Batter's Box Interactive Magazine - Dawel Leads the Lugnuts to Victory!

The affiliates were 3-2, with a PPD game for the GCL Jays, and off-days for New Hampshire and Buffalo.

Buffalo (Day Off)

New Hampshire (Day Off)

Jupiter 5 - Dunedin 3

Taylor Cole allowed 2 runs (1 earned) over 5 innings on 4 hits, 2 walks, and 8 strikeouts. Chad Girodo had a rare bad outing, in which he allowed 2 earned runs over 1.1 innings and got credited with the loss.

Emilio Guerrero had 3 hits while scoring a run, and driving one in. Markus Knecht and Santiago Nessy each had a double.

Kane County 4 - Lansing 8

Canadian Shane Dawson had another quality start in which he pitched 6 scoreless innings. Roberto Espinosa allowed 3 earned runs over 1.2 innings, and Scott Silverstein allowed 1 earned run in the remaining 1.1 innings.

The free swinging Lugnuts had 15 hits with no walks which amounted to 8 runs. David Harris had 3 hits, Dawel Lugo had 4 hits including his 3rd HR of the year. DJ Davis continued to struggle mightily with another 0-4, to go along with his 073/152/098 slash line over his last 10 games.

Eugene 3 - Vancouver 0

The offense had 4 hits, including 1 from recently promoted 2014 1st round pick Max Pentecost.

Miguel Castro had another good outing, in this outing he lasted 5 innings allowing one earned run on 6 hits, with 2 walks, and 6 strikeouts.

Greeneville 3 - Bluefield 5

Austin Davis was 2-4, with 2 RBI, and Gabriel Cenas was 2-4, with 2 runs scored.

Jesus Tinoco pitched 6 innings, allowing 1 earned run on 2 hits, with no walks and 6 strikeouts.

GCL Tigers - GCL Blue Jays (PPD Rain)

DSL Blue Jays 5 - DSL Braves 1

Luis Sanchez pitched 5 scoreless innings, Yonardo Herdenez pitched 3 innings allowing 1 unearned run and William Zambrano followed up with a scoreless 9th inning.

The DSL Jays offense had a odd stats line, as they had 2 hits, and 11 walks which amounted to 5 runs.

Three Stars

1. Dawel Lugo

2. Taylor Cole

3. Jesus Tinoco

Posted by tercet on Thursday, July 17 2014 @ 08:52 AM EDT.

Dawel Leads the Lugnuts to Victory! | 31 comments | Create New Account

The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.

Mike Green - Thursday, July 17 2014 @ 09:41 AM EDT (#289887) #

The Lugnut trio of Lugo, Nay and Dean are interesting. Lugo is 19 and has held his own offensively in the Midwest League. Nay is 20 and has done a little better than "holding his own". Dean is 21 and has been a pretty good offensive player (albeit striking out too much). We don't hear too much about them defensively- Lugo is playing shortstop, but apparently will likely to need to move. Reports we have suggest that Nay is a decent defensive third baseman. Dean was a third baseman who has moved across the diamond.

LF, any comments about the Lugnut trio defensively? Where do you see Lugo moving to, if anywhere?

JB21 - Thursday, July 17 2014 @ 11:30 AM EDT (#289889) #

DJ Davis to Bluefield or Vancouver to try to figure things out?

PeterG - Thursday, July 17 2014 @ 12:47 PM EDT (#289890) #

No.....leave him where he is. He will start at Lansing again next year.

Lugnut Fan - Thursday, July 17 2014 @ 01:08 PM EDT (#289891) #

Good questions Mike,

I haven't been to as many Lugnut games as I would like to get to. Work responsibilities piled up on top of me rebuilding a house has left next to know time, but I have made a small share of the schedule.

I like Nay at third, good hands and a good arm. I think he will hit with enough power to stay there. I don't see him moving from the position any time soon, but he could potentially fit into a corner outfield slot if you really needed to as well I believe.

Dean needs a little more work at first base. I didn't care for his defense early on as he bobbled what seemed to me, a large percentage of balls hit at him. In his defense, he was splitting time with Dantzler and was spending a fair amount of time at the DH position. Since he has gotten the full time gig, his D is getting better. First base is the only position I see him playing though. Not much range. I love his bat though.

