The Los Angeles Dodgers have thrived at finding hidden gems in terms of pitching, either through developing cast-offs or finding underrated players in the draft.
The Dodgers have been a revolving door for quality pitchers under president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, priding themselves on quality pitching depth from top to bottom.
Seemingly, the Dodgers have done it again, finding a mid-round 2024 draft pick that has impressed baseball experts.
According to Brendan Gawlowski of FanGraphs, Cody Morse has been a standout during the Dodgers camp.
Morse played 40 games at the Single-A level, pitching a total of 52 innings and putting up a 4.33 ERA. He got 57 strikeouts, allowed 27 free passes, and 49 hits during his rookie year of professional baseball.
However, his time during the Dodgers’ Spring Training games has seen him look much better.
“Morse was a mid-round pick from a Texas JUCO in 2024, and the low-slot lefty had an uneven debut season. This spring, though, he’s looked sharp and has gotten a lot of work in big league games, where he’s struck out seven in 3.2 innings,” Gawlowski wrote.
“In both stadium and backfield settings, he’s been sitting 93-95 with two east-west breaking balls. He was able to reliably hit the box with the slower sweeper and elevate to get whiffs with the fastball.
“Credit the Dodgers evaluation group for finding another interesting player late in the draft.”
Morse sits out of the top 30 prospects, per MLB Pipeline’s preseason rankings, but he did manage to make the Dodgers’ Spring Breakout roster
Morse’s desire to impress the Dodgers
After being drafted by the Dodgers back in the summer of 2024, Morse expressed a great deal of relief that he was going to be part of an organization that develops young talent well and will give them chances if they force the issue with their level of play.
“When I learned it was the Dodgers it just made me relieved cause I knew I made the right choice,” Morse told Tyler Tyre of Katy Times.
“They have one of the best development teams out of anyone and I think playing in this organization will just give me that extra little bit of a chance to become an MLB player.”
With his development trending in the right direction, Morse is seemingly repaying the faith that the Dodger shad in him.
