The minor league season gets under way tonight with four Blue Jay affiliates in action.  With the parent club en route to the west coast tonight the minors can get our full attention.

Zach Stewart starts in AA tonight and Gregor Chisholm got the story on why Stewart is in AA:

"We talked about that at length," Anthopoulos said. "We figured with a guy like Zach it won't be the worst thing in the world to continue to work on certain things, because we know it's a tough environment in Las Vegas."

 

I have the minor league rosters and I will post them shortly (I need to see some of todays game first).

There are some highlights:

My trip to spring training is done and now that I am back at home I thought I would try and summarize what I have seen and add to my scouting reports on some players.

I also have more video to share of Aaron Sanchez and Deck McGuire.

Day three in Dunedin was an inter-squad day.  Two games were on offer, Las Vegas vs New Hampshire and Dunedin vs Lansing.  There was a Syndergaard sighting; another home run by a hot hitter; some hot hitting by a big dollar player; and some surprising base running.

Check the link below for video of Syndergaard.

Today was day two of my trip to minor league spring training.  On this day the AAA and AA teams played the Phillies.  I saw a two home run day, a solo home run, and in general good hitting by a number of Blue Jay prospects.

I also have some video of Mike McDade doubling to the wall from the right side (McDade is a switch hitter).

On my first day in Dunedin there were three lower level games being played.  The Dunedin squad and the Lansing squad played their Philadelphia equivalents.  The GCL level team played the Long Island Storm, a semi-pro or senior team of some sort.

As previously noted, I will be in minor league camp this coming weekend along with my trusty camera.  I will be there to see the minor league players getting ready for their season which starts a week after the major leagues do.  While I am there there might be some questions that are looking for answers.  There was some discussion yesterday about Justin Jackson and where was he going to play this season?  I will ask about that this coming weekend.  But is there anything else you want me to ask about?

The battle for starting pitcher jobs is likely to be one of the most interesting contests of spring training.  There are several new pitchers looking for their first professional assignment.  Will Deck McGuire and Asher Wojciechowski get assigned to Lansing or Dunedin?  Will any of the kids get to start in Lansing?  Is Henderson Alvarez ready for AA?  Who will get the fifth starting job on these teams?

All of this ignores the battle at the major league level for the #4 and #5 jobs.  And wait until you see the battle at Lansing, they could fill two teams with starters.

The final hitting position in our series is outfielders.  We are not writing a story on designated hitters, in the minor leagues the DH is usually filled by rotation.  Sometimes you have two good players at a position, for example last season Dunedin had Travis d'Arnaud and Yan Gomes, both catchers who were hitting well.  The DH position could be used to get extra at-bats for both.  The DH position also allows a team to get at-bats for the reserves. 

Outfield is not considered a position of strength for the Jays but there are several outfielders whose 2011 performance will be closely watched.  Can Darin Mastroianni handle AAA?  Same question for Adam Loewen?  How will Moises Sierra return from an injury filled year?  Will Anthony Gose improve his hitting?  Those are some of the more interesting story lines for 2011.

Today we continue our series on organizational depth with a look at the middle infielders.

Yesterday we looked at catchers, a position of strength for the Jays system.  Today it is corner infielders where, other than Brett Lawrie, most of the players are well down the prospect lists.

Baseball season approaches, and none too soon.  As we wait for spring training to begin it is a good time to carefully look at the Blue Jays minor league teams and try to understand how the players will fit into those teams.  In this first part we will look at the catchers, then follow with corner infielders, middle infielders, outfielders and starting pitchers.

And away we go......

With two weeks to go to pitchers and catchers reporting we need some baseball to satisfy our needs until the 2011 season gets underway.  So in that light I have some video, some pictures and some notes to divert your attention until things really get going.

First the notes.  I touched base with a few of my Blue Jay front office connections this week and here are a few of the things I heard:

The most surprising move in the Jays minor league managerial shuffle involved the recently retired Mike Redmond being named the new manager of the Lansing Lugnuts.  The 13-year major league veteran replaces fellow former major league backstop Sal Fasano, who moves up to Double-A with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.



Mike Redmond in the Indians bullpen prior to a game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Progressive Energy Field May 5th.

Toronto's AFL affiliate, the Peoria Javelinas, played in the championship game on Saturday and lost 3-2 to Scottsdale. Let's finish up our AFL coverage by looking at how the Jays representatives performed over the month-and-a-half-long season.