Latest news with #ChavezRavine
Daily Mail
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Jon Hamm new project out today amid college hazing scandal that he refuses to apologize for
Jon Hamm 's latest project has been released today amid controversy over resurfaced allegations about his college hazing past. The actor is playing Detective Jack Bergin in 'The Big Fix: A Jack Bergin Mystery,' an audio drama from Audible Originals. The four episode series is a dramatization of the Chavez Ravine evictions which took place when the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team moved to Los Angeles in the late 1950s. The move displaced generations of Mexican-Americans who were forced out of their homes to make way for the Dodgers' Stadium. Hamm told CNN it is important to learn from this dark chapter of LA's past, as he took aim at Elon Musk for not using his massive wealth to tackle inequality. But the Mad Men star has been less forthcoming about his own dark past and on Wednesday snapped at the Daily Mail for confronting him about his time as a sadistic college bully. Hamm was identified as one of seven upper classme n who tortured pledge Mark Sanders during an initiation for the Sigma Nu fraternity at the University of Texas Austin. The ordeal left Sanders with a broken spine and kidney damage as part of a brutal initiation ordeal. Hamm previously addressed the reports in 2018, telling Esquire magazine the incident had been 'sensationalized'. On Wednesday he told a reporter he was 'offended' to have been asked about the scandal when contacted, then haughtily declared that his publicists deal with such matters. Hamm's latest project is a murder mystery set against the backdrop of the Chavez Ravine evictions. 'To ignore it is to pretend that it never happened and to pretend it never happened means you don't learn from it, and if you don't learn from it, you're going to do it again,' Hamm told CNN. He pointed out that a stark divide remains between the 'haves and have nots'. 'If Elon Musk would take – and again, this is not this not something he needs to do – but if he would take a chainsaw to his own sort of personal wealth and spread it around, he could build 30 schools in each of the 50 states, and he could be the new Andrew Carnegie,' Hamm said. 'But he doesn't want to do that and that's an interesting choice on his end.' Hamm's latest role is not the first time he has dipped his toe into the world of voiceover and follows credits on 'The Big Lie' series, 'Bob's Burgers' and 'Big Mouth. 'I really like doing it,' Hamm said. 'I think it's a fun and creative way to kind of engage in storytelling and I think ('The Big Fix') is part of that.' Hazing victim Mark Sanders was hit so hard during the warped 1990 initiation that he suffered a fractured spine and nearly lost a kidney The Audible series is described as a 'gritty and winding tale' which also features Erin Moriarty, Omar Epps, and Alia Shawkat. The premise of the show sees Hamm's character investigate a brutal murder at the request of an old flam and uncovers a deadly conspiracy to forcefully evict a Mexican-American community in the process. His hazing scandal was dredged up by columnist Maureen Callahan on her new podcast The Nerve, which is part of Megyn Kelly's new MK Media venture. Callahan said she'd been shocked to see Hamm receive plaudits for his Apple TV+ show Your Friends & Neighbors and land plum spots on SNL and Jimmy Fallon. She said that in her opinion, Hamm is 'worse than Harvey Weinstein.' Callahan detailed the hazing incident Hamm was involved in and said it was shocking he'd escaped unscathed while the likes of Kevin Spacey and Alec Baldwin had seen their careers destroyed by scandals. She said Hamm was 'self impressed', only played a 'douche' and that his rage was 'barely-concealed' on screen. Allegations of the hazing first resurfaced in 2015, just as the final season of Mad Men was airing. At the time, a 'source' close to Hamm told Star magazine that the hazing horror was 'an isolated incident in Jon's life.' 'Since then, he's been strong enough to take steps to make him a better person,' the source added. But there was no sign of any introspection when Hamm was asked about the incident by Esquire magazine in a 2018 interview. Journalist Maximillian Potter said Hamm's tone became 'tinged with anger' when the subject was broached, with the actor snapping: 'I hope I didn't sign up for a hit piece.' When Potter pushed further for a response, he said Hamm 'bristled' before unleashing a stream of self-serving invective. 'I wouldn't say it's accurate,' Hamm began. 'Everything about that is sensationalized. I was accused of these things I don't... It's so hard to get into it. 'I don't want to give it any more breath. It was a bummer of a thing that happened. I was essentially acquitted. 'I wasn't convicted of anything. I was caught up in a big situation, a stupid kid in a stupid situation, and it's a f**king bummer. I moved on from it.' The scandal was then largely forgotten, with Hamm going on to land plum parts in prestige movies and TV shows including Top Gun: Maverick and The Morning Show.
