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It was a quieter night on the farm. Buffalo and New Hampshire are off for their all-star games. Vancouver had a scheduled day off. The other five teams all won. Dunedin have been hot all season, they won to run their record to 57-28. Lansing had a great start from Troy Miller and another Griffin Conine home run. Bluefield have won 10 of the last 13. Their hitters have been hot, they have scored in double figures in three of their last eight games. I highlight some of them below. The GCL and DSL Jays also won. Dalton Pompey and Patrick Cantwell are on the rehab trail.

Buffalo - All Star Break

New Hampshire - All Star Break

Dunedin 10 Tampa 8 - game one, 8 innings

Dunedin 0 Tampa 3 - game two, Suspended in the third inning

Lansing 8 Peoria 2

Vancouver - Day off

Bluefield 13 Pulaski 9

GCL Jays 9 GCL Tigers 2

DSL Blue Jays 11 DSL Padres 10


Here are some things I noted from Wednesdays games:


The first game of the Dunedin - Tampa doubleheader went to extra innings. In my totally non-scientific observation, it does seem that the first game of a doubleheader has gone to extra innings a lot this year.

Dalton Pompey has moved up from the GCL to the Dunedin Jays. He was 1-3 with a walk in game one.

Ryan Noda was 2-5 in game one and hit a three run home run. He hasn't broken out this year as many had hoped. His OPS by month has declined from 815 in April, to 752 to 635. He is striking out in over a third of his at-bats. As a 23 year old without a position his prospect status is diminishing.

Similarly, Nick Allgeyer got off to a hot start and his ERA in April was 1.01. But his numbers have increased each month and not in a good way. His WHIP has progressed from 0.75 in April, to 1.19, 1.39 and 1.71 so far in July. He gave up six runs in 4.1 innings in game one.

Patrick Cantwell hasn't played since May 30th. He caught for the GCL Jays on Wednesday.

Josh Winkowski actually gave up runs in the Tampa game. In the second inning the lead off hitter reached on an error by Kevin Vicuna. Winkowski then walked the next hitter before striking out two hitters. He should have been out of the inning. The next two hitters singled to drive in three runs.

Troy Miller had his best start of the season for Lansing. He pitched seven innings, only giving up a run in the seventh inning. He didn't walk anyone and punched out eight.

Rafael Lantigua had four hits for Lansing. Griffin Conine hit his eleventh home run. His is hitting .462 in July and due for a promotion but still striking out 40% of the time, he needs more time in Lansing!

Ryan Sloniger had four hits for Bluefield. He was a 38th round pick this year.

Leonardo Jimenez was hitting .225 eleven days ago. Since then he has 14 hits in 8 games, raising his average to .315. He doesn't have much pop in his bat but he is still just 18 years old.

Similarly, Addison Bargar was hitting .214 at the end of June. He is hitting .360 so far in July. Bargar is 19 years old and was a sixth round pick last year.

Miguel Hiraldo hasn't played in a couple of days but he is the third to complete the set. He has raised his average from .200 on June 28th to .315.

A-Rod (Alberto) starred for the GCL Jays, three hits with his first home run.

The DSL Jays had 11 hits, nine of them from four hitters. Three of those hitters started the day with batting averages in the one hundreds and the fourth hitter started the day in the low 200's. Hopefully it's the start of a turnaround.

The best DSL pitcher could be Winder Garcia, a 17 year old from Venezuela who seems to be the closer although he pitched four innings on Wednesday. He leads the team in strikeouts with 29 in 23 innings and is just behind the WHIP leaders with 1.17. The best pitcher could be Edgar Castro who was named to the DSL all-star game. Castro is a 17 year old from Venezuela. Garcia could be in the bullpen because he is listed at 5'10".


3 Stars

3rd star: Rafael Lantigua

2nd star: Ryan Sloniger

1st star: Troy Miller


Boxes

Bluefield Bats On Fire | 29 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Gerry - Wednesday, July 10 2019 @ 11:14 PM EDT (#376898) #
Kirby Snead had a 1-2-3 inning in the triple A all-star game. None of the participants in the AA all-star game stood out.
bpoz - Thursday, July 11 2019 @ 09:20 AM EDT (#376906) #
Agree with Conine. 40% K rate.
Mike Green - Thursday, July 11 2019 @ 10:49 AM EDT (#376909) #
Stevenson had 3 singles and a walk for Dunedin.  After a miserable April, he's made the adjustment. 

