I was in Lansing last week to see four Lugnut games. Lansing is drawing a lot of fan and scout attention this year because of their young group of starting pitchers and the teams performance on the field has more than lived up to expectations.  This scouting report summarises what I saw in my four days in Lansing.

Remember this is the end of the first month of the season for the players, many of whom are playing in full-season ball for the first time. There is a lot of teaching going on. While I was in Lansing, in addition to the regular team coaches, these other "teachers" were in town: Pat Hentgen, roving pitching instructor; Mike Mordecai, infield instructor; Rick Miller, outfield instructor; and Steve Springer, quality at-bat instructor. The manager/coaches room was like grand central station.

Las Vegas won the Battle of Nevada and Mother Nature won out in Lansing. The other two affiliates wound up on the wrong side on the scoreboard thanks to come from ahead losses, one of them in extra innings.

The Toronto affiliates received some outstanding pitching performances on Sunday, helping the clubs combine for a 4-0 record on the day and just five runs allowed - including two shutouts.

The affiliates split their four games on Saturday while the top prospects all had top prospect-y nights.

The farm club put in some great pitching and OK hitting and came up winning for the evening.  Jessie Chavez took his third win for Las Vegas with a brilliant outing and what we could call a “parsimonious” pitching performance.  Hats off to the pitching staffs at all levels Friday, allowing only 8 runs in two games while striking out a total of 31.

Blue Jays' farm clubs went 2-2 on the night with eye-popping results in New Hampshire, expected results in Lansing, and troubling news from Las Vegas of the deja-vu variety.

Pitchers get a lot of recognition in these reports, pitching and defense are half of the game.  On Tuesday Chad Jenkins and Asher Wojciechowski pitched well to lead their teams to victory.  Aaron Sanchez pitched well, Justin Nicolino was OK, but the bullpen lost the Lugnuts game in the ninth.  The Las Vegas pitching staff had pitched well during their road trip but once they came back to the sin city, their ERA's have balloooned.  Scott Richmond was yesterdays victim.

Offensively, Jake Marisnick and Mike McDade hit their first home runs of the season.  Anthony Gose and AJ Jimenez had two run triples as part of a two hit day.  Jon Talley stayed hot with three more hits.

Lansing and Dunedin got the pitching and the wins Monday night.  As for Las Vegas, never mind!

Las Vegas were the only winners, and that's unusual this season.  New Hampshire were rained out while the high flyers, Dunedin and Lansing lost.  Jesse Chavez pitched well for Las Vegas and David Rollins pitched well in a losing cause for Lansing.  I have added some notes to the team reports to add some meat to a light reporting day on the farm.

Three wins in four tries for the affiliates as Travis Snider continued to mash and Noah Syndergaard struggled.

Only Dunedin (12-2), who lead their North division in the Florida State League were on the win side of things Friday night, continuing what has become a 5 game win streak.  The other leader in the Jays farm system is Lansing who lost Friday, but remain on top of the Eastern division of the Midwest League with a 12-3 record.  New Hampshire went down Friday morning, sinking to a 6-9 record and now sit third in the Eastern division of the Eastern League.  Las Vegas lost, settling into third place of the PCL Pacific South division with a record of 4-12. 

Notably, the long ball lumber was largely silent Friday, with Jonathan Diaz of New Hampshire hitting the only round tripper on the farm, a 2 run blast.  He was due. His last homer was in August of last year.

One ill concieved click of the mouse and an hour and a half's work disappears into the either. so what was a creative and winsome minor league update is now gone, replaced by a cold blunt businesslike recounting of facts. More's the pity.

Las Vegas lost their bats at crucial points in last night’s game. Dunedin suffered a slow loss as their opponents chipped away and came back to win. Meanwhile, Deck McGuire shook off a couple of sub-par starts and turned in a fine performance for New Hampshire.

The teams with winning records won, and the teams with losing records lost.  Lansing got more great pitching and recorded another shutout.  Dave Rollins got the start for the Lugnuts.  There were many suggested names for that starting spot in Lansing and the selection of Rollins was a bit of a surprise, but the Jays staff know what they are doing.  Dunedin had to score eight runs to win as Sean Nolin had an off night.

Chad Jenkins had another bad start and his name, along with Deck McGuire's, has dispappeared from the list for fifth starter in Toronto.  New Hampshire were in a deep hole early from which they had little hope of escaping.  Las Vegas have had some tough losses this season and yesterdays was another one to add to the list.  They tied their game in the top of the ninth and then brought on their best reliever so far this season, Ryoto Igarashi, to hold the lead.  He couldn't and the 51's lost again.

The pitching gave the affiliates a chance to win all four games Monday.  It was a 2-2 night on the farm with the losses coming from a doubleheader sweep.