Didn't realize Art Charles had been promoted from Bluefield. When I checked the transactions, I noticed Roberto Osuna has been promoted as well. Good that the Vancouver folks will see, though probably briefly, at least a couple of real prospects in Stroman and Osuna.

nice catch.

good to see Charles promoted - I'm a big fan of this guy despite the Ks, and he was too old for Bluefield. Would be nice if he could continue the hot hitting in Vancouver. Might just turn himself into a prospect. Tons of walks and tons of power, along with a decent dose of athleticism, is never a bad thing.

Wow, Osuna is only 17 and a few months old, I'm going to try to make sure I get out to see him.

I was at the Canadians game last night. It was quite the surprise to see Art Charles in uniform and he, perhaps more than any other player last night impressed the most.

I encourage everyone to get out and see a minor league game. If anything it is an affordable and fun time to get to see baseball played and the many other attractions that normally come with minor league baseball. In this case, for those who don't know, the Canadian games have a dancing grounds crew, ushers that do the "chicken dance," and about every inning or so trot out a adorable kid to throw souvenirs into the crowd. Fans are very close to the action so you get much more access to players than at a Major League ballpark.

For people interested in prospects, attending a minor league game can be a pivotal moment in how you "dream" on players. What I mean by that is we as fans see some youtube videos here and there, but we mostly see the box scores and allow that to dictate our assessment of players. It is important to understand that guys are in the minor leagues for a reason and the baseball in the minor leagues can be so bad sometimes that it may convince some to brush off the dust off the spikes in your attic.

Last night wasn't necessarily one of those games, but let's just say that a lot of these guys lack the tools to play major league baseball. Again, I think it's important to understand that when we start assessing prospects. For the hitter, if he's not hitting the ball off pitchers who don't have a major league fastball or command, how is he going to hit Major League pitching? Similarly, if a pitcher just can't get minor league hitters out or isn't dominating minor league hitters, how is he going to handle major league hitters? I think once you see a minor league game and some of these guys perform you certainly are less likely to assume a prospect is going to replicate anything close to his minor league stats at major league level.

Anyways, on to the "prospects."

Marcus Stroman RHP: 2IP, 1H, 1BB, 2K, 1-3GB-FB

John Farrell was asked about Stroman a day or two about his potential to feature in the bullpen in Toronto at one point this year. If I recall correctly, Farrell seemed cool on that idea. Stroman pitched like he had already thrown a hundred innings in the year. The stuff as advertised around draft time was a consistent mid-90s fastball and a mid-80s plus-plus slider. Both of which he commanded well. In some of the research I did around draft time for the site, most draftniks had Stroman as one of the only true "electric" arms with two plus pitches, etc.

On the night Stroman touched 95 once, but was consistently 90-93. It is a very flat, elevated fastball that doesn't miss many bats. In fact, the one hit he gave up was on the 95mph fastball, which he reached back for and subsequently elevated. Here's the thing about Stroman and should always be remembered as he goes through the organization. As a result of his size, he doesn't create much of a downward plane with his fastball. He is the anti-Syndergaard in many respects. The size issue should be a concern for this reason and not for the durability reasons. He delivers the fastball in a fairly up-tempo delivery and as a result it doesn't play up much and it sits on one plane as it approaches the hitting zone. And that plane, and because of his size, allows hitters to easily lift the ball. Homeruns I think will be a serious issue for him in his career. He's going to have to do a bit more with that pitch, maybe give up some velocity and try to run it a bit, but not many of the hitters even in the NWL were overwhelmed by his velocity. His command of the pitch was average. It wasn't as though he was painting corners, but he can throw strikes.

The slider on the other hand is a very good pitch. It's a true off-the-table type breaking ball with very late action. He threw it in the 80-83mph range and threw it quite frequently. It appears as though the organization's stress on throwing fastballs the vast majority of the time did not apply to Stroman. What he often does with the fastball and slider is elevate the fastball and then drop the almost 12-6 slider on guys who give up on the pitch based on the location of the previous pitch. It's a good sequence, but one that good hitters will pick up on as he moves up a couple levels. The same with the fastball though, there's not a lot of swing and miss to the pitch. One of his strikeouts came swinging on a fastball, the other looking on the slider. Overall though, it wasn't as though guys were waving helplessly at any of these pitches. There were some healthy cuts, but not very good contact.

