Nate Pearson needs innings, but gosh darn does he look like a pitching prospect. He pitched five innings of shutout baseball, striking out nine, walking none and, so as not discourage the competition, allowed one person to reach safely via bat. Please see Sportsnet for Vladdy Jr. highlights.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. gets a home run. Kevin Smith, you get a home run. Anthony Alford, you get a home run. Despite those home runs, Buffalo and New Hampshire lost. Dunedin won with home runs from Ryan Noda and Cullen Large.

The season is a week old today and I thought we should take a peak at the hitting stats, even though it is a small sample size and for some hitters the weather has not been hitter friendly. Even so, it is fun to see what trends we are seeing early, even if they disappear in another few weeks.

The Fisher Cats were down to their final strike, trailing by two runs but came back from the dead to walk it off. That made up for the losses of Dunedin and Lansing. Buffalo were "colded out". Ryan Hissey was the big star in New Hampshire with Josh Palacios close behind. Patrick Murphy started and pitched well.

It was a no-win Tuesday that included a walk-off defeat. New Hampshire was rained out. #LetsGoBlueJays

A stupid schedule sees the Blue Jays play in Boston twice with an off-day in between. #LetsGoBlueJays

Here are your highlights from opening day in the minor leagues. The affiliates split, 2-2. In three of the parks the weather was cold so pitchers can get a mulligan. Some of the lower level hitters might ask for a mulligan too, they might never have experienced cold like that.

The minor leagues get going today on four fronts. Buffalo, New Hampshire and Dunedin start at home, while Lansing start on the road. Dunedin's home game is asterisk worthy as Dunedin stadium is being renovated so the Jays will play their home games at the Phillies old home in Clearwater. Because of conflicts at the "new" stadium, with other college and HS teams, the D-Jays will play a handful of their home games on the road this year. Buffalo play this afternoon, all others tonight.

Kevin Pillar was drafted in the 32nd round of 2011 draft. He was the 979th player taken.

The second place Baltimore Orioles trundle into town having taken two out of three games off the Yankees. With the Red Sox and the Yankees holding up the standings it is opposite day, or week, in the AL East.

The Blue Jays are assigning minor league players to their teams this weekend. The teams will travel to their home cities on Monday or Tuesday with the local teams announcing the rosters soon thereafter. Today I will look at where the top 30 prospects will be assigned and take my best guess. These guesses are not exhaustive, I am mainly looking to place the names you know who are prospects.

The 2019 season begins for the Toronto #LetsGoBlueJays.