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There were five wins on the farm yesterday with the losses coming at the ends, in Las Vegas and in the Gulf Coast League. However, the one star earned by a pitcher came in one of those two losses. New Hampshire won a walk-off game despite allowing two runs in the top of the 11th and Lansing had a big bottom of the eighth inning for a late come-from-behind victory.

Tucson 3 @ Las Vegas 1Boxscore

Jonathan Diaz reached base in all four of his plate appearances, going 2-for-2 with a pair of walks. Adeiny Hechavarria was only one worse, going 2-for-3 with a walk. Moises Sierra had a pair of hits and Yan Gomes walked and added a double and an RBI. Anthony Gose was 0-for-5, Travis Snider was 0-for-4 with a run scored and Eric Thames was 0-for-3 with a walk.

Sean O’Sullivan had a strong outing for the 51’s with 8 solid innings. He allowed five hits and walked a pair, while striking out three. O’Sullivan allowed two unearned runs on a pair of Hechavarria errors and retired 13 of 18 batters on balls in play on groundouts. Chad Beck allowed a run on two hits in the top of the ninth.

Portland 10 @ New Hampshire 11 (11 innings)Boxscore

Chad Jenkins had a rough time on the mound, allowing 13 hits and six runs. Jenkins only walked one and struck out five. Matt Wright pitched 2 hitless innings with two strikeouts. With New Hampshire losing by one, Scott Gracey took the mound and allowed consecutive hits. Matt Daly came in and promptly got a strike-em-out-throw-em-out double play. While it looked like the Fisher Cats may escape the inning unscathed, Daly then allowed a two-run homer to give the Sea Dogs a 3-run lead.

However, doubles by Brad McElroy, John Tolisano and Brad Glenn, with a walk mixed up, brought the Fisher Cats within one with two out. Kevin Howard stepped to the plate and hit a grounder to third. But it was booted and Mark Sobolewski raced home to tie the game.

Daly pitched a scoreless tenth, but had to go out for the eleventh after New Hampshire didn’t score. With one out and two on, Tolisano committed a costly error by missing a throw on a pickoff attempt and allowed each runner to advance a base. The next better singled, scoring both of them. Daly retired the next two batters.

New Hampshire quickly got runners on second and third after Brian Bocock singled and Kenen Bailli hit a ground-rule double. Sobolewski singled, scoring Bocock and Bailli, the tying run, perhaps unwisely tried to score with none out and was cut down at the plate. Glenn popped out and Sobolewski was stuck at first with two out. Then came Kevin Howard and he atoned for his what-should-have-been-game-ending-groundout with a two-run walkoff homer.

Sobolewski went 3-for-5 and Tolisano, Bocock, Bailli, Glenn and Brian Van Kirk each had two hits. A rehabbing Jacoby Ellsbury was 1-for-5 and a rehabbing Carl Crawford was 2-for-4; both were replaced before the game went to extra innings.

Daytona 2 @ Dunedin 5Boxscore

Dunedin scored five runs on five hits. Four of the runs came home on a pair of two-run homers by Michael Crouse in the third and Koby Clemens in the fourth. Oliver Dominguez went 2-for-4 and Justin Jackson was 1-for-4 with two stolen bases. Jonathan Jones drew a walk, stole two bases and had an outfield assist at home plate.

Ryan Tepera started and went 5 innings to pick up his first win for Dunedin. He struck out six and walked three, while allowing seven hits. Jesse Hernandez threw 3 innings of one-hit belief before Danny Barnes all threw a scoreless inning of relief with two strikeouts to pick up his 21st save.

Great Lakes 4 @ Lansing 8Boxscore

It wasn’t a particularly strong start by Anthony DeSclafani. He surrendered three earned runs on eight hits over 5 innings. He didn’t walk a batter, struck out two and saw his ERA jump to 3.12. Tyler Ybarra allowed a run over 2 innings and Blake McFarland and Ajay Meyer each had scoreless frames.