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Fantasy Baseball: Cubs' offense is red hot and includes one of the week's top hitters on the waiver wire
There's one MLB club outscoring everyone else right now, and it's by a wide margin. And it's not the Yankees or the Dodgers, it's not the Mets or the Padres. It's not the Red Sox. It's not even the perennially-underrated Diamondbacks, who quietly led the majors in scoring last year. Meet the 2025 Chicago Cubs. Offense as it oughta be. Okay, it's been just 18 games and they have a few games in hand over most teams because of the two-game opening series in Japan, we get it. But the Cubs are 21 runs ahead of the No. 2 offense (Yankees), and it's been a variety of things working. The Cubs have the sixth-best average (.256), the fourth-best OBP (.348) and the third-best slugging (.439). They can whack the ball over the fence (25 homers, fourth) and they'll take a base when they want it (26 steals, first, and caught just twice). This is a lineup to get excited about. Skeptics might point to some outliers coming down. Kyle Tucker is a star, but nobody keeps a 214 OPS+ all season. Seiya Suzuki is outperforming expectations (.292/.390/.538). Michael Busch has been terrific (.315/.393/.593) at first base. But there are plenty of proven players who should pick up from slow stats, too. Dansby Swanson is at .188. Ian Happ has a 73 OPS+. Pete Crow-Armstrong just hit his first two homers of the year Sunday. What's exciting about this group is that most of the players get on base and most of the players have some combo of power and speed. Happ perfectly symbolizes what this offense is about. So what if he's batted .243 and .248 the last two years? He has a plus walk rate, he conks 20-25 homers a year, he's usually good for double-digit stolen bases. The perfect triggerman for this efficient offense. If Chicago is going to stay on top of the NL Central, the offense needs to keep humming. Star left-hander Justin Steele (elbow) is out for the year. Shota Imanaga and Matthew Boyd have pitched well; Ben Brown and Jameson Taillon have not. The bullpen has a 4.28 ERA. Settle in for some scoring days at Wrigley Field. Because it's always fun to look at team leaderboards, we'll knock off some other surprising things before we get to the hitter pickups. The Angels, of all teams, lead everyone with 30 home runs. The Red Sox, Padres and Mariners all have 23 stolen bases, nipping at Chicago's heels (a near-week without Oneil Cruz pushed the running Pirates back). The Padres have the highest average (.283), followed by the Cardinals (.280). St. Louis has the best OBP (.350). Not everything is surprising, of course. The Yankees still rule the world in slugging and OPS, by a healthy margin. Damn the torpedoes. Let's work the waiver wire. He'll sit against left-handers but so long as he keeps crushing righties, no one will care. Busch collected six hits and two homers in the final two games of the Chavez Ravine series, and the Cubs face eight straight right-handed opponents over the next week and change. Giddy up. He's had rotten injury luck since the beginning of the 2024 season but perhaps the fantasy gods are ready to cut him a break. Murphy already has three homers since rejoining the Atlanta lineup about a week ago, and he graded as the C9 back in 2023 despite a modest 108 games played. There's still plenty of upside to this Atlanta offense. We always like to provide you with a Swiss-Army knife, someone who can grab multiple positions (McKinstry qualifies at four) and chip in with production. McKinstry is playing over his head with an early .298/.382/.447 slash, but his walk skills and decent wheels will give him occasional run at the top of the Detroit order. If you have daily transactions, he can be a useful player. I'm not sure what to make of Polanco, who's limited to DH duties (he's dealing with side soreness) and isn't batting right-handed yet. But when he's been in the lineup, the numbers are a smash (.378 average, three homers, one steal). He had a 33-homer season just four years ago in Minnesota and this is merely his age-31 campaign. Maybe there's some plausible upside here. For about three years France was a staple of the Seattle lineup, making the All-Star team in 2022. He dipped back to a league-average hitter in 2023, and last year he never got things going in Seattle or Cincinnati. Maybe the move to Minnesota has sparked something because his contact rate has been excellent and he's off to a .298/.355/.456 push with a couple of homers. He's also started 15-of-16 games; manager Rocco Baldelli believes in him. This could be a nifty comeback for a professional hitter who's still just 30. Power will never be Meidroth's game, but he offers elite pitch recognition skills and will get on base easily. Note the .293/.437/.401 slash he carried at Triple-A last year, or the three-walk debut he posted against his former Boston club on Friday. Meidroth could help fantasy managers in average and steals, and although Chicago is currently using him in the lower half of the lineup, he has the skill set to potentially bat leadoff at some point this year.
