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It was an early Christmas for a baseball fan at the minor league complex on Saturday.  On one field the AAA team were playing the AA team.  On another the Dunedin team were playing the Yankees.  On a third field the Lansing team were also playing the Yankees.  And on a fourth field the extended spring team were playing the Phillies.  Four games, five teams, playing at the same time.  You could develop a sore neck from swivelling around to check out something on another field.

The AAA - AA game featured Kyle Drabek against Rey Gonzalez.  Drabek pitched six innings for the AA team and gave up three hits and three walks over six shutout innings.  Gonzalez had a rough first inning but settled down thereafter.Needless to say Drabek looked very good, he comes after the hitters with a hard fastball and a power curve.

Pitchers in the AAA-AA game included Andrew Liebel; Trystan Magnuson; Marty McLeary and Zach Dials.  Magnuson looked good in his one inning of work, he was pounding the bottom of the one with a two seam fastball that the Jays are asking him to throw more. 

Ryan Page started for Dunedin, followed by Daniel DeLucia, Dumas Garcia and Russ Buckwalter.

For Lansing Ryan Shropshire started and Matt Wright finished up.

The extended game was started by Daniel Webb, an 18th round JC pitcher.  Webb was followed by Druben DeLa Rosa, Juan Hernandez, Shawn Griffith and Zach Outman.

Other than Drabek, the two Lansing pitchers, Shropshire and Wright looked the best on the day.  Shropshire has a very good slider and Wright will pitch as a lefty out of the pen and has a good lefty mix with a good fastball, change and a curveball.

On the hitting side, Brad Glenn had a home run and a triple in the Lansing game.  Gustavo Pierre had a couple of hits; Daniel Perales, a free agent signing, had two doubles for Dunedin; Kenny Wilson was on base three times, look out for him in 2010, and Carlos Perez had a hit.

Perez is injured and will start the season in extended spring.  He has an issue with throwing, but he did DH in the game.  Perez is much smaller than I thought he would be, he could pass for a middle infielder.  MLB lists him as 6'0", 193lbs.  I would put him at 5'10" and 175 pounds.

I have a copy of the provisional opening day rosters.  I will post them later today, hopefully.

Las Vegas have added a free agent third baseman, Christian Colonel, who played in Colorado Springs last season and had been in Red Sox camp this spring.

As mentioned over the last few days, Moises Sierra; Kevin Ahrens; Kenny Rodriguez; AJ Jimenez; and Egan Smith all start the season on the DL.

When you look at the rosters there are not many players above Lansing who are moving up.  Rey Gonzalez moves up to AAA to start.  Bobby Bell moves up to AA as does Eric Thames and Adam Loewen.  Henderson Alvarez; Joel Carreno; Justin McClanahan; Wellinton Ramirez and Yan Gomes get the move up to Dunedin.  But most players start 2010 where they left off in 2009. 

Pitching looks to be the strength of the Jays minor league teams.  The higher level rotations look stacked.

I took a lot of pictures and some video in Dunedin which I need to upload to my computer.  Look for this additional content here over the next few weeks.

Notes from Minor League Camp: Saturday | 22 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Mike Green - Sunday, April 04 2010 @ 10:57 AM EDT (#213052) #
Very informative, as usual, Gerry.  Thanks. 
Troy_k - Sunday, April 04 2010 @ 02:20 PM EDT (#213057) #

Thanks for a little prospect porn.

 Did you get a chance to see any of either Jake Marisnick or K.C Hobson? I haven't seen anything about them since the camps opened. I'm curious to hear how they've looked so far this spring.

Regarding Marisnick; Did he actually get into the big league game against the Yankees on the April 1? He tweeted that he played 3 innings but he wasn't in the box score and it was April 1st.

Gerry - Sunday, April 04 2010 @ 02:51 PM EDT (#213058) #

I saw both guys but it is hard to give a good read on them from limited viewing of them.  I have pictures of both that I will dig out at some stage.  I dont know if Marisnick played in the major league game either but I assume he did.

