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We put the mid-season hitting prospect poll results to use in our weekly summary, but first, we have nothing but good news from the farm affiliates last night. Swee-ee-eep. 6-0 as some of the pitching prospects whose names are being mentioned in our mid-season prospect poll turned in excellent performances, and John-ford Griffin, Kevin Barker, and Ryan Patterson hit dramatic homers.


Thursday Boxscores and Highlights

Syracuse 8 @ Richmond 7, 10 inn.
Barker game-winning HR, Griffin 9th inning game tying HR, League 1.2IP,1H, 0W, 2K, Gronk 2IP, 0H, 2W, 3K
New Hampshire 7 @ Binghamton 5,10 inn. Romero 4IP, 5H, 1ER, 3W, 6K, Patterson 2 run GW HR, Smith HR, Diaz 2-5, Cannon 2-4, 1W
Fort Myers 1 @ Dunedin 2 Magee 7.2IP, 8H, 1ER, 2W, 3K, Kreuzer 2 run HR in 8th, Patton 3-4
South Bend 3 @ Lansing 5 Starner 6IP, 5H, 1ER, 1W, 5K, A. Martin 1.1IP, 0H, 0W, Shoffit grand slam HR, Campbell 2-3, W, Snider 0-3, W
Batavia 1 @ Auburn 2 Aguirre 7IP, 6H, 1ER, 2W, 4K, Mastroianni 2-4, 3B, GWRBI in 8th, Arencibia 0-3, picked off runner
GCL Jays 2 @ GCL Phils 1 Letko 4IP, 3H, 0ER, 1W, 8K, Talley 2-4, HR, Eiland 1-3, W, Chavez 1-2, 2W





The Hitting Prospect Summary


This time, we are using the results of the mid-season prospect poll as our BB#s. I have added in those who received votes on more than one ballot, and Scott Campbell in response to a reader comment.


Player Age Level BB
Pos PA
AVG OBP SLUG W K
Comments
T. Snider
19 Lo-A #1 RF 284 .302
.371 .478 29 68

S. Santos
24
AA
#2
SS
299
.254
.334
.504
31
56

A. Mathews
25
AA
#3
OF
258
.344
.392
.519
17
37
4th outfielder?
K. Ahrens
18
R
#4
SS
49
.233
.340
.372
6
18

B. Fuenmayor
17
R
#5
3B
52
.250
.333
.333
4
17

J.P. Arencibia
21
SSA
#6
C
45
.256
.283
.372
2
8

R. Diaz
23
AA
#7
C
277
.323
.352
.417
11
17

R. Patterson
24 AA #8 LF
247
.242
.274
.407
11
44
Recent power surge
Y. Chavez
18
R
#9
RF
35
.188
.341
.188
3
10

J. Butler
24
HiA
#10
LF
295
.292
.374
.534
33
52

C. Cannon
25 AA
1B 314
.237
.328 .450 36 113
E. Eiland
18
R

CF
41
.194
.326
.306
5
14

J. Tolisano
18
R

2B
52
.186
.327
.256
9
16

B. Jeroloman
22
HiA

C
234
.247
.426
.315
56
39
On-Base Brian?
R. Barron
21
LoA

3B
117
.287
.350
.389
9
15

J.F. Griffin
27
AAA

OF
332
.261
.342
.522
37
84

J. Kreuzer
24
HiA

1B
301
.328
.434
.570
36
55
Memories of Cannon
A. Hatch
23 HiA
3B 303 .249 .307
.381 22 51

D. Majewski
25
AA
CF 327 .243 .363 .406 51 60

R. Adams
26 AAA

2B
333
.270
.345
.413
33
32
heating up
R. Olmedo
26 AAA
SS 285 .278 .344 .309 26 38
S. Campbell
22
LoA

2B
261
.281
.387
.375
37
32


The early returns for the young prospects in Rookie League have not been great, but the sample sizes are small. We will see where they are in two weeks.

Friday Minor League Summary- #10 | 15 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Pistol - Friday, July 06 2007 @ 08:39 AM EDT (#171197) #
A request to put in Justin Jackson next time.  He seems to be adjusting a little bit better to pro ball, at least in terms of not striking out as much.  And hitting was supposed to be his weakness.

Jeroloman's line reminds me of Jayce Tingler.

Maldoff - Friday, July 06 2007 @ 08:53 AM EDT (#171199) #

Gerry, you mentioned that you were going to be at the game in New Hampshire last night.  How did Ricky Romero look? Any reason he was pulled so early? Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Sister - Friday, July 06 2007 @ 08:54 AM EDT (#171200) #
A couple of observations:

With respect to Mike's comment above, the young Jays hitters have started off rather slowly sample size considered. The GCL Jays have scored only 51 runs in 14 games (3.6 rpg) relative to the league median of 64 runs in 13 games (4.9). However, 4.9 runs seems a tad low as well, which may suggest the league is playing out as pitcher friendly thus far. The GCL Jays have only one regular hitting over 300 (Jackson) with most players sitting at .240 and under.

Snider has gone into a bit of a dry spell with the bat and his average has now dipped below .300 for the first time in a long while. At the same time, over the last ten games he has picked up a fair number of walks (12) and his K/BB ratio is 1 in that time. Promising.

Of all of Russ Adams' faults, he still has wonderful strike zone judgement. I still have faith that he will be a serviceable major leaguer yet.

Pistol - Friday, July 06 2007 @ 09:11 AM EDT (#171201) #
I hadn't noticed Snider...... 2 for his last 28, but with 12 walks.
Mike Green - Friday, July 06 2007 @ 09:29 AM EDT (#171203) #
My fault, Pistol.  Justin Jackson should obviously have been in the summary.  With luck, Joel Collins will be in the summary next time as well. Jeroloman's offensive line reminded me of Tingler too.  "On-Base Brian" was an echo of "On-Base Jayce".  Of course, it's much easier to progress as a left-handed catcher who plays good defence than as an outfielder with a weak arm.

Thanks, Sister, for the comments about the GCL context.  If there is interest, I will add some park/context information in future summaries, courtesy of firstinning.com.



Gerry - Friday, July 06 2007 @ 10:34 AM EDT (#171207) #

It was raining lightly during last night's game in Binghamton and Romero had a 90 pitch count.  He went deep in a lot of counts and therefore was pulled early.  Last night was a late night for me so the scouting report will have to wait but as one scout said to me "Romero has all the weapons, now he just has to use them in the right way".

Romero showed a 90mph fastball, a couple of curves and possibly a couple of change-ups (more on that later).  He does have some things to work on.  In my opinion he is the Jays number 1 pitching prospect but he profiles as a typical lefty who would be a #3 or #4 starter and he is still raw so I would be surprised to see him in Toronto this season unless he makes a lot of progress in the next six weeks.

Quick Diaz report, good arm, receiving looks like it needs some work.  I think two of the Binghamton runs scored on wild pitches.

 

ayjackson - Friday, July 06 2007 @ 10:51 AM EDT (#171210) #
I wonder if Snider is experimenting with different approaches at the plate that is leading to more walks, less strikeouts but a less agressive approach to hitting.  Or maybe he's getting nothing good to hit.  Or maybe he's recognized a slump and is trying to take walks to help the team.
jgadfly - Friday, July 06 2007 @ 11:50 AM EDT (#171215) #
Auburn game... Arencibia not only picked off a runner at 2nd base but also threw out two attempted steals (one was possibly a failed hit and run) good to see his footwork developing...
Mike Green - Friday, July 06 2007 @ 01:16 PM EDT (#171217) #
Here's a game story from a Richmond newspaper on the Syracuse game.  The Chiefs were not happy with the umpiring.  Russ Adams, Sal Fasano and manager Doug Davis were ejected.

Brandon League had a nice outing. 

China fan - Friday, July 06 2007 @ 01:33 PM EDT (#171220) #

    Apparently the Fisher Cats are going to rename themselves "the New Hampshire Primaries" for one game on Aug. 25, reverting to the original name that the team briefly held in 2003.    A very cool name for a baseball team in a politically crucial state.  Check out the vintage uniforms with donkeys and elephants!

    http://www.nhfishercats.com/index.php?hid=56

Gerry - Friday, July 06 2007 @ 03:16 PM EDT (#171225) #

Observations from yesterday's AA game:

Ricky Romero

Fastball started at 90-92 mph but was better at 88-89.  Romero appeared to be overthrowing the fastball in the first couple of innings and it was pretty straight.  When he dialled it back later it moved a little more and looked to be a better pitch.

Romero threw a very good change-up at around 81 mph.  He also threw several pitches at 85 which was either taking something off the fastball or a harder change.