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Fantasy Baseball: Cubs' offense is red hot and includes one of the week's top hitters to add
There's one MLB club outscoring everyone else right now, and it's by a wide margin. And it's not the Yankees or the Dodgers, it's not the Mets or the Padres. It's not the Red Sox. It's not even the perennially-underrated Diamondbacks, who quietly led the majors in scoring last year. Meet the 2025 Chicago Cubs. Offense as it oughta be. Advertisement Okay, it's been just 18 games and they have a few games in hand over most teams because of the two-game opening series in Japan, we get it. But the Cubs are 21 runs ahead of the No. 2 offense (Yankees), and it's been a variety of things working. The Cubs have the sixth-best average (.256), the fourth-best OBP (.348) and the third-best slugging (.439). They can whack the ball over the fence (25 homers, fourth) and they'll take a base when they want it (26 steals, first, and caught just twice). This is a lineup to get excited about. Skeptics might point to some outliers coming down. Kyle Tucker is a star, but nobody keeps a 214 OPS+ all season. Seiya Suzuki is outperforming expectations (.292/.390/.538). Michael Busch has been terrific (.315/.393/.593) at first base. Advertisement But there are plenty of proven players who should pick up from slow stats, too. Dansby Swanson is at .188. Ian Happ has a 73 OPS+. Pete Crow-Armstrong just hit his first two homers of the year Sunday. What's exciting about this group is that most of the players get on base and most of the players have some combo of power and speed. Happ perfectly symbolizes what this offense is about. So what if he's batted .243 and .248 the last two years? He has a plus walk rate, he conks 20-25 homers a year, he's usually good for double-digit stolen bases. The perfect triggerman for this efficient offense. If Chicago is going to stay on top of the NL Central, the offense needs to keep humming. Star left-hander Justin Steele (elbow) is out for the year. Shota Imanaga and Matthew Boyd have pitched well; Ben Brown and Jameson Taillon have not. The bullpen has a 4.28 ERA. Settle in for some scoring days at Wrigley Field. Because it's always fun to look at team leaderboards, we'll knock off some other surprising things before we get to the hitter pickups. The Angels, of all teams, lead everyone with 30 home runs. The Red Sox, Padres and Mariners all have 23 stolen bases, nipping at Chicago's heels (a near-week without Oneil Cruz pushed the running Pirates back). The Padres have the highest average (.283), followed by the Cardinals (.280). St. Louis has the best OBP (.350). Advertisement Not everything is surprising, of course. The Yankees still rule the world in slugging and OPS, by a healthy margin. Damn the torpedoes. Let's work the waiver wire. Michael Busch, 1B, Cubs (35% rostered) He'll sit against left-handers but so long as he keeps crushing righties, no one will care. Busch collected six hits and two homers in the final two games of the Chavez Ravine series, and the Cubs face eight straight right-handed opponents over the next week and change. Giddy up. Sean Murphy, C, Braves (37% rostered) He's had rotten injury luck since the beginning of the 2024 season but perhaps the fantasy gods are ready to cut him a break. Murphy already has three homers since rejoining the Atlanta lineup about a week ago, and he graded as the C9 back in 2023 despite a modest 108 games played. There's still plenty of upside to this Atlanta offense. Zach McKinstry, 2B/3B/SS/OF, Tigers (37% rostered) We always like to provide you with a Swiss-Army knife, someone who can grab multiple positions (McKinstry qualifies at four) and chip in with production. McKinstry is playing over his head with an early .298/.382/.447 slash, but his walk skills and decent wheels will give him occasional run at the top of the Detroit order. If you have daily transactions, he can be a useful player. Jorge Polanco, 2B/3B, Mariners (22% rostered) I'm not sure what to make of Polanco, who's limited to DH duties (he's dealing with side soreness) and isn't batting right-handed yet. But when he's been in the lineup, the numbers are a smash (.378 average, three homers, one steal). He had a 33-homer season just four years ago in Minnesota and this is merely his age-31 campaign. Maybe there's some plausible upside here. Ty France, 1B, Twins (7%) For about three years France was a staple of the Seattle lineup, making the All-Star team in 2022. He dipped back to a league-average hitter in 2023, and last year he never got things going in Seattle or Cincinnati. Maybe the move to Minnesota has sparked something because his contact rate