the end of this season.

In the case of Triple-A Oklahoma City, the announcement was a formality. The Oklahoma City Dodgers are owned by the Los Angeles Dodgers and Mandalay Baseball Properties, which was founded by Dodgers co-owner Peter Guber.

Tulsa is in its second season as a Dodgers affiliate, while Great Lakes is in its 10th.

“We’re tremendously excited about extending our Player Development Contracts with Great Lakes, Tulsa and Oklahoma City,” Gabe Kapler, the Dodgers’ director of player development, said in a statement. “We are excited to see our relationship with these great franchises continue to blossom and are especially grateful for the leaders we’ve gotten to work with at each affiliate, as they have been an integral part of our development of the young men in the Dodger organization. We are honored to participate in this process with each partner and know we will continue to see strong returns from these relationships.”

Watch: Dodgers pitching prospect Yadier Alvarez, 20, touches 100 mph in Single-A game.


GLENDALE, Ariz. — In his longest outing of spring training so far, Dodgers pitching prospect Yadier Alvarez was clocked at 100 mph on the radar gun in his third and final inning of a Single-A game against the Kansas City Royals at Camelback Ranch.

Two of the three scouts I spoke with had the 20-year-old clocked at 100; the other had him topping out at 99.

The Dodgers are expected to assign Alvarez to Single-A Rancho Cucamonga or Great Lakes to begin the season. Alvarez, who is from Cuba, signed with the Dodgers for a $16 million bonus last July.

Nine minor league coaches, including Double-A and Triple-A managers, will not return in 2016.

The Dodgers will not renew the contracts of their top two minor league managers, Triple-A Oklahoma City manager Damon Berryhill and Double-A Tulsa manager Razor Shines.

Seven other minor league coaches or instructors will not be brought back in 2016: Oklahoma City hitting coach Franklin Stubbs, Great Lakes pitching coach Glenn Dishman, Arizona Rookie League manager Jack McDowell, instructor Rick Rhoden, Great Lakes coach Angel Sanchez, Ogden hitting coach Darryl Brinkley and instructor Erik Bedard.

The news was especially surprising for Berryhill, who was chosen the Pacific Coast League manager of the year, and Shines, who was chosen by Texas League managers as the league’s best managerial prospect in a Baseball America survey.

No other decisions have been made about the Dodgers’ other minor league coaches, who typically work on one-year contracts, according to director of player development Gabe Kapler. An earlier report on the Dodgers’ website stated that the contract of Single-A Great Lakes hitting coach Jay Gibbons will not be renewed, but that decision has not been made.

Ross Stripling throws four scoreless innings in return to mound.

We won’t update every increment of Ross Stripling’s progress from Tommy John surgery here, but today was a big day. Once a top-10 prospect in the Dodgers’ system, the 25-year-old right hander pitched his first competitive game since 2013 on Sunday for Single-A Great Lakes.

Stripling threw four scoreless innings in the Loons’ 3-2 win over Quad Cities. He walked two of the first four hitters he faced and allowed a single, but got out of the first inning without allowing a run by virtue of a double-play flyout.

Over the next three innings, only one runner reached base against Stripling, on a fielding error. His ERA remained a perfect 0.00.

The average age of Midwest League hitters is around 22, so a healthy Stripling figured to have success today. The news today is that he’s healthy — great news for the 2012 fifth-round draft pick.