Top 30 Prospects- #30-#21

Tuesday, October 02 2007 @ 08:00 AM EDT

We continue a Batter's Box tradition with our annual top 30 Blue Jay top prospect list. It is a combined effort of Thomas Ayers, Mike Green, Pistol, Gerry McDonald and Niall O'Donohoe. Today, we look at numbers 30-21.

30. Jonathan Del Campo, IF
Born May 18, 1988. Selected in the 20th round of the 2006 amateur draft.

Year	Age	Level	AB	2B	3B	HR	BB	K	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG
2006	18	R	63	1	0	1	11	12	0	1	.206	.324	.254
2007	19	R	95	11	1	1	12	28	2	0	.337	.407	.505

"Notorious J-D-C" found the GCL to be much more to his liking. The 19-year old Puerto Rican switch hitter began to justify his $110,000 signing bonus with a solid 2007 campaign. Showing a decent batting eye in Pulaski but not much else with the twig last season, Del Campo almost doubled his slugging percentage this season on the Gulf Coast. The increase in power did come with a corresponding increase in strikeouts but he still drew a decent amount of walks. Del Campo continued to get better as the season went along, finishing with a flourish by batting .405 in August. He hit .371 against right-handed pitching but struggled against lefties with a .240 mark. Playing mostly at second and third base, Del Campo made a cameo appearance in left field to end the season. It appears that unless Del Campo can translate his doubles power to over the wall power, his future may be at second base. He should be on his way to Lansing, Michigan in 2008.

29. A.J. Wideman, LHP
Born June 8, 1985. Selected in the 11th round of the 2003 amateur draft.

Brett Cecil and Mark Rzepczynski were the big two starting pitchers at Auburn this year; Brad Mills is comparable to them in many respects. Cecil had the best ERA of the threesome but Mills ERA of 2.00 was better than Rzepczynski's. Mills's WHIP of 0.83 was better than his teammates and his K/9 rate of 10.5 was the best of the three. Mills was a fourth round draft pick in 2007 while Rzepczynski was a fifth round choice. All three all lefties. So why is Mills ranked at number 27 and the other two in the top ten? Mills pitched only eighteen innings in six games this year and spent a couple of stints on the disabled list. Had Mills been healthy for the season he would have been ranked much higher.

Mills was drafted in 2006 by the Jays but he was attending college on an academic scholarship and wanted to complete his engineering degree. The Jays selected him again this season despite Mills's injury problems in the spring. Late in the college season Mills needed a cortisone shot in his back and missed some starts, then he went on the DL twice with Auburn. Mills throws a 90 mph fastball and has a plus breaking ball and change-up. Mills will likely start 2008 in Lansing to get some consistent work in.

26. Jacob Butler, OF
Born February 9, 1983. Selected in the 8th round of the 2005 amateur draft.

Year	Age	Level	AB	2B	3B	HR	BB	K	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG
2005	22	NCAA	171	16	1	11	42	28	4	0	.333	.457	.632
2005	22	R	200	16	1	14	31	60	1	2	.290	.384	.590
2005	22	A-	40	1	1	2	2	7	0	0	.200	.238	.425
2006	23	A	375	21	2	11	43	110	4	4	.251	.332	.405
2006	23	A+	55	2	1	1	5	17	0	0	.145	.210	.273
2007	24	A+	428	27	0	23	65	95	1	3	.273	.368	.498

Unlike Aaron Mathews, who faded badly over the second half of the season, Jacob Butler was a previously unheralded outfielder who sustained his hot start and thus forced himself onto Toronto prospect lists. Butler was the third outfielder drafted by the Jays in the 2005 draft, behind Brian Pettway and Ryan Patterson. He remained behind both of them on the depth chart until this year when he had a very solid season for Dunedin, as Pettway continued to struggle and Patterson dealt with an injury. Butler had an OPS over .900 in 3 of the 5 months of the minor league schedule and his yearly stats would have looked even more impressive if not for a July where he hit .202 and had an OPS of .665. He led the Florida State League in home runs, finished 3rd in RBI and 6th in walks (although "only" 14th in OPS, as some of the league's top prospects like Jay Bruce and Cameron Maybin were promoted mid-season). A left fielder, the University of Nevada product isn't a plus defensive player and will to need to make the big leagues on the strength of his bat. Butler will almost certainly be given a starting spot in New Hampshire next year, where the then-25-year-old will have to continue to put up above-average offensive numbers or risk becoming typecast as an organizational soldier.

