Just a small correction. I think the winning percentage you have for Lansing and Dunedin are for the second half alone. I know Lansing has a winning percentage over .500 for the season and I imagine Dunedin does as well. I was at the Lansing game last night and they have got to field their positions better and start to hit a little more if they are to make the playoffs this year which they would accomplish if the season ended today. We are un the fatigued days of summer right now in the MWL.

Chad:

How does Marisnick look so far?

Its nice to see Ahrens turning it on.  He has been absolutely on fire for the last couple of weeks. 

Why doesn't Brad Emaus get more love as a prospect?  He has on OBP over .400 at two levels, has some power and speed and plays 3B - a weakness in the system.  Am I mssing something?  Is it his defence?

Am I mssing something?

I mean besides an "i"

Emaus is a decent prospect. He is 24 years old though, and the club isn't rushing to give him an opportunity. 

Blair had an article a month ago or so saying that some of the Jays managment don't think Emaus will cut it in the majors.  It doesn't say who in the Jays organization said it or the reasons why.

I was at the Auburn game last night, a couple notes:

Pitching

Sean Nolin - Although his stat line was not that impressive you can see why the Jays selected him relatively high in this past draft. Nolin is a big-body workhorse type pitcher, the type of guy who you pencil into the back-end of a good rotation to gum up innings and give your team a fairly good chance of winning each time out. He possesses what looks to be three major league average pitches and strong pitchability. I was impressed. He did well to keep Lowell's running game in check and made pitches when he had to. His fastball ranged from 84-89 mph, his curveball was 71-76 mph, and his change-up was 74-77 mph. He was eradicate with his fastball command on this occasion, and reverted to his off-speed stuff to get hitters out. He seemed clearly frustrated with his fastball command and velocity. In the second inning he threw three straight fastballs ranging from 85-87 mph and after each one would whip around to look at the scoreboard to seemingly check his velocity. This brought a quick visit from catcher Jack Murphy and Nolin seemed to refocus. Nolin tended to miss up in the zone, I don't think this will be a problem long-term, I would put this down to exhaustion. I don't know how many innings he's thrown this year but it certainly looks like he's carried a significant workload. He tended to fall off the mound after 40 pitches (overly-dramatic continuation on his follow-through) and he laboured for the most part through this start. However, his mechanics are clean, he was free and easy for the most part, and the tempo to his delivery and to the way he worked was nice. In my opinion with some significant rest and conditioning this offseason he could have an excellent season next year at Lansing. I think going forward the Jays will ask him to keep his weight in check (he does look like he could have a Boomer Wells-type physique when all is said and done) and they'll probably work a bit on his mechanics, but to me he looks like a solid pitcher with good intangibles. Note: I think his fastball velocity in the long-run will be 88-91. He has a quick-arm and there's some projection left with better conditioning and some mechanical work.

Sam Strickland - Strickland gave up a monster home-run to Bryce Brentz to left-center, one that seemed to disappear into the night sky once it left the infield. Strickland is a big, athletic left-hander who reminds me of David Purcey. He threw two pitches, a four-seam fastball that sat 88-91 mph and a big curveball that was 73-76 mph. He has a fairly deliberate wind-up and it seems like he shows the ball like Brett Cecil once did before he throws it. The Lowell hitters for the most part were really teeing off on Strickland. A lot of them went up there sitting on one pitch or another and took until they got two strikes. Anything inside they would explode on, as a result Strickland rarely threw inside. Most of his strikeouts came with his curveball on two strikes. They were taking some big cuts whereas against Nolin they seemed to be uncomfortable and taking fairly passive swings. I was not overly impressed with Strickland. He didn't seem to command either pitches and seemed a little awkward out there. He was free and easy but it's hard to imagine him throwing any harder. His first three innings he was constantly hitting 91 mph with his fastball but in innings four and five he was at 88 mph. He made two nice snags on come-backers to the mound, on one starting a slick double-play with shortstop Matt Johnson who did well to handle Strickland's awkward throw. I wouldn't say he fielded his position well, but he's certainly competent out there. Whereas there was some naturalness to Nolin on the baseball field, Strickland looked fairly mechanical, something that I think inflicts David Purcey as well. In fairness to Strickland, he made Jose Iglesias look quite ordinary on a low curveball. However, I think his future with the Jays depends on him developing an out pitch for left-handers and improved command.

