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The affiliates were 2-1. Shane Dawson went eight in Lansing, Matt Boyd went seven in New Hampshire, and Jairo Labourt went five in Dunedin. Anthony Alford scored two runs and walked. K.C. Hobson provided the heroics (in part) in New Hampshire.

Reading 3 NEW HAMPSHIRE 4

K.C. Hobson tied it in the ninth with a bomb and the Phillies’ affiliate kicked it around later in that inning to score the winning run. Reading had previously gone ahead in the top half of the ninth. Kudos on the comeback. Matt Boyd was solid over seven, allowing two earned on four hits and two walks. He struck out four.

Dunedin 4 Jupiter 5

Mitch Nay and Roemon Fields each had two hits as Dunedin made five errors to allow four unearned runs to score. Starter Jairo Labourt struck out eight in his five innings of work. He walked three and allowed three hits.

LANSING 4 Bowling Green 2

Anthony Alford walked once (per usual), scored twice, hit his way aboard once, and stole a base. All in a night’s work. The next two hitters in the Lansing order both had solid nights as well. Richard Urena had two hits in the two-hole and Rowdy Tellez had two hits in the three-hole. Starter Shane Dawson had the standout performance on the farm, going eight innings allowing just a solitary earned run.

Three Stars

3. K.C. Hobson

2. Matt Boyd

1. Shane Dawson

Box Scores

Dawson pitches 8 and Boyd pitches 7 | 20 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Mike Green - Friday, May 29 2015 @ 08:36 AM EDT (#301446) #
Matt Boyd has now made 20 double A starts over the last two seasons.  His cumulative line: 101IP, 89H, 41ER, 7HR, 28W, 104K.    It works.  If you give him 5-10 starts in Buffalo and he can handle that, you can put him in the major league bullpen in July or August.

Urena's batting average is decent and the home runs are nice, but a 4/39 W/K line is not.  On the other hand, Rowdy Tellez is doing what he has to do- hitting for medium range pop and getting a better handle on the strike zone.  Ideally, the whole Lansing crew would get promoted as a group, but it's looking to me like Urena is the one that needs to be brought along more slowly than the others.

bpoz - Friday, May 29 2015 @ 09:10 AM EDT (#301448) #
I agree with you Mike. Promotions should occur soon, I would think.
The Lugnuts are in a great position to take a playoff berth in the 1st half. I would think that the 1st half should end in 2-3 weeks.

Dunedin has struggled and could use some help. I cannot find any Dunedin players worthy of a promotion, so there may be a surplus of players. Labourt & Hoffman would stay in the rotation. I would add Dawson and De Jong to their rotation. I would not promote D Jansen so soon.

Actually I cannot complain of the Dunedin & Lansing rotations as they were constructed. All the players on those teams deserved to be in full season ball. Labourt in Dunedin was aggressive.

I do not understand Smoral's recent promotion to Dunedin. I expected a fast climb for the injured Ryan Borucki.
ayjackson - Friday, May 29 2015 @ 10:18 AM EDT (#301449) #
Boyd could be a candidate for a ML rotation spot when Sanchez nears his innings limit for the year. Ideally, he'd get there when Stroman was ready.

Another option is to have Osuna and Sanchez switch roles in August to manage both of their innings appropriately.
finch - Friday, May 29 2015 @ 10:51 AM EDT (#301450) #
I think expectations should be tempered when it come to Boyd. IMO, at best, he's comparable to Kendall Graveman. It would make an excellent trade chip for another MLB arm, packaged with similar players.

Of the Lansing trio, I would promote Anthony Alford after the first half is over. I would keep Jansen, DJ Davis, Urena and Tellez in Lansing for the entire season. Urena is our SS of the future, or atleast that's how it's shaping up, so let him learn the strike zone better and hopefully he can cut his K Rate in the 2nd half.

I really like what DJ Davis is doing over the past 15 games or so. Looks like he's becoming more comfortable with the strike zone.
Mike Green - Friday, May 29 2015 @ 11:05 AM EDT (#301451) #
Graveman wasn't striking out batters at the rate Boyd has been, but if you can get the "Josh Donaldson of starting pitchers" for Boyd and a couple of other players, then it would be hard to argue with that either. I wouldn't bet on that happening.

I wonder how the club is going to handle Sanchez' seasonal workload.  He threw 133 innings last year (after about 90 innings the previous 2 years).  He will be turning 23 in July.   He's averaging about 6 innings per outing.  I'd venture a guess that they would be willing to give him 30 regular season starts.  As for Osuna, I am more worried about appearance overload than innings overload given his usage so far.  There is a lot of merit to moving him to the rotation.



