Pulaski is located in southwestern Virginia, due south of Toronto. This is the third year the city has hosted Blue Jay prospects, after several years featuring Texas Ranger farm hands. They play in Calfee Park, with a seating capacity of 2,700. The park measures 338 feet down the left field line, 405 to straightaway centre, and 301 to the right field corner.
Last year the P-Jays went 40-27 under rookie manager Gary Cathcart, finishing just a game and a half behind the division winner Danville. They’ll begin 2005 with another rookie manager. Dave Pano has accepted the position after serving as hitting coach in Auburn the past three seasons.
The roster limit in the Appalachian League is a generous 35 players, and as of Friday 34 spots were spoken for. It’s a long way from Pulaski to Toronto, both literally and figuratively, and it’s a level of baseball where statistics are a very crude tool for quantifying players. That said, let’s have a look through the roster, focusing on getting familiar with the names and how they came to be Blue Jays, taking the stats as clues rather than as hard evidence.
The Draftees
The First-Year Player Draft is of course the biggest source of new players for every Major League farm system, and ten of the players drafted by the Blue Jays this June will begin their professional baseball careers in Pulaski. More may be added as they are signed. Joining high school shortstop Wesley Stone on the opening day roster will be 9 collegiate players, listed here with their NCAA stats from the season just completed. Strength of schedule information is courtesy of Boyd’s World.
Player Age Pos AB BB K HR SB-CS AVG OBP SLG SoS Jacob Butler 22.4 OF 171 42 28 11 4-0 .333 .457 .632 37 Anthony Hatch 21.8 3B 107 10 9 6 1-1 .393 .438 .664 87 Chris Looze 23.5 1B 215 29 37 14 3-0 .307 .391 .563 206 Chris Martinez 22.8 C 168 26 42 7 2-1 .327 .437 .554 - Albert Quintana 22.6 C 215 9 32 0 1-1 .349 .391 .428 17
Player Age T IP H BB K HR ERA RA SoS Dennis Bigley 21.9 R 109.3 72 31 84 2 1.81 2.31 144 Scott Byrnes 22.4 R 84.0 91 24 58 3 3.96 5.57 67 Hector Delgadillo 22.5 R 103.3 124 21 70 9 5.40 6.01 - Alex McRobbie 22.4 R 39.3 32 7 48 5 2.75 3.89 6
The Familiar Faces
Technically, they’re not familiar faces to most Toronto Blue Jay fans, but six players who donned the Pulaski uniform in 2004 will do so again this season. Courtesy of Ashley Graham, we can quickly become familiar with five of the six. Ashley has been employed as a photographer for The Southwest Times in seasons past, and this year hopes to periodically provide Bauxites with pictures of the team.
Left to right: Graig Badger, Cory Hahn, Joshua Lex, Raymon Sanchez, Derek Tate
Not pictured above is portsider Ben Harrison. Here’s how the sextet fared in their first go-round in the Appalachian League. All ages are as of June 21, 2005.
Player Age Pos AB BB K HR SB-CS AVG OBP SLG Graig Badger 24.4 INF 75 24 20 0 2-1 .240 .422 .267 Josh Lex 23.7 C 87 14 19 2 1-0 .287 .411 .471
Player Age T IP H BB K HR ERA RA Cory Hahn 23.7 R 3.3 5 0 3 1 5.40 5.40 Ben Harrison 21.2 L 3.3 4 4 9 0 0.00 0.00 Raymon Sanchez 21.5 L 33.7 39 17 32 4 4.54 5.35 Derek Tate 23.5 L 32.7 22 4 41 1 1.10 1.65
Tate also pitched for Auburn of the New York-Penn League in 2004, compiling a 2.20 ERA in 16 innings.
The Man From Down Under
The Jays ventured into the Australian baseball market last November, signing pitcher Shane Benson. The New South Wales Baseball League ran a profile of the 18-year-old on its website shortly after he signed with the Jays, including the remarkable story of Benson pitching on consecutive days in a national tournament – one day left-handed, the next day right-handed! By all accounts, Shane will be exclusively a right-hander in Pulaski.
The Big Signee
In April Toronto made its biggest splash in the Latin market since the beginning of the J.P. Ricciardi era, signing Leance Soto to the equivalent of 2nd-round draft money. The right-hand hitting 20-year-old was compared by Ricciardi to one-time Blue Jay Candy Maldonado. He’ll be the starting 3rd baseman for Pulaski.
The Draft & Follows
Lefty Joe Wice and righty Jesse Litsch were both taken as draft-and-follow picks by Toronto in 2004, and after successful junior college campaigns they were signed by the Jays before this year’s draft. The 19 year old Wice attended Dixie State College in Utah, while the 20 year old Litsch was a South Florida Community College Panther.
The Military Man
Not inclined to stick to conventional drafting dogma, the Blue Jay brain trust really mixed things up in the 13th round of the 2003 draft, tabbing left-hander Matt Foster of the U.S. Naval Academy. He’s finally completed his commitment to Uncle Sam, and is ready to start firing baseballs for a living. Now 23 years old, if Foster is on his way to Toronto he’ll be coming quick.
The Islanders
Pulaski is in fact not as far away as one can get from Toronto, literally and figuratively, while still being Blue Jay property. Pringamosa of the Dominican Summer League also boasts Blue Jay hopefuls, and this year 10 players have been promoted from the sunny isle to begin the 2005 season with Pulaski. Here are their 2004 stats in the Dominican competition. All ages are as of June 21, 2005. Not included is catcher Javier Nieves.
Player Age Pos AB BB K HR SB-CS AVG OBP SLG Heliezer Aguilar 21.3 OF 218 18 20 3 9-4 .303 .370 .417 Octavio Cordero 21.7 OF 179 42 46 0 31-9 .268 .406 .302 Jesus Gonzalez 21.0 INF 231 18 33 7 0-3 .338 .396 .532 Jonathan Jaspe 20.2 C 234 27 37 4 3-1 .269 .346 .423 Jorge Sandes 20.4 OF 90 13 30 1 3-3 .222 .340 .322
Player Age T IP H BB K HR ERA RA Wilfreddy Aguirre 18.6 L 55.7 46 10 62 1 3.23 4.04 Francisco Mateo 21.1 L 98.0 59 26 122 3 2.11 2.39 Rafael Perez 22.5 L 50.3 33 17 54 0 1.61 1.79 Ezemir Reinoso 20.4 R 47.3 36 10 44 1 2.09 2.47
The Mystery Man
Ray Gonzalez is a 19-year-old right-handed pitcher, 5’11”, 190 pounds. For now, that’s the whole story on him. How did he come to be a Blue Jay? Where has he played previously? What town does he call home? Inquiring minds need to know!
Beyond Round 50
The 50 rounds of the First-Year Player Draft apparently weren’t enough for the Jays, as they announced on June 13th that besides signing 23 of the players they drafted, they had also inked 2 players who had become free agents when they went undrafted. 3B Paul Franko and SS Chris Gutierrez will both suit up for Pulaski.
The third time was the charm for the Jays with Franko, as they had previously drafted him out of high school in 2003 (45th round) and out of Scottsdale Community College in 2004 (31st round). Gutierrez attended Oklahoma State University, batting .343/.408/.526 in 213 AB this past season and earning high praise for his defensive prowess.
