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It is a pitcher's week. The farm affiliates went 3-2.


Thursday Boxscores and Highlights

Syracuse, scheduled day off
Harrisburg 2 @ New Hampshire 6
Iriki 7IP, 5H, 0R, 1W, 5K, DSmith 2 run HR, Mayorson 2-4, Majewski 3-4
Dunedin 5 @ Jupiter 3, 10 inn. Savickas 6IP, 4H, 2ER, 2W, 2K, Nielsen 2B, GWRBI, Gutierrez 2-4, W, Jeroloman 2B, W, Butler 1-3, 2W
Lansing 2 @ Kane County 3 Godfrey 7IP, 7H, 2ER, 0W, 5K, Jaspe 2-3, 2 doubles, W, Snider 2-4, 2B
Oneonta 2 @ Auburn 8 LPerez 5.1IP, 2H, 2ER, 3W, 8K, Arencibia 2-4, HR, 4 RBI, Zeskind 1-3, 2W
GCL Phillies 3 @ GCL Jays 2 Cheng 2.1IP, 4H, 2ER, 2W, 5K, Walden 4IP, 1H, 0W, 5K, Tolisano 1-4, W, JJackson 1-4, W


The Pitching Prospect Summary

All statistics are through games of Wednesday and come from firstinning.com. I am using only statistics from the pitcher's last developmental stop this year.


Pitcher Age Level BB
IP H HR W K FIP ERA W% K% BABIP HR/fly GB%
R. Romero 22 AA #1 61.1
66
6
40
55
4.81
4.70
14.1
19.4
.339
6%
47%
B. Cecil
21
SSA
#2
33
27
1
7
34
2.57
1.64
5.3
25.6
.295
3%
63%
D. Purcey 25 AA #3 62 67
4
16
55 3.26 5.33
6.0
20.7
.344
4%
45%
Kyle Ginley
20
LoA
#4
101.2
119
8
34
109
3.56
4.51
7.4
23.7
.379
5%
47%
Josh Banks
25
AAA
#5
136.1
154
21
17
80
4.39
4.62
3.0
13.9
.299
8%
46%
C. Cheng 22 R #6 3.1
3
0
3
2
4.98
8.11
17.6
11.8
.250
0
42%
T. Taubenheim 24 AAA #6 89 107
12
33
73
4.55 6.37
8.2
18.2
.344
8%
46%
A. Wideman
22
HiA
#8
109.2
111
13
19
70
4.20
3.61
4.3
15.9
.298
7%
43%
K. Yates 24 AA #9 115
140
16
37
80
4.89
4.62
7.2
15.6
.340
7%
43%
B. Magee
24
HiA
#10
131
133
14
48
63
4.88
3.78
8.6
11.3
.281
7%
55%
L. Gronk'z
28
AAA

22.1
25
2
2
29
2.22
3.63
2.0
29.6
.365
5%
44%
A. Martin
22
HiA

16.1
8
1
1
15
2.43
1.65
1.8
26.8
.179
8%
53%
W. Aguirre
20
SSA

43
48
4
13
30
4.25
4.60
7.0
16.0
.331
6%
51%
E. Fowler 24 AA
40.1
63
7
18
21
5.90
7.14
9.2
10.8
.389
10%
55%
T. Thorpe 26 AA
48.1 35
2
22
48
3.38 3.72
10.9
23.8
.266
2%
32%
P. Phillips 23 HiA
16.1 20
5
3
11
6.65
6.61
4.0
14.7
.288
15%
44%
B. Carnline 23 HiA

29.1
32
2
8
16
4.10
3.38
6.3
12.7
.313
3%
39%
M. MacDonald 25 AAA
104
128
5
25
60
3.37
4.76
5.5
13.1
.346
3%
59%
C. Lirette 22 LoA
59
59
6
19
41
4.36
4.42
7.6
16.4
.296
6%
50%
N. Starner 23 LoA
116
132
12
31
125
3.44
4.58
6.2
24.8
.373
7%
50%
G. Godfrey 22 LoA
89.1 107
8
28
63
4.14
4.33
7.2
16.3
.354
7%
61%
S Overbey
23
AA

41
42
1
14
27
3.84
4.17
8.0
15.3
.320
3%
54%
A. Farina

SSA

3.2
3
1
3
2
8.23
7.36
17.6
11.8
.182
17%
50%
M. Rzepczynski

SSA

18.2
11
1
5
10
4.40
2.41
13.3
17.3
.204
9
78%

Adrian Martin has been a revelation this year. He threw exceptionally well in Lansing, and has continued at the same pace in Dunedin. He has been used as a swing man, and has performed well both from the pen and in the starting role.
Friday Minor League Summary #15 | 12 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Ron - Thursday, August 09 2007 @ 11:38 PM EDT (#172815) #
Gronk's theme song should be "I Wish" by Skee-Lo. If he was 6''3 instead 5'10, he would be on a Major League roster right now.


Pistol - Friday, August 10 2007 @ 08:42 AM EDT (#172822) #
I very small group voted this way last month, but I think Mike MacDonald is a better prospect than Josh Banks right now.

If you look at their lines MacDonald is clearly pitching better for Syracuse.  Their K rate is similar, MacDonald walks a few more, but gives up a lot less HRs and gets a lot more ground balls.  His FIP is a full run better than Banks.