Lylemcr - Friday, May 29 2015 @ 11:08 AM EDT (#301452) #
I want you to report when Alford doesn't get a walk. :)
uglyone - Friday, May 29 2015 @ 11:14 AM EDT (#301453) #
yeah boyd has legit peripherals that graveman has never had. i'd be much more optimistic on boyd.

speaking of which, here's some video of boyd hitting 95mph and staying there thru the 5th: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-fringe-five-baseballs-most-compelling-fringe-prospects-46/#comments
uglyone - Friday, May 29 2015 @ 12:11 PM EDT (#301454) #
when thinking about Sanchez and Osuna in the rotation and their ip limits, i thought of the mets' current 6-man rotation as a possible solution.
Ryan Day - Friday, May 29 2015 @ 02:47 PM EDT (#301458) #
The Jays say they aren't doing any strict innings limits with their young pitchers.

So while we can probably assume no one is going to pitch 250 innings, it'll be more about performance & health, and the team's record, than a set number of innings.
jerjapan - Friday, May 29 2015 @ 03:21 PM EDT (#301462) #
Boyd has been getting lots of love on the Fringefive as that link posted by Ugly shows - didn't realizing he was able to pitch consistently at 95. He does seem more promising than Graveman -a Happ style fifth starter suits me just fine. maybe even mid rotation upside?
Lugnut Fan - Friday, May 29 2015 @ 03:23 PM EDT (#301463) #
I noticed that the Jays haven't focused on much on innings for the pitchers, but they do stick to an extremely strict pitch count from what I've observed.  I don't recall a pitcher throwing more than 70-75 pitches in the last number of years in Lansing unless he was a college org guy / arm.
Jevant - Friday, May 29 2015 @ 03:25 PM EDT (#301465) #
Gotta think that Boyd is at least in the discussion for "next man up" the next time the Jays need a starter from the minors for a spot start or to cover a 2 week DL stint.  At least until Norris can find the strike zone again consistently.
jerjapan - Friday, May 29 2015 @ 04:19 PM EDT (#301469) #
If it's a spot start, I'd prefer Jenkins / Francis / Copeland or Albers to Boyd, hate to waste an option year and a spot on the 40 man for one start.  Shades of Sam Dyson, as far as I can tell a completely pointless waste of an asset.  I like the way AA keeps a fresh arm ready and plays the Buffalo shuffle with the pitchers in that spot (not saying I like an 8 man pen!) but I do think he gets too cute sometimes.   We've lost fringe assets in relievers Matt West and Preston Guilmet this year as AA plays forty man roulette. 

Call Boyd up if he's getting a legit shot - the rotation or the pen. 
cybercavalier - Friday, May 29 2015 @ 04:44 PM EDT (#301470) #
If it would be a spot start, I would prefer specifically Copeland out of the pitchers whom jerjapan mentioned. Copeland had pitched well this season in Buffalo so needs a chance to showcase himself and be evaluated as a starter in Toronto. Francis and Jenkins have got their chances as MLB starters. Albers have not pitched particularly well so far in Buffalo. Regarding he being too cute, would keeping pitchers or batters, who prove only by their performances in regular minor league season games, be more practical roster transactions ?
finch - Friday, May 29 2015 @ 05:22 PM EDT (#301471) #
Shout out to a few Blue Jays Prospects that made Baseball America's Hot Sheet:

#3 - Richard Urena
#13 - Matt Boyd
#16 - Rowdy Tellez

Surprised that Anthony Alford didn't make the list with the high average and on base percentage.
PeterG - Friday, May 29 2015 @ 05:26 PM EDT (#301472) #
next shot may be Doubront.
cruzin - Friday, May 29 2015 @ 07:23 PM EDT (#301478) #
Any thoughts on Jorge Flores?

Another one of those short guys that fly underneath the radar that might be intruding on fringe prospect status or strictly MILB guy?
Gerry - Friday, May 29 2015 @ 08:07 PM EDT (#301479) #
Flores could be a major leaguer. His problem is size, listed at 5' 5", and likely strength. He has no triples or home runs this year and just 8 doubles out of 52 hits. The major league fields would play in on him like they do to Kawasaki. Actually Kawasaki is probably not a bad comp.
uglyone - Friday, May 29 2015 @ 08:47 PM EDT (#301480) #
flores is pretty interesting. nice bounceback after a rough year last year.

what are the reports on his defense? is he a legit ss?
Nigel - Friday, May 29 2015 @ 11:00 PM EDT (#301482) #
Flores is tiny but he is a line drive machie. The weakness in his offensive approach, given the lack of power, is the lack of walks. Defensively, he average range, average hands and a slightly below average arm. He can play SS but I think he profiles better at 2B. I like Flores quite a bit but due to his size and BA heavy offensive profile he will need to prove it at every level. The BA is legit though - he makes consistent hard contact.
Dawson pitches 8 and Boyd pitches 7 | 20 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.