VERO BEACH, Fla.—Baseball America’s reigning Organization of the Year, the Dodgers fell to No. 6 in our annual organizational talent rankings this season—primarily because they graduated so many players to the big leagues.

The system still boasts two of the top lefthanded pitching prospects in the game in Scott Elbert and Clayton Kershaw, an impact third baseman in Andy LaRoche, and an intriguing situation developing at shortstop as well.

Ivan DeJesus sits atop the depth chart at that position—even if Chin-Lung Hu has more professional experience under his belt. A 2005 second-rounder, DeJesus played in nine games in big league camp this spring and impressed the Dodgers’ brass with his approach and demeanor as a 19-year-old kid playing in the middle of the diamond opposite Jeff Kent.

“If you didn’t know his age, you wouldn’t have known this was a young kid that hadn’t played above A ball playing in a big league game,” Dodgers manager Grady Little said. “He has some kind of presence.”

And aside from the defensive ability, DeJesus batted .375 in his brief big league stint and showed decent plate discipline against much more advanced pitching than he’d ever seen before.

Though Hu struggled to find consistency with the bat last year at Double-A Jacksonville—hitting .254/.326/.334 in 488 at-bats—though his glove is the 23-year-old’s calling card by far.

“I saw him in the Arizona Fall League last year and this guy is truly a magician with the glove,” farm director DeJon Watson said. “But he really just needs to get the bat going. Once we get the bat going—staying inside the ball and using the opposite field a little bit—I think he’s going to be OK.”

But the shortstop picture doesn’t stop there, as Los Angeles has even more pieces in place with 2006 supplemental round pick Preston Mattingly and righthanded hitting Mexican shortstop Francisco Lizarraga. (Lizarraga was originally a switch-hitter, but he’ll only be hitting from the right side from now on.)

A superior athlete, some scouts question whether Mattingly’s size—he’s already 6-foot-3, 205 pounds as a 19-year-old—will allow him to remain in the center of the diamond.

“Preston’s a tremendous athlete and I know he’s big-bodied, but I think he has a chance to stick at shortstop,” Indians special assistant to the general manager Buck Showalter said. “Very interesting package of tools and intelligence. I’ve known him since he was about four years old though, so I might be a little biased.”

Showalter’s admitted bias aside, Mattingly certainly has the athleticism and aptitude to make an impact somewhere on the field—maybe third base, maybe even a corner outfield spot if he outgrows his natural position.

Mattingly was an all-Indiana wide receiver in high school, and averaged 20 points per game on the basketball court, so the pieces are in place.
“For me, this guy comes from a cold weather state where he hasn’t been able to get outside much, he’s made tremendous strides in a short period of time here,” Watson said. “He’s a basketball guy, so we’re trying to use some basketball analogies with him for things like first-step quickness, being in control of the game—just learning the little nuances of playing the position.

“He’s still grasping and trying to learn things. He’s such a good athlete—he ran a 6.6 60 (yard dash) the other day. And he’s got a crazy vertical leap—really good athlete with size, strength and quickness.”

And finally, there is Lizarraga. Signed out of Mexico by international uber scout Mike Brito in 2002, the 21-year-old also has an interesting package of tools.
A solid defender with plus range to both sides and above-average arm strength, the only question will be Lizarraga’s bat. He hit .273 in the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League last season, and the club is still trying to instill the value of using the whole field in his approach.

“I think there’s some slashy bat potential there with some gap power in the future,” Watson said. “But defensively he’s a pretty polished kid with some skills.”

• STOCKED PEN HELP: The Dodgers might be counting on righthanders Zach Hammes and Jonathan Meloan to come up and give them some innings out of the bullpen this season. Hammes, who opened just about every pair of eyes in Hawaii Winter Baseball last fall, has been reaching the upper 90s with his fastball—he topped out regularly at 98-99 mph in Hawaii—and he complements that pitch with a hard, slurvy breaking ball.

Meloan, who went a combined 3-1, 1.90 with a 91-16 strikeout-walk ratio across three levels last season and then followed that performance up with a solid AFL season, could also be in the bullpen mix.

“His fastball is solid-average to above-average at times,” Watson said. “He has some life on his two-seamer but he really likes his four-seam fastball. Power curveball, power slider—he’s got some swing-and-miss with his breaking ball.
“We’re going to stretch him out a little bit and get him some multiple innings over the course of the summer in case there is some need (in the big leagues) he’s ready to go—he’s a guy they’ll be looking at.”

• COX OUT: Bad news from Yankees camp yesterday, as righthanded reliever J. Brent Cox went down with an elbow injury that required surgery. The extent of the injury and subsequent surgery are not known, but a source from the club said that it was not Tommy John surgery. “We’re not really certain on a timetable for return as of now,” the source said. “But no—it was not Tommy John.”

• BARTON HURTING: Indians outfielder Brian Barton has been struggling for the majority of the spring with a knee injury that occurred during instructional league last season. The injury actually goes back to early April last season when Barton was at high Class A Kinston, and it caused him to miss two weeks.

It doesn’t sound like anything too serious—and there was no surgery involved. It does, however, sound like Barton’s been all over it since his rehab.

“He’s very much a student, not only of the game but also of his body and what it takes to be physically prepared,” Indians farm director Ross Atkins said. “He’s constantly thinking about it—he was in the library non-stop after he got hurt trying to find as much information that would expedite the recovery period for his injury. Our main concern right now is whether or not he’s seen enough live pitching.”