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Minor League Update: July 2nd Edition

Among the news items worth noting this week, the Buffalo Bisons are sending four players, including Drew Hutchison and Jesus Montero to the AAA All Star game, and perhaps more interestingly, both Angel Perdomo and Francisco Rios (both recognized in this feature on multiple occasions) are slated to participate in the MLB Futures Game next week.
Also, Conner Greene was promoted to AA and more 2016 draftees recieved their assignments: First round RHP TJ Zuech and 11th round LHP Travis Holsterman were added to the GCL Jays, while seventh rounder Andy Ravel, ninth rounder Nick Hartman, and 24th rounder Mike Ellenbest, all RHP, went to Vancouver. That puts every officially signed player (some reports Zach Jackson has an agreement but he’s not listed as signed) on a roster.

Pitchers of the Week

1. Patrick Murphy (21) – RHP – Vancouver (Rookie Advanced)

Week: 2 GS , 12.0 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 10 K
YTD: 11 G , 5 GS, 38.0 IP, 38 H, 14 ER, 18 BB, 32 K 3.32 ERA, 1.47 WHIP, 7.7 K/9, 4.3 BB/9

Remember this guy? Anyone? Bueller? Murphy was Toronto’s third round pick in 2013. How many innings had he pitched in the Blue Jays system since, coming into this season? Four. That’s right – FOUR. He has made Matt Smoral look like Cal Ripken by comparison.  To be fair, the Blue Jays gambled big time when they drafted him. He had gone for Tommy John surgery at the end of his junior year in high school and missed his entire senior season. Since being drafted, he has dealt with repeated episodes of numbness which necessitated two more surgeries (one removed a rib, another to remove a nerve in his arm). But he came to camp fully healthy for the first time as a pro this year and was eventually assigned to Lansing, where he pitched in relief, in mid-May. When the short season began, he was shifted to Vancouver where he could continue to be stretched out as a starter, and the returns have been pretty impressive. After three starts, he has a 2.12 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP to go with a 3:1 K/BB ratio. This might be another in an impressive list of low minors starters to keep your eye on.

2. Jordan Romano- (23) – RHP – Lansing

Week: 2 GS , 7 IP, 8 H, 1 ER, 5 BB, 8 K
YTD: 19 IP, 15 H, 3 ER, 7 BB, 22 K, 1.42 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 10.4 K/9, 3.3 BB/9

Another injury recovery case, Romano was a 2014 10th round choice from Markham, ON – who threw quite well in his 11 appearances for Bluefield  that year (2.16 ERA, 11.9 K/9, 3.24 BB/9) – but missed all of 2015 after spring Tommy John surgery. What he hasn’t missed is a beat. Since joining the Lansing rotation on June 13 he has made four starts and has a been near dominant. One outing saw a couple of errors drive up his pitch count leading to an early exit but otherwise it’s difficult to find a negative. There’s a little bias involved in choosing him for the honors this week, because he was deserving last week too.

3. Angel Perdomo (22) – LHP – Lansing (A)

Week: 1 GS , 6.2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 12 K
YTD: 14 GS, 65.1 IP, 39 H, 18 ER, 30 BB, 87 K, 2.48 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, 12.0 K/9, 4.1 BB/9

There were more candidates than available spots on both the pitching and hitting sides of the ball this week. I choose to cast the spotlight on Perdomo again partly because of his dominating 12 strikeout performance last time out, and partly because of the Futures Game recognition. I chose him also because it gives me a chance to state a hunch. Conner Greene was promoted to AA this week, and has his first start at that level this year today, and meanwhile, as of this writing (late Friday night) Lansing’s upcoming starters on the official site do not include Perdomo even though today (Saturday) is his normal turn. This may be a fluke, of course, but I have to think that he’s very close to being promoted to Dunedin.
[UPDATE: Yeah, I was wrong about that promotion.]

Hitters of the Week

1. Connor Panas (23) – 3B – Lansing

Week: 11/27, 0 1B, 0 3B, 5 HR, 0 SB, 3 BB, 10 K, .407 AVG, .466 OBP, .963 SLG
Season: 32/131, 2 2B, 0 3B, 9 HR, 0 SB, 20 BB, 44 K .244 AVG, .342 OBP, .466 SLG

Here’s your feel good story of the week in the Blue Jays farm system. He’s a Toronto native who was a ninth round draft pick in 2015. He played the bulk of his first season at Vancouver and he’s (as of Thursday night) almost at the same number of games played as he had for the VanC’s and the production is remarkably consistent. The big change is that he’s had a power outburst recently that has seen last year’s doubles making it over the fence. In an interview with MiLB he credited his recent hot streak to an increase in playing time which makes some sense. With ranked prospect Carl Wise at 3B and team offensive leader Juan Kelly eating up the 1B starts, Panas was regulated to finding at bats on the outfield corners, or coming off the bench. But injuries in Dunedin caused a promotion that opened up more time in June and he seized the chance; he had a 1.081 OPS in June. Time will tell if he can maintain the power production but right now he’s the hottest bat in the system.

