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As Spencer Fordin points out on the Jays' MLB Website, the organization's six representatives in the Arizona Fall League aren't having a great time. Pitchers Pete Bauer, Cam Reimers and Jordan DeJong, along with position players Russ Adams, Dominic Rich and Tyrell Godwin, have had their ups and mostly downs so far. Keep in mind, though, that we're talking about a very small end-of-season sample size (Adams, for example, was brutal his first ten games but has been sizziling his last seven), and that AFL stats don't necessarily project the future very well. Gabe Gross, meanwhile, is having a terrific stint with Team USA, continuing his strong play at New Haven and Syracuse; playing with other elite US prospects can only help Gross going forward. Spencer promises updates on Gullermo Quiroz and the Venezuelan Winter Leagues later this week, which I'm looking forward to: VWL news is often hard to come by.
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_Jabonoso - Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 01:20 PM EST (#86305) #
SF missed that Rios is in the Puerto Rico team in the same tournament as Gross. BA is following those games but no boxscores or statistics so far. For no clear reasons Dominicana and Venezuela dropped their invitation for such tournament ( my guess is the difficulty to grab players from winter league teams ) so no Quiroz in the Olympics.
_Jeff Geauvreau - Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 01:56 PM EST (#86306) #
Hijack: Baseball America has the Jays 2003 June amateur draft listed as the 3rd best in MLB. That is great a #1 in 2002 and #3 in 2003. I am looking forward to watching these players prosper in the Jays minor league system. Congratulations to J.P and company at the Blue Jays.
_R Billie - Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 02:27 PM EST (#86307) #
Considering that I think the overall talent they brought in for 2003 is actually better than 2002's draft, it's even more impressive though perhaps more a comment on the lack of depth in the '02 draft. The early previews of the 2004 draft once again suggest a player pool which is deep in pitching (especially righthanded) as opposed to position players. I wouldn't be surprised to see the third straight arm heavy draft by the Jays to saturate every level of the system with pitching prospects.
Craig B - Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 03:21 PM EST (#86308) #
Yeah, considering the Jays were able to put pretty good lumber in both short-season teams with 20th-round picks and the like, I wouldn't expect anything different. Why not go heavy on pitching if Vito Chiaravalloti falls to the 17th round?
_Jordan - Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 04:27 PM EST (#86309) #
Jeff, thanks for the tip! The article rating the drafts is subscriber-only; if you have access, you can reach it here. According to BA, only L.A. and Texas had better drafts than the Blue Jays in 2003.

I also agree that we should expect another pitching-heavy draft in 2004, all other things (the number of high-round draft choices, the overall quality of the draft class) being equal. Though I also think it's time to ask who'll be the next Josh Phelps, let alone the next Carlos Delgado; there's not a lot of corner power down there.
_Jeff Geauvreau - Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 05:33 PM EST (#86310) #
If anybody would like to discuss the details on the BA article regarding the Jays 2003 draft and or want more information on the article, just click on my name and send me a email. I will respond to all Batters box readers and writers.
_Jeff Geauvreau - Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 05:42 PM EST (#86311) #
BA says that Hill and Josh Banks are the Closest to the Majors. Banks slid out of the 1st round due to blisters before the draft. They say batters can't sit on Banks' 90-94 mph fastball because he has a nasty splitter.
_Jeff Geauvreau - Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 06:25 PM EST (#86312) #
Three times the charm.
I encourage all Batters Box Readers to subscribe to Baseball America. It is a great publication!
_R Billie - Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 10:59 PM EST (#86313) #
Two straight middle infield selections in the first round so I expect maybe power hitters in the first and maybe even second rounds depending on if anyone slips. If the Jays are the beneficiary of a second first round pick and sandwich pick I expect at least two of their top three picks to be hitters if not all three. They've shown good success finding pitchers in the second round onwards.
_A - Wednesday, November 05 2003 @ 03:26 AM EST (#86314) #
JP's made it clear that they have a strategy but are just as inclined to take the best possible player available. If they come upon a situation where a hitter and a pitcher have relatively equal talent ceilings, I agree, they'll take the hitter but if a substantially better pitching prospect is still available at number 16 (please correct me if I'm wrong on their draft slot), the Jays won't hesitate to take him.
_Jeff Geauvreau - Wednesday, November 05 2003 @ 04:25 AM EST (#86315) #
Talking about Vito , he had arthroscopic surgery on his elbow to remove bone chips during instructional league acording to Baseball America.
I hope he makes a full recovery.
Here is the link. You might as well paste it into your address bar. http://www.baseballamerica.com/online/0323/orgsal.html#TOR

Sorry , can someone tell me how to post a link here.
_Ryan01 - Friday, November 07 2003 @ 11:55 PM EST (#86316) #
Good ole Spencer Fordin has come out with the update on the Venezuela league at bluejays.com. In brief there are three major prospects playing well. Quiroz is hitting .317 with 3HR in 10 games. Sequea is hitting .429 in 11 games and check this out... Gustavo Chacin has pitched 21 innings, 1.75 ERA, 28 K's, 0 BB's! The competition is not exactly major league quality but good numbers nonetheless. If Chacin could have a good year at Syracuse next year he could put himself back on the prospect map.
_greenfrog - Saturday, November 08 2003 @ 08:39 PM EST (#86317) #
Who is Jorge Sequea? His stats at syracuse last year were pretty average, and although he's had a good winter in a small sampling of at-bats, this is the first i've heard of him. Is he is a legit prospect?

On Russ Adams: was he worth a 1st round pick in 2002? Although he's posted respectable numbers over the last two years, he doesn't seem to have terrific ability in any one area. Sort of a .270-.280 hitter who walks a fair bit, has modest stolen-base potential, little power, and who projects as a second baseman.

Any thoughts?
_Ryan01 - Saturday, November 08 2003 @ 10:19 PM EST (#86318) #
Sequea was picked up last year in the AAA portion of the rule 5 draft. He tore up AA in his 111 at bats hitting .342/.402/.459. His numbers at Syracuse were only mediocre (.255/.341/.373) but considering he did so at the age of 22 that's actually pretty impressive. At this point he probably projects as a solid infield utility guy with enough upside to push his way onto a starting lineup if things go well. He probably sits about third on the middle infield depth charts behind Hill and Adams, just ahead of Rich.

As for Adams, yeah that's probably about where he sits. He's not likely to be a star. He won't hit for significant power but he should be a solid, average to slightly above average middle infielder. He was a safe, low-risk pick. The Adams vs Kazmir/Blanton debate is likely to go on for a while and is certainly an interesting one. Whether or not the reduced risk is worth the difference in potential payoff. (In case you are wondering, Scott Kazmir was the guy a lot of Blue Jays fans expected JP to take before they learned the extent of his highschool-wary drafting policy and Billy Beane later said that he was surprised JP didn't take Joe Blanton. Both Blanton and Kazmir put up big years this year.)
_logan - Sunday, November 09 2003 @ 11:28 AM EST (#86319) #
I think Kazmir wanted a big bonus. That would have knocked him out of the Blue Jays' plans. He ended up getting more than $300,000 more than Adams or Swisher did.
Mike Green - Tuesday, November 11 2003 @ 01:23 PM EST (#86320) #
Russ Adams reached base 3 times in 5 PAs yesterday, and Cam Reimers pitched 5 passable innings (8 hits, 3 earned runs) to get the win for the Javelinas. Adams' struggles in the AFL appear to be over; he's now hitting .269 with his fair share of walks.
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