Batter's Box Interactive Magazine - Watson & Robertson Were On

Buffalo was bombed, New Hampshire and Vancouver let one get away in the later innings and Dunedin also finished second on the scoreboard.

Syarucse 10 Buffalo 2 (6 Innings)
Harrisburg 5 New Hampshire 3
Eugene 11 Vancouver 8
Lakeland 4 Dunedin 2

Boxscores

*** 3 Stars!!! ***

3. Victor Arias, Vancouver

2. Will Robertson, Buffalo

1. Ryan Watson, New Hampshire

Notes

Jake Bloss gave up a converted touchdown in the third and could not get the final out of the frame as he surrended two home runs. He is 0-3 with a 10.32 ERA. Paxton Schultz could not strand any of Bloss' three runners and gave up a bomb as well. Will Robertson homered in his second straight game and added a double and a walk. Michel Stafeanic had a hit and a walk.

Ryan Watson put together six solid innings, allowing a solo dinger among four hits but his K/BB total was 5-2. Ryan Jennings and Ryan Boyer each gave up a long ball with Jennings taking the loss. Jace Bohrofen bashed his first Double-A home run. Eddinson Paulino doubled, singled and drove in a run. RJ Schreck had a double and a single.

The C's home opener was a sloppy affair, one that lasted almost 3-1/2 hours. The pitchers combined to walk 10 batters with three wild pitches and six stolen bases allowed. The only pitcher to put up a scoreless line was Kai Peterson who offset two walks by punching out three batters in 1-1/3 innings. Fernando Perez gave up four runs (three earned) on four hits and three walks while whiffing three. Victor Arias had a three-hit night with an RBI single, a double, a walk and two runs scored. It was a cold and windy night and the wind appeared to knock down a Jay Harry drive that was ticketed to clear the right field wall. Harry would have a triple later in the game. Arjun Nimmala doubled and singled to extend his hitting streak to eight games and reached the pentagon twice. He got a big ovation before his first plate appearance. Jacob Wetzel had two hits and Carter Cunningham had an RBI double.

Brock Tibbits went deep, walked and scored twice. Braden Berry had a double and is hitting .304 to start the year. Cade Doughty made his 2025 debut, drawing a walk and stealing a base. Colby Holcombe yielded three runs (two earned) on five hits and three walks but struck out seven in five frames. Johan Simon kept the game within reach with three shutout frames of one-hit ball, punching out two.

Extra Innings

Steve Ewen of The Province takes a look at what's new at The Nat.

Posted by #2JBrumfield on Wednesday, April 16 2025 @ 03:42 AM EDT.

Watson & Robertson Were On | 33 comments | Create New Account

The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.

greenfrog - Wednesday, April 16 2025 @ 07:47 AM EDT (#458915) #

I think someone might have mentioned this, but Carlos Collazo of BA's latest mock draft has the Blue Jays drafting Eli Willits, SS, Fort Cobb-Broxton (Okla.) HS at #8 overall. Collazo says Willits "has a legitimate chance to be the first shortstop off the board, and I could see him in play as high as first overall."

I would support that selection if he's available.

mendocino - Wednesday, April 16 2025 @ 12:15 PM EDT (#458934) #

free article from BA lots of numbers

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/how-much-are-minor-league-baseball-players-paid-in-2024/

Minimum Annual Salary...2019......2021......2025
Rookie-level...........$3,480....$4,800....$20,430
Low-A..................$6,380....$11,000...$26,840
High-A.................$6,380....$11,000...$27,940
Double-A...............$7,700....$13,800...$30,905
Triple-A...............$11,044...$17,500...$36,590

Gerry - Wednesday, April 16 2025 @ 12:25 PM EDT (#458935) #

No Buffalo game today, it's still cold and windy out there.

GabrielSyme - Wednesday, April 16 2025 @ 06:43 PM EDT (#458961) #

Probably it's an artefact of just getting some nice pitching performances early this year, but it seems like there's someone interesting taking the ball every day, especially at the lower levels. Last year it seemed like starts from even vaguely promising arms were few and far between.

Today's Stephen/Rogers/Tolhurst array is a good example. I don't think we had anyone debut as well as Stephen last year, Rogers was fine last year but not on my radar at all, and Tolhurst might go back to being uninteresting, but after his first start it's impossible not to be intrigued.

mendocino - Wednesday, April 16 2025 @ 07:27 PM EDT (#458963) #

some questions from BA draft chat

Anonymous . 7 hours ago
With Mark Tramuta taking over as the new Director of Scouting for the Jays, do you expect them to tweak their drafting philosophy?
Carlos Collazo . 5 hours ago
Not particularly. I haven't heard anything to suggest they're going to have some big shift in philosophy. Our resident Mets expert Matt Eddy notes that with the Mets Marc (with a c) Tramuta seemed happy to draft just about any demographic outside of high school pitching in the first round. If Seth Hernandez fell to them I'd be curious to see what they would do but I don't think he gets that far.

Anonymous . 6 hours ago
Does Eli Willits check a lot of Blue Jays’ boxes?
Carlos Collazo . 5 hours ago
Yes, in addition to basically every other team who has an influential draft model. And also teams who are more old school. That's why I can't envision a scenario where Willits is available for very long. He's a tremendously well-rounded player.

Anonymous . 5 hours ago
What position is the strongest in the draft?
Carlos Collazo . 4 hours ago
This year I think the high school shortstop demographic and lefthanded pitching are the two strongest position groups. I guess you could just say shortstops overall too since we've got a handful of collegians playing there who could go in the first round. College outfielders looked deep before the season started but we've had some injury and performance regression there.

bpoz - Wednesday, April 16 2025 @ 07:57 PM EDT (#458966) #

check out Dunedin winning 16-0 after 5 innings.

Gerry - Wednesday, April 16 2025 @ 08:00 PM EDT (#458967) #

Arjun Nimmala returns to the field tonight after DH'ing for ten days with a sore shoulder.

Glevin - Wednesday, April 16 2025 @ 08:19 PM EDT (#458968) #

Stephen has 16 IP, 7 hits, 1ER, and 20 K's in Dunedin. Looks like he should be in Vancouver.

Kelekin - Wednesday, April 16 2025 @ 08:34 PM EDT (#458971) #

I could see Stephen being promoted in short order. Vancouver is potentially down one starter (O'Halloran), and they already were running one less starter in the rotation than past years.

That being said, I think if they were going to promote Stephen right away, he wouldn't have pitched today. Vancouver will need someone to pitch on the 19th, which lines up more with Yesavage.

Kelekin - Wednesday, April 16 2025 @ 09:29 PM EDT (#458976) #

Looking at Tramuta's six drafts:

From 2017, Peterson has been a solid rotation piece and Vientos had a heck of a year last year.

2018 may be the big success. Kelenic, Woods-Richardson, Megill all from that draft. Kelenic has been a diasappointment, but he's still young.

2019 had Brett Baty. He hasn't quite figured it out at the MLB level, but is only 25. The most interesting story is their 3rd rounder, Matt Allan. Between the pandemic and THREE major surgeries, he didn't pitch for over 6 years.

2020 produced Pete Crow-Armstrong and J.T. Ginn. 3 of their 6 picks have made the majors.

2021 had Kumar Rocker, who they didn't sign. Scott and Vasil have both made the majors, and lots of players at AAA. They even had a UDFA make the majors (though back in AAA now).

2022 is too recent. They may have struck out with Pareda in the 1st, but lots of their HS picks have been impressive when healthy (i.e. Jett Williams).

It's too early, but it seemed like on paper there were a lot of interesting drafts here. I'd say above average but not excellent. Not too dogmatic which is nice. Lots of HS offense in the 1st round.

Gerry - Wednesday, April 16 2025 @ 09:57 PM EDT (#458977) #

The Iowa Meat Truck delivered a walk off win tonight.

Glevin - Wednesday, April 16 2025 @ 11:19 PM EDT (#458979) #

Lots of interesting numbers in Vancouver so far. Nimmala, of course, but Harry, Pinto, Keys, Parker, and Arias have all had decent to great starts. Rogers who is pitching tonight has gone 15 IP with 0 ER so far.

uglyone - Wednesday, April 16 2025 @ 11:39 PM EDT (#458980) #

Of those guys, Harry Parker Pinto Keys are all a bit old for the level so it would be nice if they could earn midseason promotions.

Kelekin - Thursday, April 17 2025 @ 01:26 AM EDT (#458981) #

The average batter age in the NWL is 22.2. Keys turns 22 next month, Parker is 22.2. Harry and Pinto are also 22, so they're all age appropriate for High-A.

The average batter age in the EL is 23.8, so if any of them move up this year, they will be in good shape.

uglyone - Thursday, April 17 2025 @ 01:31 AM EDT (#458982) #

Average age of a player in the league isn't the same as the average age of a legit mlb prospect in the league tho.

Kelekin - Thursday, April 17 2025 @ 01:31 AM EDT (#458983) #

Anyway, a nice start for Keys. Seems like he has a good approach and it will really be a matter of if he can turn his raw power into game power.

Grant Rogers, who is actually old for the level, needs to be in AA. I imagine by May, when Stephen and Yesavage are ready to be moved, we'll see Rogers (and possibly JWB) move up as well.

Glevin - Thursday, April 17 2025 @ 08:59 AM EDT (#458989) #

Guys like Keys and Parker are not old for the level at all. If they were high school guys maybe but isn't just age , experience matters too and a college draftee being in A+ less than a year after being drafted is all good. It's where you'd expect them to be. Judging all prospects by a handful of elite prospects doesn't make sense. Sean Keys isn't Nick Kurtz. Of course not, but that doesn't mean he's old for his level or that he might not be a good prospect. Look at Roden for example. Was 23 in A+. It's very normal prospect development. Drafted, played in A that season, next year A+ and AA. Next year AA/AAA. Ready for Majors. As long as guys are moving through the system cleanly, everything is fine.

uglyone - Thursday, April 17 2025 @ 09:04 AM EDT (#458990) #

All due respect but Kelekin listing the average age of all hitters in the league proves the point. Average for the league will always be older than average for legit prospect.

John Northey - Thursday, April 17 2025 @ 09:07 AM EDT (#458991) #

Very true. IMO to be a legit prospect you need to reach the majors by 25. So 24 in AAA, 23 in AA, 22 in A+, 21 in A, 20 or less in rookie.

Any older and you need to move quickly or be WOW at levels.

uglyone - Thursday, April 17 2025 @ 09:11 AM EDT (#458992) #

Roden always performed at a level he could have easily been promoted faster for.

And returning him to AA last year was disappointing at the time and probably wasteful in retrospect. He could have been in the bigs last year.

But most important is that he always performed at a level that deserved faster promotion, even if the team didn't choose to.

Glevin - Thursday, April 17 2025 @ 09:30 AM EDT (#458993) #

Roden wasn't held back with the only exception being he should have debuted in majors late last year but for 40-man considerations. Anyway, it's not the point. The point is that this is normal development. Most teams aren't aggressively promoting their prospects as soon as they look good for 20 games. Look at Keys for example. If he does well in A+, he'll probably end year in AA. Then he'd start in AA next year and if he does well, he'd end year in AAA. He'd be 23 years old in AAA without being rushed at all. That's great.

uglyone - Thursday, April 17 2025 @ 10:06 AM EDT (#458994) #

Er yes if a guy like Keys plays well enough to earn midseason promotions then that'll get him to a more ideal age appropriate level.

Like i said from the top.

bpoz - Thursday, April 17 2025 @ 10:39 AM EDT (#458996) #

I will put pressure on Schreck to be similar to Roden. Both have good SBs and bb/k ratio. Schreck definitely has the stronger arm, both have similar speed and probably power. Roden has a better batting average.

Schreck needs to stay healthy. He has 148 ABs in AA so far.

Ryan Day - Thursday, April 17 2025 @ 10:53 AM EDT (#458997) #

IIRC Roden went back to AA because the Jays were adjusting his swing. He hit 267/373/432, which makes the decision look pretty reasonable.

Age is just a number without context. If you're 22 and in your 2nd season in A-ball, that's not great, but if you're Adrian Pinto, who hasn't been able to stay healthy throughout his career, it's not so bad. The guy just needs to play and not get hurt.

Kelekin - Thursday, April 17 2025 @ 11:13 AM EDT (#458998) #

Yeah, that's basically my point. Using age as a determination of whether someone is a quality prospect doesn't work without context. A high schooler being 22 in A+ is less impressive than a college player in their first full season because a good college player is almost always going to be 22 in A+ due to when they're drafted. On top of this I view hitters and pitchers differently because pitchers often deal with injuries, and no longer pitch in their draft year, which is why the average age of a pitcher is even older in each league.

I think age can be a major determinant in an "elite" prospect. Just not a "good" prospect.

uglyone - Thursday, April 17 2025 @ 12:05 PM EDT (#459000) #

Age IS context, though. The majority of milbers aren't legit prospects.

It's nice if the likes of Keys/Pinto/Parker are off to good starts, but it's just not very interesting until they do it a level age appropriate for real mlb prospects.

If we are hoping on them being useful mlbers at some point, we should be hoping they are good enough to earn a midseason promotion.

There isn't that urgency with the likes of Arias and Harry, and obviously Nimmala.

bpoz - Thursday, April 17 2025 @ 01:10 PM EDT (#459003) #

I agree with everyone's opinion on prospect age even if the opinions disagree.

Silvano Hechavarria (Cuba) just turned 22 in March. Signed June 7, 2024 and pitched 3 innings and gave up 4 ER in the DSL on June 12, 2024. Then he absolutely dominated. I dream of him finishing this year in AA.

bpoz - Thursday, April 17 2025 @ 02:08 PM EDT (#459004) #

Another 4 scoreless innings for Gilberto Batista in Dunedin. 11 scoreless innings to date.

Marc Hulet - Thursday, April 17 2025 @ 02:18 PM EDT (#459006) #

Putting too much emphasis on age is pointless... there are so many different development paths and no two prospects are alike. The only time I really give it much thought is when a younger player is significantly outplayed much older players as this is a strong indicator of a special player.

Now that players are more likely to go to college (fewer milb teams, draft rounds) and also spend 4 years there rather than 3, we have to take that into consideration.

Kelekin - Thursday, April 17 2025 @ 02:26 PM EDT (#459008) #

I hear you, UO. The main reason I'm always curious to discuss this is because my opinion used to be exactly like yours but has morphed as the way teams develop players has changed, i.e. players playing less in their draft year, players going to college more (we're up to 80% of draftees being from college) and staying in college longer, less JUCO players, more injuries, players often not moving up as quickly, etc.

I think with statcast there is more data available for us to find ways for prospects to be interesting, too. Without it, I wouldn't know Stanifer's increased his velocity by 3 MPH, etc.

Ultimately we have no idea if someone looks legit until they hit AA. But I'm significantly less dismissive of a player based on age now than I was a decade ago.

uglyone - Thursday, April 17 2025 @ 04:24 PM EDT (#459017) #

The team can choose to develop them by any method they want, but it's still a simple truth that the older the prospect is for the level the higher the bar for performance to consider them doing well.

And it doesn't require the org to promote them but you still want them to be performing at a level which deserves a promotion.

You just can't compare the numbers of hitting prospects at different ages at the same level. Of all the possible contexts for milbers, it's probably the most basic and important.

uglyone - Thursday, April 17 2025 @ 04:28 PM EDT (#459019) #

And in general, the jays prospects are mostly being kept down levels at every level. It's a bit of a logjam and i'm not sure it's a great thing for their development.

There is an interesting potential ibenefit to doing this tho - to inflate the stats of your prospects and hopefully boost their trade value.

Kelekin - Thursday, April 17 2025 @ 04:34 PM EDT (#459020) #

I also wonder if this is an attempt to create "winning" environments. Breeding success by keeping players down longer while building their confidence.

There are times where it's really silly, though. Some of these guys don't need 450-500 PAs in A+.

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