BA has an April 21 piece on "10 Statcast Standouts" in the minors. One of them is the Blue Jays' Will Robertson. They note:

The power profile is arguably slightly better, but more importantly, Robertson has made huge strides in his swing decisions. He’s upped his in-zone aggression while reducing his chase, resulting in a dramatically improved zone-chase rate. It’s only 133 pitches, so it may all be a mirage, but that was the improvement Robertson needed to make himself a viable major league bat.

I get what they're trying to do but the Jays really need to just move some of these two-pitch guys to relief and let them move quickly. Holcombe, Guerra, Stanifer...

If you're going to try and develop them as starters you need go force them to regularly throw a third offering. In all three cases, they are only regularly throwing two offerings with a third pitch used 3-5 times per game. Same as last year.

Is Eric Pardinho rounding into a bullpen candidate in Toronto?

I agree with you Marc.  Stanifer in particular has stood out as a guy who could move fast, any thoughts? 

I think we've done better developing relief prospects recently, and we'd be seeing more evidence without some injuries.  But there are opportunities that result from injuries, along with the end-of-roster churnover, (bye bye Barnes) and I like seeing guys battle for promotions, along with the quick DFAs for Nance and Pop and such. 


Is this slow-promote plan a result of the FO trying to develop some relievers as bulk inning guys?  Schultz seems an exemplar of that trend.  Maybe Andrew Bash as well? 

I kind of hate the term 'bulk inning' reliever.  Long reliever, swing man, pretty dated, but they just sounded better.  Who get's stoked about the 'opener'?  The 'bulk guy'?     

And hey, way to go Paxton Schultz.  Tied a big league record.  Didn't even think he was going to pitch, 27 year old rookie.  Great write-up Gerry, I hadn't realized he was such a utility pitcher.  I've wondered about Schultz in this kind of role for a few years now.   His debut was fun to watch.

I wondered if Schultz was in the Brandon Eisert category when I saw the transaction - a guy worth a call in certain circumstances, innings in this case, but a guy we could DFA if he went bust and we needed a new arm pronto.  Talk about earning another opportunity eh?  He might have to go back down though, no?  Just to allow for more depth in the pen? 

I know a lot of our game-attending minor league posters have had chances to see Schultz play over the years, any thoughts? 

Tough going for Davis Schneider, he could be playing himself into DFA territory, although with Buffalo missing key guys in the IF, he could get enough playing time to recover. 

Lucas and Bloss are making me even more nervous about starting depth.  Sherzer able to start fifteen-twenty games could go a long way.  We need the innings short-term though, with Manoah potentially coming back later. 

I'm pulling for Pardinho, but I see four or five guys ahead of him on the depth chart in Buffalo.  Walker is already on the 40 man, although a lefty. 

I could see Pardinho pitching his way up that depth chart, but I'd like to seem him just pitching regularly, healthy, for a while before thinking of adding him to the 40 man.  Crazy, but he is still only 24. 

Schultz was a guy I watched easrly in the season but didn't overly impress me, similar to looks last year. It was an awesome debut but not really an indicator of true ceiling. I suspect the Mariners had zero reports on him so didn't know what to expect.

He might be a guy that's helped out by better defence behind him, though. He was giving up a lot of hard contact.

Pardinho' fastball is down again around 90-91 mph. When he was dominating last year at AA, it was more around 94 mph. The splitter is a real weapon for him but big league hitters will be able to react/adjust a lot easier to 90-91. They're hitting .308 against him right now and he's walked 5 in 6.2 innings.

Thanks Marc and jerjapan. Pardinho was a highly ranked prospect before TJ. Hope he can get all the way back.

The offset to the move to the bullpen and move up quickly suggestion is the amount of work you get as a starter versus a reliever. Is it better to get more experience as a starter even if the pitcher will likely end in the bullpen or is it better to move to be pen and move up faster?

I am not sure if there is a definitive answer. A player like Stanifer, who is still young, I would leave starting (even if its just piggyback for now) as he could find a useable third pitch whereas an older player should be moved quickly.

I agree Gerry, I just don't agree on not actually having the pitchers use a third pitch. It's counterintuitive- especially when there isn't a significant number of relievers pounding on the big league door.

From BA
Having this much uncertainty this far into the draft cycle probably isn’t what the Nationals or other teams picking up top want—but it certainly adds more intrigue for draftniks like us.

Jamie Arnold, LHP, Florida State
The Quick Case For: He’s the best near-proximity arm in the class

Ethan Holliday, SS, Stillwater (Okla.) HS
The Quick Case For: His power and patience provides huge offensive upside

Seth Hernandez, RHP, Corona (Calif.) HS
The Quick Case For: He offers more frontline rotation upside than any other arm in the class

Aiva Arquette, SS, Oregon State
The Quick Case For: He has huge tools to go with college performance at a premium position

Marek Houston, SS, Wake Forest
The Quick Case For: He’s the safest college-hitting profile in the class

Jace LaViolette, OF, Texas A&M
The Quick Case For: He has an exciting power/tools combo with lengthy SEC track record

Billy Carlson, SS, Corona (Calif.) HS
The Quick Case For: An impact defender at a premium position with standout contact skills

Eli Willits, SS, Fort Cobb-Broxton (Okla.) HS
The Quick Case For: He’s the most well-rounded prospect in the class

left over Top 10's
Tyler Bremner, RHP, UC Santa Barbara
Dean Curley, SS, Tennessee
Kruz Schoolcraft, LHP/1B, (Ore.) HS
Xavier Neyens, 3B, (Wash.) HS

Tolhurst and Burnette up from AA to AAA.

Burnette was up last year but it will be interesting to see wht they do with Tolhurst. When Easton Lucas arrives the Bisons will have five starters, Lucas, Lauer, Bloss, Wallace and Estrada. Will one of them get dropped so Tolhurst can stay starting or will Tolhurst go to the pen?

Estrada has struggled starting so he could get dropped.

Estrada has always projected better as a multi-inning reliever due to his heavy fastball usage.

It could also be Wallace, who fits better as a long reliever due to his 87-89 mph fastball and fly ball tendencies. That was he can be more slider heavy.

If available, Kruz Schoolcraft ticks some boxes that the Jays require ...

Shaw and Toman activated as well. Good to know it wasn't a long IL stint for Shaw, who started red hot.

The biggest change so far this year for Burnette is only 2 walks. He's had some crazy K/9 numbers in his career, but crazy BB/9 as well.

Khal Stephen goes 5 innings, 6 H 2 ER 0 BB 5 K. No statcast data available.