Drew Permison - I think this has been mentioned here before but Drew Permison is a dead-ringer for Jason Frasor. Permison is small pitcher with narrow and sloped shoulders. He has a fairly high-energy delivery that has bullpen written all over him. He threw three pitches in warmups: fastball, curveball, change, but only threw his fastball and curveball in the game. His fastball was 90-92 mph with some late movement and sink and his curveball was a tight, good looking breaking ball at 76-77 mph. He attacked hitters with little fear throwing his fastball to both sides of the plate. The Lowell hitters looked overmatched. He worked quickly and breezed through his inning of work with little scare. He struck out a hitter with a curve ball and a fastball. I was impressed and look forward to watching Permison in a couple of years once he's added some bulk (although this might be difficult for someone with such a slight frame) and once he's maybe added a slider.

Defence -

Not much going on here. I think it's safe to say none of Auburn players will win a gold-glove. I don't care for Jack Murphy much. He seemed disinterested out there and sloppy. He made one nice block but outside of that he had a poor throwing arm, slow feet, and little mobility. I think he'll be cut at the end of the year. First Basemen Yudelmis Hernandez had a little scare in the first inning as Matt Johnson's throw nearly took his head off on a bad hop. Oliver Dominguez looks like a fun player to follow but he has some serious holes in his game. He played hard. He, however, missed an infield fly. Didn't drop it or even make contact. Simply camped under it and missed it. He was lucky for it to not have hurt him. Matt Johnson has nice hands and good actions at short-stop. He has limited range however. Matt Nuzzo made some nice stops at third but has poor throwing mechanics that contributes to a below-average arm and inconsistency with his throwing that will sure result in errand throws in the future. Yeico Aponte seemed the best of the three outfielders. His routes were the most refined of the three but certainly not completely refined. He also seemed to have clean throwing actions and was fairly fluid in left-field moving around. Johnathan Jones didn't seem to cover much ground out in center and took a poor route on a couple balls and seemed completely lost on Bryce Brentz's homerun. Marcus Knecht also needs a lot of work in right. He got turned around pretty bad on a ball off the wall, looked slow on the ball in front of him and had a pretty average arm. He also doesn't exactly instill confidence catching the routine flyball. I got the feeling that management instructed Auburn to play Knecht in right and Aponte in left. I think they'd probably prefer to have Aponte in right and Knecht in left like they had earlier in the season. I think Knecht is probably more suited to left-field, in more ways than one he reminds me of Gabe Kapler (maybe without the arm), but more on that later.

Hitting

It's clear that a lot of these guys need to refine their approaches or just don't have the bat speed to hit at this level.

Jonathan Jones - I don't think there's much to Jones. He seemed passive up there, looking for the walk and not attacking fastballs.

Dominguez - Dominguez failed to get a sacrifice bunt down and then hit a single so he saved face there. Dominguez is a slap hitter in the Luis Castillo-mold. In fact, I think the best case scenario we can hope for with Dominguez is a Luis Castillo-lite version. He played the game hard and had fun out there. He had pretty good at-bats but he'll have to really start working the count better in the future and perfect his "slapping" if he's ever to advance up to the upper-levels of the organization. He's quite raw and with almost all players in the minor leagues he needs to find some more consistency, but if he does I think he could make it to AAA and maybe find himself a utility role in the future. He was thrown out trying to steal second. I wouldn't say he's got 30 stolen base potential, but over the course of a season at the major league level I could see him stealing 10-15 bags. To echo a previous post, it does seem like he's grown on a few Doubleday fans.

