Rumor Central: Tacos Unwilling to Part with Wood, Jenkins

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uucwWiug4aI

With a wave of Keeper-worthy hitters available, the Alamo Short Stacks put their feelers out across the Roger Dorn Baseball League this weekend. The club is a clear match with the rebuilding San Mateo Oppo Tacos who currently project to have just two hitters (Nolan Gorman and James Wood) on their 2025 Keeper Roster. While talks quickly progressed according to sources, Oppo Tacos GM Erik Nielsen made clear that top prospects James Wood (Minors) and Walker Jenkins (Minors) is "100% off-limits" in any deal this Winter.

Marking Wood and Jenkins off limits is hardly a surprise as the Tacos are fresh off a 15th Place finish with the outfielders ranking as the club's best prospects. While talks have stalled, the two teams are a logical fit to find common ground this Winter. The Tacos hold 15 prospects under contract entering the off-season along with six of the top 44 selections including three of the first 14.

The Stacks have made it know that hitters Josh Lowe (3R/$5), Nico Hoerner (3R/$5), Kyle Schwarber (3/$30), Evan Carter (2R/$3), Alec Burleson (2FA/$5), Manny Machado (2/$39), Marcus Semien (2/$37) and Jose Miranda (2FA/$5) are among the players available in discussions this Winter.

Around the RDBL

• The Cloverdale Clovers are expected to shop right-handers Corbin Burnes (2/$73) and Kevin Gausman (2/$45) according to sources. The club acquired Logan Webb (3/$38) as well last season with the Giants ace expected to work at the top of the Clovers rotation. Fitting Webb in with Freddie Freeman's $57 contract is pushing the availability of Burnes and Guasman according to those close the Clovers.

• Mission Viejo Maulers outfielder Brandon Nimmo (2/$31) is available according to sources. Nimmo posted 348.5 points in 2024, playing in at least 151 games for the third straight season as he continues to put the "injury prone" label behind him, though he spent much of 2024 playing through plantar fasciitis. The outfielder's offensive production took a hit, and he finished with a .224/.327/.399 slash line, though he still delivered 23 home runs, 15 steals, 88 runs and a career-high 90 RBI. It's the first time he's posted an OPS below .800 since 2019, and it's unclear exactly how much of a factor the injury played in his dropoff. Nimmo is a strong candidate for a bounceback in 2025 given his track record, and he could be even more valuable if he can bring the rate stats back up while maintaining the career-best run production.

2025 Mock Draft: Campbell Tops Mock while Pitchers Make a Comeback

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLLHm3STlNQ

Our top overall selection Kristian Campbell is the only available player in MLB.com's Top 30 overall prospects, a sign of just how strong Roger Dorn Baseball League Front Offices have become and the potential lack of star power available in the 2025 Reserve Draft. Despite the lack of big name targets, plenty of talent remains that should have RDBL Clubs still fighting for additional early round selections.

With about three months left, here's our first 2025 Reserve Mock Draft with the Meinert Hops making the top overall selection for the second consecutive season after making Charlie Condon the first pick in 2024.

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*1. Meinert Hops: OF Kristian Campbell, Red Sox

Acquired from Cloverdale Clovers

In a year, Campbell transformed from a hit-over-power second baseman into one of the best all-around hitters in the minor leagues. Campbell took to Boston’s bat speed training and it’s yielded some of the best offensive production in baseball. Campbell has a strong combination of bat-to-ball skills, power, speed and defensive versatility that has seen him climb three levels of the minors in 2024.

2. Asti Grape Stompers: RHP Tyler Bremner, UC Santa Barbara

Bremner enters the 2025 draft season as one of a trio of elite pitching prospects in the class alongside Florida State’s Jamie Arnold and California prepster Seth Hernandez. He’s a lean righthander with a 6-foot-2, 180-pound frame and excellent feel for a three-pitch mix. Bremner sits 94-96 mph with a fastball that touches 98 and features excellent riding life. He also has a pair of secondaries with plus potential: a mid-80s tumbling changeup and a mid-80s gyro slider with snappy finish. He pitched well with Team USA over the summer and owns a 31.1% strikeout rate and 6.4% walk rate in two seasons with UC Santa Barbara, but he hasn’t started more than eight games in a single season.

3. Lunatic Fringe: RHP Brandon Sproat, New York Mets

Sproat moved three levels reaching Triple-A while displaying a good balance of stuff and the ability to execute with it. Sproat mixes a four-seam fastball that sits 95-97 mph and has touched 101 mph with a slider, curveball and changeup. The fastball, slider and changeup give Sproat three average or better offerings with a chance to settle in as an upper-tier arm in Queens.

4. St. Joseph Jokers: 2B Christian Moore, Los Angeles Angels

The Angels’ first-round pick made waves as he springboarded to Double-A shortly after the draft. Moore has a chance to break camp with the big league club to start 2025 as the Angels have shown to be aggressive with their top prospects. Moore has plus power, on-base ability and the barrel control to optimize his best contact.

5. Mission Viejo Maulers: SS Bryce Rainer, Detroit Tigers

One of the only big-time 2024 MLB Draft prospects to slip through the RDBL cracks, Rainer isn't expected to last long in March. He was the best player at the National High School Invitational this spring, and while he still pitched a little, he vaulted himself to the top half of the Draft as a position player. The Tigers were happy to take him 11th overall and signed him to a $5.8 million bonus.

