Batter up

Drillers look for more stability this year

The Tulsa Drillers kicked off their 2017 season on Thursday, April 13, dropping their home opener 7–5 to the Midland RockHounds during a steady downpour of rain in front of a waterlogged but enthusiastic sellout crowd of 8,124 at ONEOK Field.

Despite jumping out to an encouraging 3–0 lead in the first inning, during which they recorded five of their nine hits on the evening, the Drillers surrendered four runs in the third and three in the fourth.

Viosergy Rosa of Midland, the three-time defending Texas League champions, hit a three-run home run off of Tulsa starter Isaac Anderson (0–2) in the third, and J.P. Sportman hit another three-run blast off reliever Michael Johnson in the fourth.

Tulsa pulled to within 7–5 in the fifth inning on Edwin Rios’ second home run of the season, a two-run shot to left field, but the Drillers were unable to muster another base-runner the rest of the night.

After starting with six consecutive road games in which they went 3–3, the home-opening loss left the Drillers at 3–4 on the year, their third as the AA affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers and 40th overall.

Rios had three hits and has gotten off to a strong start, batting .357 with seven RBI in the first seven games.

“I’m just talking a lot with my hitting coach,” Rios said of his early-season success. “It helps a ton when you know what you’re doing and know what you’re looking for. You get good success when you go up to the plate with a plan.”

The Dodgers’ Minor League Player of the Year last season, Rios spent 33 games in Tulsa in 2016, batting .254 with five homers and 17 RBI, and believes the 2017 Drillers can enjoy a successful campaign.

“We’re really confident,” he said. “We have a great group of guys and we all get along well, we all like to bust it. It’s going to be a good year. I see good things happening with this ballclub, we just got to keep battling.”

Rios is one of 10 Drillers who spent part of last year here and is back on the roster, along with manager Ryan Garko and his entire coaching staff. Other key players back from 2016 include third baseman Kyle Farmer, who is batting .381 this year, outfielder Tim Locastro, who is also hitting .381 after going 3-for-4 in the home opener, catcher Paul Hoenecke, and outfielders Jacob Scavuzzo and Kyle Garlick.

Garko believes that stability will translate into a better overall performance this season.

“I think across the organization it helps,” said Garko, who played six seasons in the Major Leagues, five of them with Cleveland, from 2005–10. “We talked about a lot of us coaches coming in with this new front office [three years ago in LA] and building a culture, trying to win a World Series, and you can’t do that without a strong player development system. And it is strong.

“We have good players here, not just the same guys back, but we have good players, and there’s more on the way. I think at AAA [in Oklahoma City], here, and in Rancho Cucamonga [the Dodgers’ A farm club], especially, it’s a strong, strong roster at each spot. It says a lot about what our farm director and our front office have really built, and our scouts—we’re drafting well, we’re signing good free agents, and we’re trying to develop them.”

The Drillers, who have not won the Texas League championship since 1998, went 68–71 last season, good for fourth in the eight-team league, and were just 62–77 in 2015, the first year as part of the Dodgers’ organization. Both seasons were marked by massive player turnover, as the Drillers used a team-record 69 players in 2015 and the second-most ever, 63, last year.

But Garko doesn’t believe this year’s version will feature as much volatility, at least among players who aren’t relief pitchers.

“I think across baseball now, especially the bullpen, I think most big league teams are using their 40-man roster, they’re using all 40, so AAA is going to have a lot of movement back and forth and we’re affected by that,” Garko explained. “I don’t think that’s unique to the Dodgers anymore, I think that’s industry-wide. But I do think that position player-wise and starting pitcher-wise, we’re starting to stabilize it a lot more than when our current front office took over the team, which I think was the Drillers’ first year with the Dodgers. I think that core position group, that’s where you build your team around, so I think you’ll see those core guys be here for the year.”

Of course, the ultimate goal for all of the players here is to one day make it to the Majors, and, amazingly enough, a total of 27 players who suited up for the Drillers in the first two seasons of the Dodgers affiliation have already made it to Los Angeles.

For more from John, read his article on Tulsa’s part of March Madness.