Today’s ABQ Call-up Isn’t Jerry Sands, But It Will Be Soon
April 13, 2011 at 7:27 am | Posted in Jerry Sands, Ramon Troncoso | 26 Comments
Per Chris Jackson of the Albuquerque Examiner, Ramon Troncoso is on his way back from Albuquerque to join the big club. In 4.2 innings for ABQ so far, Troncoso has allowed three hits and a walk, striking out two. As Eric Stephen of TrueBlueLA has become fond of noting, that’s four days in a row that the Dodgers have recalled a player from AAA, following John Ely, Jamie Hoffmann, and Ivan DeJesus.
The difference here is that while the first three recalls were more or less expected, the move to get Troncoso wasn’t, especially with another move needing to be made on Friday when Jon Garland is activated. Beyond that, we don’t yet know who is being sent down to make room for Troncoso. When I noted the move on Twitter, several people guessed Blake Hawksworth, in light of how he took the loss last night, but he’s out of options so that seems unlikely. With Hector Gimenez and Dioner Navarro still on the DL, our usual best guess of A.J. Ellis is safe, so unless there’s another new injury we don’t know about, my best guess is that this is going to be Hoffmann, headed back to ABQ a few days ahead of schedule.
Hoffmann’s received just one at-bat since his recall, and the Dodgers have no shortage of outfielders; it was always assumed that he’d be the one sent back down when Garland was ready. Recalling Troncoso would bump the roster back up to twelve pitchers, where the Dodgers tend to prefer it, though I will admit that it does seem odd that they wouldn’t have just called up a pitcher over Hoffmann in the first place. I suppose we’ll learn more today.
Speaking of Albquerque and guys who aren’t long for it, Jerry Sands has started off his AAA season by homering in each of his four games, and none of them have been cheap. In his first 16 PA, he has 7 hits (including the 4 homers) and not a single strikeout. Watch his homer from last night below (h/t to Twitter follower “OdinsBeard“), and try to keep strong with me in waiting until at least the end of April before we launch a full-fledged “Free Jerry Sands!” campaign. You’ll notice the center field fence there says “428″, making this shot at least 440 feet.
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He crushed that ball. I can’t wait
Comment by dpwtv— April 13, 2011 #
I saw Sands during spring training, but didn’t get a read on his defensive ability. Anyone have any insight?
With Loney looking pathetic offensively (even worse than his second half last season) and left field being a revolving door, there certainly seems like a place for Sands.
Comment by SamAdams— April 13, 2011 #
I will admit I have not seen him play much defense myself so my opinion is mostly second-hand, but I believe that he’s supposed to be an adequate outfielder and could be an above-average 1B in time. Lo Bundy (AAA manager) said he’d be comfortable using Sands in CF if he really had to, so take that for what it’s worth.
Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— April 13, 2011 #
I’ve heard that Sands may not be quite ready to face major league level breaking pitches yet. Does anyone know how he’s been doing against breaking stuff at AAA? Having 0 strikeouts is encouraging.
Comment by Alex— April 13, 2011 #
I’m as excited as the next guy about Sands, can’t wait to see him in Dodger blue.
BUT…
It’s 4 games people. And that’s all he’s played in AAA. And it’s freakin Albuquerque, EVERYBODY hits in Albuquerque. Patience… Patience… We’ll see him this summer.
Comment by Dave— April 13, 2011 #
My recurring Billy Ashley nightmares increase in frequency with every homer Sands hits.
Comment by Justin— April 13, 2011 #
Billy Ashley always had big K numbers, which Sands apparently doesn’t.
Comment by WBB— April 13, 2011 #
Sands DID strike out 123 times last year…
Comment by Dave— April 13, 2011 #
My concern is that offensive performance by players in Albuquerque (and the PCL in general) is skewed by a hitter friendly environment. Obviously a ball struck like the one in the video will be a homer anywhere, but when it comes to power prospects in the ABQ I prefer to be cautiously pessimistic.
Comment by Justin— April 13, 2011 #
Should we start a pool to see who gets called up first; Sands or Gibbons?
Comment by crushinator— April 13, 2011 #
I take PCL power with a grain of salt myself, but his work across all levels last year tells me its more the player than the environment in this case. He did just fine in “pitcher friendly” AA ball
Comment by Mike G— April 14, 2011 #
they ned to do something. the bottom half of the lineup is like a black hole. Ive liked Loney in the past but I agree now that he sucks and needs to go. why not bench him against lefties and stick thames at first base?
I say we call up Sands now and put him at first base too and get rid of Loney. I hate to say that because ive always liked loney cause hes been a decent first baseman, but hes not hitting at all, and its not looking like hes oging to hit anytime soon. we need bats immediatly.
Comment by format— April 13, 2011 #
Correction: Sands has one strikeout. Still, that’s impressive considering he struck out 123 times last season.
I was watching when he hit that. It was an absolute bomb. His HR the in the previous game was also legit.
