Jason Arnold pitched 5 scoreless innings against the Red Wings last night (Twins). Other than that it was a pretty uneventful night in the minors (well the Doubledays lost which is a rare occurance).

Pistol, another performance of note yesterday was that of Harper in dunedin

J.Harper (W,13-4) 6.0 4 0 0 2 10 0 2.54

10k's are nice to see, plus he did it against Cole Hamels! way to step up to the challenge Jesse.

Hanson did ok for charleston aswell.

It may be quite a while before the AA team has this kind of collection of talent again. Although Gross was sent up to AAA, older than his experience suggests Tyrell Godwin made the jump to AA admirably and provided the Ravens a productive bat in the outfield:

29 g, 106 ab, 17 r, 35 h
6 double, 2 triples, 1 hr, 11 rbi, 3 bb, 21 k, 4 sb 1 cs
.330 avg, .351 obp, .453 slg

The K/BB ratio is a concern; the K rate isn't terrible but only 3 bb in over 100 at bats isn't good. His average was high enough that you can excuse some lack of patience at the plate when balls in play are finding holes that often and he has impact speed in the outfield and on the bases. I think Tyrell deserves another go around in AA but if he can't make AAA by mid-season with a realistic shot at contributing to a big league club in 2005, his value really plummets because of his already advanced age. He does have the potential to become a poor man's Kenny Lofton though so this two time first round pick deserves a longer look than either Dwayne Wise or Ryan Thompson.

Russ Adams is wrapping up a so-so season at AA where he's hit .274/.344/.384 with 28 bb and 35 k in 263 ab. While his power has not manifested much at the pro level, his 9 doubles, 4 triples, and 4 homers at least demonstrate that he has some. Despite only 17 extra base hits out of 72 total hits, Adams has the bat speed and frame to add a bit more pop with age and experience.

JF Griffin is out for the rest of the year with an injury but he posted a reasonably respectable .279/.361/.461 mark with 49 bb and 85 k in 373 ab. His power has started to come along this season though apparently at the expense of making contact...his patience remains a strength though.

Also down with injury is Guillermo Quiroz who has taken another quantam leap forward with the bat this season. In moving up a level this year, the 21 year old upped his offensive numbers across the board hitting .282/.372/.518 with 45 bb and 85 k in 369 ab. An incredible 47 of his 104 hits have been for extra bases (27 doubles, 20 homers) and one would expect even more power to manifest over the next two or three years. Blessed with a rifle arm, Quiroz has made just 4 errors in 100 games caught, though we have no visibility on how polished he is at game calling, receiving, and blocking. The future looks bright for the catcher of the future if he can make a full recovery from a collapsed lung.

In the first half of the year Dominic Rich looked like a lost cause. Recovering from some nagging injuries, he's produced a strong surge in the second half to up his numbers to a respectable level and remain on the radar (.265/.332/.358, 29 bb, 41 k, 377 ab). His defence isn't great but he commited just 8 errors in his 98 games at second.

Not much can be said about Alexis Rios that hasn't been said already. Perhaps the single most exciting prospect the Jays currently have, he started the year strong and is now finishing strong for a playoff team which relies on his performance. 3 more hits including another homer last night pushes his impressive totals to .351/.401/.519, 38 bb, 84 k, 501 at bats. 52 of his 176 hits were for extra bases including 31 doubles, 10 triples, and 11 homeruns. He stole 10 of 13 bases as well. If Rios continues to fill out his tall wiry frame, his ceiling could be as high as Vernon Wells' is.

Dustin McGowan made an appearance on 3 days rest last night but pitched only 2.2 innings, likely to keep him on track to start in the playoffs. He allowed 2 runs on 4 hits and 2 walks while striking out 5.

Anyone know what happened to McGowan? He didn't pitch that poorly but was out before the 4th.

Ah. Thanks Pistol.

I mean RBillie! I didn't even look at the name, just assumed. Sorry.

The one player who has been a disappointment in my eyes is Adams. Check out these two stat lines:

271AB; 30BB; 45K; .255BA; .341OBP; .373SLG
263AB; 28BB; 35K; .274BA; .344OBP; .384SLG

The first line is for Sequea at Syracuse and the second is for Adams at New Haven. Oh, and by the way Sequea is a month or two younger than Adams. Neither line is particularly good. I don't hear people going on about how great a prospect Sequea is. He looks to me to be a prospect, although more in line with being a utility guy. Also note their stolen base numbers are similar. Defense might be a distinguishing factor, but from everything I have heard, Adams is a marginal SS prospect defensively, although possibly solid at 2nd. My point is that nothing about this year (or frankly last year after he left Auburn) has suggested to me that Adams is any kind of a serious prospect.

