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If it wasn't for the second game in a GCL double-header, the affiliates would have scored progressively fewer runs as you descend the minor league ladder. So what I'm saying is, stop reading after Dunedin.


Las Vegas 9 at Salt Lake 8

The 51s did a pretty good job of scoring throughout the game, and yet they were behind from the bottom of the 1st until the top of the 8th when they broke through for 3 runs and finally re-captured the lead they had first taken in the top of the 1st. The offense was fairly evenly distributed, with only Brian Dopirak not reaching base. Buck Coats drove in 3 on a triple and a single, and Aaron Mathews had 2 singles and 2 walks. T.J. Beam didn't have a great start, but the trio of Zach Stewart, Brian Wolfe and Jeremy Accardo picked him up nicely, allowing 1 run over the final 4 2/3.

New Hampshire 8 at Trenton 5

Scoring almost as many runs as you have hits is generally a good way to win a game. New Hampshire was more efficient than their opponents, scoring 8 runs on 9 hits while Trenton banged out 12 hits, but could only convert those runners into 5 runs. Nick Gorneault swung the big bat for the Cats, with 3 RBIs on a single and a homer. David Cooper doubled and walked twice. The pitching was nothing to write home about, or anything to write Batter's Box about, really.

Moises Sierra 4 at Clearwater 2

Dunedin got out-hit 11-8 in this contest, but they had the big hit that counted: a grand slam by Moises Sierra. Clearwater did a poor job cashing in their runners, as they went 2-11 with RISP. Charles Huggins was good on the mound, allowing an earned run on 7 hits in 5 innings, and striking out 8.

 West Michigan 5 at Lansing 4

Lansing put up a good fight in this one; they had 9 hits including homers by Mike McDade and Balbino Fuenmayor, and got a quality start out of Chase Lirette, who allowed 3 runs in 6 innings. It just wasn't quite enough, as Jason Roenicke allowed the tying and go-ahead run to score in his 3 innings of work. Johermyn Chavez had a double in 4 trips, while Welinton Ramirez singled and stole a base.

Mahoning Valley 12 at Auburn 1

There is absolutely nothing that happened in this game that I care to mention.

GCL Blue Jays 1 at GCL Braves 3 (7 innings)

Wow, take a look at that box score. Actually, don't, it's bleak. The GCL Jays managed just 3 hits and 1 walk. Bryson Namba was the hero, homering in half of his at bats, but even though he wasn't pinch-hit or pinch-run for or anything, he only managed 2 at bats. Gustavo Pierre had a single and a steal, and there was some solid work out of the bullpen.

GCL Braves 3 at GCL Jays 4 (7 innings)

That's a little better. Eric Thames and Jony Fernandez each doubled and walked, and John Roberts smacked a solo homer to give the Baby Jays just enough offense to even up the doubleheader. Someone named Lance Loftin' pitched 2 perfect innings out of the bullpen, but should probably switch to hitting with a name like that.

Three Stars
3. Moises Sierra - grand slam
2. Buck Coats - 2-4, 3B, 3 RBI
1. Nick Gorneault - 2-4, HR, 3 RBI
GCL Jays Ruin the Pattern | 17 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
LouisvilleJayFan - Tuesday, August 25 2009 @ 12:40 PM EDT (#205555) #
Anyone know what the statuses of Robert Ray and Brad Mills are? Are they done for the season?
FisherCat - Tuesday, August 25 2009 @ 03:00 PM EDT (#205562) #
Jordan Bastian just Tweeted that J.P. Arencibia, David Cooper, Brad Emaus and Adam Loewen will represent the Jays in the upcoming Arizona Fall League season.  Reportedly they will be joined by this year's overall #1 Stephen Strasberg.
Denoit - Tuesday, August 25 2009 @ 05:22 PM EDT (#205566) #
It would be nice to see all those guys have a good fall. Arencibia needs to turn it around soon, or he may fall off the charts as top prospect material. Cooper has been better lately, but still needs some work. He needs to hit for more power if he wants to play 1B in the Majors.  Emaus' status is up in the air so this is a big fall for him. Good experience for Loewen, not as important for him to have a good showing but it would still be nice.
zeppelinkm - Tuesday, August 25 2009 @ 05:42 PM EDT (#205567) #

