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Three wins on the farm as Kendall Graveman continues to pitch well and Franklin Barreto continues to hit.

Buffalo 5 Durham 1 GAME ONE

Adron Chambers, Kevin Pillar, and Cole Gillespie each had two hits to pace the offence. On the mound, Brad Mills, Kyle Drabek, Steve Delabar, and Sergio Santos held Durham to four hits and just the one run.

Durham 1 Buffalo 0 GAME TWO

Kendall Graveman was excellent, but ultimately outpitched by Enny Romero. A Mike Fontenot homerun was the difference.

New Hampshire 2 Erie 3 13 INNINGS

Usually some Bauxites get down to Erie to see New Hampshire come through. Any Bauxites with some reports? Michael Crouse played hero and villain in this game apparently—driving in the two Fisher Cats RBI’s while not being able to run down the game winning hit. Austin Bibens-Dirkx had a solid start and the Fisher Cats bullpen put together seven pretty good innings.

Dunedin 4 Lakeland 3

Pierce Rankin had two hits while Jesse Hernandez went six and a third to lead the Dunedin squad to their 68th victory. Arik Sikula collected his 26th save.

West Michigan 14 Lansing 6

Lansing got blown out, but at least Mitch Nay doubled and David Harris collected two hits.

Vancouver 8 Tri-City 6

Franklin Barreto had four hits while Ryan McBroom had two as Vancouver hit .500 with RISP to top Tri-City. Roemon Fields also stole a base.

Princeton 4 Bluefield 2

Rowdy Tellez continued his hot-hitting ways with two hits. Richard Urena did as well with a hit of his own and a walk, however, this was not enough for the Bluefield squad to beat their neighbours Princeton.

GCL Astros 7 GCL Blue Jays 4

Rehabbing Adam Lind doubled twice and Angel Gomez collected two hits, yet again this was not enough to come away with the win for the affiliates.

DSL Rangers2 5 DSL Blue Jays 1

Three Stars

3. Austin Bibens-Dirkx

2. Kendall Graveman

1. Franklin Barreto

Box Scores

Graveman and Barreto are your highlights | 12 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
TangledUpInBlue - Friday, August 08 2014 @ 03:46 AM EDT (#291552) #
Kendall Graveman was excellent...

Shouldn't we provide a little detail? Well, OK: Graveman went 6 innings, allowing 3 hits, 1 run (on a HR), with 2 BB and 4 Ks. I don't know if that's quite excellent but he is at least continuing to do what he's done at every level, which is to limit his H and ER despite less than impressive Ks. It's encouraging, no doubt. With every start he becomes more intriguing.
Mike Green - Friday, August 08 2014 @ 08:59 AM EDT (#291555) #
A Mike Fontenot homerun was the difference.

Nick Franklin actually hit the homer that broke the scoreless tie in the nightcap.  The Rays have him playing shortstop for Durham, and it's a pretty good bet that he will be their Opening Day shortstop in 2015.  I don't know what happened to Yunel Escobar this year, but he's not the same.  Longoria, Franklin, Zobrist and Loney- you might as well get used to it.
Spifficus - Friday, August 08 2014 @ 09:49 AM EDT (#291559) #
I wouldn't read too much into it - he (Franklin) played 2B in the opener and the Rays love positional flexibility. They might end up going with that infield, but it's by no means certain. Unless they see a legitimate deterioration in skill, they're probably going to treat Escobar's defensive numbers this year as a likely anomaly.
Mike Green - Friday, August 08 2014 @ 11:31 AM EDT (#291567) #
You might be right, spifficus.  Escobar is under contract, but I don't think that the Rays will tolerate poor defensive performance from a shortstop for very long.  We shall see.

It's not only the statistical measures which suggest that Escobar has been poor with the glove this year.  He has been moving like Derek Jeter with 20 lb. ankle weights strapped on when I have seen him this year.  I know ordinary aging all too well, and that wasn't it.

uglyone - Friday, August 08 2014 @ 11:42 AM EDT (#291569) #
Rays have to feel duped. They probably felt like geniuses last year for the escobar pickup, but even then i read that it was escobar that came to them looking for the extension, and not vice versa.

And then boom, as soon as he's signed, he goes back to being the lazy headcase again.
uglyone - Friday, August 08 2014 @ 11:43 AM EDT (#291571) #
I'd love to see barrto and urena challenged with a promotion before the season ends.

I hope lugo isn't blocking them at the moment.
Mike Green - Friday, August 08 2014 @ 01:52 PM EDT (#291579) #
Here is a scouting report with video on Urena.

Speaking of promotions, it does seem that Urena, Barreto and Lugo ought to be in full-season A ball next spring.  They've only got two clubs, so a couple of them might have to shuttle middle infield positions.
finch - Friday, August 08 2014 @ 02:52 PM EDT (#291581) #
3 Jays mentioned in the Baseball America Hot Prospect Sheet. Mitch Nay comes in at 6, Rowdy Tellez is 11 and Andy Burns gets a mention in the team photo section.

That being said, there's been A LOT of Blue Jays prospects featured this season...Top 5 prospect pool going into next season? I say yes.
Nigel - Friday, August 08 2014 @ 03:19 PM EDT (#291582) #
If I had a vote I would put Lugo at SS and Barreto at 2nd in Dunedin next year and Urena at SS in Lansing. I know that sounds crazy for Barreto but I really think his bat could handle high A next year - defensively not so sure.
Mike Green - Friday, August 08 2014 @ 03:22 PM EDT (#291583) #
It doesn't sound crazy at all to me, Nigel.  That's what I would do too.
krose - Friday, August 08 2014 @ 03:56 PM EDT (#291584) #
Free Kevin Pillar! How useful might he have been last night against the orange birds?
uglyone - Friday, August 08 2014 @ 04:14 PM EDT (#291585) #
I would keep the very good prospect (Barreto) at the premium defensive position over the maybe non-prospect (Lugo).

In fact, Lugo probably shouldn't be promoted at all. He hasn't been very good this year. And actually hasn't been very good for most of his prospect career so far.

Lugo:

GCL (17): 183pa, 3.8bb%, .106iso, 82wrc+
BLU (18): 202pa, 2.5bb%, .172iso, 122wrc+
VAN (18): 70pa, 1.4bb%, .101iso, 74wrc+
LAN (19): 425pa, 3.3bb%, .072iso, 84wrc+

Aside from that power surge in bluefield, he really hasn't been good at all, and that bb% will be a quick career killer if it doesn't improve dramatically. And he doesn't sound like a guy who can stick at SS anyways.

Now he's been young for his levels, which might be a factor....but that's just another reason not to promote him until he figures out how to hit at even a semi decent level.

I wouldn't move a better prospect like barreto down the defensive spectrum just to let a very iffy prospect like lugo stay at a position that he's no more likely to stick at longterm anyways.

And either way i'd love to see barreto and urena get a taste of the next level this year, so they can see whether skipping them past that level next year makes sense.
Graveman and Barreto are your highlights | 12 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.