Gabriel Moreno doubled, walked and singled.  He's got a wonderful line in Lansing at age 19- a 7% walk rate, a 10% K rate, and a .213 IsoP.  He's 4 for 5 stealing bases and has 3 triples so far.
uglyone - Thursday, July 11 2019 @ 11:23 AM EDT (#376911) #
Moreno might have the most impressive line in the system this year.
Gerry - Thursday, July 11 2019 @ 11:33 AM EDT (#376912) #
Ryan Borucki starts for Buffalo tonight. A couple of starts there and he is lined up to replace Stroman when he gets traded.
Mike Green - Thursday, July 11 2019 @ 11:39 AM EDT (#376914) #
Ryan Borucki starts for Buffalo tonight. A couple of starts there and he is lined up to replace Stroman when he gets traded.

I am happy  to hear about Borucki's ascent, but I still hope that Stroman remains here.  There are no shortage of other spots for Borucki.
hypobole - Thursday, July 11 2019 @ 11:47 AM EDT (#376915) #
Well, if Stroman is injured severely enough that he can't pitch before the deadline, he'll remain here the rest of this year at least.
bpoz - Thursday, July 11 2019 @ 11:51 AM EDT (#376917) #
I am not too concerned with Borucki taking up a 40 man spot. Atkins will be able to manipulate that.

However I am very interested in how the rebab and nonrehab minor league time is used before he pitches for the Jays. He has 1 option left. It should not be burned.
James W - Thursday, July 11 2019 @ 01:43 PM EDT (#376927) #
ESPN's Keith Law has posted his updated top 50 prospects. Bichette ranks in at #4, with Law questioning why Bichette is still in the minors ("Maybe he's still in Triple-A to work on Vlad Jr.'s defense.") Nate Pearson comes in at #33, while Jordan Groshans scored an honourable mention.
uglyone - Thursday, July 11 2019 @ 02:41 PM EDT (#376928) #
Has he mea culpa'd on Biggio yet?

Remember from last september:


“It’s not a top 10 system. I think that’s absurd. I understand that teams like to boast about their own farm systems, but the objective evidence is simply not there. I find that really empty,” Law said Wednesday on Landsberg in the Morning.

“Look, everybody thinks they have a good farm system, but it is disturbing when you exaggerate to that extent. The Blue Jays have a top-heavy system. They have arguably three prospects who are among the elite in the game and then below that it gets very thin very quickly.”

“Farm systems that look like this are never in my top 10,” Law said. “The top 10 systems in baseball, objectively, should have both star-calibre prospects and quite a bit of depth of future average-or-better major leaguers. They don’t have the latter.”


The "top 3" prospects he referred to were Vlad, Bo, and Nate, the only 3 he ranked in his top 100.


So let's check on the "latter" of which "they don't have"...

First the best high minors / mlb ready guys:

C Jansen (24): 331pa, 86wrc+, 2.0war, 4.0war650
2B Biggio (24): 153pa, 113wrc+, 0.5war, 2.1war650
RH Thornton (25): 94.2ip, 106era-, 1.3awar 2.1awar32
1B Tellez (24): 354pa, 98wrc+, 0.3war, 0.6war650


And then the best of the milb lines....

RH Pardinho (18, A): 9.0ip, 3.00era, 3.89fip
SS Groshans (19, A): 96pa, 166wrc+
C Moreno (19, A): 159pa, 154wrc+
C Kirk (20, A+): 155pa, 159wrc+
RH Castillo (20, A+): 85.0ip, 3.28era, 3.20fip
SS Hiraldo (18, Rk+): 78pa, 134wrc+
SS Martinez (17, Rk): 47pa, 134wrc+

I'd love to see how many other teams can match both that mlb production and those elite milb lines from their prospect lists coming into the year after taking out their top 3 prospects.....hell, include the top 3 prospects for those other teams and I'd like to see if they can match even then.
hypobole - Thursday, July 11 2019 @ 03:30 PM EDT (#376929) #
For anyone with an Athletic subscription, John Lott with a terrific piece on a very open, smart and surprisingly loquacious Kloffenstein.

https://theathletic.com/1071899/2019/07/11/the-education-of-a-blue-jays-prospect-im-not-near-as-good-as-i-thought-i-was-says-pitcher-adam-kloffenstein/
James W - Thursday, July 11 2019 @ 04:21 PM EDT (#376930) #
I think he's sticking to his guns on Biggio. From his chat today:

"Don't think Biggio is anything ... he can walk, but that's it."
cascando - Thursday, July 11 2019 @ 05:17 PM EDT (#376931) #
I think it is best to just ignore Law when it comes to Jays prospects, really. Overall, he is a smart, articulate and interesting guy. But at least in terms of baseball prospecting, he has made a career out of "hot takes", which often puts him in the position of contrarian, justified or not. He also really appears to be holding on to some negative bias from his time here.

