Tim Rogers
This news article previously appeared on the Dodgers Nation site.
For those Quakes fans in Southern California, we have bad news. Number one Dodgers prospect, catcher, Diego Cartaya, and the number twenty prospect, shortstop, Alex De Jesus were both just promoted. They will be reporting to the High-A Great Lakes Loons.
Diego Cartaya
Diego Cartaya is pretty much the consensus number one prospect in the Dodgers organization. He did get off to a slow start in 2022 but it was just a matter of time before he broke out. I’ve seen Cartaya play a few times and the contact is usually quite loud. I had the pleasure of meeting Diego at Spring Training this year and had a chance to interview him a couple of times; once on Media Day and once after a game.
Cartaya ends his time with the Quakes with a slash of .260/.405/.550 (AVG/OBP/SLG) in 131 at-bats in 2022. He also had nine home runs. The Quakes kept his legs healthy by having him catch about half of their games and serving as the designated hitter in some others. They also gave him some days off. I would expect the Loons to continue at the same pace. The question I have will be how this impacts other catchers in the organization.
Alex De Jesus
Like Cartaya, Alex De Jesus also played with the Quakes in 2021. De Jesus got off to a slow start in 2021 but in the second half of the season, he caught fire. I discussed his 2021 during Media Day with Alex. One big question going forward is his position. With the Quakes, he played equal time at shortstop and third base. The third base position is newer to Alex but we all know how the Dodgers like position versatility. De Jesus will join other highly rated infield prospects Jorbit Vivas and Eddys Leonard on the Loons. That will be a fun infield to watch.
De Jesus finishes his time with the Quakes by slashing .259/.398/.483 with seven home runs in 143 at-bats. Along with Cartaya, he was a fixture in the top half of the Quakes’ batting order and a leader on the field. Also like Cartaya, De Jesus is fluent in English and even acted as a translator. Someone on the Quakes will now have an opportunity to step into the leadership gap without De Jesus.
Impact
Both of these players are being promoted to play. How it ripples throughout the farm system will be interesting. Over the last three weeks, we’ve seen Jose Ramos, Ben Casparius, Michael Busch, Jose Hernandez, Mark Washington, Michael Grove, Ryan Pepiot, and Gavin Stone all promoted. That is a lot of promotions for these players that are all destined for the big leagues. There will be more over the next month or so as the Dodgers start clearing space at the lower levels for some of their 2022 draft picks.
Final Thoughts
The Quakes (and the fans of the Quakes) were quite fortunate to have players like Diego Cartaya and Alex De Jesus on the roster. It will be tough to replace them both on the field and in the clubhouse. I personally want to thank them for the time they took to work with the media at Rancho and we wish them continued success. These are players I expect to see at Dodger Stadium at some point. At least with the Loons, they televise their games on milb.com. The Loons are well worth watching as they have four position players and two pitchers in the MLB Pipeline Top 30.