Stroman didn't seem to throw any change-ups, but did in warm-ups. It looks as though the organization has yet to get their hooks into him. He pitches with what has got him here which is the fastball, but mostly the slider which is a plus pitch. He still has a very quick arm and fairly clean delivery, but again it's in that gray area where you say, "well that kind of looks like a reliever's delivery, is he going to be able to sustain that through a 200 inning season?" Stroman though, has the proverbial "bull-dog" mentality on the mound and attacks hitters. He's a give me the ball-type guy, who paces around the mound like someone pitching out of the back-end of a bullpen. (Does that make sense?)

He's got to be close to his innings maximum and I think having him pitch in a Major League bullpen would do more damage than good as he does look a little fatigued and has thrown a lot of innings, coupled with the emotional and physical drain a draft year can take. His change-up didn't look bad in warm-ups and he showed in college he could sustain his velocity deep into starts so I'm all for him pitching on one of the playoff bound minor league clubs as a reliever--be it Dunedin or Lansing, however, I think you probably give him an offseason program of rest and long toss and then have him develop as a starter in spring training next year.

I got to see Joba Chamberlain make his debut at Rogers Centre a few years back and that was one of the more dominating relief appearances I've ever seen. I hope people don't think Stroman can do that, or anything similar to that if he were to be called up. He's a good looking pitching prospect who will most certainly feature on a major league roster at one point in his career. Whether he'll ever be a "can't miss" prospect, I'm not sure. I like what the Jays have done with John Stilson this year, and hope the Jays do something similar with Stroman next year.

Art Charles 1B: 2-3, BB

It was a surprise to see Charles in uniform last night and he was one of the few players to hit the ball hard all evening. I would estimate there was four, maybe five well struck pitched balls all evening. Carlos Ramirez hit a legit homerun to center field and there were one or two sharply hit ground balls, but Charles' second single on the night was a frozen rope to the left-center gap that the CF did well to cut off to avert extra-bases. Chalres' first hit was a seeing-eye single on a weak grounder up the middle. Charles hits left-handed with slightly bent knees and is slightly hunched-over at the waist. Some similarities to the David Ortiz set-up.

Charles is a big-guy and is a true 6-6. He seemed in-shape, but will most likely have to watch his weight over the course of his professional career. Charles has a very quick, and actually fairly short swing. I say that with some surprise as normally those big guys, with some power normally have fairly majestic, long-lots of moving parts-type swings. Not so for Charles who is fairly short to the ball and seems to be learning how to drop his hands onto the ball to hit for some more average. He had excellent pitch recognition in this game and was very rarely fooled by the right-hander or left-handed reliever, whom Charles singled twice off. Just a note here, the left-handed reliever was a UBC grad Mark Hardy. Hardy was rehabbing a shoulder injury and as a 43rd round draft pick in 2010 was the first member I believe of that draft to reach Double-A. He has a fairly wonky delivery, which perhaps easily explains the shoulder issues, and pitched last night in 87-88 range with the fastball and a slow low 70s breaking ball.

Charles impressed at the plate and should be considered a fringe prospect. Power hitting first basemen do tend to take some time to develop and I wouldn't be terribly surprised if he started next year off in Lansing and put some numbers up that warranted a promotion. The tools, and ability to recognize pitches are there, and as a result once he becomes a more consistent hitter, the organization will probably feel quite comfortable promoting him up a level.

Defensively he fielded his position well, however, for him because he is so tall and awkward at times with his movements he doesn't win any awards for grace in the fields. But he made the plays he needed to make last night either scooping the ball or fielding the ball so I have no complaints. Running isn't his strong suit, but he did run hard on everything and played the game the right way on the night. Not necessarily a base clogger, but if he doesn't hit, he doesn't do much for you. He sort of knocks his knees together when he runs, which you feel like one wrong move could result in an injury, but I admit that that's a tad paranoid.

