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Minor League Update The Friday Minor League Summary- v.2
It's the hitters this week, but first we get to quickly savour a 3-0 night for the farm affiliates, featuring a 9th inning comeback and 13th inning walk-off homer by Chip Cannon for the Fisher Cats and shutouts in both halves of a Fort Myers-Dunedin doubleheader.



Thursday boxscores and highlights

Syracuse, scheduled day off
Binghamton 4 @ New Hampshire 5, 13 inn. - MatO's BB radio call, Yates 5IP, 0 ER, 4Ks, Santos 8TB, Cannon WO HR
Fort Myers 0 @ Dunedin 4, 1st game - Savickas CG, 7IP, 3H, 1W, 3K, Patton 2 2B
Fort Myers 0 @ Dunedin 3, 2nd game - Tressler SP, 4IP, 5H, 1W, 2K, Harang 2IP, 0H, 0W, 3K, Butler 2-3, HR
Lansing @ Cedar Rapids, ppd. rain


Hitting prospects on the farm

Our post-season top 30 prospect list will again be used as a guide. We have skipped Adam Lind and Ryan Roberts due to their arrival in the Show. We have included Russ Adams, Ray Olmedo, Sergio Santos, Aaron Mathews and Jacob Butler out of interest. All statistics complete through games of Wednesday.

Player

Age

Level

BB

POS

PA

AVG.

OBP

SLUG

W

K

Comments

T. Snider

19

Lo-A

2

RF

62

.328

.354

.621

4

8

Nice.

C. Thigpen

24

AAA

3

C

43

.244

.295

.439

2

6

No runners nailed yet

R. Patterson

23

AA

10

LF

0






injured

C. Cannon

25

AA

15

1B

59

.137

.267

.294

8

28

See below

R. Klosterman

24

AA

16

SS-2B

53

.152

.304

.196

7

9


A. Hatch

23

Hi-A

20

3B

69

.250

.300

.422

5

11

played 2B last night

D. Majewski

25

AA

21

CF

62

.170

.290

.283

9

13


R. Diaz

23

AA

22

C

34

.303

.306

.455

1

3

WYSIWYG.

J. Metropoulos

23











Y. Chavez

18










Likely in Auburn-2007

S. Santos

23

AA


SS

52

.294

.352

.688

4

8

Power! Watch W/K.

A. Mathews

24

AA


CF-LF

55

.367

.446

.551

6

6

Prototype leadoff

J. Butler

24

Hi-A


LF

72

.295

.419

.508

11

7

Promotion?
R. Adams
 26
 AAA
2B
 68
 .220
 .333
 .288
 9
 5
 Bad luck?
R. Olmedo
 25
 AAA
SS
 68
 .238
 .294
 .238
 5
 9


The decision to send Chip Cannon back to double A, after his MVP performance in the Arizona Fall League, might very well be playing a role in his abysmal start to 2007. He turned 25 in November, 2006, and the decision might reasonably have affected his confidence.

Overall, there have been a number of pleasant surprises so far. It is still a weak system, at least in terms of bats, but not as poor as some have made it out to be.

Posted by Mike Green on Friday, April 27 2007 @ 12:02 AM EDT.
The Friday Minor League Summary- v.2 | 14 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
China fan - Friday, April 27 2007 @ 12:36 AM EDT (#166695) #

    It's interesting to speculate on the psychology of prospects.  Cannon may have been demoralized by being sent back to AA again, but what about Santos?   He was demoted to AA, but has responded very differently.   It could have been very demoralizing for Santos too, if he had reacted in the way that you assume Cannon reacted.   But two contradictory reactions are possible, psychologically speaking.  A prospect could be demoralized and depressed by what he sees as an unfair relegation to a lower level than he feels he should be playing at.  Or, to the contrary, it could be an overdue wake-up call.  The prospect could be energized and motivated by a determination to show management that he is better than they think.  He could be shaken out of his complacency, fired up by the fear that his major-league chances could be slipping away.  Santos may have realized that he is fast losing his "blue-chip" status and could soon become a career minor-leaguer if he doesn't shift it into another gear.  Cannon should have realized the same thing, but his psychology was different.

      Or maybe it has nothing to do with psychology and everything to do with physical ability, talent, coaching, and the whims of the fates......     Who knows, but it's interesting to guess....

[ Reply to This ]
Mike Green - Friday, April 27 2007 @ 09:38 AM EDT (#166706) #
Santos is 23 and coming off a poor year in Syracuse.  It was completely reasonable to send him back to double A.

It's one thing to demote a relatively younger prospect who has struggled, but still has hope.  It's another to hold back an older prospect who has flourished.  That could very well be demoralizing.

