Infielder Buddy Kennedy cleared waivers and was sent outright to Triple-A Oklahoma City on Thursday, three days after he was designated for assignment by the Dodgers. As someone who had been outrighted previously in his career, Kennedy exercised his right to refuse the minor league assignment, and instead elected free agency.
Kennedy was claimed off waivers on August 15 when the Dodgers need an available infielder once Max Muncy was placed on the injured list. Two days later Kennedy got a start at third base, becoming the 2,000th player in Dodgers franchise history. That started a string of six starts in seven games for Kennedy, who had one RBI single in 17 at-bats with the Dodgers, and was also hit by a pitch.
The 26-year-old Kennedy has played in the majors for the Phillies, Blue Jays, and Dodgers, and has two hits in 29 at-bats. His other hit was a double, on August 9 at Dodger Stadium for Toronto against Blake Snell.
Minor League Baseball this week announced end-of-season awards and All-Star teams for the rookie-level complex leagues in Arizona and Florda as well as the Dominican Summer League. A pair of Dodgers teenagers were honored for their time in the Arizona Complex League.
Ching-Hsien Ko was named as an All-Star outfielder in the ACL after hitting .367/.487/.539 with a team-best 39 walks in 53 games. Shortstop Emil Morales was also named an ACL All-Star as a utility player — Tyson Lewis of the Reds was named the ACL All-Star shortstop — after hitting .300/.383/.498 with nine home runs and 43 RBI, the latter two leading the team.
Ko was named ACL player of the month for May, while Morales was named player of the week twice this season in Arizona, from May 19-25 and June 30-July 6.
Both 18-year-olds were promoted to Class-A Rancho Cucamonga in the last week of July after the ACL ended. Ko has struggled with the Quakes, hitting .196/.321/.228 through Thursday. Morales, who won Dominican Summer League MVP last season, has thrived early on with Rancho Cucamonga, hitting .333/.409/.573 with five home runs and eight doubles in his first 23 games.
“Morales has seen a drop in strikeout rate with the move to a full-season level. While that’s an unlikely development, he has shown the ability to navigate around below-average contact skills and still hit for impact,” Geoff Pontes wrote at Baseball America. “Morales’ plus raw power and excellent angles on contact are his carrying tools currently, but if he can continue to refine his plate skills, he has Top 100 upside.”