Grand Junction, Colorado —— The second start of his rehab assignment didn’t quite go according to plan for Los Angeles Dodgers pitching prospect Trevor Oaks.
The Cal Baptist product, who is one of the organization’s best pitching prospects right now, couldn’t make it out of the third inning at Grand Junction’s Suplizio Stadium, allowing five runs (four earned) on nine hits and a walk while recording just eight outs (one by strikeout) to the rookie-level Grand Junction Rockies. The game itself was wild — Oaks’ Ogden Raptors won 14-12 in a nine-inning affair that saw 34 combined hits and seven combined errors — but it was certainly a less-than-ideal outcome for a guy who had a very respectable 3.64 ERA in 84 innings with Triple-A Oklahoma City earlier this year before his injury.
On Sunday night in Grand Junction, Oaks — who saw 88-92 mph with his fastball — never quite got his full arsenal off the ground, and struggled to show command with all his pitches (slider, cutter, and circle changeup). In turn his fastball was hit hard, especially when left up, and things were all over in the third inning after the righty threw 44 pitches (32 strikes) and faced the Grand Junction lineup nearly two full times. His fastball showed good arm-side run and he threw a few very good changeups with tumble, but more often than not he was in the hittable part of the zone all night and paid for it.
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We’ve got video of Trevor Oaks from Sunday night’s outing in Grand Junction, showing his full pre-game bullpen and then a few clips of his pitching mechanics from the open-faced (third base) side in game action for Ogden. You can see that video right here:
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It remains to be seen what the next step will be for Trevor Oaks; several Los Angeles Dodgers affiliates have either already clinched or are very likely to see the postseason, Ogden included, and so it’s feasible he’ll make another rehab start or two depending on the situation in the next two weeks across the minor league postseason landscape.
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For now, though, while Oaks was hit hard in a short outing with Ogden, he was far from the only one rattled in a wild, three-plus-hour Sunday night game; he’ll start fresh again in a few days and move on from this one and, perhaps, the entire hitter-friendly Pioneer League. We’ll see soon about next moves.
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