I personally am still interested in Keith Law's views on prospects from other organizations. Also whenever he is high on a Jays prospect, you have to suspect that player is even better than he will admit.
Mike Green - Thursday, July 11 2019 @ 05:29 PM EDT (#376933) #
Biggio has hit the ball very hard for a year and a half now, in the upper minors and in the major leagues. The Statcast data is very positive.   He will go the other way effectively when the occasion calls for it.  I am pretty sure that he's a major league hitter, and he's a smart baserunner.  We'll see about his fielding. 
uglyone - Thursday, July 11 2019 @ 06:41 PM EDT (#376937) #
Always remember, Law is as much a bullshit artist as uglyone.
greenfrog - Thursday, July 11 2019 @ 06:46 PM EDT (#376938) #
Law talks the talk. Biggio walks the walk.
Nigel - Thursday, July 11 2019 @ 06:48 PM EDT (#376939) #
I've said this before about Law but his major problem is that much of his opinion is too definitive and without nuance. I don't think he should be ignored though. Its just another perspective. I don't agree with Law's view of the Jays' system but its not without a kernel of truth. After Pearson and Bichette, the next level of prospects in the system (Pardinho, Groshans, Moreno, Kloff, Hiraldo, Kirk and the 2019 draftees) are almost universally a long way from Toronto and we have very little pro data on them. They are far from sure things. I don't think that they will all flame out but there is a high degree of variance in the strength of the current system that is actually a bit unusual in my view.
scottt - Thursday, July 11 2019 @ 07:39 PM EDT (#376943) #
Nah. If you go check what the farm system was 5, 10, 15 years ago, it's fabulously deep right now.

The 2016 draft got us Bichette, 2017 Pearson, 2018 had Groshans  and Koff who are further down because they were drafted out of high school. There's no hole.
There was some penalties in giving such a large sum to Guerrero, so it's normal that there is a bit of a void with the international prospects who followed him.

They have several guys who were not picked in the first 3 rounds but those guys are not expected to be consensus top 100 prospect.



Parker - Thursday, July 11 2019 @ 07:43 PM EDT (#376944) #
Law talks the talk. Biggio walks the walk.

Loving this!
hypobole - Thursday, July 11 2019 @ 08:08 PM EDT (#376948) #
uo, there's been times I've thought of you and Law as that pointing Spiderman meme. You're both highly opinionated, snarky,smart and have the ability to cause people to remember when you've been wrong.
dalimon5 - Thursday, July 11 2019 @ 08:11 PM EDT (#376950) #
Law is not the law.

Here's some realistic Stroman trades:

https://bluejaysnation.com/2019/07/10/finding-a-realistic-marcus-stroman-trade/
uglyone - Thursday, July 11 2019 @ 11:31 PM EDT (#376955) #
"After Pearson and Bichette, the next level of prospects in the system (Pardinho, Groshans, Moreno, Kloff, Hiraldo, Kirk and the 2019 draftees) are almost universally a long way from Toronto and we have very little pro data on them. "

If you ignore Jansen Biggio gurriel Borucki are Thornton Alford McGuire Urena paulinonwaguespack.....
uglyone - Thursday, July 11 2019 @ 11:33 PM EDT (#376957) #
"have the ability to cause people to remember when you've been wrong."

I guess someone has to cuz I sure dont!
Parker - Thursday, July 11 2019 @ 11:41 PM EDT (#376958) #
It's kind of weird that Keith Law is still employed in some kind of baseball capacity. He's probably better suited to focus on his food blog.
Spifficus - Friday, July 12 2019 @ 12:00 AM EDT (#376962) #
Reposting in the right thread, now...

The site that the bluejaysnation article you mentioned, dalimon5, used to put together the trade valuations (www.baseballtradevalues.com) is a fun toy to play with, but there was a moment that crystallized what had been bothering me about it. That was when I realized it had Stroman valued at 26.6 surplus value... and Teoscar at 22. There is no world that resembles reality where Teoscar is the headliner in a Stroman trade, which means their values are, well, problematic.

Do you like Drurys? Because that's how you get Drurys.

dan gordon - Friday, July 12 2019 @ 12:41 AM EDT (#376964) #
Juan Pizarro, a 17 year old 2018 signing, is off to a good start to his pro career. Playing some LF, CF and RF, in 23 games in the DSL, he is slashing .321/.380/.429/.809, and has 11 steals in 13 attempts.
Kelekin - Friday, July 12 2019 @ 01:53 AM EDT (#376965) #
Sean Wymer had an atrocious April and May, but followed it up with a competent June and so far a solid July. Still seems very prone to the long ball though.
hypobole - Friday, July 12 2019 @ 06:46 AM EDT (#376966) #
I guess someone has to cuz I sure dont!

:)
dalimon5 - Friday, July 12 2019 @ 08:58 AM EDT (#376970) #
Spifficus, I didn't see that but you're right. It's definitely not perfect but the proposals I still thought were decent for Stroman.
Bluefield Bats On Fire | 29 comments | Create New Account
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