has been excellent and he's off to a .298/.355/.456 push with a couple of homers. He's also started 15-of-16 games; manager Rocco Baldelli believes in him. This could be a nifty comeback for a professional hitter who's still just 30. Advertisement Chase Meidroth, 2B/SS/3B, White Sox (5%) Power will never be Meidroth's game, but he offers elite pitch recognition skills and will get on base easily. Note the .293/.437/.401 slash he carried at Triple-A last year, or the three-walk debut he posted against his former Boston club on Friday. Meidroth could help fantasy managers in average and steals, and although Chicago is currently using him in the lower half of the lineup, he has the skill set to potentially bat leadoff at some point this year.
New York Times
10-02-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Los Angeles Dodgers 2025 top 20 prospects: Dalton Rushing, Josue De Paula lead the way
Yeah, it's still a good farm system. It's not as good as it was a year or two ago, but it's still very good. The Dodgers scout as well as any team in baseball — the Rays are in that group too — and they find players everywhere, whether it's late in the draft, in seemingly innocuous trades (seriously, other GMs should just not take their calls … oh, you want this guy in our system I've never heard of? Forget it, he's untouchable), and on the international front. The difference between their system now and where it was the last few years is that there's a dropoff in the early teens to that longshots/relievers/extra guys category, where that dropoff was closer to the end of the top 20 before. (Note: Tools are graded on a 20-80 scouting scale; ages as of July 1, 2025.) Advertisement Rushing bounced back from a concussion he suffered in 2023 that impacted his performance, putting together a superb 2024 season that has him banging on the door of Chavez Ravine, hitting .271/.385/.512 between Double A and Triple A with solid defense and improved performance against velocity. Rushing has shown excellent zone awareness since his debut, with a chase rate of just 21 percent across both levels last year, and his hard-hit rate in Triple A was 44 percent, comparable to Alec Bohm and Kyle Tucker in the big leagues. He can overstride a little and get off balance, especially given how hard he swings, but when it's all synced up his swing is geared to produce hard contact in that ideal zone of angles off the bat for power. He's a solid receiver who threw out 30 percent of runners last year, and might be underrated as a defender because he's such a good hitter (something baseball fans who were online in the 1990s might know as Nichols' Law of Catcher Defense — a catcher's defensive reputation is inversely proportional to their offensive abilities). The Dodgers just gave Will Smith a mammoth contract, but he's also been banged up quite a bit the last two years, so Rushing's imminent arrival in the majors might be right on time. If he's even a .340 OBP, 20-homer guy, which seems reasonable given his production and underlying data from 2024, that would make him one of the most valuable catchers in baseball. De Paula is one of the best pure offensive prospects in the minors right now, with an incredible approach at the plate that resulted in a .268/.404/.405 line between Low A and High A with 84 walks (good for 14th in all of the minors) and just 95 strikeouts. He makes hard contact right now, with strong exit velocities that you might not infer from his power output (just 10 homers, 17 doubles, three triples), as he doesn't get the ball in the air as often as you'd like just yet. He's a 40 runner and isn't a great defender anywhere, so the hope is he ends up a 45 defender in an outfield corner, while the fear is he ends up at first base or at DH. The bat will play anywhere, especially if his power emerges with age and more muscle on his 6-3 frame, particularly in his wrists and forearms, allowing him to control the bat head better through contact to hit the ball on a line. I'm betting on that happening given his age, physique, and exceptional command of the strike zone. Ryan's 2024 season featured his big-league debut, so yay, but it was bookended by two injuries, the latter of which probably will keep him out until 2026 as he underwent Tommy John surgery in August. He started the year on the shelf with a sore shoulder, but did reach the majors for four starts where he showed electric stuff, sitting 96-98 with ride on the four-seamer and both the slider and cutter flashing 55 or better. The cutter was new for him in 2024 and gives him another weapon for lefties, as it looks just like his four-seamer but has a little last-second break downward to fool