Dodgers Dominate The Dominican Summer League

By now, it’s clear that the Dodgers have one of the most enviable player-development machines in the sport. They have four players in the Top 100, including righthander Emmet Sheehan (23) and catcher Dalton Rushing (50) in the top 50.

They also have plenty of firepower lurking at the lower levels, too, including powerful switch-hitting catcher Thayron Liranzo, precocious teenager Josue De Paula and high-upside pitchers Payton Martin and Chris Campos.

They’ve also graduated righthander Bobby Miller, who has shown flashes of some of the best stuff among big league rookies.

If their two clubs in the Dominican Summer League are any indication, their conveyor belt of talent isn’t about to slow down any time soon.

The DSL season finished on Aug. 22, and the two Dodgers’ squads—nicknamed Bautista and Mega—finished the year a combined 78-28, good for first (Bautista) and second (Mega) in the league’s north division.

If you remove intrasquad games from the mix, their marks get even more impressive. The Bautista team finished 39-12 while the Mega squad finished 38-10. Put those two marks together and you get a positively nutty 77-22. Further, their combined run differential was +286.

For comparison’s sake, that mark is better than all but the Yankees’ four full-season affiliates, who had a run differential of +317 entering play on Tuesday. The DSL Dodgers’ mark was 34 runs better than the second-place organization, the Cubs, whose four full-season teams began Tuesday with a run differential of +252.

The DSL Dodgers’ teams were led by a host of high-end 17-year-old prospects, including Joendry Vargas, who finished with a .952 OPS, 12 doubles, seven homers and 19 stolen bases; Eduardo Quintero, who produced a 1.090 OPS, 15 doubles, five homers and 22 stolen bases; and righthander Jesus Tillero, who struck out 34 and allowed just 19 hits (no home runs) in 30.2 innings.

In spring training, the Dodgers’ backfields were the talk of the Cactus League. If this year’s DSL season was any indication, the same might be true again next March.