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Ferris

DePaula is a top-20 prospect in dynasty formats and ranks alongside fellow outfielders Eduardo Quintero, Zyhir Hope and Mike Sirota at the top of Los Angeles’ farm system. The 20-year-old phenom has a chance to make his big-league debut later this season after hitting .250/.391/.400 with 12 homers and 32 steals in 445 plate appearances between Double-A Tulsa and High-A Great Lakes last year. It’s a tough break for Ward, who has been marooned at the Triple-A level for several years now and seemingly has nothing left to prove in the Pacific Coast League. He’ll have to wait a bit longer for his chance.

That’s the bad news. The good news is Ferris was able to throw a bullpen Saturday, so it appears the Dodgers were just being careful with one of their better pitching prospects. Ferris should get another spring start in the coming days, assuming good health.

Ferris allowed a hit, a walk and picked up a strikeout. The 22-year-old is one of the better starting pitching prospects in the Los Angeles system, and while it’s hard to see him cracking the Dodgers’ rotation, he’s yet another arm who could have success in the coming years in Los Angeles.

Ferris piled up an impressive 20 swinging strikes in his season debut. The 21-year-old lefty will need to cut back on some of the free passes if he’s going to excel in the upper minors, but he’s clearly going to continue missing bats at near-elite levels.

The 21-year-old hurler struck out four batters on the day while issuing a pair of free passes. The only blemish on his day came on a solo homer off the bat of Taylor Ward. Ferris got six swings and misses on 62 pitches in the ballgame — two each on his fastball, slider and curveball — while registering a CSW of 26 percent. He’ll open the year as extra rotation depth for the Dodgers in the upper minor leagues.

The 23-year-old backstop doesn’t have much left to prove in the minor leagues, but with Will Smit and Austin Barnes holding things down at the game’s highest level, he’ll need to work his way into the crowded outfield mix in order to have any shot of breaking camp. He’ll be an intriguing option for fantasy purposes when he does finally arrive in Los Angeles, but it’ll probably take an injury to Smith or Barnes for it to happen. Roki Sasaki and Zyhir Hope also received official invitations to spring training on Friday.

Ferris, a 2022 second-round pick out of high school, was considered one of the Cubs’ most talented young arms; a 6-foot-4 southpaw, he throws in the mid-90s and had a 3.38 ERA and a 77/33 K/BB ratio in 56 innings in A-ball in his pro debut last season. He’ll likely open 2024 in high-A.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan has confirmed the return. This seems a little light to us, but perhaps Busch wasn’t as popular around the league after struggling in his initial audition for the Dodgers (.167/.247/.292 in 81 PA). Ferris, a 2022 second-round pick out of high school, had a 3.38 ERA and a 77/33 K/BB ratio in 56 innings in A-ball last season. Hope was an 11th-round pick last year, though he signed for third-round money.