hitters, although in the majors he leaned on the changeup more than the cutter. He's a converted infielder who's very athletic on the mound, has already made incredible progress in command and control and has shown the ability to make adjustments from one year to the next. The injury and the lost time do hurt his overall outlook. He's a No. 2 starter if he comes back at 100 percent and can hold up for a full season. Advertisement Hope was part of the four-player trade that sent Michael Busch and Yency Almonte to the Cubs, bringing Hope and Jackson Ferris to the Dodgers, a deal that got the Cubs their best season from a first baseman since 2019, but that has also given the Dodgers two of their top six prospects. Hope seemed like a longshot when the Cubs took him in the 11th round in 2023 out of a small high school in central Virginia; he was a tremendous athlete with plus speed but no history of hitting even decent pitching and poor instincts in the outfield. Fast forward a year and he's become a much, much better hitter in every way, improving his pitch selection and recognition, getting stronger (to the point where he probably doesn't have a lot of physical projection left), and becoming at least an average defender in an outfield corner. He doesn't chase pitches out of the zone and he really doesn't miss anything inside, regardless of pitch type. He is more vulnerable to velocity up and/or away and pitchers are going to try to attack him there or down with offspeed stuff, but he's made so many adjustments already it seems reasonable to bet he'll adjust again as needed. He's every bit of a 70 runner and shows plus power already, and you can project 30/30 on him pretty easily if he continues to hit and control the zone as he moves up the ladder. He did have some more trouble with better pitching in the AFL, and the move up to High A and a worse hitter's environment this year will tell us more about just how advanced he is and how much time he might need to get to the majors. Hope's upside is enormous, with a wide variance in potential outcomes. Freeland broke his hamate bone in his draft year in 2022, then struggled in his full-season debut in 2023, hitting .240/.345/.362 in High A while dealing with some minor injuries. His production took off last year after getting fully healthy and making some small adjustments to his swing. He ripped through High A and hit .245/.370/.422 in half a season in Double A before a promotion to Triple A to finish the season, where he hit .243/.335/.396 but had some excellent underlying data. Born with a clubfoot that required several surgeries, Freeland runs close to average and plays an average-ish shortstop now with a plus arm. He's dabbled a little at second and third, playing about 50 innings at each spot last year, and the odds are he'll end up at one of those positions in the long run. He's a switch-hitter who doesn't post huge exit velocities but also doesn't post a lot of low ones either, averaging over 91 mph in his brief Triple-A time despite never hitting anything above 107. He's also a very disciplined hitter who doesn't chase or whiff very often, and has shown above-average power already, with 53 extra-base hits last year, including 18 homers. There isn't really any projection here beyond further developing the hit tool against better pitching. He doesn't really need to do anything more to be a solid regular at second or third, or an above-average one if he does manage to stick at shortstop. Lindsey was a tough omission from the top 100 because he clearly has the tools to be a top-100 guy, or even a top-50 guy, but the main question from before the draft on him remains unanswered: how is he going to fare against pro-quality breaking stuff? Lindsey is an 80 runner who looks a ton like Trea Turner at the same age, and he's an above-average or better defender at shortstop who could easily slide to center field and probably be plus there on Day 1. He has a good swing for extra-base power with quick hands and wrists, with at least average power upside as he fills out. He really did not pick up offspeed stuff in the spring, even playing against weak competition at a rural Florida high school, and MLB's inane decision to move the complex leagues up in the calendar meant that he didn't have anywhere official to play after he signed. If he shows he can pick up spin better in 2025 than he did before the draft, he's going to be in the top 50 at midseason, because it's tools all day and a good swing to produce quality contact. Ferris came to Los Angeles along with Hope in the trade that sent Michael Busch to the Cubs, and it's quite likely that the Dodgers will end up with two top-100 guys