Gammons Mentions Dodger Youngsters

ESPN.com's Peter Gammons blogged on a number of future stars on which to keep one's eye, and the Dodgers were well represented. No link since it's insider only, here's the skinny:

That is the curse young players live with each spring. Oh, the first few weeks are great, filled with promises, get-me-over fastballs, guys out of A ball and 4-A players. But in the end the hopes of being the next Albert Pujols shooting past the minor leagues is fraught with complications.

But the kids are the enduring siren's song of spring training. We watch lines of pitchers throw from bullpen mounds, study infield drills and listen for the sounds that differentiate bat speeds....Here are the young players most will be watching this spring.

["Most Significant Young Pitchers"]: Jonathan Meloan, Dodgers. Just look at the strikeouts -- 91 in 53 innings. Here is L.A.'s bullpen sleeper.

["Young Players We May See Come August"]: Andy LaRoche, 3B, Dodgers. His time could be April. He's hit 30 and 19 homers the last two years, greatly improved his approach and discipline to the point where he had more walks than strikeouts and made five errors in 54 Triple-A games. He walks on the field and looks like a major leaguer.

Shee-oot, if all it takes to get Gammons' admiration is just walking onto the field, I can handle that. Sign me up!

At the end of the article, Gammons also mentions Preston Mattingly and Scott Elbert of the Dodgers. Granted, he mentioned four Red Sox as well in the same article--but given all the Dodgers newbies who aren't considered as new anymore (Martin, Kemp, Ethier, Loney, Broxton, etc.), that showing isn't too bad.