Wyatt Crowell pitches 7 scoreless innings for Great Lakes

Two games won on errors in the tenth inning

The trade deadline has now come and gone, and the Dodgers’ prospects who remained won all their games on Thursday. Gone are James Outman. Eriq Swan, Hunter Feduccia, Sean Paul Linan, and Dustin May. New players include Ben Rortvedt, Paul Gervase, Adam Serwinowski, Brock Stewart, Alex Call, James Tibbs lll, and Zach Ehrhard . Taken together, the Dodgers didn’t give up anybody they should lose sleep over, and picked up seven players, many who will play games for the Dodgers at some point.

Player of the day

Wyatt Crowell has pitched well since getting drafted in the fourth round in 2023. The 23-year-old made 17 starts at three different levels in 2024, sporting a tidy cumulative ERA of 3.09 and a .171 batting average against. This season has been more of the same, 17 appearances, 3.19 ERA, and a .168 average against. After pitching seven shutout innings on Thursday, Crowell has put together a streak of dominance over his last four appearances, giving up only one unearned run on six hits in his last 18 innings.

Triple-A Oklahoma City

A ninth-inning throwing error by Salt Lake Bees (Angels) third baseman Niko Kavadas opened the door for the Comets to tie the game in the ninth inning. Two-out hits by Jose Ramos and Chuckie Robinson sent the game into extras.

The Comets won the game in the tenth inning when designated runner Justin Dean stole third base and came home on a walk-off throwing error by the catcher.

Double-A Tulsa

The Drillers defeated the Midland Rockhounds (Athletics) 4-3 in ten innings. After Rockhounds starting pitcher Yunior Tur got out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth by striking out three, they brought him back out to pitch the sixth inning. He was removed after letting the first three batters reach base, they all scored, and the Drillers took a 3-1 lead. The Rockhounds tied the game in the bottom of the seventh, and the game headed into extra innings. And just like their comrades at Oklahoma City, they pushed the winning run home in the tenth on an error.

High-A Great Lakes

Three Loons pitchers combined for a two-hit shutout, as the Loons defeated the Fort Wayne TinCaps (Padres) 2-0. Crowell lasted seven scoreless innings, the first time in his pro career he has pitched more than five and one-third innings. Eduardo Quintero, playing his fifth game at High-A ball, had the only RBI of the game when he doubled home Carlos Rojas.

Low-A Rancho Cucamonga

Five shutout innings and nine strikeout by starter Aidan Foeller, plus three RBI each by Jaron Elkins and Eduardo Guerrero led the Quakes to a 9-3 win over the Fresno Grizzlies (Rockies).

Feeling the trades:

As I suspected, the Dodgers didn’t make any dramatic trades, didn’t trade away any top prospects, and just made a few moves around the periphery. As a result, none of the trades particularly bothered me or excited me. Michael Conforto is still in left field, however with a better platoon option. There are new relievers, same as the old relievers…. I mean, who knows with relievers? If you get lucky, they pitch well.

I am happy for Feduccia because he is a viable major league catcher, and I am glad to see him get an opportunity. I’ll root for him. He should have had more major league time the last two seasons, but despite the injury plague affecting the entire team, the Dodgers’ catchers have been remarkably injury-free for the most part the last two seasons. As a result, Feduccia only got a handful of major league at-bats, during which he held his own. Outman will also get a better shot elsewhere at a major league career. Poor Ryan Ward is still stranded at Oklahoma City despite tearing up the Pacific Coast League for the second consecutive year.

Eriq Swan and Sean Paul Liñan are interesting pitching prospects, we’ll have to see how they pan out for another team. I’ll have to see Alex Call before making any judgements, he seems like a reasonable outfield option against southpaws, and his name offers excellent pun possibilities. As for the most interesting pickup in my view, they call him Mr. Tibbs (James Tibbs lll). The overall 13th pick in the 2024 draft, the 22-year-old hasn’t done much to impress in his first 113 professional games with a batting line of .234/.343/.387.

Thursday scores

• Oklahoma City 6. Salt Lake City 5
• Tulsa 4, Midland 3
• Great Lakes 2, Fort Wayne 0
• Rancho Cucamonga 9, Fresno 3

Friday schedule

• Great Lakes (Payton Martin) at Fort Wayne (Isaiah Lowe), 4:05 PM PST
• Tulsa (Chris Campos) at Midland (TBA), 5:00 PM PST
• Salt Lake (Dakota Hudson) at Oklahoma City (TBA), 5:05 PM PST]
• Rancho Cucamonga (Sterling Patick) at Fresno (Angel Jimenez), 7:05 PM PST