With every day that ticks off the calendar Spring Training gets that much closer. I can smell the hot dogs and feel the warmth of the Arizona sun right now as I type, so let’s not waste any more time, and let’s talk about our next 5 “Prospects to Watch in Spring Training.”

Alec Gamboa

Gamboa is a left handed pitcher that was moved to a reliever role in 2022, so he has a great deal of versatility. He also has a good deal of talent as well.

Gamboa predominantly throws a 4 seam & slider mix, and, while he sits in the 93-95, he did reach 99 in Sacramento. He is from California, so, no doubt he had a bump of adrenaline, but the spin on his 4 seam reached 2434 as well, so his stuff can play up.

To further add to that great performance in July, Gamboa also landed his slider in zone 67% of the time and his change up was very effective as well.

Gamboa grew up in Madera, which is in the Fresno area, and he and his family are diehard Dodgers fans. In fact, he idolized Fernando Valenzuela, and when he pitches you can definitely see the resemblance in their motions. He was one of the best 3 sport stars to ever come out of the Central Valley, as, beyond baseball, he dominated on the gridiron and the wrestling mat as well.

Gamboa is 27 years old, so his time clock is definitely ticking, which means it’s getting to the point where the rubber really needs to hit the road for him. He needs opportunity, and it needs to be sooner rather than later, and I hope it comes as early as this year.

His results in 2023 were, almost exclusively, dominant, with a rough patch at the beginning and end of the year, sandwiched by a June and July where he gave up just 2 earned runs in 17.1 innings.

The Dodgers are going to have 3 spots available on the 40 man roster when pitchers and catchers report, and Gamboa will be at the front of the line to take one of those spots, which would provide him opportunity.

John Rooney

Rooney is a 6’5 lefty who, like Gamboa, has recently been transitioned to the bullpen, so, he too, has great versatility. Also like Gamboa, he is 27, so his opportunity needs to come sooner rather than later, and I’m hoping it’s this year, and right off the bat.

Rooney entered 2023 with a 4 seam, changeup, slider mix, but transitioned to more of an East/West style. To start last year he added a cutter and a 2 Seam, to give him more East/West movement, then added back in his changeup towards the end of last year.

So, he enters 2024 with the ability to attack hitters both East/West (Cutter & 2 Seam) and North/South with his changeup.

Also, Rooney has THE best pickoff move in ALL of baseball. In fact, he has picked off so many runners that it has added up to an entire 9 inning game. One of those pickoffs was Jose Altuve last year when he was on a rehab assignment at Corpus Christi.

Rooney was originally a 3rd round draft pick out of Hofstra, and is one of the most tireless workers in the game, and makes it very easy to root for.

In 2023 he posted an ERA of 2.86 across 2 levels, AA and AAA, walked just 22 hitters all year in 69.1 innings and had 69 Ks. So, although he doesn’t strike hitters out at the clip of someone like Kyle Hurt, 1 per inning, with his stuff and ability to control the running game is very good.

Ricky Vanasco

Vanasco exploded onto the scene last year after being DFA’d, then traded during that process from the Rangers to the Dodgers. The Rangers had placed Vanasco on their 40 man, but just didn’t see the progression they wanted to see. So, the Dodgers traded Luis Valdez for him, and went to work on both his mix and his role.

Vanasco had been a starter with the Rangers and had flashed great stuff from time to time, but just didn’t make the strides they had hoped for. So, the Dodgers moved him to the pen in hopes that his stuff would “play up” and, wow, did it ever.

Vanasco’s fastball approached 100 mph, and will likely eclipse that mark in this upcoming season, and, combined with his curveball and slider, it’s a mix that can be trusted in High Leverage situations. His slider sits around 87 and the curveball is in the 80-82 range, so he has lots of speed variability to keep hitters off balance.

Coming into last season, I literally knew next to nothing about Vanasco, but, when he got to Tulsa the first thing I noticed was his focus. It was very noticeable because of how razor sharp it is. As the season went on his big ability took hold, and then he became THE most impressive player I saw in all of my Minor League viewing last year.