Lansing entered the bottom of the 8th losing 4-2, having scored in the first when Chris Hawkins singled home Jon Berti and in the third when Carlos Perez hit a solo homer. Perez walked and then Hawkins was retired. Andy Burns doubled home Hawkins and Kevin Pillar singled home Perez to tie the game. KC Hobson struck out and, although they had two men on, it looked like Lansing may start the 9th tied with the Loons.

However, in an unusual move, Great Lakes decided to intentionally walk Kevin Patterson with runners at first and third to bring up Gustavo Pierre. To the delight of Lugnuts fans, Pierre made him pay with a 2-run double. Kenny Wilson was hit by a pitch before a fielding error led to two more runs and Lansing had come back from being doubled to double the Loons.

Danville 3 @ Bluefield 4Boxscore

Daniel Norris had his perhaps best professional start last night (although his best performance was a 4 inning relief appearance), going 3.1 innings for Bluefield, although he struggled with his control. Norris surrendered one run on a solo homer, but he did allow four walks. Norris struck out seven. Tucker Jensen finished the fourth and went on to pitch the fifth and sixth. He didn’t allow a hit and struck out three. The Braves scored two off Brandon Dorsett on a Christian Lopes error. Colby Broussard picked up the save with a hitless ninth with two strikeouts.

Bluefield scored two in the first on a solo homer by Santiago Nessy. The two batters ahead of him, Dwight Smith Jr. and Eric Arce, each had two hits and an RBI. Arce had a double and Smith Jr. drew a walk. Lopes went 2-for-4 and Nico Taylor and Seth Conner added hits. Dickie Thon, Matt Dean and Jacob Anderson all went hitless.

Vancouver 8 @ Salem-Keizer 2Boxscore

Colton Turner walked a tightrope during his start, allowing eight hits and five walks over 5 innings. He only walked two but somehow escaped having only surrendered a pair of runs. Matt Johnson, Jonathan Lucas and Tucker Donahue combined for 4 innings of scoreless relief.

Kellen Sweeney had Vancouver’s only multi-hit game and led the offence with a 2-for-4 evening that included a 2-run home run and a walk. Jordan Leyland added a 3-run homer and a pair of walks. Every starter but leadoff hitter Derrick Chung had a hit and Chung got on base with a base on balls. Matt Newman displayed impressive patience in the 9-hole, going 1-for-2 with three walks.

GCL Tigers 5 @ GCL Blue Jays 1Boxscore

The GCL Blue Jays were limited to four hits. Dennis Jones was 2-for-2 and John Silviano and Cody Bartlett added hits. Adonys Cardona threw 2.2 innings and allowed two runs on two hits and a pair of walks. Cardona struck out four. Mark Biggs pitched 4 scoreless innings, but Adaric Kelly gave up four unearned runs in an inning and Luis Mendez gave up three earned runs in the next frame.

Three Stars:
3rd Star – Kellen Sweeney, 2-for-4, 2 R, HR, 4 RBI, BB, 5 TB
2nd Star – Sean O’Sullivan, 8 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K
1st Star – Gustavo Pierre, 2-for-4, R, 2B, 2 RBI, 3 TB

Late Rallies in New Hampshire and Lansing | 33 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
China fan - Thursday, July 05 2012 @ 10:11 AM EDT (#259851) #
O'Sullivan has now pitched 20 innings for Las Vegas and hasn't surrendered a single earned run. Which might be some kind of a record for Las Vegas. His WHIP stands at an impressive 0.750.