Marisnick is a tall righthanded hitter who I assume has good speed.  He does have that athletic look about him.  One day he was in centrefield with Markus Brisker in left.  Hobson is a lefty first baseman, more compact than Marisnick.  I think I saw Hobson get a hit but I didn't see Marisnick get one.  But remember I only saw the kids play one game.

Cynicalguy - Sunday, April 04 2010 @ 03:58 PM EDT (#213062) #

Gerry, is Gustavo Pierre going to play at Lansing this season or going back to short season play?

Maldoff - Sunday, April 04 2010 @ 05:04 PM EDT (#213066) #
After not playing last season, I'm disappointed that Marisnick and Hobson are staying in extended ST. I would have liked to see how they fared at the lower levels.
tercet - Sunday, April 04 2010 @ 07:56 PM EDT (#213077) #
Based on the Jays claim to not rush HS players anymore, will it be safe to assume that Hobson/Marisnick will be in extended ST until short season a-ball and then join Auburn?
tercet - Sunday, April 04 2010 @ 08:02 PM EDT (#213078) #
Also was lookin at the 51's roster, and was a bit suprised by one of the pitchers on the roster.

Who is Ruben De La Rosa

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?pos=P&sid=t400&t=p_pbp&pid=492861

Bit of a jump to go from the GCL to AAA

Gerry - Sunday, April 04 2010 @ 10:18 PM EDT (#213087) #

I don't have any information on where guys are going to play this year.  I didn't ask and even if I did I am not sure if the Jays know.  They will decide when the time is right.

The Jays have made a decision to slow down the promotion of players, see Jenkins in A ball and Stewart in AA.  The prvious experiment of sending 18 year olds to Lansing worked in only a couple of cases so the Jays are taking it slow.  I doubt we will see Pierre in Lansing this season unless there is an injury.  If he plays well he could go to Auburn, if not, the GCL.

I think all the high school guys need to show improvement in extended and fight for a spot in Auburn.

Gerry - Sunday, April 04 2010 @ 10:21 PM EDT (#213089) #
DeLa Rosa was on the 51's roster for admin purposes over the winter.  He is now on the extended spring roster.
Gerry - Monday, April 05 2010 @ 09:55 AM EDT (#213100) #

Let me add to my answers about the young guys while possibly repeating myself.  With guys like Marisnick and Hobson the Jays have not had much chance to see them perform in games.  In extended spring training they will play games against the other local extended teams as well as get instruction in how the professional game is played.  If a player starts dominating extended spring games the Jays will look to get him out of there to Lansing.  But that is not an everyday expectation.  Lansing is two levels above extended (with Auburn in the middle) and hitters there face a lot of college age pitchers with good breaking balls.

I think I saw enough in Florida last week to say that Gustavo Pierre can hit a quality fastball, what I don't know about him is how he handles breaking balls.  If the Jays feel he is comfortable against all types of pitches they will send him to Lansing. 

But if I was counselling any of the 18 year-olds, I would say try and get to Auburn.  If you can get on the Auburn roster and do OK there you are set up for Lansing at age 19 and hopefully Dunedin at age 20.  If things continue to go well then hope for AA at 21 and if you can get to double A at age 21 you are in good shape.

Over the last few years we have seen high draft picks like Kevin Ahrens; Justin Jackson; John Tolisano; Marcus Brisker and Eric Eiland struggle to excel in Lansing.  Travis Snider is an exception.  If the Jays find they have another exception on their hands then push him through but until then they will take it slower with the high school guys.

Troy_k - Monday, April 05 2010 @ 12:26 PM EDT (#213109) #

Thanks for the info. I really wish some of the msm guys would do a little more writing on the prospects. I'd really love it if Rogers Sportsnet would do a weekly 30 minute show on the Jays minor league teams so fans could follow the prospects through the system.