Comment by Dustin Nosler— April 13, 2011 #
Saw this concerning Jerry Sands on another web site. This kid could be making some noise in the next month or so with the Dodgers. Sands homered in his fourth consecutive game for Triple-A Albuquerque on Tuesday and is now batting a healthy .417/.429/1.000 with 14 RBI and just one strikeout in 24 at-bats. Maybe our next post on Sands will come when he doesn’t hit a home run. James Loney’s days in LA are starting to appear numbered. I’ll be keeping an open mind and eyes on Sands also!!!
Comment by Abner Clarke— April 13, 2011 #
[...] a nice catch by Mike Petriello of Mike Scioscia’s Tragic Illness, if he is. Petriello got a heads-up this morning from Chris Jackson, of the Albuquerque Examiner, [...]
Pingback by Media: Is Troncoso being recalled? - Dodger Blue Baseball Blog - The Orange County Register— April 13, 2011 #
Thoughts on Sands from someone who has seen all of his at-bats:
He can hit breaking pitches; the upcoming road trip to Oklahoma City and Iowa will give us an even better read. It’s already hot and dry here, so it’s possible the breaking pitches thrown in ABQ aren’t breaking all that well. But Dana Eveland did just fine with his stuff last night, so take that for what it’s worth.
Defensively Sands is coming along well at first base. While the Topes have several good fielders (Mitchell, Sellers, Castro), remember, he has had to catch Gordon, whose throws can sometimes be a bit off (last night, however, was Gordon’s best night by far defensively and offensively here). In the outfield Sands has plenty of range and a good arm. He has had no trouble with the wind or high sky early in the games here in either right or left.
The thing that impresses me the most about Sands is the way he carries himself. He is very mature of his age and his level of experience. There is certainly still some work to do, he’ll be the first to admit that, but right now he has made a very positive impression here. The future looks very bright for Sands and the Dodgers.
Comment by Chris Jackson— April 13, 2011 #
Chris, I love your insight to the Dodgers’ prospects. I’ll be following the Isotopes through you all season.
Comment by Dave— April 13, 2011 #
Thanks for your take on our prospects, Chris
Comment by The Dude Abides— April 13, 2011 #
Apparently, Troncoso was not called up today.
Comment by The Dude Abides— April 13, 2011 #
He’s not here, I can tell you that. Weird. Bundy was on the record telling us Ramon was being recalled. Maybe they’re waiting to see on Garland or Blake or whomever. Such is the wonderful uncertainty of moving between Triple-A and MLB.
Comment by Chris Jackson— April 13, 2011 #
Troncoso update (it keeps getting stranger): For reasons the Dodgers have not stated to anyone here in Albuquerque, Troncoso’s callup was, uh, well I guess rescinded or nullified or SOMETHING. The poor guy has been yanked around in a cruel fashion, going from that fun visit to a manager’s office for the good news to being told to unpack his bags and be ready to pitch tonight if needed. So he is here in the Topes’ bullpen. It’s thrown us all for a loop, I can tell you that. I will have more whenever (if ever) the Dodgers tell us what happened. Or in this case did not happen.
My head hurts.
Comment by Chris Jackson— April 13, 2011 #
Apocalypse Now, Isotopes version: tonight the Topes have seen Justin Sellers get hit by a pitch on his right hand, forcing him from the game; three batters later, Juan Castro strained his left oblique fouling off a pitch, forcing him from the game. At that point, JD Closser had to move from catcher to third, while Joe Becker (just called up from Rancho) came in to play second. And wouldn’t you know it, but in the seventh inning a bad-hop grounder smacked Closser in the face, just below his left eye, leaving him looking like he lost a fight with Manny Pacquiao. So he left the game, forcing Jerry Sands to move from right to third, while taking over in right was… Tim Redding. The Topes are officially out of position players, but they are leading 10-6 in the eighth.
Comment by Chris Jackson— April 13, 2011 #
WTF?!
Comment by crushinator— April 13, 2011 #
Look at it on the bright side. At least the possibility that Juan Castro gets called up has been reduced.
Comment by Alex— April 14, 2011 #
[...] of the Isotopes, you probably noticed that Ramon Troncoso was never called up yesterday despite my claim that he would be. Jackson notes that it was announced in ABQ that he’d be going up, and Troncoso was told to [...]
Pingback by The Process Was Good, Even If the Results Weren’t « Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— April 14, 2011 #
All these years of watching hyped prospects grow into their spots, it would be refreshing to see a Dodger prospect make a (somewhat) unexpected (at least from a comparison to the kemp/loney/ethier/martin hype) jump and be an immediate contributor. You see it happen in other organizations, it would be exciting for that true impact rookie to come along.
I’d rather see Sands in LF this year, because if I’m choosing between Loney and the LF logjam I’d rather keep Loney in the lineup, but going forward would have no problem developing him at 1B going forward.
If he comes up in May and hits for decent power, Sands-Kemp-Ethier is pretty damn amazing.
Comment by Mike G— April 14, 2011 #