I would say JPA has already fallen from top prospect status. He needs to turn it around just to maintain his status as a prospect. I remain skeptical about his abilities to be any more than a MLB backup. Unless a starter who hits .225/.250/.400 excites you. He doesn't have a good batting eye so he needs to hit to be valuable.  At least Rod Barajas gets on base closer to a .300 clip..... ugh.

 

sam - Tuesday, August 25 2009 @ 05:53 PM EDT (#205569) #
Michael McDade has had a good year. He deserves to be given a shot in Hawaii this fall.
TamRa - Tuesday, August 25 2009 @ 06:23 PM EDT (#205570) #
He needs to hit for more power if he wants to play 1B in the Majors.

A baseball cliche but not necessarily so. There are almost half a dozen relatively full time 1B in the majors this year who probably won't hit 20 homers this year. The thing is you have to have a really nice OBP to offset it if your slugging is low and right now Cooper doesn't have that either. Still, Cooper's been better since the break - I think a decent amount of power will come in time. this is, after all, his first full season in the pros.

I would say JPA has already fallen from top prospect status. He needs to turn it around just to maintain his status as a prospect. I remain skeptical about his abilities to be any more than a MLB backup.

I never cease to be amazed how quickly people will grow skeptical of a prospect.

Dude is in AAA (inadvisably, IMO) in his second full year as a pro. I don't see why one good year + one bad year = poor prospect. Especially given the level.

Was he rushed? I'd say that's self evident. Is he a year or two away? Absolutely. But VERY few catchers are competent major league hitters in their ealry 20's anyway.
Is he a future all-star? I'd be pretty shocked. But a career like that of Bengie Molina:

http://espn.go.com/mlb/players/stats?playerId=3865

Wouldn't be shocking at all.

92-93 - Tuesday, August 25 2009 @ 06:29 PM EDT (#205571) #
"Unless a starter who hits .225/.250/.400 excites you. He doesn't have a good batting eye so he needs to hit to be valuable.  At least Rod Barajas gets on base closer to a .300 clip..... ugh."

Rodrigo Richard Barajas is hitting .238/.267/.393 this year as the starting C. Arencibia doesn't need to light MLB on fire to provide value to the team. It would only take one season as the platoon/everyday C to provide a positive return on his draft signing bonus.



TamRa - Tuesday, August 25 2009 @ 06:33 PM EDT (#205572) #
I really like the choices though. I have my eye on Loewen for a late season call up next year.



Denoit - Tuesday, August 25 2009 @ 06:35 PM EDT (#205573) #
Arencibia is better than he was this year, (can't be much worse can he?).  He has power there, nobody can question that. Even if he ends up being a .270/.300/.480 guy with 20+Hr's he could be very usefull depending on how his defence comes along. I really think his troubles have to do with adjustments they were trying to make in his hitting more than his abilities.
Denoit - Tuesday, August 25 2009 @ 06:51 PM EDT (#205576) #
Cooper lacks in the defensive aspect, so really for him to be valuable he is going to have to be a well above average hitter. I would say an OPS of at least .850 (and that might not even cut it). Lyle Overbay has an OPS of .867 with above average defence and that isnt good enough for alot of people. He is a nice complimentary player but not someone who is going to lead your offence. Coopers bat is going to have to be better than that to be valuable to a winning team.
brent - Tuesday, August 25 2009 @ 09:27 PM EDT (#205580) #

Go to Tango's site to do fan defense evaluation!

Only 40 people have done it for the Jays, so get on over there and evaluate- it is the least anyone can do for Tango who gives so much to the sabr community.

