The minor league season is winding down, there’s little time left for slumping players to make a statement, or for rehabbing players to get back in the lineup (albeit, for some they’ll get healthy in time for instructs after the season). Other than adjusting rosters for playoff plans, the time of promotions is likely past. As of this writing (Thursday night) the GCL has a mere six regular season games left. Even upper level teams have only 11. Still, four of the seven farm teams still have post-season aspirations.
Buffalo and New Hampshire are officially out. Dunedin clings to a 1.5 game lead on Daytona and 2 games on Clearwater. Potential intrigue awaits as the latter will be their opponent for the last four games of the regular season. If they get in, they could have as many as eight more playoff games.
Lansing is in the midst of a complex situation. They are two games under .500 and in 4th place, yet they have playoff chances. How can this be? Because one of the three teams in front of them qualified in the first half, meaning that under Midwest League rules, the next two best teams would qualify. The first of those slots has already been locked up, while the Lugs are locked in a tight race, .5 games between them tonight, for the other spot. As a result, there are rumours that Cavan Biggio, Josh Palacios, and TJ Zeuch are on their way from Vancouver to Lansing.
Speaking of Vancouver, they can afford the loss of talent because they are 10 games out and their magic number for elimination is 2. Bluefield, on the other hand, currently holds a playoff position, 1.5 games up on their closest rival, the Princeton Rays, whom the visit for three games to end the regular season. The GCL Jays sit two games behind the division leading Phillies (and only one team from each division qualifies), after dropping the last two vs. that very team. They meet again for the last two games of the season.
Pitchers of the Week
1. Jordan Romano (23) – RHP – Lansing (A)
Week: 2 GS, 11.1 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 15 K
YTD: 14 G, 70.2 IP, 48 H, 17 ER, 26 BB, 69 K 2.17 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 8.8 K/9, 3.3 BB/9
Last week, in the link section, I commented about Romano “getting his second wind?” and this week in reply Romano answered with a resounding “You betcha!” In truth, it’s probably better to frame his season by saying he had two consecutive less than great starts, a blip in a season in which he has otherwise not given up more than two earned runs in any game. If one really wanted to nitpick his season one might suggest that his BB/9 rate needs to come down a bit. But remember, this is a guy who’s coming back from Tommy John surgery (see Tom Robson for how that can go badly) and he’s been essentially dominant otherwise, so let’s give him a little slack there. Oh, also don’t forget – he’s from Markham, ON so put him on your maple-flavored wish list if he’s not already.
2. Ryan Borucki – LHP (22) – Lansing
Week: 1 GS, 5 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K
YTD: 18 G, 105.2 IP, 99 H, 30 ER, 25 BB, 93 K, 2.56 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 7.9 K/9, 2.1 BB/9
(Lansing stats only)
In the previous week, Borucki had his worst outcome since June 10. In fact, it was the only game in August in which he’s given up a run at all. And going back tot June 10, Borucki has allowed zero or one earned run in nine of 12 starts. For the deeper numbers folks, his GO/AO ratio has been getting higher over the second half of the season as well.
3. TJ Zeuch – RHP – Vancouver (Rookie Advanced)
Week: 1 GS, 5 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K
YTD: 7 GS, 26 IP, 21 H, 9 ER, 5 BB, 24 K, 3.12 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 8.3 K/9, 1.7 BB/9
Look at any individual game that our 2016 first rounder has thrown and just scan the stat line and you’ll think “Eh, not a bad little outing” but probably not be blown away. But look at what he’s done on the season, a nice low WHIP, and an excellent K/BB ratio (4.9), but here’s the thing to notice, his GO/AO ratio is 4.00! Think about that. Given the IP total, that means essentially six of every seven outs he’s recorded this year were either strikeouts or ground outs. Congrats to the one guy (Zack Short, a Eugene SS with a .357 SLG) who managed to get insanely lucky and homer off him.
Hitters of the Week
1. Vlad Guerrero, Jr (17) – 3B – Bluefield (Rookie)
Week: 10/24, 2 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 0 SB, 5 BB, 3 K, .417/.517/.708
YTD: 59/211, 11 2B, 2 3B, 8 HR, 15 SB, 31 BB, 30 K .280/.369/.464
To be fair, the other two hitters I’ll highlight this week actually had better weeks, but neither of them are considered a top prospect and one week stats can sometimes be weighted by one really great game (more on that below). Guerrero is both the guy everyone is focused on and also a guy that seems to, for all the hype, maybe not be getting enough credit yet. Remember, Guerrero won’t be 18 until next March. This is basically a high school senior playing pro ball against players ranging from 1-6 years older than him (11 of his teammates are at least 22). And yet he has more walks than strikeouts, he has never been praised for speed yet he’s been successful in 15 of 20 steal attempts, has a .398 OPS in August, and has gotten significantly better month over month during the course of the season. Sadly for Vancouver fans, he may very well pass them by for an assignment to Lansing next spring.
