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The Blue Jays affiliates won two out of five Wednesday.

Buffalo 2 Rochester 0

Nate Pearson allowed a home run, a double and two walks, leading to two runs over six innings against the Nationals affiliate. He struck out three and threw 85 pitches, 51 for strikes. Hobie Harris worked a one-hit seventh and Kirby Snead struck out two in a shutout eighth.

George Springer had just one of the two Bisons hits, going 1-for-4 as the designated hitter. Christian Colón had the other base knock. Tyler White and Cullen Large walked.


Game 1- Hartford 6 New Hampshire 4 (9 Innings)

Troy Miller took over for Simeon Woods Richardson when this game resumed and he was mauled for six runs on 10 hits over five innings by the Rockies affiliate. One of the hits was a two-run home run. He struck out six and had five groundball outs. Fitz Stadler put up two goose eggs, surrendering one hit and striking out two. Mike Ellenbest plunked one and whiffed one in a scoreless ninth.

Jordan Groshans doubled home two runs as part of a 2-for-4 night. Otto Lopez doubled and singled and Vinny Capra also had two safeties. Samad Taylor doubled and stole his 14th base of the year.


Game 2 - Hartford 8 New Hampshire 7 (9 Innings)

The Fisher Cats could not hold on to a 7-4 lead. Brody Rodning was rocked for three runs while getting just one out in the sixth. Jon Harris stranded a Rodning runner and pitched 2-2/3 shutout innings, walking two and striking out three. Andrew McInvale took the loss. He wild pitched the bonus runner to third base and gave up a base hit before striking out the side. Curtis Taylor started this one and was touched up for a three-run homer among four runs allowed in two innings. He gave up three hits and a walk and struck out two.

Samad Taylor hit a pair of two-run homers and drew a walk. He is in a four-way tie for first place in the Double-A Northeast circuit with 11 homers and has a league-best 14 steals. Otto Lopez had a three-hit night that included a double. Jordan Groshans had a double and single and Nick Podkul had an RBI single among his two knocks.


Vancouver 4 Everett 3

The Canadians did all their scoring in the second, third and fourth innings and were able to hold on against the Mariners affiliate. Three straight doubles by Sebastian Espino, Ryan Gold and Luis De Los Santos provided two runs in the second. Spencer Horwitz had an RBI groundout in the third and D.J. Neal singled home Espino with the winning run. Espino had a two-hit night to boost his average to .315. Gold had a double and a single as well. Neal and Cameron Eden both singled and walked with Neal stealing two bases and Eden stealing one. Tanner Kirwer walked and swiped his 23rd base of the year to lead the High-A West League.

C.J. Van Eyk yielded just one run on three hits and two walks to pick up the win. He struck out seven and had four outs on the ground in his 77-pitch outing, 47 of them for strikes. Brandon Eisert surrendered six hits in 2-1/3 innings but allowed just one run. Parker Caracci stranded two runners for Eisert. He was victimized for an unearned run in the ninth but got the final five outs for the save. He struck out two and allowed just one hit.


Dunedin 6 Clearwater 3

MacKenzie Mueller mashed a three-run home run as part of a Dunedin five-run uprising in the seventh to knock off the Phillies affiliate. Zac Cook got Dunedin on the board with a solo homer. P.K. Morris and Jhon Solarte had a hit and a walk while Orelvis Martinez walked twice. Miguel Hiraldo heard ball four once to extend his on-base streak to 17 games.

Alex Nolan improved to 2-0 on the season, spinning five innings of one-run ball on six hits and two walks while whiffing three. The Burlington, Ontario native took over for Nathanael Perez who gave up two runs on an infield single and a two-run dinger over two frames. He struck out three. Elixon Caballero struck out the side in a one-hit eighth for the hold. Roither Hernandez struck out one and induced a game-ending 6-4-3 double play to erase a runner that reached on a Hiraldo error at third.


*** 3 Stars!!! ***

3. C.J. Van Eyk, Vancouver

2. Otto Lopez, New Hampshire

1. Samad Taylor, New Hampshire
Taylor's Taters Not Enough to Get the Goats of Hartford | 20 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
krose - Thursday, June 17 2021 @ 10:18 AM EDT (#400284) #
Old friend Sean Nolan started this one for Rochester.
hypobole - Thursday, June 17 2021 @ 10:22 AM EDT (#400285) #
Samad's 11 HR's are actually tied for best in all 3 AA leagues. Gabriel and Samad are 2nd and 5th by wRC+ in all AA as well.

Fisher Cat twitter shows Samad's home runs. Neither a cheapie. Both legit shots to left centre.


Mike Green - Thursday, June 17 2021 @ 11:18 AM EDT (#400290) #
Taylor's June line is unlike anything he has ever done in the minor leagues in every respect. Much more power, many more walks and many fewer strikeouts. He has hit more home runs in 17 days in June than he would usually in a year. He went from a 4/33 w/k in May to an 8/12 in June. It may just be a smoking hot streak, or it may be a successful adjustment to glasses.
hypobole - Thursday, June 17 2021 @ 11:59 AM EDT (#400296) #
Don't know when Samad started wearing glasses, but he wore them at Dunedin for sure. This is the photo he had the entirety of the 2019 season.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=taylor008sam

His SwStr% hasn't changed much. 10.9 Lansing, 12.2 Dunedin, 11.9 N.H.

Personally, I think he's attacking the ball more with the good muscle he's put on since 2019.
hypobole - Thursday, June 17 2021 @ 12:11 PM EDT (#400298) #
Found some Lansing video. Same as Vancouver - no glasses.

Here's him batting at Dunedin though with glasses.

https://www.gosportscards.com/products/2019-dunedin-blue-jays-samad-taylor
85bluejay - Thursday, June 17 2021 @ 12:11 PM EDT (#400299) #
Samad Taylor and Otto Lopez are intriguing to follow as they climb the ladder - Same age - Taylor is the toolsy boom/bust guy who could be an above average regular if he puts it all together - Lopez has the hit tool (seems not much else) and higher floor.
Hodgie - Thursday, June 17 2021 @ 12:16 PM EDT (#400301) #
Further to Mike's point, on May 27th, Taylor had 6SO in 9PA against the Yankees affiliate. His seasonal lines up to and including the double-header and since are something else to behold:

3HR .271/.316/.429 4BB% 41K% (May 27th)

8HR .373/.464/.881 13BB% 20K% (Since)

hypobole - Thursday, June 17 2021 @ 12:29 PM EDT (#400302) #
Disagree on Samad/Lopez.

I think Samad definitely has the higher floor. Lost in his home run barrage are his 14 SB's (2 CS). That's tops in his league and 3rd in all AAA. Neither has been described as a plus defender but there is very little info lately.
jerjapan - Thursday, June 17 2021 @ 12:29 PM EDT (#400303) #
Tanner Kirwer is 25 years old and in A ball, but he is having himself an MVP season for the level.  He gets extra props from me for having a black eye in his MLB pic. 
hypobole - Thursday, June 17 2021 @ 12:30 PM EDT (#400304) #
S/B 3rd in all AA, not AAA.
Ducey - Thursday, June 17 2021 @ 12:40 PM EDT (#400306) #
Have been following 2 underrated players:

Cameron Eden VAN- 6th rounder - 23 yrs old - .269/365/388 18/42 B/K in 35 games, 19 SB Looks like he plays all over, including SS and CF.

Sebastian Espino VAN- pulled off waivers from Mets- 21 - .315/371/481 6/12 B/K 3B/corner OF. 6'2" 176lbs, so might grow into more power. Looks like a steal so far (in 16 games)
greenfrog - Thursday, June 17 2021 @ 12:48 PM EDT (#400308) #
It would be great to have some recent scouting reports on Taylor. I’m sure multiple teams are starting to take a look at him. Remarkable that he didn’t make the Fangraphs prospect list for the Jays in the off-season.

With Semien likely gone after the season, and Springer a year older, it would greatly help the team in 2022 if one or more of Samad / Martin / Smith / Lopez / Moreno / Groshans / Adams emerges as a productive big-league player. The Jays are fortunate to have such a promising group of up-and-coming position players in AAA and AA.

Of that group, Moreno, Martin and Samad might be the best bets to emerge as impact players in the next couple of years. I would not trade any of those three, unless the team’s internal evaluation suggests that Samad’s performance is somewhat of a mirage and another organization is prepared to give up a lot for him.
bpoz - Thursday, June 17 2021 @ 01:13 PM EDT (#400311) #
Jon Harris in AA is doing well. He has been in AA forever. His issues were odd, can't hide the ball and tipping his pitches. A failed SP maybe he can do something as a 1/2 inning reliever.
hypobole - Thursday, June 17 2021 @ 03:34 PM EDT (#400322) #
One guy who I've never followed but has piqued my interest is Vinny Capra.

I know zero about him. He's only had 50 PA's because he was injured. Never been heralded. Never hit all that well.

He was promoted to AA in 2019 at 22. Promotions often, though not always, tell what the org thinks about the player. He kinda stunk. Didn't hit. A bit of speed, but minimal power. Only real plus was a 7.8% SwStr%, 2nd lowest to Espinal on the team.

Only 14 hits thus far, but 6 for extra bases. On one hand, major regression coming. .522 BABIP for a guy hitting more fly balls than all other types combined suggests a massive amount of luck to say the least. His K rate has skyrocketed to 34%. But his 8.0 SwSTR% is still one of the lowest, the same as Moreno's.

I guess the biggest reason I've chosen him as a sleeper is that no one else has. And yes, that's not not a good reason, but it's my reason.
ISLAND BOY - Thursday, June 17 2021 @ 03:40 PM EDT (#400323) #
It's good to see Groshans starting to hit. He han't had much game action the last few years so he might be starting to get in the groove again.
Glevin - Thursday, June 17 2021 @ 03:58 PM EDT (#400325) #
"It's good to see Groshans starting to hit. He han't had much game action the last few years so he might be starting to get in the groove again."

Not too worried about him. 21 is still quite young for AA especially with a total of 71 games in the minors before this year. Still good to see him get going.
hypobole - Thursday, June 17 2021 @ 04:34 PM EDT (#400327) #
"It would be great to have some recent scouting reports on Taylor."

Have you read the stuff I've been posting? One more today from PL.

"In all my looks at New Hampshire this season, Taylor has stood out. It’s plus bat speed, with a short direct swing path and an aggressive hitter’s mindset."

Lopez:"It’s an aggressive contact first approach but Lopez makes it work for him. It’s only gap power, as Lopez hits lots of liners to the gap but rarely parks one over the fence. He’s a good utility player that can get on base in a pinch and provide situational hitting."
Nigel - Thursday, June 17 2021 @ 04:53 PM EDT (#400331) #
The short quick swing is what I remember from Vancouver (in addition to the speed). If "aggressive hitter's mindset" is prospect parlance for "he's a hacker" then that too was true:)
Spifficus - Thursday, June 17 2021 @ 05:23 PM EDT (#400336) #
hypobole, is Lopez referring to Lopez in the Third-Lopez?

But seriously, thanks for the updates on Taylor and Lopez. Anecdotally, when I've happened to notice him homer in gameday, they've mostly seemed to be to the opposite field. I've been meaning to see if that's actually the case or just something I've extrapolated from one or two occurrences. If so, I'd be wondering how the short RF in NH is playing into things.
hypobole - Thursday, June 17 2021 @ 05:35 PM EDT (#400339) #
Yesterday's are in the NHFC's twitter feed, as well as Groshans doubles. The homers looked left-centre to me. Here's the park dimensions

Left Field: 326 feet
Left Center: 380 feet
Center Field: 400 feet
Right Center: 353 feet
Right Field: 306 feet
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