Of course his performance for another PCL team, Omaha, has been far worse this season. So the Las Vegas numbers might be a mirage. Certainly his K/9 rate is pretty poor at 4.7 for both PCL teams combined this year. Still, he's only 24 years old, and has 43 games of major-league experience. If he keeps up the strong numbers at Las Vegas, and if the Jays keep up the revolving door in the bullpen and rotation, he might be worth considering at some point.
hypobole - Thursday, July 05 2012 @ 12:57 PM EDT (#259853) #
Wuilmer Becerra, one of last years top IFA's and signed by the Jays for $1.3 million, joins Mitch Nay on the 60 day DL. Becerra was hit by a pitch in a GCL game a couple of days ago and hasn't played since. Not good.
John Northey - Thursday, July 05 2012 @ 01:27 PM EDT (#259855) #
Funny, Sean O'Sullivan is the only guy with that last name to reach the majors.  As to stuff that is more useful...
  • 3 seasons in majors (2009-2011), 193 2/3 IP including 12 games (10 starts) that were extremely poor for KC last year (57 ERA+, 4 BB/9 vs 2.9 K/9)
  • 7 seasons in minors (2006-2012).  Was in A+ in 2008, then reached majors the next season with the Angels.  ERA over 4 every season since 2007 when he was 19 in A ball.
  • This year is the first season he has a K rate below 6 per 9 IP at 4.7.  Also has his worst walk rate at 3.4 per 9.  However, with Vegas he is at 2.2 BB/9 and 5.4 K/9

My gut says to enjoy his starts in AAA as he is pitching way above his talent right now with 0 ER and just 2 R in 20 IP.  The Jays needed working arms down in Vegas and he'll do for now.  Hopefully we'll soon have guys coming back (at least Morrow) and won't have Romero go down as well (still think he is hiding an injury).



Mike Green - Thursday, July 05 2012 @ 03:08 PM EDT (#259860) #
milb.com considers the Lansing trio.  It's fun to see the three of them standing together. 
China fan - Thursday, July 05 2012 @ 03:23 PM EDT (#259862) #
Jake Marisnick has been promoted from Dunedin to New Hampshire and is in the NH lineup tonight in CF, according to unconfirmed tweets from New Hampshire.
Maldoff - Thursday, July 05 2012 @ 03:27 PM EDT (#259863) #
I'm all for the international signings, but when was the last time one of the bonus babies worked out? Balbino and Gustavo Pierre seem to be busts. Gabriel Cenas and Dawel Lugo are struggling thus far (albiet small sample size). Adonys Cardona, Rberto Osuna and Alberto Tirado seem to be doing OK on the pitching side, but I can't remember the last bonus baby to make an impact higher than A-ball.
hypobole - Thursday, July 05 2012 @ 03:40 PM EDT (#259865) #
Carlos Delgado was a bonus baby, maybe the last of the Eppy Guerrero era. Then, when Ash took over, the Jays more or less cut ties to Latin America. It's only recently strong ties have been reestablished. That said, Alvarez made it, though I don't know how much of a bonus baby he was.
China fan - Thursday, July 05 2012 @ 03:46 PM EDT (#259866) #
Marisnick's promotion to New Hampshire seems confirmed. Luke Christon just tweeted a photo of the NH lineup cards, with Marisnick playing CF and batting leadoff. He's so recent an arrival that he doesn't even have a uniform number assigned to him yet.

Anyone surprised that Marisnick would be promoted so quickly, or is this in line with expectations? His numbers at Dunedin weren't particularly great, although he's been improving rapidly in the past week or two.
Mike Green - Thursday, July 05 2012 @ 03:54 PM EDT (#259867) #
We've had lineup card "confirmations" which weren't.  I guess we'll know for sure soon enough.
hypobole - Thursday, July 05 2012 @ 03:55 PM EDT (#259868) #
I believe Marisnick was promoted for the sole purpose of freeing up a Dunedin roster spot for uber-prospect Kevin Pillar :)
Mike Green - Thursday, July 05 2012 @ 04:05 PM EDT (#259869) #
The FSL has been an extreme pitcher's environment this year.  Dunedin leads the league with 67 homers in 81 games (Palm Beach is the trailer with 23!), and is the only team with a slugging percentage over .400.  Schimpf's season is quite impressive in that context, although he is obviously old for the league. 
Kelekin - Thursday, July 05 2012 @ 04:08 PM EDT (#259870) #
In that context, Talley has had a great year too.

Extreme pitcher's park or not, Marisnick wasn't deserving the promotion.  I like to see my prospects succeed then challenged.

In other news - Nathan DeSouza, our 26th rounder, has signed.  He was ranked the #7 prospect in Canada.