Lugo is interesting and I'm not sure where I would put him yet. His range isn't spectacular, but he makes the plays he should. If you want my opinion, I see him as a super utility guy. The more positions he can play, the more valuable he will be. Barreto will eventually take him over at the SS position.

finch - Thursday, July 17 2014 @ 01:19 PM EDT (#289892) #

I don't see Barreto sticking at SS. Watching him in Vancouver a few times, he makes a lot of overthrows and throws in the dirt in warm up. He struggles at defense for the routine plays but is also capable of the spectacular. He screams 2B IMO.

uglyone - Thursday, July 17 2014 @ 01:25 PM EDT (#289893) #

Some splits for Nay and Lugo:

Nay OPS

APR 730
MAY 613
JUN 830
JUL 816

PRE-AS 705
POST-AS 789

V LHP 479
V RHP 789

LUGO OPS

APR 549
MAY 750
JUN 592
JUL 906

PRE-AS 637
POST-AS 811

V LHP 1068
V RHP 582

Both of them showing improvement.

But both showing exteme platoon splits for some reason.

Nigel - Thursday, July 17 2014 @ 01:54 PM EDT (#289897) #

Having seen Lugo and Barreto in Vancouver a few times (still small samples) I agree on those comments on their defence. I think Lugo has more of a chance to stay at SS than Barreto. Barreto has more range and more athleticism but his arm is fairly wild and not overly strong. Lugo was fairly unspectacular from a range perspective but was fairly reliable at SS and he has a good arm.

Two quick comments on their offense. I am trying to contain my enthusiasm about Barreto but its hard. Everything he does reminds me of Paul Molitor - he's even built quite like him. He's a line drive hitting machine with a natural line drive stroke to right center. He has an incredibly advanced hitting approach for someone so young. Lugo suffers from Frank Catalanotto disease. He can hit anything - even when its something he shouldn't be hitting. I don't ever think that he will develop any serious BB skills as a result. I do think that he can hit. He is one of those rare hitters for whom the ball just sounds different when he hits it - you could tell when Lugo was taking batting practice.

There will be some interesting choices with Urena, Barreto and Lugo over the next 2-3 years. Barreto may make the choices easier - he does have the potential to move very quickly through the organization.

PeteMoss - Thursday, July 17 2014 @ 02:04 PM EDT (#289898) #

Jays have moved Aaron Sanchez to the bullpen with Buffalo.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/blue-jays-move-sanchez-to-bisons-bullpen/

Wouldn't be a surprise to see him up soon.

They have also claimed old friend Brad Mills off waivers.

Mike Green - Thursday, July 17 2014 @ 02:35 PM EDT (#289900) #

From the sound of it, Barreto could end up at second base or he could end up in left field.

I wondered about Molitor's minor league career. It's a short story. He was drafted 3rd overall in June, 1977 out of college and was sent to the Midwest League. He hit .346/.457/.504 with a 47/25 W/K in half a season and turned 21 in August of that year.. He was in the major leagues to begin 1978 as a middle infielder. It took about a year for him to find his bearings, but even after that, he was a better player in his 30s than in his 20s. Barreto is now 2 and 1/2 years younger than Molitor was in the Midwest League.

Personally, I would be happy if the club moved Barreto in a year or two to left-field and just let him hit. We'll see if they do.

PeteMoss - Thursday, July 17 2014 @ 02:45 PM EDT (#289901) #

And Deck McGuire is DFA'd. Safe to say that pick didn't work out.

Mike Green - Thursday, July 17 2014 @ 03:22 PM EDT (#289906) #

Thanks to LF and Nigel for their first-hand observations. It's really helpful in understanding what the club has.

uglyone - Thursday, July 17 2014 @ 03:40 PM EDT (#289908) #

If barreto's only real issue at SS is his arm, then he's probably a great candidate to fill our organizational 2B hole going forward.

Gerry - Thursday, July 17 2014 @ 03:51 PM EDT (#289910) #

If you are interested in prospects you should check out Charlie Caskey from Vancouver and his work charting some of the C's pitchers. His latest post charts Zak Wasilewski's weekend start. The post includes video of Wasilewski. You can find a link there on the left side for his charting of Miguel Castro too.

Lugnut Fan - Thursday, July 17 2014 @ 03:56 PM EDT (#289911) #

Oh goodness, you fella's in Vancouver have me a little concerned about Barreto. Is he another Pierre? You can't spell Pierre without two E's.

Mike Green - Thursday, July 17 2014 @ 04:21 PM EDT (#289912) #

Molitor's career path illustrates some of the issues with placing a talented but raw middle infielder at second base (if that player has terrific hitting ability). Molitor was constantly getting injured when he was young, and so Milwaukee got erratic (but useful) production from him in his early years. I believe that it is much more likely that he would have progressed to being a great hitter by age 25 if he had not been in the middle infield.

