Dodgers’ Tarik Skubal struck out 10 in seven scoreless innings on 75 pitches, without a walk, in his final tuneup against the Giants Friday. Josue De Paula was named Baseball America’s Double-A player of the year; Baseball Prospectus ranked the Dodgers’ front office No. 2 in MLB.
Skubal had a 2.72 ERA and 3.06 xERA over 158 2/3 innings this season; in 10 starts for the Dodgers, he recorded a 2.61 ERA, 3.15 xERA and 23.2% strikeout-minus-walk rate. He told Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verducci that people from ownership to support staff shared the goal of winning a World Series and worked to give players what they needed to perform.
De Paula also won Texas League MVP. Baseball America named Easton Shelton its Class-A player of the year and Eduardo Quintero its High-A player of the year. Baseball Prospectus’s Jarrett Seidler ranked the Brewers first and Rays third; he praised the Dodgers’ trades, drafting, player development and research but said he could not call them baseball’s best because the Kyle Tucker deal, signed seven months earlier, was trending toward becoming the sport’s worst contract in his view. Triple-A awards were expected Saturday; Oklahoma City and Rochester were scheduled to play for the title at 7:05 p.m. PT in Las Vegas.