Romero showed two curves, a 12-6 o'clock version and a 2-8 version that could be very effective against lefties.

The at-bats against Lastings Milledge were interesting with Milledge being the best hitter in the Mets lineup.  In the first inning Milledge hit a low, but middle of the plate, fastball on a line over the left centre field fence.  Next time up Milledge took a called strike on a change, then swung and missed at a curve then took a controversial hit by pitch on a fastball.  That pitch looked to me that it was either: (1) a strike but Milledge dived over the plate and stuck his arm into the path of the pitch and then took off for first before the umpire could react; or (2) a pitch that never hit Milledge.  Romero, Diaz and manager Masse argued the call to no avail.  In any event it was a good job by Romero.  Third time up Romero got ahead again 0-2 on off-speed pitches then Romero tried to sneak a fastball down and in past Milledge who lined it over short for a single.

As I said earlier Romero has major league weapons.  His weakest pitch might be his fastball.  After the first inning Romero threw his fastball less than 50% of the time.  His command of the fastball was not great and he did give up his three hardest hit balls on the fastball.  As mentioned he looked like he was overthrowing at the start and a scout I spoke to thought he was trying to be too fine, he said Romero was pitching away from contact rather than to contact. 

In summary I would say that Romero is a potential major league pitcher, and the Jays top pitching prospect in my opinion, he needs to stay injury free and build up some consistent innings and he could be major league ready in the second half of 2008.

More to come...

Gerry - Friday, July 06 2007 @ 03:51 PM EDT (#171227) #

More notes from AA...

Jo Matumoto is around 5' 8" and has a drop and drive delivery like Casey Janssen.  When you have someone that short deliver like that the ball is coming in pretty straight.  Matumoto's fastball is around 86, he also throws a slider and a change.  He wasn't fooling too many hitters yesterday.

Jean Machi is on the Jays 40 man roster and is listed in the team notes at six feet and 160 pounds.  Machi might have been 160 pounds in high school, he looks to be at least 220.  With his portly appearance, and the lack of a visible neck, comparisons to Rich Garces were inevitable.  He is our El Guapo.  Machi turns his front shoulder towards third base as he sets up to hide the ball.  His fastball is 93/94 and is his best pitch.  I saw a change at 81, a splitter at 85 and a slurve at 80, but his whole body slowed on the slurve and it was his worst pitch. 

The Jays four outfielders are very similar in stature.  Dustin Majewski and Aaron Mathews could be twins, both around 5'10", 200 pounds, with very wide shoulders.  David Smith is a slightly stretched version, maybe an inch taller and a little less wide, ditto for Ryan Patterson.  Patterson still has the unorthodox stance, still unsure whether it will play at higher levels.

Chip Cannon looked lost more than not at the plate.  He looked like a guy who was guessing and when he guessed wrong looked really bad.

Sergio Santos didn't do much in the two games I saw.  His bat has cooled off.  One scout I spoke to said Santos needs to stop trying to be a power hitter, he needs to use all fields and then he will be able to handle the outside pitch.

Manny Mayorson was the Jays best hitter in both games.  Mayorson is very good in the field and can hit a little.  I think he has the potential to be a major league utility player.

Mike Green - Friday, July 06 2007 @ 04:28 PM EDT (#171233) #
Gerry, command seems to have been an issue for Romero.  He has walked 19 in 30 innings so far this year, including 3 in 4 innings last night.  It was not an issue at lower levels and in college.  I suppose that it might be a transitional issue after his injury.  On the other hand, his control wasn't great in New Hampshire last year either. Did you pick up any clues about what is going on from his delivery or location?
Gerry - Friday, July 06 2007 @ 04:36 PM EDT (#171235) #

His delivery looked fine to me.  I think it goes back to the comment the scout made, Romero is trying to be too fine and make too good a pitch.  As he tries to be too fine, and pitch away from contact, he throws too many balls.  As mentioned Romero's fastball command was not good initially until he dialled it back a bit.

Romero missed time this season with his injury, and he is a #1 pick, so you don't know what pressures are on him and how that impacts his performance.  It would be interesting to see how he pitches with Sal Fasano behind the plate.  Fasano's game calling and knowledge of the hitters could make Romero look better.

Maldoff - Friday, July 06 2007 @ 04:57 PM EDT (#171236) #
FREE SAL FASANO!!!!
Friday Minor League Summary- #10 | 15 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.