Batter's Box Interactive Magazine Batter's Box Interactive Magazine Batter's Box Interactive Magazine
The affiliates came out on the right end of the score in two of their three games Monday with one of them going 13 innings. Buffalo had a chance to put their feet up and relax.


Reading 5 New Hampshire 1

Reading, PA
— The Fisher Cats got to Phillies prospect Aaron Nola in quick order with a Jon Berti single and a Dwight Smith Jr. home run (3) to start the game. The bad news is Berti got picked off before Smith put the ball over the fence, resulting in just a solo homer. That was all New Hampshire got against Nola, the seventh overall pick of the 2014 draft, who went seven innings for the win. Smith (.309) had two of the five Fisher Cat hits. Jorge Flores and Matt Newman both singled and walked.

John Anderson (1-2, 4.62) put up zeros in the first four innings before allowing a nickel in the fifth. The big swing came from Aaron Altherr, who connected for a grand slam off Anderson. The lefty was whacked for 10 hits and two walks and only struck out a pair. Scott Barnes scattered three hits and struck out two over two scoreless frames. He was helped by Smith who threw out a runner at home from left field. Tiago Da Silva worked a perfect ninth in his second appearance with New Hampshire.


Dunedin 3 Tampa 2 (13 Innings)

Tampa, FL
— The Jays also emerged victorious over the Yankees and moved to within a game of .500 in Florida State League play. Back to back doubles by David Harris and Dickie Joe Thon gave Dunedin a 2-0 lead in the second inning. Their next run came 11 innings later when Jorge Saez singled, was bunted over to second by Roemon Fields, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on an error at third base. Jason Leblebijian may have used a jedi mind trick to cause the wild pitch and the error to bring home the winning run to offset a 0-for-6 evening with four strikeouts. L.B. Dantzler had a double and a walk while Derrick Loveless singled, walked and stole a base. Dawel Lugo and Mitch Nay had base hits.

Justin Shafer surrendered just one run over five innings on one hit and three walks with three K's. Eight of his 11 outs in play were on the ground. His Game Score was 61. Alonzo Gonzalez was unable to preserve the Jays lead by giving up a game-tying home run among two hits and two walks. However, he struck out five over his two innings of work. Luis Santos (1-3, 6.65) slapped down the Yanks with four scoreless frames, striking out seven while surrendering just two hits and a walk. Wil Browning struck out two and got a ground ball to first to bag his seventh save. Bag, as in brown bag or brown bagging it, get it?


Lansing 7 West Michigan 6

Lansing, MI — The Lugnuts overcame a 2-0 deficit but had to stave off a late rally by the Tigers affiliate. Dan Jansen put Lansing ahead with a two-run double to cap off a three-run fourth inning. The Lugnuts booted another field goal in the fourth as D.J. Davis and Ryan McBroom bashed back to back jacks with Davis' blast scoring an Anthony Alford double. McBroom drove in his second run of the night with a sacrifice fly in the seventh for what proved to be the winning margin. Richard Urena had a three-hit night, including a double. Alford (.308) had two hits and swiped a base while McBroom reached twice by taking one for the team. Davis also drew a walk to go along with his dinger. The other hits came from Tim Locastro with a triple and Rowdy Tellez and Gunnar Heidt with singles. Jonathan Davis was 0-for-4 but did score a run.

Sean Reid-Foley and Chase Mallard (1-1, 4.03) shared a lot in common in this one. Both of them coughed up two runs on three hits and struck out four over four innings. Reid-Foley plunked a hitter and walked a pair while Mallard walked three with one of his runs being unearned. Their groundout/flyout totals were 6-1 and 7-0 respectively. Phil Kish also threw a three-hitter like his pitching mates and like Mallard, one of his two runs was unearned. He also walked a batter but struck out one to seal it for his seventh save. Seal it as in seal it with a Kish! Get it? Don't worry, folks. I'm back tomorrow! Try the veal, tip your wait staff and drive home safely.