That’s how impressed I was with the time he spent in Tulsa and OKC.

And, it appears that the Dodgers were equally as impressed.

When the season ended, he became a Free Agent, but then was signed back by the Dodgers and on a MAJOR LEAGUE contract. That means that the Dodgers thought highly enough of him to use a 40 man spot to retain him, and, as I’ve said over and over, the true currency for this organization isn’t money, it’s roster spots.

The Dodgers can always make more money, but they can’t make more roster spots. So, for them to use a guaranteed roster spot on Vanasco, a guy with 0 MLB experience that has been in the organization for less than a year tells you everything you need to know about how high they are on what they saw of him last year.

Landon Knack

Landon Knack entered 2023 bound and determined to prove to the Baseball world that he was still one of the best pitching prospects in the game.

And, he did just that.

In 2022, Knack fought nagging forearm issues, and tried his best to pitch through it, but struggled in doing so. This is why context matters so much when evaluating Minor Leaguers and their progress, because their routine is much more geared towards process than it is results.

Don’t get me wrong, results ALWAYS matter, and they matter the most to the players, but the process is what, in the end, they have to trust to make it to the Major Leagues.

So many times a pitcher is working on a new pitch, or fighting through injury, and, unless that context is provided, the results are not accurate in terms of understanding their progress.

That’s why, if all you do is look at Knacks analytics, like velo etc…, they don’t paint any kind of picture as to just how successful his season was.

His velo jumped all over the map, and that’s because he was dealing with different nags, and eventually ended 2023 on the IL.

But, he is 100% healthy, he is in the best shape of his life, and he is super pumped for 2023. And, as he showed last year, he is ultra talented.

In fact, Knack might be the most skilled of all of the Dodgers Young Gun pitchers. He has 4 pitches, 4 Seam, change, slider and curveball, and he can throw them all for strikes, and is not afraid to use any one of them in any count. He can also shape his slider differently based on what he needs from the pitch, so, in terms of shapes, he has more than 4 pitches.

Knack hit 96 on many different occasions last year, but will primarily sit in the 92-94 range, with good off speed to make his fastball very deceptive. He posted an ERA of just 2.51 in 100.1 innings, and he was the only starting pitcher, all year, for AAA OKC, to complete 7 innings. So, he is a guy that takes the mound with the idea of going as long as he can. And, being able to change speeds allows him to give a lineup a different look each time through, which makes it easier for him to face that lineup multiple times.

Knack also struck out 99 hitters in those 100.1 innings, so he has good swing and miss to his arsenal. He was placed on the 4o man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft, so, almost assuredly, he will debut in 2024 with LA, and, probably, sooner rather than later.

Kyle Hurt

Hurt is a young Right Hander that gives off Roger Clemens vibes, in both the way he looks and pitches. He has some of the most explosive stuff of any pitcher, at any level or type experience in the game.

Period! And his K% would prove it. 

In 2021 his K% was 40%, in 2022 it was 38.9%, in 2023 it was 39.4%, and we saw him blow through the heart of the Padres order like they were no problem. 

Hurt features a Fastball that approaches 100mph, a bullet slider and a changeup that can split the zone vertically. Meaning, he throws his Fastball to the top of the zone, then starts his changeup in that same location, but, instead of staying at the top of the zone like his fastball does, his changeup tumbles to the bottom of the zone. When he is splitting the zone vertically, and doing so while throwing strikes, hitters, at all levels are not going to hit him.

The key to Kyle Hurt is staying in the strike zone, and the key to that is, as he told me in our last interview, to repeat his delivery. When he repeats his mechanics, the ball stays in the zone, and when the ball stays in the zone, he is electric.

Hurt grew up playing several sports, including lacrosse, his dad played D1 football his grandpa played in the NFL and his brother Kevin was a great athlete as well. So, he was born for this type of stuff, he grew up around it, and now, he’s right in the middle of making it for himself. 

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