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Jordan Romano took the first star with seven shutout innings.

It was three wins and two losses for the affiliates on Wednesday. One of the key differentiators in the early going has been bullpen performance. The Jays affiliates have received good starting pitching and the hitting has been decent too. If the bullpen can hold the lead the affiliate has a good chance of winning but when it blows up, there is a loss in the cards. On Wednesday the Lugnut bullpen blew up good and turned a lead into a loss. The Bisons bullpen took over in a loss and got the team a win. Similarly the D Jays bullpen helped them out in the second game of their doubleheader.



Deck McGuire was impressive this spring with excellent results. Those good results lasted until the third inning on Wednesday. In the third he walked and a hit a batter before giving up back to back doubles. In the fourth he was taken deep for a two run home run. McGuire did get through the fifth, and picked up the win, but six runs allowed in five innings is not a good start.

Danny Jansen caught and therefore we did not get the McGuire, McGuire (all McGuire, double McGuire, McGuire squared) battery. Jansen had a hit to keep his elevated batting average at .545. Tim Lopes is also hitting .545, but he is doing it in under the radar style.

Darnell Sweeney made a good first impression going 2-3 with a home run and two walks.

The Bisons hit four home runs. In addition to Sweeney, Dwight Smith (grand slam), Teoscar Hernendez and Jason Leblebijian went yard.

Matt Dermody closed out the game and has been perfect in two appearances so far.


Jordan Romano had an excellent start for New Hampshire, 7 shutout innings, 3 hits, no walks and 7 K's.

Like Deck McGuire, Jonathan Davis had a nice spring with lots of playing time with the major league squad, but is now slumping. He is just hitting .208 so far in AA.

Bo was 1-5, Vlad 2-5 and Gurriel 1-5.


TJ Zeuch had a good start for Dunedin even if he took the loss. Zeuch had given up one run through six innings. As this was a doubleheader this was a scheduled seven inning game. Zeuch came out for the seventh and hit a batter. A two out single let the hit batter score in a walk off. The other run allowed by Zeuch came in on a wild pitch. Zeuch's line was 6.2 5 2 2 0 4.

Josh Palacios had three hits over two games to keep his average high at .440.

Logan Warmoth is off to a rough start hitting .136.

Jackson McClelland should be in AA, he has pitched three perfect innings so far with six punch outs.


Yennsy Diaz pitched a one hitter over 5.2 innings on opening day and another one hitter over six innings on Wednesday. However this start was not as sharp as his first one. On opening day Diaz had ten K's, in his second start he had four strikeouts and four walks.

Kevin Smith had two more hits to keep his average high at .393.

Samad Taylor also had two hits, a triple and a home run. It was his first home run and it cleared the centre field wall. He was also hit by a pitch but made two errors.

Anthony Alford played in the first Dunedin game. He went 1-2 but left the game after five innings.


I found this page on the mlb site. It has box scores as well as the system leaders for the day.


Three Stars

Third Star - Darnell Sweeney

Second Star - Dwight Smith

First Star - Jordan Romano


Romano! Mamma Mia! | 8 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
John Northey - Wednesday, April 11 2018 @ 10:03 PM EDT (#356080) #
For the most part outside of AAA the bullpen is a 'who cares' situation full of non-prospects and guys who are very happy to just be making money to play ball.  If that is the only problem for most of the Jays affiliates then things are extremely good on the farm.

Funny, 2 hits and it is a quiet night for Vlad. Danny Jansen is moving into the 'exciting' category and we should see him by September or early 2019 I suspect.
dan gordon - Wednesday, April 11 2018 @ 11:41 PM EDT (#356083) #
I like quite a few of the guys they have in the bullpens below AAA. If you can develop a few Danny Barnes types, it makes a difference. In NH, you've got Jackson, Case, Shafer, maybe Fernandez, Young, Isaacs, in A+ there is McClelland, Bergen, maybe Snead, and in Lansing, Pascual, Tice, Spraker, maybe 12K guy Sellers. Sure, the farther from the big leagues you go, the lower the chance of success, but I wouldn't be surprised to get 2 or 3 useful guys from the current inhabitants of the AA, A+ and A bullpens.
GabrielSyme - Thursday, April 12 2018 @ 12:52 PM EDT (#356099) #
This is premature, but while might be said that Vladimir Jr. has only had one great week, he had a great week in a manner that raises the question of how long he can be kept in AA.

One of the few knocks against Vladito this offseason was that he wasn't elevating the ball, and hence wasn't generating the in-game power he was capable of. In the first week, his fly-balls are up, his pop ups and grounders are down, and he's hitting for more power than last year. He's only struck out twice, and the only reason his batting line isn't even better is a low BABIP.

I suspect we are going to hear a fair bit about his defensive work, as there may be no further questions about his bat.
jerjapan - Thursday, April 12 2018 @ 04:48 PM EDT (#356111) #
John Sickels has a list up of ten 'overcrowded' minor league positions.  He mentions the Bisons at catcher, and interestingly includes Pentacost as the third name in the mix.  I was certain he would pick the NH infield though ... that is one stacked infield.  If AA and Pompey were healthy, the Buffalo OF would also merit consideration. 

https://www.minorleagueball.com/2018/4/9/17214364/overcrowded-minor-league-positions-ten-clubs-brimming-with-talent-austin-hays-keibert-ruiz

Agreed with your list of relievers Dan Gordon...gone are the days of neglecting minor league relievers.  Bergen and McClelland should move fast but likely won't - too much depth ahead of them - and Snead is my sleeper. 

scottt - Thursday, April 12 2018 @ 06:10 PM EDT (#356114) #
Vladimir Guerrero played 138 games at AA in which he hit .360 with 24 home runs.
The next year he played 90 games with the Expos, learning on the job, where he hit .302 with 11 home runs.
Only in his second year, did he start collecting MVP votes.

#2JBrumfield - Thursday, April 12 2018 @ 07:06 PM EDT (#356116) #
Logan Warmoth has his first Florida State League home run, a two-run shot in the first in Palm Beach.

I also invite you check out this story on him.
bpoz - Thursday, April 12 2018 @ 07:55 PM EDT (#356117) #
Thanks #2. I love that site.
John Northey - Thursday, April 12 2018 @ 10:38 PM EDT (#356118) #
Vlad Sr was such a slow starter... Didn't reach AA until age 21, majors to stay at 22.  Vlad Jr is in AA at 19 - Sr was just in rookie ball at that same age.  Sr had his first call up at 21 (9 games, 24 OPS+)

Said with tongue firmly in cheek :)  I suspect Jr wants to stay ahead of his dad in everything.

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