Talk about your Loon-y rosters
Great Lakes enters its third season of existence with arguably its best collection of talent. That's not saying much since the Dodgers haven't been too concerned about fielding a winning club in Midland. Sure, players like Clayton Kershaw, Carlos Santana, and Andrew Lambo have taken the field at Dow Diamond, but for the most part those big-time prospects have been few and far between.
This year's Great Lakes roster features a bunch of college vets and guys who have plenty of professional experience under their belts and it appears to be stocked with lots of talent if you trust Baseball America's Prospect Handbook (and why wouldn't you?).
The Loons will feature 3 of the Dodgers' Top 10 prospects and 9 of the Top 30, including three players with significant High-A playing experience. You don't often see that many entries on a Top 30 list taking a step back.
Martin was BA's 2008 High School Player of the Year and will be making his professional debut later this week. He's recovering from a meniscus tear in his right knee suffered during a post-draft minicamp.
- No. 3 Ethan Martin, RHP
- No. 7 Devaris Gordon, SS
- No. 10 Nathan Eovaldi, RHP
- No. 11 Austin Gallagher, 3B
- No. 17 Kyle Russell, OF
- No. 18 Jon Michael Redding, RHP
- No. 19 Tony Delmonico, C/2B
- No. 25 Javy Guerra, RHP
- No. 30 Jordan Pratt, RHP
Gordon is the son of longtime big leaguer and 1988 Midwest League All-Star Tom "Flash" Gordon (1988 Appleton Foxes) and was a fourth round pick of LA last summer.
Eovaldi continues to recover from the Tommy John surgery he had in the spring of 2007. He appears to be a hard thrower but pitched in just seven games last year between the Gulf Coast League and Ogden.
Among those outuside the Top 10, Gallagher's name stands out as a bit of an oddity. The 2007 third-rounder batted .284 at Ogden in '07 and hit .293 at High-A Inland Empire after vaulting the MWL last year. It sounds like the Dodgers are still waiting fo rthe 6-5 Gallagher to grow into his body and BA mentions he needs to work on his defense, so perhaps that explains his assignment.
Guerra, a 2004 fourth rounder, has spent the last two years pitching in the Cal League for the 66'ers. Another Tommy John survivor (2005), BA predicted Guerra would open the season in Double-A.
Pratt, who has been in LA's system since being drafted in the fifth round of 2003, appears to have control issues. He's spent the past two years at Inland Empire and in 2008 he ranked third in the Cal League in walks with 67 in just 69 innings pitched. Throw in 21 wild pitches and this assignment begins to make a bit more sense. Still, Pratt has 383 career punchouts in 368 innings so you can see why the Dodgers are giving him every opportunity to put things together.
It sure looks like Great Lakes pitching coach Danny Darwin will have plenty of talented arms to work with and mold this season. It also sounds like he might have his hands full at times.
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