2. Bradley Jones (21) – 3B/1B – Bluefield
Week: 10/28, 2 2B, 0 3B, 5 HR, 3 SB, 4 BB, 9 K, .357/.438/.964
YTD: 56/205, 13 2B, 0 3B, 15 HR, 15 SB, 17 BB, 64 K, .273/.326/.556
Introducing Bradley Jones. “Who?” you might quite naturally ask. Well, he was the Blue Jays’ 18th round pick in the June draft out of the College of Charleston and he’s keeping pace with the overall trend of success from this years draft class. He leads the Appy League in homers, he also seems to run well, and on Thursday he went 4/4 with three homers and a double. On the downside, he’s struck out a ton and will need to walk more. A natural 3B, he’s had to get his at bats from playing first base because that guy above called dibs on third. To be clear, the annals of minor league baseball are littered with guys who hit a ton of homers at the lower levels who didn’t have the contact skills to survive at higher levels, and Jones may well be another. But he’s earning himself a chance to try anyway.
3. Chavez Young (19) – CF – Gulf Coast League
Week: 10/20, 3 2B, 2 3B, 0 HR, 1 SB, 2 BB, 6 K, .500 /.545/ .850
YTD: 19/55, 7 2B, 2 3B, 0 HR, 6 SB, 4 BB, 19 K, .345/.410/.545
Introducing an even more obscure 2016 draft choice, 39th rounder Chavez Young who hails from the Bahamas (but he was drafted out of a small Baptist college in Georgia). For reasons unknown to me, he wasn’t activated to the GCL roster until two weeks after the signing deadline. He got on base two times (one hit, one walk) in his first nine games, but then the light came on. Now he’s riding an eight game hitting streak during which he’s gone 18/34. Hot streak, or hidden gem? Probably the former, but he’s been a nice late season story.
Other Minor Notes
– In the previous week, I was left with a dilemma because Connor Greene had an amazing game, and also a diaster, in the same week. This week, both Jon Harris and Angel Perdomo repeated the pattern.
– Honorable mention this week to Bluefield outfielder Nick Sinay. He leads the Appy in walks, OBP, and stolen bases (30). On the other hand, the guy has no power at all, with only six XBH in 51 games.
– Max Penetecost and newly acquired Reese McGuire both came off the DL this week and did what they’d been doing, hitting and not hitting respectively.
– One time sleeper prospect, the oft-injured John Stilson, was clocked this week as touching 99 with his fastball, but it wasn’t a successful outing. He’s had a good-but-not great season in the AA bullpen. I still retain some hope.
– Non-prospect Luis Santos threw eight innings of one-hit ball for Dunedin this week.
– LHRP Colton Turner, who was shipped to the Chicago White Sox for Dioner Navarro yesterday, isn’t on anyone’s top prospect list by any means, but he’s an intriguing guy who pitched at three levels for the Jays this year. He tripped up a bit after being promoted to AA, but he had a 0.41 ERA in 43.2 innings between Lansing and Dunedin with a 5:1 K/BB ratio.
Other Players of Interest
HITTERS
Dalton Pompey – CF – Has drawn at least one walk in seven straight
Richard Urena – SS – Good solid week, nothing eye-popping
Rowdy Tellez - 1B – Not an awful week, but below his usual standards
Reese McGuire – C – Living down to his offensive reputation
Anthony Alford – CF – Has gone cold for the week
Max Pentecost – C/DH – Solid first week in Dunedin
Juan Kelly - 1B – Continues consistent mid-range production on week hitting team
Lane Thomas – CF – .922 OPS on the week worthy of consideration as a featured player
Joshua Palacios – CF – His .905 OPS earned him consideration as well.
JB Woodman – CF – A down week
Cavan Biggio – 2B – Ditto
PITCHERS
Conner Greene – RHP – He is back to throwing shutout innings, but has highly inconsistent results at AA
Jon Harris – RHP – 5 ER in 6 IP, followed by 0 ER in 5.2
Francisco Rios – RHP – Relief work has yielded mixed bag, probably noise in the signal
Angel Perdomo – LHP – Great outing Thursday after disaster in previous start.
Justin Maese – RHP – Another effective start, uncharacteristic three walks
Patrick Murphy – RHP – A small step back by his recent standards
Wilfri Alerton – LHP – Didn’t pitch this week
Others on the DL that did not play this week:
Harold Ramirez
Bo Bichette
Sean Reid-Foley
Lead Photo: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports