The Daily Dugout Report - July 8, 2026

We are just a few days away from the MLB Draft! New prospects will be injected into the team and overall prospect rankings by next week. Also, starting next Monday, we will be releasing new team top prospect rankings and have all 30 out by the end of July. Buckle up, its going to be a great ride.

First, lets get in on last nights action.

Exit Velocity Leaders(Prospects Only)

Whiff Leaders(Prospects Only)

The Prospect Report

🚀 Standout of The Day

Zach Root, LHP, Los Angeles Dodgers (A+)

Stats: 6 IP/1 H/0 ER/2 BB/11 K

Why The Performance Matters:

After pitching two strong years as a starter at ECU, Root transferred to Arkansas, where he continued to pitch well, posting a 3.62 ERA with a 30 percent and just an 8.3 percent walk rate. The lefty has steadily improved his strike-throwing ability, and it showed this year as he dominated despite moving to the SEC. The Dodgers nabbed him 30th overall and he has taken off.

The arsenal is deeply rooted here, but after sitting 93-94 mph last year, Root is now sitting 96-97 mph and holding deep into start. In fact, last night, Root pitched seven innings and hit 98 mph at the end of the start. The sinker is getting 17 inches of arm-side run. Root plays off it well with a changeup, which works in the mid-80s and gets good late depth and over 17 inches of arm-side movement on average. 

Getting to the breaking stuff, the two-plane curveball sits around 81 mph and gets nice depth and sweep. Root also mixes in a mid-80 gyro slider as well and both miss bats at extremely high clips.

A career-high 11 strikeouts last night across six scoreless innings lowered Root’s ERA to 2.37, and nine of his last 11 starts have been one earned run or less. The strikeout rate is up near 35 percent and the walk rate below 10 percent. Hope you jumped in on Root last month. This is a top 100 arm. -CC

Hector Rodriguez, OF, Cincinnati Reds (AAA)

Stats: 2/2 2 HR, 2 BB

Why The Performance Matters:

Rodríguez is one of the more perplexing hitter profiles in the minors. I’ll explain why, but first let’s talk about his dominance. Steadily improving throughout his career, Rodriguez finished the 2025 season with a .283/.336/.450 slash line on the year with 19 home runs and 15 stolen bases. Two home runs last night already has his total up to 19 in 370 plate appearances while carrying a slash of .285/.362/.528.

One of the most important things is that Rodríguez is actually taking walks this year. A 4.8 percent walk rate in 2024 jumped to seven percent in 2025 and up to 10.3 percent this year. Im not sure I have ever seen a player improve their chase rate like Rodriguez has as he ran marks at 50, 45, and 43 percent the previous three years. This year, the mark is down to 35 percent, which is still high, but playable.

The contact skills are good as Rodríguez has an 77 percent overall contact rate, with an in-zone mark at 84 percent. The barrel control and zone contact skills are highly impressive. The exit velocities have taken a leap as well as he has a 90th percentile exit velocity north of 107 mph on the year.

Rodriguez is ready for the Majors. Look for a call-up post All-Star break. -CC

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