The National League Championship Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers that starts Sunday, Oct. 11 prompts a long-time baseball scout to share wisdom.
“It's all about fishing in the right pond,’’ Logan White, former vice president of amateur scouting for the Dodgers, told USA TODAY Sports.
When he joined the Dodgers in 2002, White said he studied every state to determine its history of producing major leaguers. More than two decades later, the postseason rosters for the Dodgers and Brewers reinforce White's findings: California rules.
Ten Brewers players on the team’s 26-man roster for the NLDS were native Californians, making up almost 40 percent of the roster. That includes Christian Yelich, the three-time All-Star, and
Trevor Megill, a closer who made the All-Star team in 2025.
Five Dodgers players on the team’s 26-man roster for the NLDS were native Californians, making up almost 20 percent of the roster. That includes Freddie Freeman, the 10-time All-Star first baseman, and Tarik Skubal, the two-time Cy Young Award winner.
Population and warm weather give California an inherent advantage, of course. But Logan also noted, “They have always had a great infrastructure with youth leagues, Little League, everything else.’’
White, who left the Dodgers for the San Diego Padres in 2015, said his research helped dictate how he allocated resources.
“(In California), I had multiple crosscheckers that lived there, part-timers and area guys,’’ he said.
An MLB.com story published in 2020 showed California has a huge lead over other states.
Scouting options galore
Tim Fortugno, a former major leaguer who scouts for the Tampa Bay Rays, was sitting inside Cal-Berkeley’s Stu Gordon Stadium Friday, Oct. 9. He rattled off names of some of the Cal-Berkeley players who became major leaguers, such as Hall of Fame Jeff Kent, three-time All-Star Marcus Semien and 10-year catcher Bob Melvin.
All three are native Californians.
“That’s just one college,’’ Fortugno told USA TODAY Sports. “You know, I could go down the street to Stanford. I could go down the street to Fresno State.’’
Or he could head south, where UCLA, USC and Cal State Fullerton produced a litany of major leaguers.
Changing landscape
White said he thinks California is losing college talent because of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) compensation, which took effect for college athletes in 2021. According to White, it’s not just sweeter NIL deals that have lured native Californians elsewhere, but also sellout crowds at schools like Tennessee and LSU and the ability for families to watch games livestreamed rather than needing to be near the school.
“That never used to happen,’’ White said of talented players leaving California.
As for youth baseball, California has won the Little League World Series championship eight times, more than any other state. But California has won only once since 2023.
White attributes that to the rise of elite travel baseball teams.
“I think they're just bypassing playing Little League because you have so many of these travel ball programs (that) want their kids playing year-round with their team so they don't let them go play Little League,’’ White said.
Cold-weather phenomenon
Cold-weather states produce pitching talent, White said.
His theory: young pitchers in states with large populations and warm weather get “pitched all year.’’
“I think you lose a lot of pitchers,’’ White said, “because they, I don't want to say they got abused, but they pitch so damn much that they get abused, right?
“I can't tell you how many kids I knew were great pitchers at 12 in Arizona, and even some I've heard of in California, and they were not that good when they're 18.
“It's because they play in the fall, the winter, and they were playing a lot, I think. And I like playing, but pitching all the time, year-round is tough.’’
Of the 15 native Californians on the Dodgers' and Brewers' NLDS rosters, eight are pitchers. And White also said, "California is always going to produce players because it's got weather, it's got population, great infrastructure, coaching, all that stuff. How might those numbers look in a decade?"
Sleeper states
In addition to studying the states producing the most major leaguers, White said he also studied the ratio of major leaguers to population. He said the highest ratio belonged to the state of Washington.
Sleeper states for producing talent include Georgia and Ohio, according to White, who also called the Carolinas “sneaky good,’’ with a wealth of Division 1 college programs between the two states.
Californians on Brewers, Dodgers rosters
The Dodgers and Brewers will have to turn in their finalized 26-man rosters for the NLCS Sunday, Oct. 11. Though that could lead to some adjustments, here are the native Californians (with their birthplace) who were on the NLDS rosters for the Brewers and Dodgers.
Dodgers
Kris Bubic, Cupertino, CA
Freddie Freeman, Villa Park
Tyler Glasnow, Newhall
Tarik Skubal,Hayward,
Alex Vesia, Alpine
Brewers
Jake Bauers: Newport Beach
Robert Gasser, El Dorado Hills
Kyle Harrison, San Jose
Trevor Megill, Long Beach
Garrett Mitchell, Orange
Joey Ortiz, Garden Grove
JoJo Romero, Camarillo
Brice Turang, Corona
Andrew Vaughn, Santa Rosa
Christian Yelich, Thousand Oaks
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dodgers, Brewers NLCS rosters show California's huge baseball pipeline