Maldoff - Thursday, July 05 2012 @ 04:12 PM EDT (#259872) #
Jon Berti has been promoted from Lansing to Dunedin as well
sam - Thursday, July 05 2012 @ 04:17 PM EDT (#259873) #
If memory serves me, Moises Sierra was somewhat of a bonus baby? As was the Chavez fellow with the Mariners now.

It's way too soon to evaluate any of the latin american signings under AA. The guys you mentioned are still 18 or under. I don't necessarily buy that the Latin guys have been a complete bust theory. We don't sign a lot of them, or a lot that are considered good prospects until recently. And then you compare the success rate to draft prospects who are at the very least two years older at the time they join the organization and much more copious, I'm not sure.

In addition, the Latin guys are much, much more raw than any of the North American signings. No knock on the trainers, but until recently a lot of these guys did not receive anything close to "pro" instruction until entering professional ball. In North America, most of the elite travel teams that high school draft prospects play on are run by scouts and then elite college programs are usually run by a cadre of former professional ball players. In the past too, you'd have to contend with age and steriod questions. Are kids really what you think you're seeing or is it all artificial?
Mike Green - Thursday, July 05 2012 @ 04:22 PM EDT (#259875) #
If Berti has been promoted, it would make sense for Schimpf also to move up. 
sam - Thursday, July 05 2012 @ 04:30 PM EDT (#259877) #
Nice to see the Lansing trio getting some media love. The Rangers once had a similar trio of prospects, the fearsome DVD trio who were much further along than the Lansing bunch. Danks has turned into a nice mid-rotation starter and Edison Volquez had one season of dominance and is pitching well this year, but has never thrown more than 200 innings, Thomas Diamond just this year broke into the big leagues after some serious arm issues.

I'm going to remain cautiously optimistic.
Kelekin - Thursday, July 05 2012 @ 04:35 PM EDT (#259878) #
Texas always had a flurry of highly regarded pitchers that just didn't pan out.  Kasey Kiker, Eric Hurley, Tanner Scheppers (though he may still be a successful reliever).
Nigel - Thursday, July 05 2012 @ 05:03 PM EDT (#259879) #

I think people are under appreciating Marisnick's season to date.  No, he has not been dominant in Dunedin, but putting up an 800 OPS in Dunedin is not easy for a just turned 21 year old.  To give you some context, Alex Rios (also a just turned 21 year old) put up a 752 OPS in Dunedin.  Marisnick's line also looks excellent relative to Gose's A+ stint (Gose was a little over a year younger though).  While I am surprised by the promotion, I think it is justifiable.

China fan - Thursday, July 05 2012 @ 05:06 PM EDT (#259880) #
Other bloggers in New Hampshire are now confirming that Marisnick has been promoted, and I've even seen a very blurry photo of him warming up in the Fisher Cat outfield.
Mike Green - Thursday, July 05 2012 @ 05:16 PM EDT (#259881) #
Are we sure that it wasn't Scott Pilgrim-era Michael Cera?
greenfrog - Thursday, July 05 2012 @ 05:39 PM EDT (#259883) #
Also keep in mind that Marisnick has been hot (914 OPS in June, 800 OPS in July), so he's trending in the right direction. I can see the argument for letting him consolidate his success at high-A a bit more, but I doubt the organization would promote him if they didn't feel he could succeed at AA.
Hodgie - Thursday, July 05 2012 @ 05:44 PM EDT (#259884) #
Well, for what it is worth Marisnick's overall line has suffered from a bad May in which he compiled an OPS of .621. For the rest of the season he is hitting .896. Despite those struggles in May his 127 wRC+ is tied for 15th in the league with only Yelich and Arcia being younger in that group.

Oh, and the FSL is not a bad hitting environment, it is traditionally the worst run environment in professional baseball.

ramone - Thursday, July 05 2012 @ 06:35 PM EDT (#259885) #
Ryan Schimpf is starting in LF for Dunedin tonight.
Richard S.S. - Thursday, July 05 2012 @ 07:18 PM EDT (#259888) #
Can anyone tell me what has happened to Draft Pick # 715 Trey Pascazi (SS)?   After reading this, http://jaysprospects.com/2012/06/13/interview-with-toronto-blue-jays-2012-draftee-trey-pascazi/ , I've been checking the GCL roster for him and he's not there.
uglyone - Thursday, July 05 2012 @ 10:56 PM EDT (#259895) #
2/5 with a 2B for Jake's AA debut. nice.

