In December of 2007, the Los Angeles Dodgers signed Japanese pitcher Hiroki Kuroda to a three year 35.3 million dollar contract out of the Hiroshima Toyo Carp from the NPB in Japan. He had put up solid numbers over his career up to that point, though nothing spectacular for the Carp. At the time of the signing he was slated to be a middle of the rotation starter with Billingsley still developing, and behind the 1-2 combo of Brad Penny and Derek Lowe. Everyone expected Kuroda to be a solid, middle of the rotation starter, but not many could have expected Kuroda to be so strong and durable and become such a fan favorite in his, what turned out to be a four year stint with the Dodgers

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The Dodgers have 5 players who are clearly their top 5 pitching prospects (now that Rubby is a mainstay in the rotation), and I was wondering what people thought about the current order of those 5 prospects. Some people might have a slightly different idea of who those 5 are, but in my opinion they are Webster, Withrow, Lee, Eovaldi, and Lee, in no particular order.

For those 5 players I put the relevant minor league stats, current and past levels for 2011, and DOB so you can tell how old they are. What are your opinions on who would go 1-5?

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Here are my guesses on most of our notable prospects on where they might start the 2011 season

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The Dodgers are the only team with at least three pitchers with at least 3 WAR. The Dodgers top three starters are combined 5th best in the NL in WAR behind the Phillies, Marlins, Cardinals, and Rockies.

I’m thinking of checking the AL after this to see how the Dodgers compare in the MLB if anyone is interested.

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On May 4th, Kershaw had his worst outing of the 2010 season by far against the Milwaukee Brewers, going 1.1 innings, giving up seven earned runs on five hits and two walks while striking out three while allowing one home run. While this was not the worst game of Kershaw's career (Game Score of 17), it came very close (Kershaw had a game score of 12 last April 26th against the Rockies in Coors).

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http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2010/07/02/four-surgeries-later-hong-chih-kuo-dominating-for-dodgers/

They talk about Kuo putting up All-Star numbers and saying that Kuo shouldn't be overlooked for the AS game. I haven't finished it, but it's been a nice read so far. I know set up men rarely make the All-Star team, but there have only been a handful of other relievers who have been as dominant as Kuo this season. I wouldn't mind if he didn't make the team because of all the risk associated any time he pitches, but he deserves to make it and then hopefully not go but he would officially still be an All-Star.

Who would have thought the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are coming off of a 95 win season, 2 straight NLCS births, 2 straight NLDS sweeps of NL Central Champions, who have a collection of some of the best young talent in baseball and a farm system that's getting better after getting pretty dry from the graduates of the last 4 years, would be ranked the 14th best franchise in baseball.

Certainly not me.

Fangraphs, on the other hand, has different ideas.

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2008: .289/.338/.434/.772 13 homeruns 90 rbis 35 doubles 6 triples 45 walks 85 ks (161 games)
2009: .286/.364/.409/.772 13 homeruns 90 rbis 25 doubles 2 triples 70 walks 62 ks (151 games)

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