I don't think Adams is considered marginal defensively outside of his arm. He has middle infield range and hands. And I don't think anyone is discounting Sequea as a prospect either; one has nothing to do with the other. Although I have no idea how good Sequea is defensively.

I think we also have to remember that Sequea despite the age difference may have a lot more *pro* experience under his belt. Adams like David Bush is just over a year removed from being drafted and has played much of this year at AA.

In other words, if Russ Adams isn't a significant prospect then neither was this guy in his first AA exposure the year after he was drafted:

.238/.333/.380, 53 bb, 71 k, 403 ab

This year Gabe Gross just just fine repeating AA and is doing alright in AAA as well. Everyone develops at their own pace and outside of the lack of power, I don't see anything to panic about where Adams is concerned. I expect him to repeat AA at least for a couple of months as Gross did this year and I think we'll see a bit more pop, patience, and average out of him as he gains experience. He certainly looked pretty good to me in Spring Training.

Baseball America updates the Guillermo Quiroz situation.

August 29, 2003

Double-A New Haven catcher Guillermo Quiroz has missed seven games with a collapsed lung, and could miss the Eastern League playoffs.

Quiroz had been having trouble catching his breath, but after two trips to the doctor, the breathing difficulties were diagnosed as a chest cold. He continued to play, and hit, going 5-for-12 with a home run and two doubles in a four game stretch against Binghamton and New Britain. But after going 2-for-3 against the Rock Cats with a home run and a double, he was still having trouble catching his breath.

New Haven trainer Jeff Stay took Quiroz to another doctor. Stay insisted that the doctor take a chest X-ray, which discovered that Quiroz, hitting .282-20-79, had a partially collapsed lung. It was not known exactly when the lung collapsed, and Quiroz was taken to the hospital. While he's expected to make a full recovery, he's been forced to sit the past seven games. New Haven manager Marty Pevey said he expects to know more early next week about Quiroz' availability for the playoffs.

Quiroz is second in the EL with a career-high 20 home runs, and he was recently named the Eastern League's all-star catcher, beating out a talented group of EL catchers including Kelly Shoppach and Justin Huber.
--J.J. COOPER

As was suggested before, Q looks like he'll make a full recovery and it certainly could have been a lot worse. I think the fact that he may actually be available for the playoffs should come as a big relief to the organization.

I think Adams is a good prospect, and this season definitely isn't reason to give up on him, but I think a better middle infield of the future is Hill and Hudson with Woodward (or Adams if he shows some versatility and Woodward has some trade value) as a Utility guy.

RBillie, I acknowledge the lack of pro experience as potentially a factor here. I do think that there is some difference between the Gross situation and Adams. If I remember correctly Gross started out last year in a horrific slump for fully 2 months. If you look at how he finished the year it was clear he was back on track. In addition, his strike zone control, even when he was struggling, was fantastic. Adams has sat at this level of production in AA for his whole stay (if anything declining after a fast start). His strike zone control has been ok but nothing to get excited about. In short, I like Rich's production over the year better than Adams' in that he clearly is finishing with a flourish. A 23 year old in AA, putting up Adams' line, can't be considered a top prospect even taking into account the short period of time since being drafted. I am not "writing him off" as a prospect, he has time to move ahead. I just haven't seen anything yet that gives me great hope. I would love to have every one of these words shoved back at me in a year's time, as evidence of not having enough faith!!

I'm not saying to expect Adams to reach his college stats or to be as good as Gabe Gross who always projected as a much better overall hitter. JP himself said he expects Mike Bordick with a better bat which leaves a lot of room for interpretation but certainly doesn't suggest All-Star. Maybe not a first round quality ceiling but someone who has a good chance to be a useful major league player. A guy like Mark Ellis of the A's. I'm sure the Jays would have taken Khalil Greene who projected better with the bat but the Padres took him the pick before.

Adams had a 933 ops with Auburn and a 627 mark with Dunedin last season. This year he had a 768 ops with Dunedin and 728 after moving to a tougher league. I expect him to do better next year.

Actually, I agree completely on his likely upside, I can see Mark Ellis as a suitable comp. We've got someone like that already - Woodward (although he probably has more pop) - and got him as a 57th (?) round pick. I know that that is not truly analogous. My only point is that for the 14th overall pick in the draft, that upside is disappointing. Maybe I have no right to be disappointed, because he was the best combination of talent and lower risk at that point in the draft. My gut tells me that you need to do better with 14th overall picks to develop a top flight farm system, but I could be wrong.

Nigel, the best way to look at it is this... everyone knows you're going to get gems in the bottom rounds. The way to look at first-round picks, who do have a way of working out, it to ask "does this guy have a chance to become the Xth best player from his year", where X is his draft slot. If so, then I think he has good upside.

