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Dunedin had an excellent month in May, and now stand at 32-20, the second best record in the Florida State League. Unfortunately, they play in the same division as the Lakeland Tigers, who possess the best record in the league at 34-17. Still, the gap was closed this month, and with a good run in June, the D-Jays stand a chance at the first-half title.



The D-Jays have used both a productive offence and fine pitching to get where they are. The offence is long-sequence, as the team .285/.357/.408 marks will attest. It does get the job done as the D-Jays are scoring almost 5.5 runs per game, 2nd in the league. The team's pitchers are also 2nd in the league with a 3.52 ERA. The pitchers are getting it done in all facets, allowing fewer walks and homers than average for the league and striking out more than league average.

Let's turn to the individual players. First off, the hitters:

Adam Lind

Lind cooled off a bit in May (.264/.372/.382 in the month), but his overall line of .307/.382/.442 fits the character of the team to the T. He has an almost even K/W ratio, a great sign for a hitter not yet 22. His defence in left needs work, but most importantly, he's going to have change some of his doubles (17 in 200 ABs) into homers if he is to succeed at higher levels.

Clint Johnston

Johnston is too old to be a prospect at first base/DH, but let's face it, the man can hit. His .318/.408/.461 line continues the pattern set by Lind.

Brian Patrick

From the sublime to the ridiculous (.312/.384/.367). Patrick has been a pleasant surprise at the plate.

Jayce Tingler

Tingler out-Patricks Patrick with a .274/.380/.331 line. He's got a 23/12 W/K ratio, with 7 HBPs. He still has an outside shot at a major league career as a 4th outfielder. It'll help if he becomes a master bunter.

Eric Arnold

Arnold, who hit 4 homers in May, has put up a more conventional .281/.336/.477 overall line with a typical 10/21 W/K. No one mentions his defence at third, and he's old to be a prospect.

Robinson Diaz

Diaz is hitting .268/.305/.317. He is not striking out much, and he's a young catcher, but he obviously has got a lot offensively to work on. Some doubles power would be a start, so look for him to hit the weights in the off-season.

Carlo Cota

Cota traded places with hot-hitting Ryan Roberts in the month, and obviously started wearing Roberts' shoes and batting gloves, and stole his mojo. Cota slugged .700 in his first 30 at-bats upon his return to Dunedin.

Next, the pitchers:

Thanks to the technical assistance of Jonny German, we have DIPS ERA figures for pitchers, as of May 30, in the Jay minor league system. An explanation and a warning are in order. To calculate the DIPS ERA, Jonny followed the procedure described here. No park adjustments were made.

The significance or predictive value of DIPS ERA in the minor league context has not been established, and it is not obvious that the correlations between current dERA and future performance which has been shown for major leaguers will be observed for minor leaguers.

David Purcey

Purcey struggled in May, surrendering 15 earned runs and 22 runs in total in 30 and 2/3 innings. The combination of a walk every 2 innings and a homer every 6 will get you every time, even with a strikeout every inning. Purcey's overall 3.81 ERA is generous to him; his dERA of 4.62 is probably a better indication of how he is doing.

Zach Jackson

In a turnabout, Jackson was indeed Mr. May. 3 earned runs in 33 innings is testament to that, and his peripheral statistics were all good. His overall record of 8-1 with a 2.88 ERA (dERA 2.79) was enough to earn him a promotion to double A.

Kurt Isenberg

Isenberg continued his fine performance in May, allowing a run every 4 innings, while punching out 33 in 37 and 2/3, and with good control and only 1 homer allowed. Overall, he's 5-3 with a 2.65 ERA (dERA 3.30).

Casey Janssen

Janssen had 4 excellent starts for the D-Jays in May after his promotion from Lansing, 26 innings, 0 homers, 1 walk, 24 strikeouts. His mark of 3-0, 1.38 ERA (dERA 1.83) could hardly be improved upon.

Davis Romero

Romero's season so far is a DIPS puzzle. In May he struck out 30 (!) in 20 and 2/3 innings, while walking 6 and allowing only 1 homer, but still gave up 8 runs, 3 of which were unearned. His dERA for the season of 2.73 was a run and a half lower than his actual ERA, due to an abnormally high batting average on balls in play (BABIP). He had typical BABIPs in 2003 in Auburn and in 2004 in Charleston. I still like him quite a bit.

Mike MacDonald

MacDonald had a passable May, with his main strength continuing to be his ability to keep the ball in the yard. He is now 5-2 overall with a 4.53 ERA (dERA 3.57). His K rate of 6 per 9 innings is his major barrier to success at higher levels. A conversion to a relief role is possible.

The Dunedin bullpen continues to be solid, with Milton Tavarez, Tracy Thorpe, Brad Mumma and Brian Reed being especially good in May. Reed was promoted to New Hampshire late in the month, with Danny Hill arriving from Lansing to take his place. With the return of Dustin McGowan to the rotation in June, it is likely that Davis Romero or Mike MacDonald will join the bullpen to make it even stronger.

One variable at this time of year is the mid-season promotions. Zach Jackson and Brian Reed are now gone from Dunedin. There are no other obvious promotion candidates, although Isenberg, Lind or even Janssen are possibilities, and similarly no obvious arrivals from Lansing. It seems likely that watching Dustin McGowan will be the June highlight in Dunedin.

