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.

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.

    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

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...

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.

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.