Today's POTD looks at the two Jays who were designated for assignment over the Canada Day weekend - Juan Rivera and Jayson Nix.



Jayson Nix on JaysVision after his first plate appearance at the Dome April 2.  The second one produced a home run against Francisco Liriano that lifted Kyle Drabek and the Jays to a 6-1 victory over Minnesota April 2.  He went 1-for-2 with two walks and had a .500/.750/2.000 batting line after the game.

The farm only went 2-6, but the most interesting team on the farm prospect-wise won in a blowout, and there were plenty of good prospect performances.

The affiliates were 3-2 on the day. There were not many standout individual performances but a few solid team efforts.

Per Sportsnet's post-game show. Thanks to Dan Gordon for the heads-up.
 
Snider has "solidified the adjustments that we hoped he would," in John Farrell's words, and hit well against LH pitchers at Las Vegas. Farrell also went out of his way to praise Juan Rivera for the professionalism with which he handled the awkward role of playing several positions for a new organization after a long tenure in Anaheim.

The roster does seem to be taking shape.

Jose Bautista, who destroyed American League pitching in April and May, winning the AL Player of the Month award twice (tying an MLB-record five times in a row), has been announced as the leading vote recipient in Major League Baseball. It’s the first time in club history a Blue Jay has led the majors in All-Star Voting. He’ll the only Blue Jay to participate in the 2011 contest.

Despite overall scoring deficit just 4 runs (45 to 41) only the AAA and DCL Blue Jays affiliates, came out victorious on a Saturday night.  2 and 6 makes for a tough Saturday night. 

Nearly every game by the affiliates featured runs by one team or both in the first inning. Many of the games settled down after that and, aside from a 28-hit affair in Nevada and Lansing’s pitching allowing double-digit runs, most the games were relatively closely and not large-scoring affairs. Las Vegas, New Hampshire and Dunedin won, but then you have to go down to Bluefield to see another victory. The victories in Double and High-A saw strong pitching performances by prospects continuing to improve their ranking.

Three games against the team with the best record in the major leagues. Who have some pitchers you're probably familiar with....

Five wins in eight tries for the affiliates. Not a ton of notable offensive performances put two of the organization's top pitchers brought their good stuff.

A necessarily brief update; plus Lansing ties a Midwest League record, and not in a good way.

A 5-3 night on the farm where the bats were smoking on the West Coast and Ohio.

Chad Jenkins had been promoted to New Hampshire just over a week before I talked with him in Erie last week.  He has now made three starts and has a 4.05 ERA in AA. 

Mike McDade is part of the outstanding New Hampshire Fisher Cats squad.  McDade is playing very well for a 22 year old in AA, he has 36 extra base hits, including 11 home runs, and his defense is reportedly the best of any first baseman within the Jays system.  I spoke with McDade a week ago in Erie.

Brett Cecil is back! Accordingly, Zach Stewart has been optioned back to New Hampshire.

The full-season affiliates didn't win a game, but a couple short-season clubs scored a bunch of runs to somewhat salvage the night for the farm.