 

I'm wondering, if we sign Hech and he plays as advertised, whether the Jays might end up moving Pierre to 3rd; there seems to be some thought that he might outgrow SS.

sam - Tuesday, April 06 2010 @ 05:43 AM EDT (#213155) #
That's a great idea.
Maldoff - Tuesday, April 06 2010 @ 11:18 AM EDT (#213164) #
Has anyone seen a final roster for Dunedin? MILB.com still hasn't updated it, and I don't think anyone posted it here.
Gerry - Tuesday, April 06 2010 @ 11:59 AM EDT (#213167) #

Opening day rosters

Mike Green - Tuesday, April 06 2010 @ 01:38 PM EDT (#213172) #
Gerry,

I'd be surprised if Thames is in right field.  He has a weak arm. 

Gerry - Tuesday, April 06 2010 @ 01:58 PM EDT (#213173) #
I just used the OF positions interchangeably.  I wasn't focused on who plays left or right.  The same for DH, I just stuck a body in there.  I am mainly trying to get the rosters right with the names.
Mike Green - Tuesday, April 06 2010 @ 02:02 PM EDT (#213174) #
Fair enough.  If it turns out like that, I will have to see Auburn in late June, between Perez, Pierre and whoever among the 2010 draftees signs early. 
FisherCat - Tuesday, April 06 2010 @ 03:42 PM EDT (#213175) #

From the NH beat writer, the Fisher Cats rotation looks to be as follows:

  1. Drabek
  2. McLeary
  3. Stewart
  4. Bell
  5. Perez

 

China fan - Tuesday, April 06 2010 @ 03:44 PM EDT (#213176) #
Gerry, thanks for compiling the rosters -- that's a very useful and interesting summary.   Two questions:  1) wouldn't Lubanski be ahead of Mathews in the outfield depth chart at Vegas?  I'm basing this primarily on spring training, when Lubanski was given a large amount of playing time and apparently a long look by the Jays.  You've got Lubanski listed as a bench player, but I would have thought that the Jays see him as a better prospect than Mathews.  2) is there any chance that Emaus gets a promotion to AAA this year?  Again, judging from spring training, the Jays like him a lot.
China fan - Tuesday, April 06 2010 @ 04:18 PM EDT (#213179) #
To be more specific:  Lubanski had 37 official at-bats in spring training, Emaus had 40 at-bats and Mathews had 3 at-bats.   I realize that this is not a perfect indicator of what the Jays think of a player, but Lubanski seemed to be getting a genuine look, not just being fodder to fill a hole.  He just turned 25 a few days ago, so he's not too old to be considered a prospect still.  For Emaus, this is the second consecutive year when he was given a ton of spring-training playing time, and -- despite one horrible month last season -- he seems to be a management favorite.
Gerry - Tuesday, April 06 2010 @ 04:25 PM EDT (#213180) #

I am a bit surprised that Randy Boone is not a starter.  At this stage of his career Marty McLeary is an organizational soldier and I would have thought that Boone would get more innings in the rotation.  But the Jays must see Boone as a major league reliever so they are converting him now.

With Lubanski/Mathews I wasn't focused on who would start, I was just trying to get the right players on the right teams.  Lubanski probably will start but the minor league teams use a lot of rotations among the players and the DH.  In ways they are more democratic than major league teams.

The Jays would love to have Emaus show he is major league ready, they are converting him back to third base and if he can hit well he could replace Encarnacion.  He won't be replacing Aaron Hill anytime soon.  The Jays will probably use new signee Christian Colonel at third and he can be traded or benched if the Jays want Emaus to play. 

ayjackson - Tuesday, April 06 2010 @ 09:51 PM EDT (#213191) #

That Auburn roster looks very intriguing.  Pina and Pena are a couple of unheralded Dominicans who've shown promise.  Hobson, Durham, Marisnick and Webb were all over-slot draftees.  Santiago Nessy is a promising international free agent.   And Hutchison was our ceremonious #31 prospect, according to BA.

Not to mention Pierre and Perez.

 

Notes from Minor League Camp: Saturday | 22 comments | Create New Account
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