Mar 10, 2015; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager (61) hits a sacrifice fly out in the fifth inning against the Colorado Rockies during a spring training game at Camelback Ranch. Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports
GLENDALE, Ariz. — The Los Angeles Dodgers had three players — shortstop Corey Seager, left-hander Julio Urias and outfielder Joc Pederson — in the top 10 of Baseball America’s Top 100 Prospect Rankings for 2015.
The depth of the Dodgers’ strengthening system was obvious in the opening weeks of spring training.
Five young hitters — Pederson, Seager, outfielder Scott Schebler, first baseman O’Koyea Dickson and second baseman Darnell Sweeney — were impressive, combining to go 22-for-55 (.400) with six doubles and four home runs in the opening week of Cactus League.
“It’s been fun to watch,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. “Spring is a tough time to read. You don’t want to make too much of spring and you don’t want to make too much of September. Their seasons will tell you much more than these few at-bats. But it’s good to see them swinging the bat well.
“It’s fun to watch these (Cactus League) games. … Usually when you take the regulars out of the game you’re not quite sure what you are looking at. But now it’s almost like the second half of the game is just as interesting as the first half.”
Of the five, only Pederson has a chance to break camp with the Dodgers. After Pederson had the first 30 home run/30 stolen base season in the Pacific Coast League since 1934 last year, the Dodgers cleared the way for Pederson to be their primary center fielder in 2015.
The Dodgers have done their best to minimize the pressure on Pederson this spring. But Mattingly is clearly a fan.
“As much as anything, his swing stays on path. It actually stays in the strike zone longer than a lot of guys,” Mattingly said. “He swings hard. He’s got movement in his swing. It’s a weight-shift swing. It’s like CarGo (Rockies outfielder Carlos Gonzalez).
“If you think about CarGo, how much movement does he get when he swings? It’s the same thing. It’s that big, flowing swing. They catch balls on the move and they go a mile. That’s what you see with CarGo. That’s what you see with (Robinson) Cano. That’s what you see with him (Pederson).”
The one negative on Pederson’s scouting report is a string of high strikeout totals. Even last year, he struck out 149 times while tearing up Triple-A pitching.
Mattingly is confident Pederson’s strikeout totals will decrease over time.
“The one thing we talked about with Joc is to make sure he has control of his body because he has the leg kick,” Mattingly said. “You’ve got to have that under control. You’ve got to be able to slow it down.
“This guy, we know how the ball comes off his bat. All the things we know, the one thing you don’t know (with young hitters) is who’s going to make the adjustment? The quickness of that adjustment is the thing. It’s not, ‘Is he going to play here? Can he play here?’ To me, it’s not a matter of that. It’s a matter of how he makes the adjustments and when he makes those adjustments. They’re going to pitch you a certain way, you’ve gotta make adjustments to each guy.”
