Injuries were the common theme over the weekend, but the minor league system looks good and will be further enhanced by the end of the day.
Buffalo Bisons
Buffalo won one, lost two. Anthony Alford and Roemon Fields were the notable performers on Friday with two and three hits, respectively. On Saturday, Ryan Borucki tossed six shutout innings in the Bisons' loan win on the weekend. Alford again had two hits and was joined in this respect by Danny Jansen, Jason Leblebijian, and Darnell Sweeney. On Sunday, Sean Reid-Foley threw 63 pitches over two innings of work. Nick Tepesch relieved him with five shutout innings. The Bisons lost nonetheless four-three.
As Gerry noted in the previous MLU, we lost both Richard Urena and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. to injuries this weekend. Sadly, these weren’t the only injuries to top prospects this weekend.
New Hampshire Fisher Cats
Rain on Friday, a doubleheader split on Saturday, and a doubleheader sweep for the bad guys on Sunday. New Hampshire had a long weekend. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. appears to have injured himself running the bases. Rest assured for those concerned as to what to do now that we can’t argue over his promotion. Apparently the injury is not a “major concern.” Tell that to Bauxites, huh!
T.J. Zeuch threw a seven inning shutout on Saturday and Jordan Romano pitched five innings of four run (two earned) baseball. Bo Bichette and Cavan Biggio had fairly quiet weekends. I’m not entirely fretting about Bichette. I think “struggles” can be good for a prospect. His numbers in the lower levels were simply gaudy. I have not watched Bichette in person, but from the videos we see online he looks like he probably needs another year or two to develop physically. I think good fastballs tend to get on him and I chalk that up to him just getting a little long with the swing or trying to inside-out a ball, rather than anything mechanical that might be a red-flag. I don’t know if this comp gets used, but he reminds me a lot of Michael Young.
Dunedin Blue Jays
Dunedin is not the place you go in the Jays farm system when looking for prospects. The High-A ball club won one and lost two over the weekend. Kevin Smith was recently promoted and is still finding his feet at the level. Smith has three hits over his first four High-A games. Patrick Murphy pitched five shutout innings on Saturday and Angel Perdomo pitched six innings of five run baseball on Sunday. Perdomo, who has struggled with command throughout his minor league career, did not allow a walk.
Lansing Lugnuts
Lansing too one won and lost two over the weekend. On Friday the team belted out nineteen hits and got six shutout innings from Turner Larkins. Saturday’s five-four loss in extras featured three hits from leadoff man Chavez Young and homerun from Cullen Large. Large homered again in Sunday’s loss as did Samad Taylor. Taylor’s homerun came off last year’s number two pick Hunter Greene. Greene was one of those can’t miss, generational amateur prospects. Plus tools on both sides of the ball. While there is no Hunter Greene in this year’s draft, lots of exciting prospects for us to dream on.
DSL Blue Jays
As mentioned in the previous MLU, our short season DSL team has begun play. They lost their opener in rather spectacular fashion Saturday seventeen-zip. Miguel Hiraldo was a July 2 bonus baby last year and will be playing in the DSL it appears this year. Hiraldo was hitless in his professional debut.
Three Stars
3. Ryan Borucki
2. Cullen Large
1. T.J. Zeuch
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