If he lights it up in AA as a 21 year old, suddenly he jumps way up the prospect lists.
PeteMoss - Thursday, July 05 2012 @ 11:10 PM EDT (#259896) #
Here's his twitter - https://twitter.com/#!/livinItBig7

From reading that, MLB hasn't cleared his contract yet so he can't play, although he did mention that he could have his 1st start this week.
TamRa - Friday, July 06 2012 @ 01:18 AM EDT (#259899) #
"I believe Marisnick was promoted for the sole purpose of freeing up a Dunedin roster spot for uber-prospect Kevin Pillar :)"

I'm assuming that he will get the call. As for Jake, while I'm stuck looking at stats and normally look for statistical dominance, this is one of the cases when I must defer to the organizational scouts.

My guess is that Marisnick will light it up in AA.

On the 2B front, I wonder if the team will commence using Shane Opitz at 2B (or Andy Burns?) or promote someone?

Derrick Chung, at 24, is way too old for Vancouver (although he's surely just an org guy so it hardly matters) but my eye is on Christian Lopes. He's in Bluefield now and he's an actual prospect.



Not particularly related by while I'm hanging around Lansing-

Gus Pierre brought an eight game hitting streak into the night and went hitless in his first 3 AB (game ongoing I guess)
For that streak he was: .387/.387/.581/.967

Even though there's no walks in there, I hope he's figured something out (SSA applies obviously)
whiterasta80 - Friday, July 06 2012 @ 09:34 AM EDT (#259902) #
Unless "Figuring something out" involves learning how to take a walk or throw to first base I am not holding my breath on Pierre. 
greenfrog - Friday, July 06 2012 @ 01:25 PM EDT (#259912) #
"this is one of the cases when I must defer to the organizational scouts"

As opposed to those cases in which your opinion must override those of the organizational scouts?
TamRa - Friday, July 06 2012 @ 02:30 PM EDT (#259923) #
"As opposed to those cases in which your opinion must override those of the organizational scouts?"

As opposed to those cases when I'm reading a stat sheet and saying "why hasn't this guy been promoted yet?" That is, there are cases when the promotion seems blindingly obvious and I do not have a need to say "Why?" in cases where it doesn't seem obvious, I assume the team knows more than I do.

TamRa - Friday, July 06 2012 @ 02:32 PM EDT (#259924) #
"Unless "Figuring something out" involves learning how to take a walk or throw to first base I am not holding my breath on Pierre. "

Baby steps. Until this not only would he not walk but he mostly couldn't hit the ball either. you have to start somewhere.

As for making the throws - if he hits they will find a place to put him. So far, he hasn't hit enough to make that an issue.
bpoz - Saturday, July 07 2012 @ 11:02 AM EDT (#259946) #
I am intrigued by Matt Johnson, IF turned pitcher. I find it very odd that his mid 90s FB was discovered by accident. So it looks to me like, nobody including himself knew this.

IMO every player on any roster should be tested for pitching ability. This would help the organization find talent & offer another route to a pro career.

We all know about Santos. Some other examples are Sandy Martinez C, Tom & Jerry always commented on how the ball thrown back to the pitcher was harder than the pitch. When Marco Paddy signed H Alvarez, he showed up to the tryout as an IF. When Paddy said he was looking for pitchers, Alvarez gave it a try & got signed.
That was step 1 in 2006. He was lousy in 07 DSL & 08 GCL. He was fantastic in Lansing in 09, which looks to me like he impressed in winter workouts, GCL to Lansing is a very big leap. Once the arm is in shape after a few weeks into the season then players should be tested for pitching abilities.
scottt - Saturday, July 07 2012 @ 04:06 PM EDT (#259953) #
A lot of shortstops, third basemen and outfielders have great arms. It doesn't often comes with control and secondary pitches.

Late Rallies in New Hampshire and Lansing | 33 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.