Kellen Sweeney 3B: 1-4, 2K

Sweeney is an athletic looking ball player--not of Brett Lawrie's class--but Sweeney is of that smooth natural baseball athleticism. I'll start with his fielding, which is clearly his strength at the moment. Sweeney has very good actions at third base and was perhaps the only player on both teams who looked the big leaguer in the field. While he certainly needs repetition; the arm, the actions, the athleticism is all there to play a ML 3B. One play he ranged to his left to field a chopper, throwing on his back foot across the diamond for an out. On another he charged a slow roller from a deep position (albeit more slowly than my liking) fielding the roller with his bare hand and throwing in one motion across his body to first. The runner was safe by hair although Charles had decidedly stepped off the bag to watch the baserunner who had been on first round second and was looking to move to third on the play. It was the play only a confident player in his abilities would attempt to make.

Hitting, as his numbers would suggest, is a different story. Even from his draft year I thought he didn't engage his lower-half enough to hit for any type of power. The same remains as he swings from an upright, slightly open stance with a small stride. He starts his hands pretty high and really doesn't generate much torque with his hips or any real violence with his bat. He has bat speed, but it's not that impressive. His hit was a chopped, seeing-eye single through the left side of the infield. The swing is fairly straight forward, there are some holes to hit and I wonder if he can handle a good inside fastball, but he just doesn't seem like he wants to punish the baseball.

He had two pretty poor at-bats in my estimation. One was a three pitch strike out to the lefty hardy where he was completely off-balance on several breaking balls. The other was his other strikeout earlier in the game against the righty who was pitching at 88-90 with a straight fastball and below average secondary offerings, where he was out in front of a fastball, pulling it foul down the first base side and everyone and their mothers in stadium knew a change-up or something off-speed was coming and Sweeney looked completely fooled flailing at the outside change-up. It was a little shocking considering out of the draft he was considered to have very good pitch recognition. I even recall reading somewhere that some scouts believed he would one day be a 100 walk type player.

Anyways Sweeney has a ways to go with the bat, but I'm sure he'll get another opportunity at Lansing next year and maybe another off-season of weight training will help him out. A bit more on Sweeney though. He's a good looking ball player, but his frame is a little on the small side. He's quite slender for a corner infielder and position player and doesn't have very broad shoulders so I do wonder if he'll ever develop the muscle he'll need, although he looks like he could develop popeye type forearms and really that's all you need as a hitter, so I'm not sure it's that big of a worry.

I'm not sure there are any other prospects on the Canadians roster. Nick Baligod had a poor game and didn't really impress with his bat-speed or any other tools. Carlos Ramirez played RF and as mentioned hit a legit shot to CF. He is still very skinny, yet I guess you could consider him "wiry" strong. The homerun was hit off a first pitch fastball. Still he has a ways to go to even be on the radar. Tucker Frawley can throw the ball a bit and Balbino Fuenmayor can still tease with impressive bat speed and power potential, but still gets himself out too much swinging at pitches out of the zone. He DH'd in this game. Taylor Cole pitched well and avoided the barrel of the bat throughout his start. He worked 90-92 with the fastball through his six innings and featured OK secondary offerings. Cole turns 23 in August and really doesn't stand out too much, but he should make his way through the organization, but get hit a bit more as he progresses. There isn't anything there to suggest he could succeed out of a major league bullpen and his fastball isn't all that dynamic so I wouldn't get too excited about the stats. Again, not many hitters in the NWL that make it to High A let alone the big leagues.

I'm going to try to get to one of Osuna's starts and get some film for people.

Thanks, sam.

Excellent stuff, sam.

Sam, thanks for that fantastic info.

No problem at all. If people have questions about specific players or any questions about my report, feel free to ask.

I'll try to get out to an Osuna start and provide some video or pictures as people have expressed some concern or interest in his body/weight and there is limited video of him circulating the inter-web.

Thanks sam.

Did you have an opinion on Flores?

Flores is a crowd favourite and consistently received the most applause prior to his at-bats. I know he was signed to Arizona State had he not signed with the Jays, but to be honest I wasn't watching him too closely and he didn't really do anything that would make you take notice. He's a tiny ball-player who seems to get the most of his frame. I missed his double in the first inning, but his following at-bats weren't all that impressive as he did not seem to be a difficult out and was retired by below-average stuff from both the right and left side. No loud outs.