PeterG - Tuesday, August 25 2009 @ 09:30 PM EDT (#205582) #
Regarding Arencibia, a friend of mine who saw the whole series last week in LV against Round  Rock reported that his defence was outstanding.
zeppelinkm - Wednesday, August 26 2009 @ 06:45 AM EDT (#205586) #

I'm glad that my comment sparked some follow up. I was definitely quick with my comment and did not properly back it up with the appropriate research, such as basic stat checking on Rod Barajas.  Thanks for the insight.

Last time I looked at Barajas stat's must have been longer ago than I realized, as he was closer to the .290/.400 obp/slg range. He has definitely fallen off that pace considerably. Too many games played, me thinks.

I am being too harsh on JPA. 22 years of age in triple A is no easy feat. If he can be a 2 dimensional catcher (great D and good power), he will provide value to the big league club. Although I do remain skeptical about players with his batting skillset. Hitting home runs gets harder in the Majors.

Ozzieball - Wednesday, August 26 2009 @ 12:15 PM EDT (#205596) #
Arencibia's peripherals are better this year than last year. His overall numbers has just dropped because he went from very lucky (~330 BABIP) to quite unlucky (~265 BABIP).
Mike Green - Wednesday, August 26 2009 @ 12:59 PM EDT (#205601) #
Arencibia has now had 170 games at double A/triple A.  He has walked 30 times and struck out 154 times, and hit 29 homers.  These are similar numbers to Barajas had at the same levels; Arencibia is a year younger, so I guess there is some basis for optimism. 
lexomatic - Wednesday, August 26 2009 @ 03:27 PM EDT (#205606) #

So I lost my original intro when I pasted stats in, Iot continue the Barajas JPA comparison... I think JPA still has the potential to be better than Barajas, but it won't be the end of the world if he doesn't. Barajas is ideally a platoon guy vs lefties and as a defensive replacement 2-300 abs who's been exposed as a regular. still useful. it would be a disappointment if he doesn't improve

Barajas 24 aaa

G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB

PCL AAA 164 656 610 71 160 40 0 24 112 7 4 25 91 .262 .295 .446 .741 272 15 8 1 12 2

TL AA 129 553 515 77 163 41 2 14 95 2 0 24 73 .317 .353 .485 .838 250 8 8 0 6 6

2000AAA 110 446 416 43 94 25 0 13 75 4 3 14 65 .226 .253 .380 .633 158 13 5 0 11 0 barajas lone full season at aaa otherwise he spent total of parts of 4 seasons

JPA 23 aaa

PCL AAA 103 442 411 58 93 30 1 15 60 0 1 23 99 .226 .276 .414 .690 170 10 6 0 2 0

EaL AA 67 275 262 32 74 14 0 14 43 0 0 7 55 .282 .302 .496 .798 130 7 2 0 4 0


The AAA seasons are pretty comparable,generally Barajas has been able to make better contact, but JPA has more power, is younger and walks more. If you consider that he was unlucky (I think it was Mike who brought up babip?) i think JPA's year would look substantially better, even as a disappointing season. Barajas ha better contact ability in AA but still didn't walk much, and JPA showed more power potentially considering the difference in leagues.

If the coaches don't know what's wrong with JPA in terms of making contact, then that's a problem, but hopefully they do and can suggest stuff to work on in the offseason.  if they give him "homework" for the winter and he doesn't do it, that's a worse problem. If i'm the Jays, in addition to the AZL, i'm trying hard to improve his plate discipline in terms of maximising an asset, though i don't know how that can be worked on. If I'm JPA, I do all those things because it makes potentially millions of dollars and a long career in baseball as a difference.
ramone - Wednesday, August 26 2009 @ 06:07 PM EDT (#205615) #
Speaking of JPA, Bastian's fill in Gilbert just tweeted that Riccardi has said JPA will not be included in the september call ups.
GCL Jays Ruin the Pattern | 17 comments | Create New Account
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