The Dunedin Blue Jays had another successful year winning a first half title, finishing second in the back half of the season, but ending the season with a disappointing loss to Tampa in the playoffs. They played in front of generally small crowds, home attendance averaged 594, second lowest in the league. Cross-town neighbours Clearwater, led by rookie manager Mike Schmidt, led the league with 2078 average home attendance.



Offense carried the Blue Jays to their success in 2004, Dunedin led the league in runs scored and walks, and finished second in home runs. Their batting average was, well, average but the power was excellent, Dunedin had 3 of the four leaders in doubles. Dunedin played as a hitters park in 2004 after being a pitchers park previously.

The D'Jays had a strong line-up with maybe only one weak link. Vito Chiaravalloti, Ron Davenport, Carlo Cota, Raul Tablado, Ryan Roberts, Miguel Negron, and Jayce Tingler all had good seasons. Here is the OPS for those hitters in order of most at-bats.

Carlo Cota           805
Vito Chiaravalloti   814
Jayce Tingler        673
Ron Davenport        840
Miguel Negron        752
Raul Tablado         933
Ryan Roberts         706

Five of these hitters appear on Jordan's top 30 prospects list, the only one not on the list was Tingler, the numbers show you why. Raul Tablado was the only player to hit .300, and he also led the team with 21 home runs.

Bear in mind the FSL "norms". Among qualifying hitters, only four FSL players had a batting average of .300, Tablado did not qualify due to time missed early in the season on account of an injury. Twenty one hitters had an OBP over .350, among them three Jays, Vito, Tingler and Cota. Two hitters had SLG over .500, and nine over .450. Davenport was at 495, Tablado did not qualify but if he had he would have been second in the league at .582. Carlo Cota ended with a SLG of .449.

Tablado had a great season, top 5 in batting average, top 20 in OBP and second in SLG (had he qualified). He does not walk a lot but the power and hitting look great. Ron Davenport also had a great year, his power is almost as good as Tablado. Davenport led the league in doubles but fell short of Tablado in home runs. Davenport also makes good contact, his K rate was the lowest among the top 20 sluggers in the league.

Another player worth watching is Carlo Cota. When Ryan Roberts was promoted to Dunedin Cota was bumped off second base in favour of Roberts. Cota maintained his hitting and finished with excellent numbers, much better than Roberts.


The pitching was Dunedin's weak link, team ERA was the third worst in the league. Dunedin pitchers had the most hits allowed but the fewest walks. The pitching crew was a mix of up and comers and disappointments. Josh Banks, Jamie Vermilyea and Shaun Marcum were some of the up and comers. Neomar Flores, Chad Pleiness, Vince Perkins and Kurt Isenberg were among the disappointments.

Ismael Ramirez made 27 strong starts and ended with a 2.72 ERA. On the other hand Neomar Flores made 23 starts with a 5.72 ERA. Shaun Marcum and Josh Banks made double digit starts with good ERA's. Kurt Isenberg and Justin James also made double digit starts with ERA's over 5. Andy Torres, Bubbie Buzachero and Tracey Thorpe were good in relief, Santo Valdez, Derek Nunley and Chad Pleiness were not so good.

Player Comments

As discussed Raul Tablado turned 22 this year and blossomed. Tablado had shown some flashes of power in previous seasons but this was the first year he had his average at .300. You have to wait on most high school draftees, they do not show their potential until they turn 21.

Ron Davenport was selected 18 rounds after Tablado in 2000 but kept pace with him this year. Ron is five months older than Tablado and had shown a good bat in his first couple of years in the system. This was his third year in Dunedin, his first year came when he was 20 years old and he was overmatched. As with Tablado his power jumped this year and he led the league in doubles.

Vito Chiaravalloti played his first full season this year and the length of the season might have been factor in his August slump. Vito had good numbers through the heart of the season but fell off in August. Second year players have to face the grind of a 144 game season for the first time, it wears down some players, Vito might have been one of them. Vito is headed for the AFL where he hopefully will get back on track and then it is on to New Hampshire next year.

Miguel Negron had a good year after being a disappointment, for a first round pick, until now. This probably qualifies as a learning, or jump forward, season. Dick Scott thinks so and if Miguel can build on it he should be better at AA.

Ryan Roberts had tremendous numbers in Auburn last year, and in Charleston to start this year, but Dunedin was a dose of reality. Looks like Ryan will be back in Florida to start 2005.

                    BA     OBP     SLG    OPS
2003  Auburn	   .278   .374    .440   .814
2004  Charleston   .283   .440    .496   .936
2004  Dunedin      .239   .350    .356   .706

Carlo Cota was moved to third base when Ryan Roberts arrived in Dunedin. His numbers never suffered and he should get the jump to AA next year.

Ismael Ramirez was named to the FSL season ending all-star team. Ramirez big improvement in 2004 was with his control, reducing his walks and increasing his K's. Ramirez kept his H/9IP under 9 and his ERA was 2.72.

Shaun Marcum, aka "the king of control" walked four hitters in innings. AA hitters should get a chance to work on him next year.

Justin James did not make the jump to high A and ended the year on the DL. I am not sure if they are related but he will have to get back on track next year.

Vince Perkins had a lost year, back and elbow problems limited him to 54 innings. He has been pitching well in the instructional league.

Bubbie Buzachero had a solid year and has also earned a promotion to AA.