It was a mixed night on the farm, four wins and three losses. New Hampshire, Lansing and Bluefield had big wins. Vancouver needed a ninth inning home run to send the game to extra innings where the C's picked up a walk-off win. Buffalo and Dunedin lost. Otto Lopez picked up three hits, the good Justin Dillon pitched and Bo Bichette stole home.
Buffalo 8 Charlotte 3
Reading 1 New Hampshire 9
Dunedin 2 Palm Beach 4
Lansing 8 West Michigan 0
Everett 4 Vancouver 5 - 10 innings
Pulaski 2 Bluefield 7
GCL Jays - Scheduled Day Off
DSL Orioles 10 DSL Blue Jays 5
Here are some things I noted from Thursdays games:
Andrew Sopko came over in the Russell Martin trade. He started the season in New Hampshire, pitched well and was promoted. He has not mastered AAA yet. This was his first start after a stay on the IL but he just lasted three innings with four runs allowed. The runs were unearned due to Bo Bichette's ninth error. A couple of walks around the error loaded the bases and a double cleared them.
Sopko was followed by Taylor Saucedo who had been pitching well. Like Sopke he gave up four runs and he has come off the boil recently. Cancel the call-up.
Bichette led off the game with a double and scored on a steal of home as part of a double steal. It would be nice to see that in Toronto.
Two hits for Jonathan Davis including his 15th double. Davis's bat is heating up.
Justin Dillon started for NH and pitched six shutout innings. Dillon has made four starts for NH, two shutouts and two where the conceded 14 runs. Its a night or day performance from him, I am not sure why.
Forrest Wall hit his ninth home run. His OPS by month is 817, 924, 592, and 853. One bad month. However his strikeouts are up in July, to around 30%.
Two more hits for Cal Stevenson. His OPS by month is 587, 832, 742 and 880. I assume he will stick in Dunedin this season and play in the playoffs. He will be in AA next season at age 23.
A double and two RBI's for Alejandro Kirk. Where does he start next season at age 21?
A hit and a walk for Samad Taylor. His second half improvement is still holding.
Gabriel Moreno homered. Emily Walden from The athletic was there and tweeted "379-foot laser off the bat of #BlueJays Gabriel Moreno (5'11, 160 lbs.), his 8th of the year with @LansingLugnuts. Easy power for the 19-year-old. Moreno signed with the Blue Jays in August, 2016." Moreno also doubled but was thrown out stretching it at third.
Fitz Stadler had one of his best starts, five shutout innings.
Otto Lopez had three hits, his average is back over .300.
Griffin Conine ended his hitless spell with two hits. He also K'd twice.
Miguel Hiraldo picked up a hit to keep his average over .300. Hiraldo has the third best OPS on Bluefield, at age 18, behind two guys who came down from Vancouver, Davis Schneider and Ryan Sloniger.
The C's got a home run from Brett Wright with two out in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game. Ronny Brito then singled in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth. Brito came to the Jays in the Russell Martin trade last winter. He had a good season last year in the Pioneer League at age 19. This year he has not really advanced in his age 20 season.
Will Robertson hit a three run home run. As I said in a previous report, Robertson's swing needed a rework. I wouldn't judge him until next season.
Joseph Reyes in Bluefield is in his third season and he hasn't done much. But he did hit a three run home run on Thursday, a three run shot. Reyes still has a batting average under .200.
The two best starters in Vancouver in terms of WHIP and ERA are Grant Townsend and Nick Fraze, 34th and 22nd round picks. Both had WHIP's under one before Thursdays game.
Cesar Izturis Jr. played for Everett against Vancouver. He hit fourth and played shortstop. He is 19 years old.
Age matters in the DSL. Juan Pizarro has an OPS of 756 and is 17 years old. Francisco Fajardo has the second best OPS in the lineup on Thursday but he is already 19. Fajardo was 3-3, Pizarro 2-4. Pizarro had his average up to .333 three weeks ago before seeing it slide down to .289. The season can be long for young players.
3 Stars
3rd star: Brett Wright
2nd star: Justin Dillon
1st star: Otto Lopez
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20190725153006137