out of the deal before too much longer — if Ferris can get that long arm stroke under control enough to throw more and better strikes. He made 27 starts last year, 20 in High A and the last seven in Double A, and struck out 145 guys (27.5 percent) while walking 57 (10.8 percent). That latter figure was a big drop from 2023, when he walked 14 percent of batters, although it's still on the high side and the command is still a half-grade behind his control. Advertisement He has a big four-seamer, sitting 94-96 and touching 99, with a plus slider that can be a real knee-buckler when he finishes it out front, a solid curveball he doesn't use much, and a 45 changeup. His arm swing is very long and deep in the back, so he doesn't get to a consistent release point out front, leading to erratic command and a lot of breaking balls that he casts a little too early. It's very easy to look at Ferris and call him a reliever because of the delivery. That may be true in the end, but given his age and present stuff you have to give him a little more time to see if he can tighten up the arm action even slightly and prove he can't develop the command to start. Wrobleski debuted last year, barely two years after he made his pro debut, sitting 94-95 with a 55 or better slider as his main secondary pitch, jumping it ahead of the cutter and curve, although his command was way off and he gave up too much hard contact in his 36 innings. He allowed eight homers to righties, throwing way too many breaking balls to them even though those pitches tended to break right into their bat paths. He struggled to keep the ball down consistently, and he doesn't have much deception in his delivery, with very little extension over his front side. He's better than what we saw last year, while at the same time hitters told us something valuable about his arsenal. He's probably a fifth starter right now, maybe a fourth given some time in the majors to settle down and learn to locate his offspeed stuff lower in the zone. Quintero is a real center fielder with plus speed and a great approach at the plate for such a young hitter; if the power comes, he could be a superstar. Right now it's contact, walks, and speed. He keeps his hands inside the ball extremely well, using the whole field but lacking the power to really pull much at this point. He's a plus runner with plus range and strong instincts in center. He's somewhat projectable, and might get to average power, which would still make him an incredibly valuable player; without that, he could still be a regular with high OBPs and enough power for 10-12 homers a year, adding value with his defense and basestealing. Vargas signed with the Dodgers in 2023 for a bonus of just over $2 million and has hit well in the Dominican Summer League and Arizona Complex League the last two summers, with averages over .300 and OBPs over .400 at each stop. He's a hitter who has power, with a decent approach for his age, more challenged at the plate last year than he was in the DSL. He has excellent bat speed, although he sets up with his hands high, creating some unneeded length in his swing. He's got a ton of room to fill out, which may push him to third base but should lead to 55 or 60 power when he's in his early to mid-20s. With 45 speed now and perhaps less as he gets bigger, that also probably points to a move off short, with third more likely than second because he has a strong arm. He's a long ways off from the majors, so the variance is really wide; on the top end you can see a high-average, 25-homer third baseman, a potential star who'll see the top 100 list in the next year or two. Swan missed most of 2024 due to some non-arm injuries, and when he pitched, he was lousy, walking 17 in 28 1/3 innings, mostly in Low A where he was old for the level. Then he went to the Arizona Fall League and showed what he can do when he's healthy, throwing 96-98 with an above-average slider, an average curve, and a 45 or maybe even a 40 changeup. His delivery is good and he filled up the zone out in the AFL, with one walk among 33 batters faced. He does need something better for lefties, as the changeup is very straight and a little too hard, up to 91 when I saw him. The Dodgers' fourth-round compensation pick in 2023 is built like a workhorse starter, even if he was quite the opposite of that last year. It's mid-rotation upside if he adds a split or improves the changeup. Morales was born in the Canary Islands, where there is a decent baseball culture, and he could become just the fifth big leaguer ever to be born in Spain if he makes it. He made his pro debut in the DSL last year and was a Three True Outcomes guy, with homers, walks, and