Switch-hitting 20-year old IF/OF Eugenio Velez is playing solid ball in AAA for the Dodgers right now. He has played in 51 games in AAA-ball this year for the Dodgers and he is 72 for 202 (.356 avg, .853 OPS) with 30 runs scored, 1 homer, 30 RBIs and 6 stolen bases. Velez is just biding his time until the Dodgers start salary dumping next month. Velez has played in 225 games in his four years in the majors so far and he is 160 for 626 (.256 avg, .688 OPS) with 84 runs scored, 8 homers, 71 RBIs and 30 stolen bases.

28-year old lefty swinging outfielder Tony Gwynn Jr. is starting to heat up with a bat in his hands. Gwynn has played in 19 games so far this June and he is 17 for 49 (.347 avg, .804 OPS) with 9 runs scored, 0 homers, 7 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. He has now played in 68 games for the Dodgers this year and he is 33 for 132 (.250 avg, .619 OPS) with 16 runs scored, 0 homers, 11 RBIs and 8 stolen bases. Gwynn is trying to take advantage of the Black Hole that has been LF for the Dodgers this year. They have been going with the hot hand, so Gwynn could start seeing a bump in playing time.

Righty swinging 3B Ron Cey was nicknamed the Penguin because of his short stature and the fact that he was bow legged. That didn’t impact him on the field though as he was a solid player for the Dodgers for a long time. Cey’s best year (in my opinion) with the Dodgers was 1977 despite his low batting average. Cey played in 153 games in 1977 and he was 136 of 564 (.241 avg, .797 OPS) with 77 runs scored, 30 homers, 110 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. He finished 8th in the voting for the MVP in 1977. Cey played in 1,481 games in 12 years with the Dodgers and he was 1,378 of 5,216 (.264 avg, .804 OPS) with 715 runs scored, 228 homers, 842 RBIs and 20 stolen bases. Cey is #5 in Dodgers’ history in homers with 228. He is also #10 in RBIs (842) and #5 in walks (765) in Dodgers’ history. Cey made it to six straight All-Star games with the Dodgers (1974-79).

34-year old righty reliever Mike MacDougal has been solid for the Dodgers so far this year. June has been tough on MacDougal so far though. He has pitched in 9 games so far this June and he is 0-0 with a 4.50 ERA and a 2.17 WHIP. He has given up 8 hits while walking 5 batters so far in six innings so far this June, and that’s not going to get it done. Overall this year though, MacDougal has pitched in 31 games (0 starts) in which he is 0-1 with 1 save, a 2.25 ERA and a 1.58 WHIP. The Dodgers will likely try to deal MacDougal next month for a prospect if they continue losing.

The Dodgers have placed 35-year old righty swinging catcher Rod Barajas on the 15-day disabled list due to a sprained right ankle. Barajas has played in 56 games for the Dodgers so far this year and he is 40 for 182 (.220 avg, .646 OPS) with 15 runs scored, 8 homers and 21 RBIs. 27-year old switch-hitting Dioner Navarro will take over as the starting catcher until Barajas is ready to return to action. Navarro has played in 28 games for the Dodgers so far this year and he is 14 for 80 (.175 avg, .499 OPS) with 6 runs scored, 2 homers and 5 RBIs. The Dodgers have called up 30-year old righty swinging catcher A.J. Ellis to replace Barajas on the active roster. Ellis has played in 6 games for the Dodgers so far this year and he is 4 for 15 (.267 avg, .688 OPS) with 1 run scored and 2 RBIs.