Tim Raines and Henry Aaron (among many others) started off as middle infielders and made rapid progress in the major leagues as outfielders. For right now, I have Urena at short, Lugo at second and Barreto in left-field in my mental depth chart. Of course, it won't turn out that way exactly...

85bluejay - Thursday, July 17 2014 @ 04:31 PM EDT (#289914) #

FWIW, most scouting reports when he signed mentioned that Barreto was the most advanced hitting prospect in that years IFA but that he was most likely to end up in CF

Ron - Thursday, July 17 2014 @ 05:03 PM EDT (#289916) #

Keith Law released his midseason top 50 prospect list today. The only Jay on the list is Dan Norris at Number 37. Here's what Law wrote:

"Norris has passed Aaron Sanchez as the Jays' top pitching prospect, thanks to some substantial delivery cleanup that has him more on line to the plate and better able to repeat his still-long arm action. He'll show three above-average pitches, all of which he does a good job of throwing for strikes, and a potential major-league out pitch in his slider. He's a long way from having average command, but at this time last year it was unthinkable that he'd improve enough to get a Futures Game appearance and a quick promotion to AA."

Law has a scheduled chat for tomorrow. I'm sure somebody will ask him if he considered Pompey or Sanchez in the Top 50.

It's amazing what a difference a year makes. Not many people would have predicted Norris would pass Sanchez. I know many people would disagree with me but I wouldn't even rank Sanchez on my top 5 Jays prospect rankings. This is his 5th year in pro ball and the command and control are still very poor while the K rate is declining.

metafour - Thursday, July 17 2014 @ 06:34 PM EDT (#289924) #

Why would you throw Barreto to LF when he easily has the athleticism to play CF? He does not have enough power to justify putting him into a position where you typically throw your ~third worst defensive masher (DH first, 1B second), and he is way too good of an athlete to have him standing around in LF.

Pretty easy: if he can't play SS you try him at 2B. If he can't stick there you try him in CF.

Mike Green - Thursday, July 17 2014 @ 09:26 PM EDT (#289925) #

That's one way to look at it. Tim Raines could have played centerfield, but Dawson was there. Rickey Henderson could have played centerfield but Dwayne Murphy was there. Barreto could play centerfield, but Pompey will be there!

uglyone - Friday, July 18 2014 @ 11:27 AM EDT (#289939) #

Yeah, but you gotta use barreto's D somewhere more valuable than lf.

The reports on lugo are poor range, good arm - he's probably the guy that moves to 3B or corner OF. Barreto with plus range and speed you want in the middlenof the field...and with a middling arm, 2b seems like a natural fit.

Cf pompey
Rf davis/alford/thomas
Lf smith
3b lugo
Ss urena
2b barreto
1b nay
C pentacost
Dh tellez

Is the offhand way i'd line up our better low minors position prospects right now in my head.

Mike Green - Friday, July 18 2014 @ 11:53 AM EDT (#289942) #

Yeah, but you gotta use barreto's D somewhere more valuable than lf.

No, you don't have to. If you treat scouting reports as a bible, you'll end up in trouble. You have to take a look also at what a player is doing. Barreto might end up as a second baseman, but my impression is that he lacks some of the fine skills that would make him a natural at that position and that has caused many of the errors. He could be a centerfielder, but he's not exceptionally fast and he has the build of a player who will likely not hold his speed into his mid 20s.

There are some players who you really have no choice but to push defensively. There are others, like Barreto, for whom pushing defensively is likely to result in slow offensive development; these players can be very good hitters at any position. It's a balancing act. He might end up as a second baseman or as a centerfielder, but decisions that he must play a key defensive role ignore the history of young shortstop prospect development patterns over the history of the game. Great hitting but poor defensive young shortstops have ended up all over the diamond and the ones who have succeeded (disproportionately in my view) have been those who have transferred to positions which stressed them minimally defensively.

Ryan Day - Friday, July 18 2014 @ 12:22 PM EDT (#289945) #

He does not have enough power to justify putting him into [LF]

He might. He's 12th in the NWL in SLG, 2nd in 2B, and 1st in 3B. He's only 18, so there's definitely power potential there.