strikeouts constituting over 54 percent of his plate appearances. He hit .342/.478/.691 and only struck out 22.4 percent of the time, so it's the right kind of 3TO guy. It's a really quiet approach with explosive hands to generate that plus power. His hands are also good at shortstop but his actions aren't as advanced and he doesn't really move like a middle infielder. He might be a good athlete but he's not that quick-twitch, at least not in the field. If his bat is what I think it is, I kind of don't care where he plays. Jang debuted last year after signing with the Dodgers the previous offseason, struggling in the ACL but pitching better after a promotion to High A. It's big-boy stuff, to use the technical term, with a mid-90s fastball and a curveball so pretty they should hang it in the Louvre. His slider isn't far behind, while he has good shape on the changeup but doesn't seem to have a lot of feel for it yet. He's big but hasn't really begun to fill out with muscle yet; people are going to compare him to Chan Ho Park, because — well, you know why — but Jang is actually two inches taller and I bet he ends up 20 pounds stronger in the end. On pure stuff, he'd be much higher here, but he's barely pitched and his results weren't great: 36 2/3 innings total between the two levels, 27 walks, 68 strikeouts (OK, that's great), 22 hits. If he comes out throwing strikes, he's going to be the talk of the Dodgers' camp in March. They always seem to have one of those. Advertisement Ko signed last offseason for a $650,000 bonus, then played just nine games in the DSL for his pro debut, walking more than he struck out in the tiny sample. He's an excellent athlete with a great body and frame, showing a plus arm and above-average range in center field already. He's a disciplined hitter who's shown a willingness to work a count, with the potential for 55 to 60 power as he fills out. He hasn't played that many games yet, so there's a lot of volatility here, especially around his present hit tool. His cousin, Wei-En Lin, signed with the Athletics last year. Henriquez returned last year from Tommy John surgery and ended the year on the Dodgers' postseason roster, sitting 98-99 with a cutter up to 97 with a huge spin rate. Hitters are not big fans — well, they become big fans, waving wildly at his two pitches, with a 39 percent strikeout rate in his tour of all four levels of the minors last year. It's straight relief, what you see is what you get, probably a high-leverage reliever with some more experience and further time post-surgery for his command to improve a little. Crowell was trending up in his draft year at Florida State when the school decided to rush him into the rotation, and, shocker, he blew out his elbow, requiring Tommy John surgery and sliding to the Dodgers in the fourth round. He returned last year and his plus slider was back, giving him a floor as a good left-handed reliever. He comes from a lower arm slot and creates a very tough angle for left-handed hitters, with a little cross-body action, and the fastball plays up a little at 88-92 because it's hard to pick up. He does turn over a decent changeup from there, and it's a 55 when he doesn't overthrow it, but a 45 when he does because it gets too close to the fastball. He's probably a reliever if he doesn't regain any more velocity. If he does throw harder again, I'd try starting him. Casparius was a nondescript minor-league starter in the Dodgers' system until they dropped him in the bullpen in August, and suddenly he was blowing 97 by guys with a plus slider and 3,000 rpms on both that and the curveball. His stuff jumped about 2 mph from 2023 to 2024, and as a result he started using his fastball more, replacing his slider as his primary pitch and helping him cut his walk rate. He had no platoon split last year, but there's no clear pitch here for lefties and I'm not sure that lack of a platoon split would last if he returned to starting. He was so good in relief I'd just leave him there and see if he can develop the command to be an eighth inning/leverage type. George was the Dodgers' first pick (No. 36) in the 2023 draft, because of his athleticism and 80 speed, with the potential for plus defense in center. He has no power at all, hitting .279/.384/.328 last year in a decent hitter's park, with a single homer in 86 games. The slugging percentage probably overstates his power, since he had four triples, and that's about speed more than thump. I don't see any path for him to be a regular with this little strength. He could see the majors, because the speed plays and the defense is good enough for him to be a late-inning replacement, but I think hard-throwing