Dunedin May Review | 11 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Mike D - Thursday, June 02 2005 @ 03:48 PM EDT (#118454) #
Great summary, Mike G.

Janssen's performance has been so exciting thus far. What does he throw?
Mike Green - Thursday, June 02 2005 @ 04:04 PM EDT (#118457) #
Thanks, Mike D. I can do no better than the capsule comments from MLB and BA when he was drafted as recorded by Pistol:

MLB: Comment: tall, lean, well proportioned body. Long, loose muscles. Square shoulders. Narrow waist. Strong, well defined legs. Room to carry more weight. No windup, high 3/4 arm. Side step to start. High leg kick. Occaisional major league fb w/ sinking action when down. Good rotation on both cb & slider. Slider most effective breaking pitch. Good motion on changeup. Mixes pitches well. Throws k's w/ all. Good competitor. Chance to be sinker ball pitcher.

BA: Janssen was a two-way player for the first three years of his career and has an athletic 6-foot-4, 210-pound body. His fastball touches 92 mph at times and his slider and changeup have improved and usually are average offerings, and he commands them all well.

A number of commentators have described his approach as quite refined. His greatest strength is, as you might expect, his command.
MatO - Thursday, June 02 2005 @ 04:45 PM EDT (#118462) #
Lugnut Fan had Janssen touching 95 in his last game there. I wonder if he's added a couple of mph since turning pro? Generally the Lansing gun hasn't seemed out of line when recording other Jay prospects.
Mike Green - Thursday, June 02 2005 @ 04:59 PM EDT (#118464) #
That's true. My impression from Lugnut Fan's comments is that his fastball, aside from the gun readings, is now usually of solid major league caliber, and that he spots it well.
Lugnut Fan - Thursday, June 02 2005 @ 05:10 PM EDT (#118465) #
That is correct Matt. In his last Lansing start, he was touching 95 with the four seamer into the 7th. It was also the first warm day that he had a chance to pitch in Lansing. All his other starts had been in bitterly cold weather. I would be interested in finding out what his velocity has been in Dunedin to see if he is still in the mid-90's or if he is in the 89-92 range as he was in his previous Lansing starts. It might have just been one of those days where he was really loose and really feeling good.

As far as what he features, he has a two seam fastball, four seam fastball, curveball, change up and slider (I would consider the two seam and slider to be pretty much the same pitch though). He has very good command and can throw any of the pitches that he features for a strike. When you can do that in A ball, it really throws the hitters off because at this level, the pitcher generally has a pitch that he has to rely on if he falls behind or if he is going for a strike out.

It will be really interesting to see what happens with him as far as whether they promote him again or not. I think his numbers will probably come back down to earth a little bit because he will be facing more experienced hitters, but he definitly has the stuff to be successful and I see him as a #3 or #4 guy in the future for the Jays.
Stellers Jay - Thursday, June 02 2005 @ 05:14 PM EDT (#118467) #
How much of a longshot is it that Janssen is promoted to NH in the next month? There will be a rotation spot open, when Banks goes to Syracuse. Janssen is the most logical choice out of anybody in Dunedin. Actually, a case could be made for an Isenberg promotion.

On another train of thought. Would it not make sense to convert Romero to relief full time and fast track him to the majors? He's the first guy that gets bumped to relief as soon as a starter becomes available. The orgainization is bare in the upper minors of legit lefthanded prospects (I'm ignoring Jackson because he is clearly a starter and the organization has higher hopes for him). He's a smaller guy and he misses a lot of bats. He could handle AA as a reliever right now. It would give the team a better view of his long-term use and see if they should protect him this year on the 40man roster.
Mike Green - Thursday, June 02 2005 @ 05:21 PM EDT (#118469) #
The thing about Romero is that he just turned 22. It's hard to know the appropriate role for him.

Personally, I'd like to see him at a higher level in some role to see what he can do. It's his sixth pro season, and that forces the issue.
Stellers Jay - Thursday, June 02 2005 @ 05:33 PM EDT (#118471) #
I think that's all the more reason to promote him to AA in a "Jamie Vermilyea type role". I think he would handle it well and he would be off-season trade bait or he would be protected on the 40man roster. The Jays have the summer to figure out what he is made of or he will be property of another team. There's no way Romero wouldn't declare himself a free agent if he's still in the pen in Dunedin at the end of the year.
Maldoff - Thursday, June 02 2005 @ 10:09 PM EDT (#118488) #
Is Tavarez considered a prospect? Where did he come from? He seems to be doing pretty well thus far in Dunedin.
mendocino - Friday, June 03 2005 @ 03:27 AM EDT (#118496) #
Purcey, Isenberg & Diaz to play in FSL All-Star game.

http://www.dunedinbluejays.com/allstar2005.php

Jackson was named but do to promotion will not play.

Clint Johnston's name is also on the roster but not included in Dunedin's headline. Lugnut Fan mentioned on another thread Chip Cannon was promoted to Dunedin. Johnston promoted???
C. Oliver - Friday, June 03 2005 @ 07:35 AM EDT (#118497) #
I see that Yesson Berroa finally is with a full season club (Dunedin) after spending several years in Rookie ball. How is he doing?
Dunedin May Review | 11 comments | Create New Account
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