Notes: Tony Gonsolin, Dustin May, Zyhir Hope, Rich Hill
Today at 08:12 AM
Friday was a busy transactional day for the Dodgers, who avoided salary arbitration with a pair of pitchers coming off injuries and non-tended another two arms.
Tony Gonsolin signed for $5.4 million, while Dustin May signed for $2.135 million, with both pitchers earning the same salary in 2025 as they did in 2024. Brent Honeywell and Zach Logue, both of whom are out of options, were not tendered contracts, making them free agents.
That leaves 36 players on the Dodgers' 40-man roster.
Earlier this week, Baseball America unveiled their top 10 Dodgers prospects heading into 2025, with Dalton Rushing heading the list. On Friday, Ben Badler and Carlos Collazo of Baseball America went into detail on National League West farm systems on the Future Projection podcast.
"I think Zyhir Hope had a chance to be just a dangerous middle-of-the-order, monster-type bat. He has outstanding bat speed, 70 raw power," Badler said. "There are plenty of hitters throughout the minor leagues who have 60 or 70 raw power who I do not like at all, because all they have is raw power and bat speed, but their swing is full of holes, they have no approach, it's just feast or famine, and gets exposed as they move up through the minors.
"But what I love about Zyhir Hope is that he has gigantic power, and he gets to it without having to sell out his swing to generate that power. It's compact, it's efficient, it's explosive."
Badler and Collazo on the podcast also talked extensively about Rushing, Eduardo Quintero, and 2024 first-round draft pick Kellon Lindsey.
Old friend Rich Hill is pitching for Team USA in the Premier12 tournament in Tokyo, and pitched for scoreless innings on Thursday night. Michael Clair at MLB.com profiled the 44-year-old left-hander.
Catcher Willie MacIver, a minor league free agent, had this to say about Hill, his Team USA teammate, per Clair:
"Coming in, I didn't really know what to expect from Rich, because he's got all these accolades. He's such a big name. But we get in the locker room the first day, and he's blended in like one of the guys, which was really cool to see. He's really friendly, open to talk, and I was able to have some really good conversations with him and just kind of pick his brain," MacIver said. "The one thing that really stuck with me was how he approaches the game from pitch to pitch. It's like nothing else matters except for the pitch that's going on right now."