pitchers will just knock the bat out of his hands. Karros works from a very high slot, throwing a ton of strikes with a 55 slider and average-ish changeup that help offset a 45 fastball. He's a bit like White Sox pitcher Drew Thorpe in his arsenal, albeit not in delivery. Son of longtime Dodger Eric Karros, Jared is almost straight over the top, which creates a tough angle since he's 6-foot-7 but may also explain the on-and-off back issues he's had dating back to his time at UCLA. His changeup gets better marks from scouts than from hitters, and it's really only going to work if he drives it down more; when it's up, it floats, and hitters do square it up. He throws strikes and goes right after hitters, and has some fifth starter upside. The lack of anything with which to pitch east-west and the inconsistency on that changeup make me think long relief is more likely. Kopp went to train with an ex-big leaguer last winter and showed up to spring training missing some of his velocity and all of his command, so he got a late start and then was awful when he went out. At the end of May, he had 19 walks in 12 2/3 innings, and just 13 strikeouts, not that that matters when your BB/IP ratio is 3 to 2. The Dodgers backed him off, giving him a lot of rest between outings, and the results did improve in the last two months of the season, and his stuff started to creep back up. At his best, it's up to 95 with a plus slider, and added deception from a big, funky arm action. It's straight relief and if he throws enough strikes he'll be in the big leagues in a minute. Right-hander Payton Martin was something of a sleeper in this system a year ago, with scouts saying he might be the next River Ryan, but he changed his offseason routine and came back with less velocity and generally reduced stuff. He was 90-92 and didn't throw strikes, walking 17 of 18 in his return to Low A, and while he cut out the walks later in the year — he had zero in his last 19 1/3 innings in High A – he also didn't miss any bats. … Lefty Maddux Bruns has one of the best arsenals in baseball on pure stuff, but he continues to walk way too many (15.6 percent last year in just 28 innings) and missed most of the year with a back injury. … Right-hander Nick Frasso missed the entire year after undergoing shoulder labrum surgery in November 2023; prior to that he was 93-98 with a plus slider and a long arm action that he didn't repeat, and he had no pitch for lefties, projecting as a reliever between that and some previous injury history. … Right-hander Patrick Copen saw a big stuff jump in his first full year in the Dodgers' organization after they drafted him in the seventh round in 2023, although he walked way too many across both levels of A-ball last year, 13.4 percent of batters faced. He took a line drive off his face in August, however, and had to undergo multiple surgeries; as of a few weeks ago he hadn't regained vision in his right eye. … Right-hander Kyle Hurt came out firing to start 2025, but he went on the IL with shoulder inflammation in April and then had Tommy John surgery in June, ending his season and potentially making him a 28-year-old rookie in 2026. He has four pitches but has almost exclusively worked fastball/changeup as a major-league reliever, up to 97 on the heater and with good tumble on a plus changeup. He's always had a great arm, but a combination of injuries caused by an inherited disorder known as nominative determinism and below-average command have held him back. Advertisement There isn't exactly a lot of playing time available in Chavez Ravine at the moment, but I expect Wrobleski to make some starts over the course of the season, for Rushing to debut at some point, and for Henriquez and Casparius to spend a good chunk of the season in the bullpen. Diego Cartaya was a top-10 prospect in the entire sport, but a back injury ruined his 2023 season and he hasn't been the same since, sparking concerns that the issue is chronic — at a position where even minor back injuries become a big deal. The Dodgers designated him for assignment after the 2024 season and traded him to the Twins. Quintero gets the most love from scouts among the Dodgers' youngest prospects, although I will also mention that I'm dying to see Morales play some higher competition this year to see if the performance holds up. GO DEEPER Top 100 MLB prospects 2025: Keith Law's rankings, with Roman Anthony at No. 1 GO DEEPER MLB prospects who just missed Keith Law's top 100 ranking: Caissie, Saggese and more GO DEEPER MLB 2025 farm system rankings: Keith Law ranks all 30 teams, Mariners are new No. 1 (Top photo of Rushing: John Williamson / Four Seam Images via Associated Press)