*** 3 Stars!!! ***


3. Ryan McBroom, Lansing


2. Luis Santos, Dunedin


1. Justin Shafer, Dunedin



Monday's Linescores


Tuesday's Schedule & Probable Starters

West Michigan @ Lansing, 10:35 am ET — TBA.
New Hampshire @ Reading, 6:35 pm ET — TBA.
Dunedin
@ Tampa, 7:00 pm ET — Murphy Smith (0-1, 5.54)
Buffalo @ Durham, 7:05 pm ET — Andrew Albers (1-3, 3.09)


Extra Innings
  • Three former Jays and a man known more for an injury are coming to Nat Bailey Stadium in Vancouver this summer.
  • The Vancouver Canadians have a name for their new left field porch at The Nat.
  • The Dunedin Blue Jays have a neat rain check policy in place.
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The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
hypobole - Tuesday, May 05 2015 @ 02:32 PM EDT (#300427) #
Just want to comment on my irrational sleeper prospect Derrick Loveless. His 143 wRC+ leads Dunedin (Saez and Dean are the only others over 100) and is top 20 in the FSL.

It is somewhat BABIP driven, so there should be some regression, and he does strike out too much, but he seems to be improving (or at least holding his own) as he climbs the ladder.

jerjapan - Tuesday, May 05 2015 @ 03:47 PM EDT (#300435) #
hypobole, i slept on loveless until last year when someone - perhaps you ? - flagged him as a sleeper.  Hard to see the talent with some of these late round HS picks in the raw numbers, but his results have been consistently improving as he climbs the ladder,and he's showing improved base stealing and an ability to take a walk.  How does his D profile?  What drew you to him as a sleeper?
hypobole - Wednesday, May 06 2015 @ 10:35 AM EDT (#300469) #
Yeah, that was me who flagged him. He's a bit of a Pompey lite in that he was drafted from a cold weather school, with solid tools (good arm, good speed, good power)and a bit of Alford in that he hadn't focused on baseball. Raw toolsy kids almost always take extra time to develop, so the struggles early in his career were no surprise.

Not a betting man, but I predict if only one of Nay, Dean or Loveless make the majors, it will be Loveless.
Mike Green - Wednesday, May 06 2015 @ 10:55 AM EDT (#300472) #
He's not an irrational sleeper prospect, hypobole.  He is a sleeper and he is a prospect, but the other adjective is pure hypobole! It's interesting that last year, he had a rough time against LHP, and he's done well against them this year (sample size alert). 
Mike Green - Wednesday, May 06 2015 @ 01:24 PM EDT (#300478) #
Matt Boyd had a pretty good outing this morning for New Hampshire.  He now has 16 double A starts and is 24 years old.  He could be moved to Buffalo at any time. 
uglyone - Wednesday, May 06 2015 @ 02:03 PM EDT (#300480) #
hopefully that rumored velo jump is for real, cuz then he's looking like a real prospect.

i agree there's no reason to wait a lot longer to push him to AAA. he's too old for AA.
ramone - Wednesday, May 06 2015 @ 04:05 PM EDT (#300483) #
I watched the Fisher Cats game on Milb.tv today, Boyd is definitely a fly ball pitcher, wonder how badly that will hurt him if/when he's at Rogers Centre.

Smith Jr hit the ball hard a few times, his at bats looked good to me for whatever that's worth.
Gerry - Wednesday, May 06 2015 @ 04:09 PM EDT (#300484) #
Jesus Tinoco was added to the Lansing roster today.
jerjapan - Wednesday, May 06 2015 @ 04:35 PM EDT (#300485) #
Boyd is currently tied for second on Fangraphs "Fringe Five" scoreboard which highlights the less sexy prospects.  BP seems to have a similar new feature (hmmm...) and here's what they say about Boyd (free content).  Interesting that they seem him as a possible big league middle reliever by this summer. 

Rosy Projection: Back-End Starter

A southpaw capable of touching 92, Boyd throws four pitches for strikes. He probably won’t be a big bat-misser at the highest level—only his slider has a fighting chance to grade better than average—but he can work both sides of the plate and has just enough stuff to be tough on righties as well as lefties. The door isn’t closed on a future in the back of a big-league rotation, but if the Jays are looking for left-handed help in the bullpen, he could be ready for the role this summer. Encouragingly, he’s struck out 24 hitters in his first three Double-A starts after struggling to adjust to the level in 2014.

How it could work: “I could see him helping the Blue Jays pen in 2015, and I think he’s a true middle reliever in a pen role, because he can get both left- and right-handed hitters out.” –Al Skorupa
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