For someone his size you somewhat expect just explosive quickness and range, which I didn't really see. He has an average arm with little carry. On a chopped ball, which he should have taken charge on he played passively and the runner as a result easily beat the throw. He then shot a glare at Kellen Sweeney at third, who had initially made as if to play the ball only to realize it was clearly out of his range. Flores, in my estimation, should have broken to play the ball irregardless of Sweeney's initial jump and as the infield general should have made that play--which was an easy out if not for the mix-up.

He's a nice little ball player for the level, but looks the type to be completely overwhelmed once he starts to match up against guys with more major league tools. He's got some "scrap" to his game and looks a gamer, but that only takes you so far in professional baseball. Let's just say I don't see him taking at-bats away from a prospect.

Great report, sam.  However, you forgot about the Sushi Race with Chef Wasabi pulling out a rare win by throwing stress balls at Kappa Maki and Miss BC Roll.  Wasabi threw nothing but fastballs but his command was a little off! ;D

I caught the Vancouver game as well (quite glad I missed the debacle at the Dome!) and sam pretty much covered it.  I did like the way Taylor Cole pitched - there was a tweet from the Canadians press staff that 31 of his first 38 pitches were strikes.  Of his 12 outs in play, nine were on the ground and he worked quickly as the game ended in two hours and 13 minutes.  His delivery seemed pretty free and easy, almost effortless.  Marcus Stroman got the job done but did give up a couple of deep fly balls.  His two Ks came on pitches of 80 and 92 and that slider was pretty nasty.  Jonathan Lucas made things too exciting in the ninth by giving up a two-out hit and a walk but struck out the last hitter for the save.  It was nice to see Carlos Ramirez come through with the big blast to center after having a rough day at the plate the day before.   That was a majestic poke over the manual scoreboard in center.  There have not been a lot of C's homers at the Nat this year so that was nice to see.   I also liked Art Charles and he certainly did sting that single up the middle.  He replaced fellow big man Jordan Leyland, who was sent down to Bluefield.  Another 5,000 people were at the Nat and it looks like they will set an attendance record. 

The C's did win again today, 1-0 over Euguene, thanks to a Derrick Chung sac fly in the bottom of the ninth.  Javier Avendano, Cole Turner and Arik Sikula combined on a 2-hitter with Sikula getting the win.

My apologies. Yes, the sushi race was quite the thriller and certainly part of the festivities of attending a C's game.

For regular attenders of Jays' games, many may have noticed the frequency which young, 20-somethings populate the games. Attending a Jays' game has become a real social thing to do amongst this crowd, although I'm not too sure if this is for the best as the cases of just poor, lazy heckling ("Manny, you suck!" Just doesn't cut it) has increased markedly as has the youtube videos of people fighting in the stands.

As it was my first C's game, I noticed a similar type crowd of young people who clearly attended the game to socialize and not watch baseball. Fortunately there were no fights, and as my girlfriend (from Vancouver pointed out) most of this young crowd were clearly seasoned C's games attenders as they had all purchased tickets along the third base side which was the only section of the stadium at that time still basking in the sunshine (rare out here). As 2JBrumfield points out, the C's regularly sell out their stadium and there seems to be a real thirst for baseball in the city. For example, the amount of baseball diamonds and little league associations in the city far surpasses that of Toronto.

The Jays have done real well to link up with Vancouver and I know the organization is not that far removed from their previous stint in the PCL, but another avenue the Jays might want to explore with their ongoing AAA/Las Vegas issues is somehow moving a AAA club to Vancouver. The city could easily support a AAA Toronto farm club and it seems as though Nat Bailey could add a grandstand or two further down both foul lines to further increase attendance. It may be an option to consider if re-affiliation to Buffalo/Rochester falls through this offseason.

I'd love to see the PCL back in Vancouver. I remember listening the the Vancouver Mounties games back in the 60's and especially Gerald Reimer( a distant cousin). It was pretty cool as a Canadian teen in high school to have any kind of relative playing pro ball. I'm a couple of hundred miles out of Van and have never been to a game there but I'd love to see the PCL return one day as a jays affiliate.

I'll be interested to hear how Matt Johnson is developing, just under the heading of "feel good story"