While all eyes in Toronto are on the major league squad and the upcoming ALCS (as well they should be!), with a few days off, those who pay attention to the farm system might be sparring an occasional glimpse towards the desert southwest where the Arizona Fall League gets started today. This season, Blue Jays prospects are assigned to the Mesa Solar Sox and there’s something puzzling about the Blue Jays players found on the roster.
One of the annoying things about the way MLB handles it’s minor league operations is that it can be unnecessarily obscure about seemingly ordinary information. For a current example, teams typically announce six players that have been assigned to the league but they are also allowed to send a seventh who sits on a “taxi squad” and only play on two days each week. However, the Solar Sox roster currently features the names of eight Blue Jays prospects. I don’t really find much in the way of explanation for this.
Another thing that can be puzzling is the eligibility rules. Per the official site:
The roster size is 30 players per team. Each Major League organization is required to provide six players subject to the following requirements:
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All Triple-A and Double-A players are eligible, provided the players are on at least a Double-A level roster no later than Aug. 1.
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One player below the Double-A level is allowed per Major League team.
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One foreign player is allowed, as long as the player does not reside in a country that participates in winter ball, as part of the Caribbean Confederation or the Australian winter league.
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No players with more than one year of credited Major League service as of August 31 are eligible, except a team may select one player picked in the most recently concluded Major League Rule 5 Draft.
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To be eligible, players on Minor League disabled lists must be activated at least 45 days before the conclusion of their respective seasons.
Knowing these rules can be important in understanding why certain players are here and why others are not, but they can also make you wonder what you are missing because they seem to be doing something wrong. I’ll expand on that thought as we take a closer look at the eight players listed.
Anthony Alford
The second item above notes that teams may send one player from below the AA level. For the Blue Jays, that’s Alford. The reasoning is simple; a knee injury in the first game followed by a concussion later on in the season wrecked the first half of Alford’s season and robbed him of valuable development time.
Alford played much better in the second half of the season. His .821 OPS was on par with his previous break out season in 2015, but there’s still a widespread sense that there’s still a higher ceiling.
Ryan McBroom
I know what you’re thinking – didn’t the 24 year old McBroom spend all year in Dunedin as well? Well, not quite – no. He spent nine days in AA at the end of July which neatly makes him eligible. People around the minor league teams speak highly of McBroom, and he tends to be among the offensive leaders each year. But the first baseman was in the Florida State League at 24 so if he were to ever do anything of note in the majors it would be a Colabello (before the suspension) type of story. I can’t explain to you why this spot didn’t go to Rowdy Tellez.
Danny Jansen
Here is where it begins to get puzzling. At no time did the 21 year old catcher find himself assigned higher than A-ball. Nor is he denoted as a taxi squad member. I’ve yet to find a source that accounts for how the Jays have two A-ball hitters on this team. I do, however, know why they would want him here. Having recorded only 110 games in the last two seasons combined, the well-regarded catcher needs more reps. After impressive offensive and defensive work in 2014 at Bluefield, injuries have forced his offensive production backwards since.
Conner Greene
There’s no mystery here. Greene was asked by the organization to spend the season working on various adjustments and as a result produced some wildly inconsistent results. Take August for example.
Here are his lines for his five starts that month:
(IP – H – R – BB – K)
5.1 – 9 – 6 – 2 – 6
6.0 – 0 – 0 – 2 – 6
4.2 – 7 – 6 – 6 – 2
7.0 – 3 – 0 – 2 – 1
5.0 – 5 – 1 – 3 – 6
Six no hit innings with six strikeouts, followed immediately by seven hits and six walks producing six runs followed by seven shutout innings with only two strikeouts? Yep. The whole year was like that. I’m not sure if his game plan in the AFL is more of that kind of work, or whether the idea is to consistently apply what’s been changed.
Matt Dermody
Remember the nearly naked guy from the Wild Card celebration? Dermody also plays baseball and flew through the system this year. He walked only three and struck out 41 in 38 innings between Dunedin and New Hampshire before earning a September call to the big club. The team presumably wants to see continue to put those numbers up against higher level competition.
Tim Mayza
Another minor league reliever with attention getting ratios, Mayza spent most of the season in Dunedin but did get to spend July in New Hampshire. His K/BB numbers are nice, but he’s not necessarily a guy you’d have assumed in late August was a cinch.
John Stilson
Stilton can be summed up in pretty easily: Great talent, always dinged up. Stilson was a guy I had expectations for when drafted but he has always carried the “if healthy” tag. He missed essentially all of 2015 to injury, which for a college draftee puts him a bit behind the clock (he’s 26 now), so a breakout season would help his standing. So far he has posted acceptable hit and strikeout rates, but too many walks. Surely that would be one of the things the Jays will be watching.
Justin Schafer
Once again, I have no clue how this selection was made. Here’s another guy who never played above A-ball this season and shouldn’t be eligible once Alford is assigned here. Plus, for the most part, he seems to be “just a guy” at this point. He did have a really good August, but there’s nothing about him that screams “prospect.” Schafer is by far the most surprising name on the roster.
Now, complete speculation time: I don’t think Schafer will actually be on the team and if he is then someone needs to revise the application of the eligibility rules. Beyond that, my best guess – and it’s totally a guess – is that Jansen was intended for the taxi squad and we just don’t know it yet (I have no idea if the eligibility restrictions apply to the seventh man). But honestly, who really knows outside of the organization.
What we do know is that the ones to watch are easy to identify – Alford and Greene. Anything else is bonus.
Lead Photo: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports