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Allow myself to introduce, er, myself. My name is Al (better known here as acepinball), and today I’m making my debut on the Batter’s Box roster. It’s a pleasure, as I’ve been a reader here for over 10 years, and it’s good to contribute to what I view as the premiere site for Blue Jays prospect discussion. Thanks to the bauxites who’ve greeted me already. Please forgive any growing pains I have publishing my first few stories. Now let’s PLAY BALL! Or, y’know, WRITE about minor league BALL.

BUFFALO 8 @ Pawtucket 3

The Bisons are the talk of the town in Buffalo, having put themselves in first place with a win in Pawtucket. While most of the prospect capital was on the Red Sox side, the AAAA guys from Buffalo had the standout performances. Chris Colabello was 4-5 with a HR and 4 RBIs. Andy Wilkins was 1-2 with 3 walks. Steve Delabar and Bobby Korecky pitched a clean inning each. All 3 Red Sox runs came off starter Randy Wolf. Wolf went 6 innings and struck out 5.

Steven Wright started for Pawtucket and despite striking out 10, he gave up 6 runs, 5 earned. Red Sox prospect sweetheart Blake Swihart was 0-4.


New Hampshire 1 @ TRENTON 2

Not a lot to like here if you’re the type who enjoys high fives. Jake Fox’s third home run was the only time a Fisher Cat celebrated touching home plate. The defense undoubtedly slapped hands on the 4 double plays they turned, which was enough to keep things close, but Casey Lawrence was unable to pitch a shutout which was necessary to win. Dwight Smith Jr. played LF and went 1-3 with a walk. A.J. Jiminez (0-4) sports a .095 average. It is interesting (ish) to note that Ryan Schimpf played RF. Perhaps he, like draft mate Ryan Goins, is also trying to become a super utility player.

Smith has taken to AA ball well, slashing .321/.357/.434 through 13 games. He’s walked 3 times vs. 4 strikeouts in 56 plate appearances. At 22 years old, he’s probably not that far away from getting a chance with the Blue Jays. A LH bat with his contact rate and plate discipline would be very valuable to the parent club.


Dunedin 3 @ DAYTONA 7

*Krusty the Klown voice* Oiiiiiii. Sorry kids. This’ll be quick I promise.

The Baby Jays didn’t walk once, struck out 11 times, and had only 3 hits. They were able to plate 3 runs aided by Daytona’s 4 errors, but there’s not a lot of prospecty stuff to like. 2014 Van C’s fan fave Roemon Fields (1-4, SB) doubled, Michael Saunders (0-4) played the whole game in LF, Alberto Tirado didn’t allow any runs in his inning and a third, but walked two. Luis Santos started and gave up 2 HRs in his 2.2 innings.


FORT WAYNE 9 @ Lansing 4

A Fort Wayne TinCap could be forgiven if he misunderstood the pitching probables with the strategy for last night’s game in Lansing. “Chase Mallard” was the Lugnut starter, and “chase Mallard” is what the TinCaps did. 1701 braved the snow and 3 degree weather to watch the away team score 5 runs in the 3.1 innings Mallard pitched. Though the Lansing 9 fought back to make it a 5-4 game after 5 innings, the TinCaps just wouldn’t stop hitting. Every hitter in the order had at least one hit, with all but the 7-8 hitters having multiple hits. The TinCaps scored 9 runs on 19 hits.

Despite only mustering 5 hits and spending most of the night picking up the ball and throwing it back to the pitcher, there were some good things in the boxscore. Rowdy Tellez (1-3, BB) doubled for the third time this young season. DJ Davis was 1-3 and reached on a HBP, but more importantly for him had no strikeouts (he’s only striking out 27% of the time this year). Although Davis did make his first error of the year, so curb your enthusiasm. Also, shameless self promoter Anthony Alford (1-5, 2B) retweeted this [note: when I’m more comfortable I’ll start using the wonders of HTML to embed tweets- for now just close your eyes and imagine- but don’t close your eyes, you’ll need those.] “Add this to the legend of Anthony Alford: scoring from second base on a sacrifice fly in the snow.”


3 Stars

3rd star: Dwight Smith Jr. (1-3, 2B, BB), New Hampshire

2nd star: Andy Wilkins (1-2, 2R, 3 BB), Buffalo

1st star: Chris Colabello (4-5, HR, 4 RBI), Buffalo


Boxes

All Eyes On Bisons | 20 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
acepinball - Thursday, April 23 2015 @ 06:23 AM EDT (#299811) #
It worked! If you're, er, a twitter-er, follow me at @acepinball and my baseball thoughts @citoeffect.

China fan - Thursday, April 23 2015 @ 06:54 AM EDT (#299812) #
Nice debut!   Any thoughts on when Dwight Smith might get a promotion to Buffalo?  In a month or two, perhaps?   And what about Michael Saunders -- does his batting eye seem very rusty at this point, or did his hitless game perhaps conceal some good contact and poor luck?  Why are the Jays refusing to send him to Buffalo for some better tuneups?   With two injuries in the past two months, I'm a little concerned that he'll be called upon to step right into the Toronto lineup before he's ready.  He might need a lot of adjustment to major-league pitching.
China fan - Thursday, April 23 2015 @ 06:59 AM EDT (#299813) #
In fact, to amend my last post:  does the Devon Travis model suggest instead that Smith should be given a full year in New Hampshire, to allow him to dominate the level if he can, and then he could potentially compete for a major-league job in spring 2016?  In other words, is Buffalo less necessary as a stepping-stone for top young hitters if they can dominate the AA level?
whiterasta80 - Thursday, April 23 2015 @ 07:04 AM EDT (#299814) #
Even if it is less necessary I think we need to use Buffalo for our premium prospects. I never want to see us back in the likes of Las Vegas.
Gerry - Thursday, April 23 2015 @ 08:45 AM EDT (#299816) #
Welcome Al, nice job.

With the second base experiment over, it looks like Smith is ticketed for left field in the majors. The one part of Smith's game that is not left field worthy is power. I think the Jays would like to see him show a bit more power before he is considered ready for the major leagues. I don't see a promotion to AAA until mid-season at the earliest.
raptorsaddict - Thursday, April 23 2015 @ 09:02 AM EDT (#299817) #
Welcome Al, happy to have you aboard. Here's a few random thoughts from me.

First, how does Alford score from 2nd on a sac fly?

Second, I think Dwight Smith spends the most of the year in AA, with a later promotion to AAA, and a possible September call-up. No need to rush him.

Finally, how nice would it be if Colabello continues to rip it up in AAA? Nice injury insurance, and I still think there is a chance he has a role to play in the big league's.

Mike Green - Thursday, April 23 2015 @ 09:25 AM EDT (#299818) #
Nice debut.

I hope the organization doesn't try to push Smith into becoming a power hitter.  He can be a very useful player as a .280-.300 hitter with 30 doubles/15 homers and 50 walks and good defence in left-field.  If the power comes naturally as he gets older then you can run with it, but it isn't required for him to be a major leaguer.  At this point, he's hitting .321/.357/.434 as a 22 year old in double A.  He has struck out only 4 times (and has 4 extra base hits) in 56 PAs.  He's right on pace. If all goes well, he'd make a nice platoon partner for Kevin Pillar in a year or two. 

Gerry - Thursday, April 23 2015 @ 09:38 AM EDT (#299819) #
Re: Alford. Jesse Goldberg-Strassler said that the right fielder fell down while making the catch, plus it was snowing, so Alford just kept going.
acepinball - Thursday, April 23 2015 @ 09:58 AM EDT (#299820) #
Buffalo is like an island of misfit toys. Any OF call ups will likely come from Carrera, Colabello, Dickerson, or Gindl.

That said, AA is sink or swim time, and initially Smith has handled it very well. If he puts together a productive season, then he's certainly in the picture for 2016. Recently, and part of this was due to Las Vegas being so unappealing, the Jays would jump prospects from AA up to the big leagues, and if they need more seasoning, send them down to AAA. Last year saw the prospects have a brief stop in Buffalo, so that might be the norm now.

I certainly haven't seen a correlation between play in rehab stints and how it translates to the big leagues. More importantly, Saunders played a full game. I think he might be a slow starter, given how he's a month to six weeks behind everyone, but you can't tell that from a box score. Fingers crossed J-Bats isn't out long, so Pillar/Pompey/Saunders can rotate in two spots.
bpoz - Thursday, April 23 2015 @ 10:10 AM EDT (#299822) #
Very enjoyable writing style Al. Thanks.
uglyone - Thursday, April 23 2015 @ 10:35 AM EDT (#299824) #
I think Smith Jr. is probably underrated.

The kid can flat out hit....and even better that comes with great strikezone judgement, with him walking almost as often as he strikes out. he also apparently brings good speed and athleticism to the table.

As for power, the kid posted a .170iso last year at age 21. That's not no power. Eric Thames, an all power prospect, posted a .174iso in A+ at age 22.

And he seems to have a pretty advanced bat and approach, which i guess isn't much of a surprise from a guy who grew up around mlbers. I'm not sure there's a whole lot of reason or benefit in being overly patient with him. If he keeps hitting like he has this year and last, I'd expect a midseason bump to AAA, and a september mlb callup.
Ryan Day - Thursday, April 23 2015 @ 11:13 AM EDT (#299828) #
Andy Dirks has been released after undergoing back surgery again.
jerjapan - Thursday, April 23 2015 @ 12:19 PM EDT (#299834) #
I'm definitely high on Smith Jr.'s bat as well. How's his D?
John Northey - Thursday, April 23 2015 @ 04:35 PM EDT (#299845) #
I think it is great that AAA is buried in AAAA guys - the types who can help for a week or two before being released or sent back down.  AA has the prospects and if they are ready for AAA the guys there can be dumped without much impact.  Should work good for helping Buffalo be competitive and be decent for backups and to keep from feeling a need to push the kids too hard.

Now - that said, the 666 OPS in Buffalo is low.  AAA overall stats are 247/319/351 while Buffalo is 244/344/322.  Better OBP but lower Slg.  Wonder if that factors in the PCL?  stats via B-R.
AA 271/322/407  vs 254/325/364 in AA overall

AAA age is 28.7 vs 26.9 overall so it clearly is an old team.
AA is 25.7 vs 24.7 overall so also a bit old.
A+ is grossly old at 26.1 vs 22.7 overall
A is 21.3 vs 21.4 overall

So the Jays are a bit long in the tooth in the minors right now so the idea of AA shooting over budget to get as  many international free agents as possible is a great idea to help keep the system stocked with kids.

cybercavalier - Thursday, April 23 2015 @ 11:47 PM EDT (#299866) #
Welcome Al.

Can the Jays sell some of the AAAA guys who also play well in AAA for kids, cash or fund consideration, to keep the cash flow running and not rushing kids already in the farms ? For example, Could Hague be traded for team, not just in MLB, who needs a 3B to play right away at the MLB level ?

By the way, Is "Dutch" a nice nickname for Matt Hague ?

acepinball - Friday, April 24 2015 @ 08:08 AM EDT (#299868) #
Nope. Those AAAA guys have zero trade value. If Matt Hague gets traded, it'll be for another AAAA guy.
China fan - Friday, April 24 2015 @ 08:28 AM EDT (#299869) #
Another big win for the Bisons last night (11-1 over Lehigh Valley) and another HR for Colabello, whose OPS is now at a red-hot .982.  Four hits for Carrera, whose batting average is up to .298. And five shutout innings for Jenkins, who could still be useful rotation depth for the Jays this year if he masters the cutter that the Jays told him to learn in spring training to get lefties out.  (I haven't worked out how many LHB were in the Lehigh Valley lineup last night.)
Mike Green - Friday, April 24 2015 @ 10:50 AM EDT (#299872) #
The Lugnuts kept rolling last night as Richard Urena homered and singled twice and Danny Jansen reached base 4 times. Jansen continues to have a vice-like grip on the strike zone with 8 walks and 4 strikeouts so far in the young season.  Having fine 19 and 20 year old prospects at C and SS in full-season A ball is great.  The club could use another shortstop prospect of Urena's quality, but the long-term picture behind the plate with Pentecost and Jansen there behind Martin is as solid as you can hope for. 
bpoz - Friday, April 24 2015 @ 11:20 AM EDT (#299877) #
We all know that the Jay's are high on Jansen. He is doing well other than his BA. IMO if he can handle the playing workload I would like him to get a lot of plate appearances. Some PAs would have to be at DH probably.
J Atkinson is back in Lansing. He has always hit quite well IMO. I read that he is learning to catch, which is a good idea. But he is not catching in games for the Lugnuts.

I really think that he should be hitting in Dunedin if he is not going to catch. That way at least he is advancing in some area.
John Northey - Friday, April 24 2015 @ 11:31 AM EDT (#299879) #
AAAA guys often are sold from one team to another but often from what I understand it is for minimal cash.  Only if the guy comes up and shows he can produce in the majors will he get anything of value in a trade.  The real value could be if AA can get someone to take a AAAA guy and other stuff to get a draft pick. Not sure what the limitations are on those picks but I know MLB put in some rules about trading them.
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