BulletJayFan - Friday, August 10 2007 @ 09:25 AM EDT (#172823) #

Macdonald is a better prospect than Josh Banks right now

This may be, and certainly the statistics say this is so, but I would add one caveat: if Macdonald is going to make it, it will be, almost certainly, as a long relief guy. Josh Banks, from what I have seen, has the ability to start and go deep into games. With Macdonald, no matter how good his stats look, after the fourth inning it really feels like you're playing with fire out there. If you look at his game log on firstinning.com, you'll see that he's never gone more than 7, and only made it through 7 just twice in his last ten starts. In those same ten starts, he hasn't made it through 6 in four of those starts. On another level, in Macdonald's last start, in the first four innings, to 9 of 14 batters he threw first pitch strikes. In his last two innings, he only through first pitch strikes to 2 of 10 batters. Other figures may be better at showing this, but this does demonstrate a little bit of the fatigue I'm talking about.

Banks, on the other hand, has the ability to go deep into games without so obviously tiring; in only two of his last ten games has he failed to make it through six, and he's gone 8 twice. He'll have to work on keeping the ball down, but he is much more cut out to be a starter than is Macdonald at this point. However, this reality may put him lower on the totem pole.

R Billie - Friday, August 10 2007 @ 02:13 PM EDT (#172842) #

I admit, I'm more used to seeing the more polished draft picks of the past take to the pros almost immediately.  But does the performance of all of these young hitters drafted this year hold any cause for concern?  Brett Cecil is the only pick in the first and supplemental and even second round whom you could say is putting up numbers that would be seen as good.

Other than Tolisano who appears to be holding his own, almost to a man every other young hitter has performed terribly in their first couple of months of pro ball.  Very low averages, tons of strikeouts, little patience, little power.  Arencibia as the lone college hitter of the bunch has shown a little bit of pop but little else in the way of polished hitting or patience.

I'm the first to give these young players, especially 18 year olds, the benefit of the doubt on their first exposure.  But doesn't it seem a bit unusual that out of several hitters (Ahrens, Arencibia, Jackson, Eiland, Tolisano, etc) we haven't seen anyone step up to be good and maybe only one step up to be average?

Are these leagues usually this hard to hit in or did the Jays consciously draft a lot of "projects" this year?

R Billie - Friday, August 10 2007 @ 02:16 PM EDT (#172844) #

Oh you can also add Fuenmayor to the list who started the year pretty good but whose current numbers are as bad as anyones.  Is it just a lack of good coaching at that level?  I would think the coaching is extremely important especially for the raw players.

Ryan Day - Friday, August 10 2007 @ 02:23 PM EDT (#172845) #

Eiland's been holding his own so far - 250/338/331, with 12 steals without getting caught.  Granted, the strikeouts are worrying, but he looks okay. (Actually, he can't seem to hit lefties, but he's been pretty darn good against righties)

Ahrens and Fuenmayor are quite disappointing, though.

Mike Green - Friday, August 10 2007 @ 03:07 PM EDT (#172850) #
Arencibia has been disappointing.  Usually a 1st rounder out of college who is noted more for his bat than his glove will do well in the NYPL.  Russ Adams and Aaron Hill both did so.

As for the high schoolers, there were 4 high-schooler hitters in the first round, Mesoraco, Ahrens, Kozma and Revere.  Of the 4, only Revere is hitting at all in rookie league.  The Twins took a lot of criticism for the selection of Revere, but youneverknow. In any event, I would not get too excited one way or the other about the way an 18 year old hits.  It is better obviously if they mash from the outset, but the failure to do so is not that worrisome.

MatO - Friday, August 10 2007 @ 03:19 PM EDT (#172851) #
I agree that that Arencibia has been disappointing so far though he's been a bit better the last few games.  Possible excuses are that the grind of catching in the summer months is wearing him down or that injury that sidelined him in college is still bothering him.  It's much too early to make any conclusions on the 18 year olds though the past history of draft picks suggests that most of them will not be successful ML players.
Mike Green - Friday, August 10 2007 @ 03:20 PM EDT (#172852) #
Brett Cecil was named to the NYPL All-Star team.  The Jays are doing a very interesting thing with him; using him as a starter but restricting him to 3-4 innings maximum in light of his hand problem (apparently).  By all accounts, he has the stuff to be an ace reliever if need be.
R Billie - Friday, August 10 2007 @ 04:58 PM EDT (#172858) #

Well it seems to put Snider's fast start in perspective.  He really was quite advanced when the Jays picked him, both mentally and physically.

I was one of the people criticizing the Revere pick but even as I was doing it, I felt in the back of my mind that the Twins generally seem to know what they're doing and wouldn't it be funny if he actually performed well.  I guess if he can hit .300 with his speed he'll always have a place to play.

Maldoff - Friday, August 10 2007 @ 05:44 PM EDT (#172865) #
I think we were definitely spoiled by Snider's impressive start last year.  With these guys, we'll have to wait at least 2 years before any decision can be made.
Marc Hulet - Friday, August 10 2007 @ 05:52 PM EDT (#172866) #
Jim Callis of Baseball America stated the other day during an ESPN.com chat that the Jays had nothing to be worried about with their GCL hitters and that an 18-year-olds debut season is no indicator of future success. They are simply acclimatizing to their new lives.

Now if the struggles continue next season with no improvements, be worried.
Friday Minor League Summary #15 | 12 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.