Carlos Perez - Was, in my opinion, the best ball player out there with real Major League potential. I was disappointed not to see him catch but any disappointment I had was soon erased with his at-bats. There's not much not to like about Perez. First, he has excellent command of the strike zone. While almost every hitter had poor command of the strike zone, Perez really stood out for his understanding of hitting. His first at bat he saw five pitches and hit the ball hard on the ground to the short stop. His second at bat he worked the pitcher to six pitches and hit a line drive to right field on an outside fastball at 92 mph. Also impressive, he stole second base off the pitcher. He clearly timed the pitcher's delivery to home and stole second. He's also quite quick and made it to second quite comfortably. His third at-bat he saw six pitches and just missed a home run to straight away center field. I mean he hit this ball a mile into the sky and right to base of the wall 400 feet away. The ball really sounds different off his bat. Prior to hitting the ball to center, Perez had hit a foul ball just foul down the right field line off the extension of the right field wall 330 feet away, and then the next pitch roped a line drive just foul of third base. Anyways the center fielder caught the ball up against the wall in center after seemingly camping under it for minutes and then dropped the ball on the transfer. The umpire ruled he had dropped it and by this time Carlos Perez (running hard all the way might I add) made it comfortably into third base, also giving you an idea of how far and high he hit the ball. His fourth at-bat was disappointing. He came up with the bases loaded and he swung at a belt high fastball on the second pitch and chopped it to short and was doubled-off. By this time I had given him the benefit of the doubt and suspect he either got excited or likely just missed his pitch. His fifth at-bat was also impressive. He worked a eight pitch walk off a difficult 3/4 type delivery right hander in the ninth. All-in-all Perez demonstrated several attributes that I think will see him in the Major Leagues. He has impressive command of the strike zone, rarely ever swinging at balls or getting cheated. He has a smooth, quick swing, and uses all fields. He demonstrates a keen understanding of the game and approaches the game in a professional manor. He's quite athletic and has what I would describe as a Russell Martin-type body. He has strong forearms and a strong-lower half. I think with better weight work he'll develop more muscle on his shoulders which will really give him that Major League look. Very impressed with Perez.

Marcus Knecht - Knecht has issues with anything that bends. I think that was the book on him going into the game because Lowell really pounded him with breaking balls. Most of his at-bats ended up with weak infield flys off the end of the bat or strikeouts including looking at the end of the game. He looks fairly athletic and has a nice little swing that doesn't seem too long. He didn't look over matched but once again had difficulties with the array of sliders and curve balls he saw from an impressive array of Latin Lowell pitchers all throwing low 90s fastballs and low 80s sliders. He looks like Gabe Kapler, or what I imagine Gabe Kapler would like if he wasn't a gym rat. I think Knecht could be a Gabe Kapler type player at the major league level. Solid defense average hitter with some power. Didn't really get a chance to see Knecht run, but Knecht certainly looked the part of an athletic corner outfielder although not a super athletic RF. Knecht was patient in his approach but seemed to have a difficulty picking up the pattern with which he was being pitched. Going forward, he's going to have to refine his game. If he ever pushes through to the Major League level it's going to require a lot of at-bats at the minor league level.

Matt Johnson - I was very disappointed not to see Gustavo Pierre and that might factor into my opinion of Johnson. Johnson had a crouched stance and like Jones seemed to be looking for the walk. In my opinion there's really not much there offensively.

Yudelmis Hernandez - Has a slow, long swing. Was pinch-hit for later in the game. Not much there, suspect he'll be let go of.

Matt Nuzzo - Same with Matt Johnson, might fill roster spots up at the lower-minor leagues. Don't suspect that he'll make it to AA

Yeico Aponte - Stroked a solid double to right center his first at bat. I think he'll be nice player to follow. Played the game hard and had a fairly nice left-handed swing although I don't know if there's any power there. Like most minor leaguers, consistency and approach will need to be improved. I hope he develops some power along the way.

Jack Murphy - Had several abysmal at-bats. Looked lazy and disinterested.

That's great sam, thanks very much.

I will be in Auburn this week and I will follow up your impressions with my own.

In response to how Marisnick looks so far in Lansing Gerry, I like him.  He has a good swing and I think that he has some power potential there.  He is very young and he has some room to grow into his body, but he has quick hands and he hustles which is a big thing with me.  I like to see that.

The downfall that I have seen so far and what he will have to adjust too as he goes along is that he gets fooled and has trouble with off speed stuff.  He flys open a bit too quickly at times and has trouble with breaking balls and change ups, but I think that is something that can be worked on.tur

I saw Crouse on Saturday night as well and I like him too.  He has good speed and had an extra base hit in his first at bat Saturday.  It is a little harder to have a true opinion of him as I have only seen him once, but I like the looks of him as well.

Thanks Chad

Thanks, Sam and Chad.  In the game I saw in Auburn, Knecht was right on off-speed stuff from a left-handed pitcher. 

Minorleagueball has prospect in review should be interesting.

 

http://www.minorleagueball.com/2010/8/9/1612848/top-20-2010-toronto-blue-jays-pre#storyjump