Batter's Box Interactive Magazine - Five Innings Starters

All four starters went five innings on Saturday and allowed a combined two runs. That'll win you some ballgames.

Colorado Springs 3    Las Vegas 9

Travis Snider made his return to the Las Vegas lineup and went 1-for-3 with two walks. Adeiny Hechavarria led the way with three hits and three RBI while Eric Thames doubled and tripled. Anthony Gose singled and walked and Travis D'Arnaud took an 0-for-4.

Bill Murphy started and went five solid innings allowing two runs (one earned) on three hits and a pair of walks against three strikeouts. Chad Beck pitched a scoreless ninth in his return to AAA.

New Hampshire 5    Bowie 3

John Stilson made his Double-A debut for the Fisher Cats going five shutout innings, surrendering just three hits. He didn't walk a batter and struck out a pair. Sam Dyson followed with two shutout frames of his own before Scott Gracey allowed three runs in his pair of innings.

Ryan Goins swung the big stick on Saturday reaching base four times on three singles and a walk. Mark Sobolewski singled, walked, and drove in a pair.

Dunedin- Scheduled day off (FSL All-Star Game)

Jon Talley homered twice in a losing cause for the North All-Stars.

Lansing 4    Great Lakes 7

Justin Nicolino took the hill on Saturday with reigns loosened for the first time. As Gerry reported earlier this week, the Jays will now allow their prized low-minors starters to stretch out to five innings. Nicolino didn't disappoint throwing five shutout frames and allowing just three hits and a walk. He struck out three. The wheels fell off in the sixth as Bryan Longpre surrendered a four-spot.

Gustavo Pierre and Kenny Wilson each had two hits, including a double while Carlos Perez went 1-for-4 with a double and two RBI.

Vancouver 11    Spokane 4

The Canadians moved to 2-0 on their season thanks in large part to a balanced attack. Four players had two hits apiece, including Nicholas Baligod who went 2-for-3 with a double, two walks, and three RBI.

Six pitchers appeared for Vancouver. Starter Taylor Cole went five shutout innings allowing two walks and three hits while striking out five. Recent draftee Tucker Donahue had a debut to forget allowing four runs on three hits and a walk without retiring a batter leaving his ERA at infinite.

DSL Blue Jays 1    DSL Braves 3

Three Stars:

3rd Star: Adeiny Hechavarria- 3-for-5, 3 RBI
2nd Star: Justin Nicolino- 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K
1st Star: John Stilson- 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K

Posted by braden on Sunday, June 17 2012 @ 10:17 AM EDT.

Five Innings Starters | 13 comments | Create New Account

The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.

eldarion - Sunday, June 17 2012 @ 12:29 PM EDT (#258813) #

Any chance we could get a bit more info on John Stilson's development this year from someone in the know...? He seems to have recovered from post-draft surgery quite well and is on track to make a major league debut late next year. It seems he's on the verge of passing Mcguire and Jenkins altogether.

Gerry - Sunday, June 17 2012 @ 01:10 PM EDT (#258814) #

I asked Dane Johnson about Stilson last week:

Johnson described Stilson as a go-getter. He said they had to scale him back to keep him controlled. Stilson throws his fastball between 93-96 per Johnson. He also throws a change up and a curve. Dane said that Stilson's shoulder is fine The main issue that Stilson is working on is repeating his delivery. Dane said that at the start of the season Stilson was repeating his delivery 2 out of 5 pitches. Now he feels he is repeating his delivery 3.5 times out of 5.

eldarion - Sunday, June 17 2012 @ 02:36 PM EDT (#258816) #

That's terrific, Gerry, thank you. Is there any sense as to whether the Jays want to keep him in the starting rotation or, long term, change him into a closer? Do they feel his development warrants a promotion in the near future, i.e. 12 months?

hypobole - Sunday, June 17 2012 @ 05:18 PM EDT (#258823) #

"He seems to have recovered from post-draft surgery quite well"

I believe the SLAP tear was not as bad as originally thought allowing Stilson to avoid surgery and only use rest and rehab.

Gerry - Sunday, June 17 2012 @ 05:49 PM EDT (#258824) #

The Jays will keep Stilson, and all starting pitchers, as starters for as long as they can. Starters are more valuable than relievers.

Stilson will likely stay in AA for the rest of the season as long as he is successful. They will decide on where he starts 2013 after they guage his progress for the rest of 2012. Stilson may have an innings limit this season, he was injured last year and I am unsure where that limit might be.

The Jays don't have set timetables for players. If they feel a prospect has stopped developing at a level then they will look to move them up. They have a rough idea what they might do to certain players this year, they have no idea what will happen next year. They like to say "the player will let you know (by his play) when he is ready for a promotion." And to add to that, a week or two weeks of strong performance proves nothing. We can see players in the major leagues who have outstanding months and then their results fall off. The minor league development team don't make decisions based on small samples.

Mike Green - Sunday, June 17 2012 @ 08:37 PM EDT (#258828) #

Thames had a case for a star- a double, a triple and three walks is a great day at the plate.

In lieu of a full reportage from our trip to Manchester, New Hampshire, here are some notes:

Mike McDade looks better hitting left than right. I didn't see any plays where he had to range either right or left signficantly, but he was agile when receiving and made a couple of nice swipe tags
Goins has a solid approach at the plate, will work the count and hit line drives; he is an averageish defensive player at second base
if it starts pouring in the 3rd inning, repair to the bar just beyond the left-field wall, order some pulled pork in potato skins and a Samuel Adams, enjoy Josh Beckett getting tattered on the big screen, and wait for a double rainbow to appear above the first base stands; it happened to us, proving that bliss can occur at the most unlikely of times.

bpoz - Monday, June 18 2012 @ 09:48 AM EDT (#258839) #

Thanks M Green.

Impossibles - Monday, June 18 2012 @ 04:00 PM EDT (#258862) #

The Jays need to start turning these good arms into some help for the pen.

The Chisox seem to continually keep bringing in new guys every year with one or two good pitches (Addison Reed, Nate Jones) to reman the bullpen. AA's spent a lot of money on relievers on one year deals to flip for prospects/comp picks but very few quality bullpen arms have come from within the org in the last 3 years (Perez....that's it?)

Hodgie - Monday, June 18 2012 @ 04:42 PM EDT (#258864) #

"...but very few quality bullpen arms have come from within the org in the last 3 years (Perez....that's it?)"

In large part this is because these types of arms have been used to facilitate trades. Rzepczynski, Stewart, Molina and Collins were used to acquire the likes of Escobar, Rasmus and Santos. Even lower level arms like Farquhar, Magnusson, Jaye and Webb have been used to bring in/back Davis and Frasor.

scottt - Monday, June 18 2012 @ 08:53 PM EDT (#258879) #

Farquhar was lost on waiver when he was moved off the 40 roster, no?

Hodgie - Monday, June 18 2012 @ 08:57 PM EDT (#258881) #

No, not the first time.

scottt - Monday, June 18 2012 @ 09:04 PM EDT (#258883) #

Still, he doesn't have a bullpen job because he's had little success above AA.

Hodgie - Monday, June 18 2012 @ 09:08 PM EDT (#258884) #

And thus why I called him a lower level arm.

Five Innings Starters | 13 comments | Create New Account

The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.