6. Burlingame Blue Ducks: LHP Jamie Arnold, Florida State

Arnold is the top-ranked lefthander in the class and would have been the most impressive pitcher in the ACC in 2024 if it weren’t for former Wake Forest flamethrower Chase Burns. Arnold made a leap in performance as a sophomore and posted a 2.98 ERA over 18 starts and 105.2 innings, with a 35.4% strikeout rate and 5.8% walk rate. He throws from a low three-quarters slot and creates plenty of armside run with a 93-95 mph fastball that has been up to 97. He’ll also mix in a trio of secondaries: a mid-80s sweeping slider, a low-80s curveball and a mid-80s changeup.

7. Meinert Hops: SS Kevin McGonigle, Detroit Tigers

A hamate injury ended McGonigle’s 2024 season in mid-August, but by then he’d already accomplished a lot. He was one of the best hitters in the Florida State League before earning a promotion to High-A West Michigan.

8. Mt. Diablo Devils: OF James Tibbs III, San Francisco Giants

Tibbs’ career at Florida State started quickly and loudly in 2022, when he swatted 10 home runs as a freshman. He added 17 more in his sophomore year and then an Atlantic Coast Conference-best 28 in his draft season, when he was a first-team All-American. All told, he finished his time in Tallahassee with 55 doubles in 176 games. In between, he posted a solid summer hitting with wood in the Cape Cod League, batting .303/.390/.472 with six home runs in 40 games in 2023. Tibbs’ outstanding track record was enough for the Giants to draft him 13th overall in 2024 and sign him for $4,747,500 before splitting his pro debut between Low-A San Jose and High-A Eugene.

9. San Mateo Oppo Tacos: 3B Cam Smith, Houston Astros

Smith earned All-America honors and led Florida State to the College World Series by batting .387 with 16 homers in 2024, a prelude to going 14th overall in the Draft to the Cubs and signing for $5,070,700. He reached Double-A at the conclusion of a strong pro debut, then went to the Astros in the Kyle Tucker trade in December.

10. Nashville Aristocrats: RHP Jarlin Susana, Washington Nationals

On raw stuff alone there are few pitchers that can match Susana on the planet. His four-seam fastball sits 100 mph and has touched 103 mph this season, but his high-80s-to-low-90s slider is the jewel of his arsenal. Susana will never have above-average command, but has shown enough control of his three-pitch mix to continue starting for years to come. A former key piece of the trade for Juan Soto, Susana would settle in nicely to a 'Crats Farm System that is turning out big league starters on a regular basis.

*11. San Mateo Oppo Tacos: C Moises Ballesteros, Chicago Cubs

Acquired from Honolulu Hammerheads

Ballesteros is an advanced hitting catcher with elite barrel control and above-average in-game power. He has seen a majority of his time defensively behind the plate, where he’s a below-average defender. Few hitters reach Triple-A at 20 years old and perform the way Ballesteros has. Despite defensive questions, Ballesteros has the hitting chops to force his way into a lineup.

12. Spokane Fightin' Fish: RHP Caden Dana, Los Angeles Angels

Dana dominated Double-A for five months before making his MLB debut on Sept. 1. Dana can execute with five pitches, led by a 93-95 mph fastball and a slider, cutter, curveball and changeup. Dana’s stuff is solid but it’s his ability to move the ball around the zone that keeps hitters off balance.

13. Maltese Falcons: LHP Thomas White, Miami Marlins

Most young pitching prospects burn hot and cold, mixing dominating outings with very difficult ones. White has managed to avoid that, as he’s been consistently impressive start after start.

*14. San Mateo Oppo Tacos: LHP Quinn Mathews, St. Louis Cardinals

Acquired from Lake Merced Goutfish

A substanial velocity bump helped Mathews jump from a pitchability lefty with a rotation depth ceiling to a potential midrotation piece for the Cardinals. Mathews now sits 94-95 mph with above-average ride on his four-seam fastball mixing a trio of secondaries. Mathews jumped all four full-season levels of the minors and looks like he could be in the mix for starts with the Cardinals in 2025.

15. Alamo Short Stacks: RHP Seth Hernandez, Corona HS

Hernandez is a better pitching prospect than any high school player from the 2024 class and draws comparisons to pre-injury Dylan Lesko from the 2022 class thanks to his two-way ability, athleticism, fastball velocity and excellent changeup. While prep righties are a risky demographic, it’s easy to make a case for Hernandez having the highest overall upside in the class thanks to a mid-90s fastball that’s up to 98 with good extension, a projectable 6-foot-4 frame and a double-plus changeup with huge velocity separation and great movement that stymies lefties and righties.

Commissioner's Office Aims for Sunday, March 23rd Draft Date

The RDBL was founded in 2013, crowning eight different Franchises as Champions through 11 Seasons.

The Roger Dorn Baseball League is back for its 12th season of play with the 2025 season bearing down upon us. The Commissioner's Office has outlined Sunday, March 23rd as a proposed date for the Draft with a potential start time of 8:00am. The in-person option for the Draft is in the works for a Peninsula location after several consecutive years on the East Bay.

The RDBL is fresh off another competitive season that saw the Alamo Short Stacks capture their second RDBL Championship, becoming the only team to win the Regular Season and Playoff Championship twice in the same season. The last four RDBL Championships have alternated between the Lake Merced Goutfish and Short Stacks.

The 2025 season looks like it will be marked by a wave of fresh talent on Active Rosters across the league led by superstar right-hander Paul Skenes of the Burlingame Blue Ducks.