In order to think how a guy does, think of all the guys who are rookies, or all the guys who are 27 this year, or whatever, and ask yourself

If Adams can still become a Mark Ellis type, then we shouldn't worry about his upside, since Mark Ellis is or will be, I would say, at least the 14th best player of his year.

Thppp! Portland scored 14 runs in the 3rd and now lead New Haven 17-0. Bush is listed as the starter, but Markwell gave up 3 home runs in the 3rd, so I'm assuming it was just a short playoff tune-up for Bush as with Mcgowan yesterday.

Diegomar Markwell, Atlantic League. Atlantic League, Diegomar Markwell.

You guys will hit it off great.

I guess with the division clinched it doesn't matter but a pretty brutal outing for Bush and Markwell. The latter for whom I never really understood the hype.

And you know it's a pretty brutal night in the minors when your best low-A pitcher is first baseman Zepheriah Zinsman.

And then there's Auburn doing the embarrassing beating Lowell 25-4. Those bullies.

Markwell faced 8 batters and gave up a walk and 7 hits, 3 of which were HRs. Ouch.

Big Vito had a couple more HRs and 6 RBI. He's getting some competition in BA now, leading by .001 heading into the final weekend.

Josh Banks threw 5 hitless innings with 10 Ks.

Auburn doing the embarrassing beating Lowell 25-4. Those bullies.

A regular lurker who was at the game sent me a brief e-mail report on the D-days, saying they may have run up the score a little. But what can you do? Stopping guys at third when they could score easily is just a different kind of insult. Lowell should get better players.

Our correspondent, admittedly no scout, was very impressed with Vito, liked the way the ball jumps off Ryan Roberts' bat and thinks Snavely showed good power, with a double and a deep flyout. Banks, I'm told, was hitting 93-94 with a good breaking ball and a good splitter.

Will you look at that. Sandy Nin, who shared a no-hitter in low A last week, quietly leap-frogged to AA and pitched a great game in a 2-1 loss to Portland.

Charlie Zink sullied Sandy's night by pitching 8 2/3 no-hit innings of his own before giving up a double to Raven first baseman Matt Logan in the ninth.

Nevertheless, a fine (and pleasantly surprising) debut for Nin: 7 innings, 5 hits, 2 earned runs, zero balls and 9 k.

With an 8-7 win over Tampa in extra innings, Dunedin clinched a spot in the FSL playoffs, giving the Jays three minor-league teams in the postseason, a remarkable accomplishment. It was very nearly four, as Pulaski didn't miss by much; in the Appy, only the two division winners play, and the P-Jays had the third-best record in the league.

Again, congratulations to the front office for two spectacular drafts, and to the coaching staffs and players for getting it done on the field. Best of luck to the Ravens, D-Jays and D-days.

A story on Minor League Baseball's site highlights Vito Chiaravalloti's run at a triple crown.

'The Blue Jays have kept the 6-3, 225-pound New Jersey native in the short-season league to give him a shot to obtain the Crown. Toronto scouting director Jon Lalonde has been impressed with the slugger's ability to maintain consistency despite entering his first professional season on the heels of a long college season.

"I kept waiting for him to drop off a little bit," Lalonde said. "That's a long season and you'd except natural fatigue would have set in. You kept waiting for him to go into a funk, but he didn't."'

Home runs and RBI look safe, but Nyjer Morgan of Williamsport has surged ahead in BA -- .349 to .344.

Auburn's last game of the regular season is Wednesday.

Maybe a triple crown won't predict future success, but who cares. Go Vito!

I realize The Batters Box is a Blue Jay haven, and I enjoy these reports that are hard to find here in SoCal (especially minor league views), but there is some great AAA and A ball being played out West that I have been fortunate to take in the past several seasons. Be happy to provide some novice PCL and especially California League scouting reports if anyone cares.
By the way, I was at the Sacramento Rivercats game on 8/23 to witness the two Justins pitch (Duchscherer and Lehr) and was very impressed with both. Justin D. reminded me of Zito with his presence and devastating MPH swings between fastballs and breaking balls. Lehr could pitch set-up in the majors now.
In the same game, I saw some of the same sadly reminiscent lackadasical play for the Vegas team that I have seen often in Chavez Ravine lately.
Also caught some very promising, though very young, pitching for the Rockies and Mariners Single A teams.

Dunedin started their playoffs with an exciting 3-2 win in the bottom of the ninth. Dunedin led 2-0 after 7 innings. Jesse Harper allowed 3 hits and 2 walks in seven innings. Fort Myers scored a run in the eight off Jamie Vermilyea and another in the ninth to tie the game.

Dunedin scored in the bottom of the ninth for a 3-2 win. Dunedin outhit Fort Myers 13-7. Tonight Vince Perkins faces Eric Milton.

Go Trappers!!

(PCL Playoffs soon to start)