LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles Dodgers named catcher/outfielder Dalton Rushing as the 2024 Branch Rickey Minor League Player of the Year and left-handed pitcher Jackson Ferris as the 2024 Branch Rickey Minor League Pitcher of the Year.
Rushing, 23, has played in 110 games this season, slashing .270/.383/.501 with 24 homers and 82 RBI. The Tennessee native is among the organizational leaders in various categories, including batting average (4th), homers (4th), RBI (3rd), OBP (3rd, .383), slugging percentage (2nd, .501), OPS (1st, .884), hits (1th, 111), extra-base hits (5th, 46) and total bases (6th, 206). He started the season with Double-A Tulsa, hitting .270 with 17 homers and 59 RBI before his promotion to Triple-A on August 6. Since his promotion, he has played 26 of his 33 games in left field, batting .267 with seven homers and 22 RBI. He represented the Dodgers in the 2023 Sirius XM Futures Game in Seattle, Washington after clubbing 15 homers and driving in 53 runs with High-A Great Lakes. He has been in the organization since being drafted in the second round of the 2022 First Year Player Draft out of the University of Louisville and has slashed .272/.410/.517 with 47 homers and 164 RBI in 229 games. He is currently ranked the No. 36 prospect by MLB.com and the fourth-best catching prospect in baseball.
Ferris, 20, has made 27 minor league starts this season, going 5-7 with a 3.20 ERA and 145 strikeouts in 126.2 innings. He began the season with High-A Great Lakes and went 4-4 with a 3.39 ERA and 119 strikeouts in 20 games. He was promoted to Double-A Tulsa on August 2 and has made seven starts for the Drillers, posting a 2.54 ERA with an opponents’ batting average against of .216 with 26 strikeouts in 28.1 innings. He began his minor league career with the Chicago Cubs was the second-round draft pick in the 2022 First Year Player Draft out of IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. He pitched for Low-A Myrtle Beach in 2023, making 18 appearances and going 2-3 with a 3.38 ERA and 77 strikeouts in 56.0 innings. He was ranked as the No. 82nd prospect by MLB.com in the midseason update and is the ranked the fifth-best left-handed pitching prospect in baseball. He was acquired on January 11 from the Chicago Cubs along with minor league outfielder Zyhir Hope in exchange for infielder Michael Busch and right-handed pitcher Yency Almonte.
Rushing and Ferris will both be presented with their respective awards and honored in a pregame ceremony at Dodger Stadium on Friday, Sept. 20 prior to the Dodgers’ game vs. Colorado.