2. Emilio Guerrero (23) – IF/OF – Dunedin

Week: 8/25, 1 2B, 0 3B, 4 HR, 1 SB, 1 BB, 5 k, .320 AVG, .346 OBP, .840 SLG
YTD: 46/159, 15 2B, 1 3B, 8 HR, 3 SB, 15 BB, 32 K, .289 AVG, .341 OBP, .547 SLG

I’ve seen mention of this guy from time to time over the last few seasons. Coaches and scouts would speak of him having enviable physical gifts, but for various reasons he hadn’t put anything significant together in terms of on-field performance. He looked like he’d taken a step forward in 2013, his third year in the organization, when his OBP jumped significantly while his K rate dropped by an impressive amount. But he went back to mostly struggling in the two subsequent seasons. This year, however, he’s been dramatically better in every phase of the game, and since May 29 his OPS is 1.011. He has been preforming for weeks now but was never one of the top three players of interest in any given week. This recognition is well overdue.
Defensively, he plays all three outfield positions, primarily CF, but the bulk of his innings this year have come at 3B. He can also play SS. He may very well have a future as a big league utility man if he can maintain a reasonable level of production. I could see a scenario where he’d be the kind of guy who’d be of interest to a team trading a reliever at the deadline as part of the return.

3. Max Pentecost (23) – 1B – Lansing

Week: 7/23, 2 1B, 0 3B, 2 HR, 0 SB, 2 BB, 7 k, .304 AVG, .360 OBP, .652 SLG
YTD: 44/153, 7 2B, 0 3B, 3 HR, 1 SB, 16 BB, 33 K, .288 AVG, .360 OBP, .392 SLG

There were at least 10 good candidates for recognition this week. Guys Like Richard Urena and Christian Lopes deserved recognition, to say nothing of three guys in their first week in rookie ball (more on that below) and on such occasions one of my tie-breakers is new guys over recent mentions, but Pentecost continues to demand recognition. Beyond the weekly numbers above, he has a 1.011 OPS over his last 16 games.

Other Minor Notes

With the beginning of short-season play, I’ve expanded the charts to include more notable players. And if the early games are any indication, I may have to expand them again. At Bluefield, besides the celebrated Vlad Guerrero, Jr, who’s not making much contact so far, there are two less heralded players – Nick Sinay and Edward Olivares – with OPS figures over .900 in the first week. For the Gulf Coast Jays, recently drafted Bo Bichette is not the only guy raking (.474 BA, 1.156 OPS). Mexican outfielder Noberto Obeso (who had 58 walks against 20 K in the DSL last year) has a 1.400 OPS in his first five games, and SS Kevin Vicuna is hitting over .364 as of this writing. The GCL team also has a couple of pitchers off to a hot start. LHP Wilfri Aleton, who got a notable signing bonus in 2012 pitched 5 no hit innings on opening day with 10 strikeouts, and RHP Joel Espinal, who’s name is new to me, who had a great game yesterday after the cutoff.

Other Stat Lines of Interest

HITTERS

Last Week

Hitter Age Pos. Lvl G AVG OBP SLG HR SB BB K TB
Rowdy Tellez 21 1B AA  6 .389 .476 .556 1 0 3 3 13
Christian Lopes 23 2B AA  7 .391 .440 .652 0 0 2 3 17
Richard Urena 20 SS A+  6 .381 .458 .476 0 0 3 5 13
Anthony Alford 21 CF A+  7 .357 .471 .786 1 0 5 3 16
Juan Kelly 21 1B A .346 .370 .500 1 0 1 6 14
Vlad Guerrero, Jr. 17 3B R 6 .143 .182 .429 2 0 1 5 9
Bo Bichette 18 SS r  5 .474 .524 .632 0 0 2 3 12

Season

Hitter Age Pos. Lvl G PA AVG OBP SLG HR SB BB K TB
Rowdy Tellez 21 1B AA 70 282 .267 .378 .458 10 1 42 53 110
Christian Lopes 23 2B AA 66 262 .265 .335 .409 4 3 24 51 94
Richard Urena 20 LF AA 67 291 .271 .323 .407 4 8 18 48 111
Anthony Alford 21 CF A+ 41 166 .204 .304 .293 2 5 19 59 67
Juan Kelly 21 1B A 72 285 .276 .339 .490 8 5 25 59 128
Vlad Guerrero, Jr. 17 3B R 7 26 .160 .222 .400 2 0 1 6 10
Bo Bichette 18 SS r 5 23 .474 .524 .632 0 0 2 3 12

PITCHERS

Last Week

Pitcher Age Pos. Lvl G ERA K/9 BB/9 WHIP
Drew Hutchison 25 SP AAA 1 0.00 7.5 3.0 0.33
Conner Greene 21 SP AA 1 6.75 4.5 9.0 1.50
Sean Reid-Foley 20 SP A+ 1 3.00 12.0 4.5 0.83
Francisco Rios 21 SP A+ 1 1.50 6.0 3.0 0.83
Jon Harris 22 SP A 1 5.19 5.2 1.7 1.35
Ryan Borucki 22 SP A 1 0.00 7.7 0.0 0.71
Justin Maese 19 SP R+ 1 0.00 5.1 0.0 0.86

Season

Pitcher Age Pos. Lvl G ERA K/9 BB/9 WHIP
Drew Hutchison 25 SP AAA 15 2.79 10.0 3.2 0.79
Conner Greene 21 SP AA 15 2.91 5.9 4.4 1.01
Sean Reid-Foley 20 SP A+ 14 2.45 9.6 3.3 0.77
Francisco Rios 21 SP A+ 15 2.07 8.4 2.2 0.91
Jon Harris 22 SP A 12 2.59 8.4 3.6 0.98
Ryan Borucki 22 SP A 15 6.02 6.9 3.0 1.30
Justin Maese 19 SP R+ 3 1.50 7.5 0.5 0.88

 Lead Photo: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports

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1 comment on “Minor League Update: July 2nd Edition”

Adrock

I enjoy this update every week. Thanks!

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