25. Kyle Yates, RHP
Born January 8th, 1983. Selected in the 13th round of the 2004 amateur draft.

In 2006 Kyle Yates advanced to AA and had a solid year in a swingman role. He then followed that up with an impressive performance in the Arizona Fall League. Given that 2007 was a disappointing year for the curveball specialist. With the exception of a slight improvement in his walk rate Yates' numbers fell across the board. A move to the bullpen may be Yates' best shot at moving up to Syracuse in 2008.

Year	Age	Level	G	GS	IP	H/9	HR/9	BB/9	K/9	ERA
2006	22	R	24	0	24.2	5.47	0.73	5.84	14.96	3.28
2006	22	A-	3	0	2.1	0.00	0.00	3.86	7.71	3.86
2007	23	A	28	28	140.1	10.33	0.96	2.57	9.17	4.49

The Pennsylvania native from NCAA Division II had his moments in his first full season in the organization. Starner got off to a great start with the Lugnuts by posting a 2.45 ERA in April but that figure soared to around 6.00 for May and June. His BABIP for those two rough months was around .420, suggesting he may have been hit unlucky as his overall BABIP came in at .360. He got back on the beam by posting an ERA of around 3.5 for July and August, racking up 6 of his 12 victories on the season. The 6-2 lefty chopped his walk rate in half from last year and struck out a batter an inning. On the flip side, Starner was a little too hittable by giving up 161 base knocks in his 140.1 innings of work, almost doubling his hits allowed per 9 innings rate from 2006. According to Bauxite Lugnut Fan, Starner has a fastball that tops out at 92 MPH as well as a slider and changeup. His improvement over the second half in Lansing should result in a promotion to the warmer climate of Dunedin next season.

23. Balbino Fuenmayor, 3B
Born November 26, 1989. Signed as a international free agent in 2006.

Year	Age	Level	AB	2B	3B	HR	BB	K	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG
2007	17	R	178	5	2	1	12	68	0	0	.174	.244	.242

Hailed as a free agent coup on the international market last year, the young Venezuelan gained notoriety when he was ranked by Baseball America as the Jays #10 prospect in their farm system. The "Great Balbino" made an early splash in 2007 with a two-run homer in the Baseball Hall of Fame game in May against the Orioles in Cooperstown and he batted .289 in the month of June in his professional baseball debut in the Gulf Coast League. That sounds impressive at first glance but keep in mind the GCL season begins in late June. After that, his year went horribly askew as he struck out over 5 times more than he walked and only managed an extra base hit per every 22 at-bats. He ended the season by going hitless in his last 5 games with an ugly 0-for-25. However, let's keep in mind that Fuenmayor won't turn 18 until next month and he is expected to hit for average and power eventually. Defensively, he reportedly has the hands and range at the hot corner but needs to work on his throwing. Another year on the Gulf Coast will more than likely be in Fuenmayor's future in 2008.

22. David Smith, OF
Born January 12, 1981. Selected in the 15th round of the 2002 amateur draft.

Year	Age	Level	AB	2B	3B	HR	BB	K	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG
2004	23	A	436	27	2	12	53	119	8	2	.278	.365	.431
2005	24	A+	391	24	2	14	35	73	4	2	.294	.349	.473
2006	25	AA	483	33	1	19	40	118	7	4	.253	.317	.443
2007	26	AA	463	35	1	24	53	105	4	5	.276	.359	.512

21. Ryan Patterson, OF
Born May 2, 1983. Selected in the 4th round of the 2005 amateur draft.

Year	Age	Level	AB	2B	3B	HR	BB	K	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG
2005	22	NCAA	249	23	2	20	30	28	7	1	.369	.448	.719
2005	22	A-	274	23	4	13	21	53	5	2	.339	.386	.595
2006	23	A+	354	25	0	19	20	61	2	4	.288	.327	.520
2006	23	AA	187	14	1	6	13	50	2	0	.257	.310	.439
2007	24	A+	21	2	0	0	2	3	0	0	.190	.261	.286
2007	24	AA	446	27	0	18	23	102	1	4	.267	.301	.448

Patterson's 2007 season did not answer many questions about his potential. In spring training Patterson was hit by a pitch and broke a bone in his arm. As we have seen with several Blue Jays this season, broken hands and arms can impact the player for several months after they come back to play. This pattern seemed to play itself out with Patterson, he hit under .240 in both May and June but he broke out with a very strong July where he hit over .300 with power to give him a July OPS of .946. However Patterson slipped back in August to a .725 OPS and it remains to be seen whether August was a slump or whether July was a hot streak. Patterson will be looking to move up to AAA in 2008 and his spring play will determine that.

Tomorrow, the players will be perhaps a little more familiar as we name prospects 20-11.

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