[ Reply to This ]
Pistol - Friday, April 27 2007 @ 10:35 AM EDT (#166711) #
I don't know that I would say Cannon has flourished or is being held back.  He hit .248/.335/.476 last year.  That's nothing extraordinary, and his splits show that he did almost all of his damage at home (which I believe heavily favors LHs such as Cannon).

It's nice he was the AFL MVP, but that's a great hitting environment, the AFL generally has poor pitching and it was only 105 ABs.

[ Reply to This ]
Mike Green - Friday, April 27 2007 @ 11:04 AM EDT (#166713) #
The AFL was not a particularly hitting-friendly environment last year.  Here are the team batting lines. Cannon's 11 homers was about one-half a typical total for a team.  The pitching competition wasn't so bad- Dustin McGowan, David Pauley, Kevin Slowey, Sean Henn, Matt Albers, among many other prospects.  It seems fair to add Cannon's AFL performance to his double A performance to see where he was after 2006.

I am not saying that Cannon was headed for glory, but that the decision to return him to double A, so that the 31 year old Kevin Barker could play in triple A was not one of the organization's finer moments.

[ Reply to This ]
ayjackson - Friday, April 27 2007 @ 11:13 AM EDT (#166714) #

...and to get back to the point - Santos may have expected, or at least understood the demotion, based on last years performance, whereas Cannon may have been somewhat blindsided.

[ Reply to This ]
Ryan Day - Friday, April 27 2007 @ 11:29 AM EDT (#166715) #

It's possible to overanalyze things. Cannon looks like a streaky hitter with some sizeable holes in his swing - maybe he's fine with being held at AA for a few more months, but he's just having a bad start to the year. We're still just talking about 15 games.

[ Reply to This ]
Mike Green - Friday, April 27 2007 @ 05:19 PM EDT (#166736) #
I missed this interesting profile of Tracy Thorpe by Larry Millson in the Globe a few days ago.  Rick Langford says that Thorpe is a good fielder; that surprises me.
[ Reply to This ]
Maldoff - Friday, April 27 2007 @ 05:29 PM EDT (#166737) #
When does a team normally start considering promoting guys? Players like Snider, Butler, Matthews, Santos (to a lesser extent) on the hitting side seem like they could use the additional challenge.
[ Reply to This ]
HippyGilmore - Friday, April 27 2007 @ 06:33 PM EDT (#166739) #
It's still early. Because he has AAA experience I'd imagine the Jays brass will call up Santos quickly if he keeps it going, maybe in another month. But I think Snider is in Lansing for at the very least half a season. I mean he just graduated from high school less than a year ago, and Dunedin is a tough pitchers park from everything I've heard.
[ Reply to This ]
Lugnut Fan - Friday, April 27 2007 @ 10:19 PM EDT (#166743) #
Pettway will be on e of the first Lansing outfielders promoted.  Dick Scott was on the Lansing radio broadcast the other night and said that Snider will be in Lansing for pretty much a majority of the year.  They are happy with the way he has hit, but they said that he needs to work on base running and defense.  There are quite a number of good arms in the MWL this year, so it really isn't that bad of a spot.  I think the pitching in the MWL probably isn't much behind what he would see in the FSL this year.
[ Reply to This ]
Maldoff - Friday, April 27 2007 @ 10:58 PM EDT (#166746) #
Anyone know why Zach Dials only pitched 1 inning tonight? Injury? Poor performance? Rain delay?
[ Reply to This ]
Jacko - Saturday, April 28 2007 @ 10:03 AM EDT (#166754) #
The Midwest league is a pretty tough place to hit, and it doesn't seem to be bothering Snider much so far.   Not entirely sure how a guy with his build already has 4 triples, but I'll take it.  About the only hole in his game so far is plate discipline -- he's only walked 4 times in 65 AB.  However, his strikeouts are modest (once every 6 AB) and his power has been great.

If Snider puts up strong numbers at Lansing for the entire season, they Jays should not be afraid to push him to AA in 2008.  Maybe a short stint in Dunedin in August and some playoff experience at Dunedin or in New Hampshire.  If that doesn't faze him, a trip to the Arizona Fall League might be a good idea.

High School first rounders are fun to track.  I hope JP drafts some more of them.








[ Reply to This ]
Maldoff - Saturday, April 28 2007 @ 11:30 AM EDT (#166756) #

To answer my own question, Dials was hit on his throwing hand with a groundball in the third inning. The press release says he was taken out for "precautionary reasons".

http://lansinglugnuts.com/press_box/press_release_archive/4_27_07.html

[ Reply to This ]
Maldoff - Saturday, April 28 2007 @ 11:30 AM EDT (#166757) #

To answer my own question, Dials was hit on his throwing hand with a groundball in the third inning. The press release says he was taken out for "precautionary reasons".

http://lansinglugnuts.com/press_box/press_release_archive/4_27_07.html

[ Reply to This ]
The Friday Minor League Summary- v.2 | 14 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.