Headed for Japan, O’Koyea Dickson reflects on his Dodgers tenure.

If you were to list every Dodgers player from the time he joined the organization until now, the first eight names would be:

  1. Kenley Jansen
  2. Andre Ethier
  3. Clayton Kershaw
  4. Pedro Baez
  5. Yimi Garcia
  6. Joc Pederson
  7. Scott Barlow
  8. O’Koyea Dickson

It might be too soon to cross off Andre Ethier’s name, but he is a free agent for the first time. There’s a decent chance he will not return in 2018.

Go ahead and cross off Barlow’s name. A 2011 draft pick, he pitched eight games above the Double-A level in the last six years. The Royals signed him to a major-league contract Dec. 7. Eric Hosmer, Lorenzo Cain and Mike Moustakas are still free agents, but Scott Barlow is on a 40-man roster in Kansas City. Go figure.

Dickson formally moved on this week too. He’s headed to Japan to play for the Rakuten Golden Eagles. I wanted to follow up on this because a few interesting things happened at the end of Dickson’s time as a Dodger that bear mention and, well, it’s a bear market.

Continue reading “Headed for Japan, O’Koyea Dickson reflects on his Dodgers tenure.” »

Don Mattingly on Corey Seager: ‘I don’t expect to see him on an everyday basis.’

I remember the time when the Dodgers sent out Trent Oeltjen a couple years back and Don Mattingly, then in his second year as manager, predicted Oeltjen could be a fourth outfielder somewhere in the major leagues. Maybe that wasn’t factually incorrect. Still, no team ever gave Oeltjen that chance. He spent a year in the minors, went back to his native Australia for a while, then retired.

So take this quote with a grain of salt:

Mattingly said that after I asked him to reflect on Corey Seager‘s camp. Here’s the full quote:

“It’s hard to look at Corey without looking at all those kids: (Scott) Schebler, (O’Koyea) Dickson, (Darnell) Sweeney, all those kids. I think every player we sent out yesterday plays in the big leagues — Britton, both catchers. … I don’t know what Andrew and the guys are thinking, about September call-ups. I think if we’re fairly healthy, I don’t expect to see him with us on an everyday basis.”

Dodgers prospect Julio Urias impresses in his first live batting practice session.



GLENDALE, Ariz. — Julio Urias gave the Dodgers so much to like in his first live BP session of the spring Sunday, it’s worth focusing on the present before dreaming about the 18-year-old’s future.

Urias is expected to begin the season at Double-A. At least, there have been no indications otherwise to this point from anyone within the organization.

So how does Urias compare to most Double-A pitchers?
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Watch: Julio Urias strikes out Joc Pederson, Chris Heisey, Alex Guerrero in live BP.

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Dodgers pitcher Julio Urias threw approximately 40 pitches over two “innings” to live hitters for the first time in spring training Sunday. The 18-year-old left-hander struck out four batters: Alex Guerrero (twice), Chris Heisey and Joc Pederson.

Here’s his three-pitch punchout of Pederson:

Urias then struck out Guerrero and got Heisey to ground out in the area of the second baseman.

Here are all 18 pitches he threw in the second “inning,” including the strikeouts of Guerrero and Heisey. He also faces O’Koyea Dickson in this inning and induces a pop-up toward second base. The inning ends with a planned pitchout as Pederson stands in the box.

Update: 27 Dodgers prospects will participate in winter development camp.

Jarret Martin

Twenty-seven prospects will invade Dodger Stadium this week for the club’s annual winter development camp. (Associated Press photo)

Eighteen-year-old pitching prospect Julio Urias, who was invited to his first major league spring training last week, will take part in the Dodgers’ winter development camp for prospects this week at Dodger Stadium.

Urias is one of 27 prospects who will take part in this year’s camp, up from 15 a year ago. Earlier today we posted a partial list of four prospects who will take part in the eighth annual camp (Grant Holmes, Jose De Leon, Cody Bellinger, Ryan Scott).

The other 23 participants include pitcher Zach Lee, who also took part in last year’s camp and spent all season at Triple-A. Pitchers Carlos Frias and Daniel Coulombe, who earned their first major league call-ups last September, have also been invited. Another pitcher of note is Ross Stripling, who underwent Tommy John surgery in spring training of last year.

Catcher Austin Barnes, who was acquired in the trade that sent Dee Gordon and Dan Haren to the Miami Marlins, will take part in the camp. So will outfielders Scott Schebler and Darnell Sweeney, who will be in the Dodgers’ major league spring training camp.

Urias isn’t even the youngest invitee. That would be Michael Medina, an outfielder from the Dominican Republic who is 12 days younger than Urias. He finished last season with the Rookie-league AZL Dodgers.

Shortstop prospect Corey Seager, 20, was invited to spring training but was not invited to the camp.

Here’s the full list, via DodgerInsider.com:
Continue reading “Update: 27 Dodgers prospects will participate in winter development camp.” »