The 2014 draft

I went to a sports card shop and said hello to the owner. He was going to take a trip soon. We chatted a little bit about life and sports cards. While chatting, I saw that there were some old hobby packs available.

 

Those packs are from the 2014 Bowman draft. I remembered that I opened some hobby packs from this set. But I don’t remember that I found something cool. I was thinking about ripping something. So, I decided to buy those hobby packs and see what I could get.

 

After opening the second or the third pack, I found a Jeff Brigham blue refractor card and it’s numbered to 399. This card looks pretty cool to me. Jeff Brigham in the Dodgers uniform and it’s a blue refractor. This is a good combination.

 

As the card showed, Brigham was selected by the Dodgers in the 2014 draft. While seeing this card, I’m just thinking about who was also selected in the 2014 draft by the Dodgers. And, did many of them make it into the big leagues? To solve my doubts, I decided to check on the great baseball reference website.

 

So, among the players who were selected by the Dodgers and agreed to sign, 7 of them made it into the big leagues. Grant Holmes was selected by the Dodgers in the first round of the 2014 draft. In 2016, he was traded to the Oakland Athletics. He made his MLB debut in the Braves uniform in 2024.

 

Alex Verdugo was selected in the second round. He made it into the big leagues in 2017. In total, he played 3 seasons for the Dodgers, hitting. 282/.335/.449 with 14 home runs and 49 RBI over 158 games.

 

In addition, Jeff Brigham was selected in the 4th round and he was traded to the Marlins in 2015. Brigham made his MLB debut in the Marlins uniform in 2018. The Dodgers chose Brock Stewart in the 6th round. Stewart made his MLB debut in 2016. He pitched for the Dodgers from 2016 to 2019 and returned to the Dodgers last summer. So far in his career, Stewart has tossed 87.2 innings for the Dodgers, posting a 5.44 ERA and a 1.63 WHIP. Furthermore, Trevor Oaks was selected in the 7th round. Oaks was traded to the Royals in 2018 and made his MLB debut as a Royal.

 

Finally, the Dodgers selected Bubby Rossman in the 22nd round and chose Caleb Ferguson in the 38th round. Rossman was released by the Dodgers in 2016. However, he made his MLB debut in 2022 and he was playing for the Phillies. Caleb Ferguson pitched for the Dodgers from 2018 to 2023. As a Dodger, he owned a 3.43 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP over 207.1 innings.

Looking back at the 2014 draft, among the players who chose to sign with the Dodgers, there are 7 major leaguers but none of them has become a star player. Nonetheless, there’s certainly something worth watching. Alex Verdugo was in the blockbuster trade in 2020. He and 2 other players were sent to the Red Sox and the Dodgers acquired Mookie Betts and David Price. Additionally, Caleb Ferguson was selected in the 38th round. It’s late round. Nevertheless, he was a core member of the Dodgers bullpen for several years. Overall, the 2014 draft wasn’t a great one for the Dodgers but there are still some impacts from this draft class.