Mike's argument makes me think of Brett Lawrie a little. He was a defensively-challenged middle infielder, and when the Jays acquired him, lots of people suggested he'd end up in an outfield corner. He unexpectedly turned into an elite defender at 3B, but he also hasn't developed much offensively. Granted, that may be due more to his 125%-all-the-time approach than simply playing the field.

uglyone - Friday, July 18 2014 @ 12:45 PM EDT (#289946) #

Yeah, i'm not sure i'm buying all that, mike. Pretty much all good mlb fielders started out at ss or cf in the minors, and those prospects make the gradual transitions down the defensive spectrum as they prove they can't handle them, and this is true of most every prospect. I don't see many examples of prospects dropping from the ss end of the spectrum all the way down to the lf end of the spectrum like you're suggesting, and i see oodles of examples of good hitting mlbers having gradually transitioned from minor league ss to major league 2b or 3b or CF or RF.

And of course, barreto's current hitting performance becomes much less impressive if you're already conceding he has no real defensive value. He's hitting great for a speedy middle fielder, but not exactly overwhelming enough to be a great pure hitting lf/1b prospect.

Mike Green - Friday, July 18 2014 @ 01:10 PM EDT (#289948) #

Henry Aaron was a shortstop. Tim Raines was a second baseman. Chipper Jones was a shortstop. Adam Jones was a shortstop. Justin Upton was a shortstop. The conversion from shortstop often occurs well before the player reaches the majors.

Don't get me wrong. I am not saying that the club errs if it tries Barreto at second base or in centerfield. It should probably do so. It's just not a problem if a player like Barreto ends up focusing on his batting, as his bat can carry him.

Hodgie - Friday, July 18 2014 @ 01:19 PM EDT (#289949) #

I think you may be understating Barreto's performance and over stating the offensive bar for LF uglyone. Posting a 140 wRC+ as the youngest player in the NWL competing against college players averaging 3.3 years his senior is very impressive. Alex Gordon and Brett Gardner would also like a word with you regarding the perception that you cannot offer defensive value in LF.

uglyone - Friday, July 18 2014 @ 02:38 PM EDT (#289951) #

You're right. After looking at some comps, barreto is outhitting snider at the same age and level, which is pretty impressive. Nothing especially stands out about his offensive profile - good not great avg, good not great bb/k rates, good not great power - but the overall package seems to be realky good.

But defensively i'll still quibble. Gardner and gordon got to lf because they flunked out everywhere else. Though gardner probably should have got more of a chance in cf. Yanks just love their big name FAs, though, so they've sacroficed D by playing lesser defenders in cf.

Nigel - Friday, July 18 2014 @ 02:43 PM EDT (#289953) #

Given his age, Barreto's offence in Vancouver is mighty impressive for anyone regardless of position. Ignore the lack of home runs - Nat Bailey Stadium is death to home runs generally but to RH's in particular. The park is large by any standards and most nights the ball just does not carry well. Barreto will hit some home runs - and with his stroke and speed he will still generate a healthy SLG with a ton of doubles and triples.

uglyone - Friday, July 18 2014 @ 02:45 PM EDT (#289955) #

Mike Green - Friday, July 18 2014 @ 03:04 PM EDT (#289959) #

Gardner was a fine defensive centerfielder. Here's another one. Carl Crawford. In his mid-20s, Crawford could surely have played centerfield adequately, but the Rays had him in left-field where he was excellent defensively without having to struggle at it and this allowed him to focus on the offensive part of his game.

Jose Cruz Sr. played centerfield and struggled at it, and did not have much of a career in his 20s until the Astros got him and moved him to left-field. I felt that his son's career was not what it could have been for the same reason.

Mike Green - Friday, July 18 2014 @ 03:28 PM EDT (#289963) #

Actualky check that - he is NOT outhitting snider. My bad. Snider was a .900ops / 150wrc+ guy at that age and level, barreto's an .850/140 type. Obviously barreto doesn't have anywhere near snider's power....though on the other hand, he's a better hitter than snider was in every other way.

At the same age, Snider was in Pulaski (rookie ball) rather than short-season A ball; Barreto is ahead of him from a developmental level perspective. Snider did dominate rookie ball, and the next year he did hit very well in Lansing.

I know that Barreto has good hand-eye co-ordination and a nice level quick cut. That is an excellent foundation for a hitter. I am watching his W/K and hope that it evens out over the next year or two, as he learns more about hitting.

Hodgie - Friday, July 18 2014 @ 08:17 PM EDT (#289977) #

Apparently Barreto's ears must have been burning as he proceeded to go 4-5 in today's game pushing his OPS to .876 on the season and after a slight lull is at .994 over his last 10 games.

Dawel Leads the Lugnuts to Victory! | 31 comments | Create New Account

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