The Dodgers added 2020 3rd round draft pick, Jake Vogel, to the player pool. He will report to the alternate site.
Per MLB Transactions: Dodgers have added OF Jake Vogel to the player pool at alternate training site. Vogel was club's 3rd-round pick this year.
— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) September 5, 2020
Vogel was a player the Dodgers drafted at a risk. He was slated to go to UCLA and many “in the know” thought that was his intent. The Dodgers came back with a bonus offer of $1.6M that helped sway him. I also figure that having the chance to play in an organization, like the Dodgers that develops their players do, must have been a factor.
Here’s what the Dodgers Vice President of amateur scouting, Billy Gasparino, had to say about Vogel:
“He’s a dynamic athlete,” Billy Gasparino, vice president of amateur scouting, said on Draft Day. “Seventy runner [on a max 80-grade scale] with a big arm, plus center field defense, got power. Physically gifted kid. He missed last summer with a back injury, but this fall and early spring performed really well and kind of shot up our board.
“This is running-back sprinter speed, like strong, explosive, powerful strides. He can really get after it. We think he’s a good hitter with surprising power. Our player development guys are champing at the bit to get ahold of him.” – MLB/Ken Gurnick
We have more information on Jake Vogel’s signing, and other notes on him, here. This will be a great opportunity for Vogel to learn from the Dodgers player development staff. I hope the Dodgers invite him to their instructional league in Arizona for more refinement.