I was in Erie last weekend and I caught the saturday and Sunday games against Erie. I talked with the coaching staff, with scouts and whoever else would talk to me to build up a picture of the Fisher Cats. and of course I watched both games. Here is my report.
Hitters
I attended two games so my opinion is based on a small sample of at-bats. Also Erie started two left-handed pitchers against New Hampshire so right handed hitters had the advantage during my stay in erie.
Shawn Bowman - Bowman is a solid, good sized, right hand hitting third baseman. His defense looked excellent in the games I saw and that seemed to be the consensus on him. He killed the left handed pitching he faced, he was 4-9 in the series with two doubles and a home run. Bowman hits the ball to all fields, he is not just a pull hitter. Luis Rivera mentioned they had been working with him to reduce his swing but it looked fine to me. The one thing I noticed was that his at-bats were fast, he didn't need a lot of pitches to make contact. You could look at this positively and say he is seeing the ball so well that he doesn't need to hang around but you could also say that aggressiveness might be exploited at higher levels. For this season the Jays have a log-jam at third base, Encarnacion, Bautista, Hoffpauir, Emaus and Bowman so he might have to stay in AA for the rest of the season. It would take a few scouts to advise the Jays who to prioritize in that mix.
Adam Loewen went 5-5 on Saturday and 0-4 with four K's on Sunday. Remember Loewen is a lefty hitter and he faced mainly lefty pitchers. Loewen has a fairly simple short swing and the ball does appear to jump off the bat. While three of his hits on Saturday were to right field he did double off the left centre wall and singled up the middle so he wasn't all pull. On Sunday when Loewen struck out he didn't look overmatched, he battled the pitchers but Loewen might have to figure out how to approach tougher lefties. In the field Loewen looked a little uncoordinated to me but he made all the plays except one where he dove for a ball that bounced well in front of him. However reports on his defense were generally positive and as Rivera said Loewen takes fielding practice during BP seriously He was out there alone in right playing every ball as though it was a game situation.
Eric Thames was 1-8 with a walk on the weekend and his one hit was a cheap infield hit where he outran the pitcher to first. Thames is a fast runner but suprisingly reports on his defense suggest he has work to do there. The point Rivera made is a good one, Thames had only 200 at-bats coming into the season. The best word to describe Thames at this point is raw. At the plate he seemed too aggressive and was swinging at pitches that were a little too high or too wide. It might have again been facing lefty pitchers but I think Thames stays in AA all season and if he shows progression by the end of the season he could be in AAA next year. Thames is a left handed hitter and is a little undersized as compared to major leaguers.
Brian Jeroloman played in only one game and was 1-4 with a walk and a K. His hit was a double and he had another ball caught up against the left centre field fence. Jeroloman rarely swings early in the count but obviously he does have some pop when he does swing. I didn't note much about Jeroloman other than he is hitting well. As usual Jeroloman's defense is excellent. Brian is on the smaller side for a major league catcher, without looking at the official height I would put him around 5'10". Jeroloman is a left handed hitter whcih is natural complement to JP Arencibia.
Darin Mastroianni is another smaller hitter, this time right handed. Mastroianni was 4-8 on the weekend with a double, 2 walks and 3 K's. Darin is known for his speed and as a result he plays an excellent centre field, he can run down a lot of balls out there. Offensively Mastroianni is another patient hitter, at times I felt like he was trying to work a walk. A couple of time he took a hittable pitch early in the count and then swung at a pitch in the dirt. I think Darin needs more time to figure out which pitches he should swing at at which to let go buy.
David Cooper played one game and went 3-4 with a double and a monster home run. I didn't note much about him, obviously he looked good but he is a very slow runner.
Pitchers
Bobby Bell was making his first start having come off the DL. He looked rusty to me. While Bell's change-up is one of the best in the system his fastball command was not good on this day. bell has a bit of a hitch in his delivery and often slingshots the ball to the first base side of the plate. his fastball was in the 88-90 mph range. Bell also threw a 10-4 curve which still needs some work. Bell was touched for seven hits in four innings so it wasn't his best performance, again he looked rusty so it might not be fair to judge him on this day.
Zach Stewart started Sunday and gave up just three hits over seven innings. As was mentioned by Tom Signore the Jays have been working on Stewarts delivery over the first part of the season. Stewart mainly threw a heavy two seam fastball that broke down and in to right handed hitters. The fastball averaged 93 and was up to 95. He also has an advanced slider that breaks away from right handed batters. Stewart threw an occassional curve ball and change although he bounced several of the curves in the dirt, and he relied mainly on the fastball and slider. Stewart also tended to throw the fastball a little high, the umpire was not giving him anything below the knees but it was too high to worry major league hitters. In my opinion Stewart still needs AA time to work on his curve and change and to refine his fastball command. As of today I would say he has two major league pitches, which is why experts suggest he might end up in the bullpen. His third and fourth pitches are not major league ready yet.
Trystan Magnuson pitched in relief in game one and like Bell he did not have a good day. He worked through the first inning OK but hit a batter in his second inning and gave up a run with two additional hits allowed. Magnuson, if you dont know, is very tall and throws downhill to the hitters. He features a fastball at about 90-92 mph, a slider and a change-up. i would say that none of them move a lot so magnuson has to have good control and mix and match his pitches to be successful. Magnuson mentioned this week in the John Lott interview that he is trying to work on a curve or some other pitch to be his strikeout pitch. Magnuson doesn't have a major league ready strikeout pitch at this point and he will need one, or pinpoint control so succeed in the major leagues. Remember I saw Magnuson on a bad day for him, so it could be that his stuff wasn't at its best on Saturday. Tom Signore believes Magnuson could pitch in AAA today.
Tim Collins pitched the ninth inning on Sunday and was his usual self. Collins sets up a la Jesse Carlson and the hitter doesn't see the ball until late. Collins worked a 92-94 mph fastball, a plus curveball and a change-up to the hitters. His inning was typical, no hits, one walk and two K's. What can you say, he is ready for AAA?
Danny Farquhar worked mostly from down under on Saturday and threw two pitches, a fastball and a slurve. It was not a save situation so maybe he was working on some things but he had a hard fought inning considering he didn't allow a hit or a walk. the hitters seemed to have some good looks at him and fouled off several pitches. Farquhar probably needs the challenge of AAA soon.
Boomer Potts is lefty pitcher with good size.potts sets up on the first base side of the rubber so the ball naturally moves into the right handed hitter and away from the left handed hitter. potts showed a mid to upper 80's fastball, a slider, a slurve and change-up so he has agood mix of pitches. Potts could be a LOOGY although in the minor leagues relievers are not used in that way.
Ronald Uviedo pitched in the bullpen and was working on a slider. Pitching coach Signore feels that if Uviedo can develop a third pitch he could be a potential starter. Uviedo is a little over six feet tall and skinny, he looks like he has a wiry, fast twitch body and arm.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20100617143207571