FYI... boxes..
Dunedin 2 Clearwater 4

Lansing 9 Fort Wayne 1

It is going to be a very interesting year in Lansing with 6 of their starting 9 currently 19 years of age (Jackson, Ahrens, Tolisano, Chavez, McDade, Sierra). What a boon to the system if they can get off to a hot start and build some confidence. When is the last time that a Jays farm team was one of the youngest in the league?

Brett Cecil is slowly working his way back from some soreness.

I was wondering why Cecil and Romero hadn't pitched for their respective teams yet.  I assumed that they'd be at the front of their rotations.  Thanks for the link.  Any word on Romero?  Is he hurt again or is he scheduled to pitch for New Hampshire tomorrow?

I went to Fort Wanye today and caught the Lugnuts game and all I can say is that the kids do look very good.  Nate Starner started and I was impressed with the way he threw today.  Last year, he was stepping towards the first base line and throwing across his body, but he had a more conventional delivery today where his lead foot was falling towards home plate.  He changed speeds very well on his fastball and I think he hit every number from 83 to 92 with it.  It looks like he may have also added a cutter to his repertoire.  Farina followed him up and that kid can bring it.  He throws a very heavy fastball.  He hit 94 on the gun in Ft. Wayne and when it hit the catchers glove, it sounded like a gun went off.

As far as the infield, I was impressed with all of them at the plate.  Jackson is extremley fast and I think he is going to be a very good lead off hitter.  He laid down a very good bunt which not many kids at this level can do, so I was happy to see that.  Ahrens is a switch hitter and it looks like his bat speed is a little better from the right side rather than the left.  Toliasano has a very long swing and a very big swing.  I think he may strike out quite a bit this season, but I also think he is going to drive in a lot of runs.  He hit two balls today that dropped my jaw.  His triple in the second was from the left side of the plate and the ball just jumped off his bat and hit off the center field wall which was 400' away.  Later in the game, he hit one foul from the right side that had there not been a screen in left field to protect the street would have probably gone over the road.  Impressive power.

Sierra has one hell of an arm from right field.  He gunned a guy out at the plate today from right and the throw was on a frozen rope.

Jaspe looked to me like he needs a little more work defensively.  He squared his body up to a couple of balls in the dirt today, but he had trouble getting out of that crouch and even though the one ball was laying in front of him, he still allowed the base runner to advance.

One other note of interest, former Blue Jays minor league pitching coach Tom Bradley is the pitching coach for Ft. Wayne this year.

Oh Yeah, one more thing.....Lansing won 11-1

Romero is scheduled to pitch tomorrow.

Thanks Lugnut fan, a trip to Michigan might be in order before too long.

Here are pictures of the 2008 New Hampshire Fisher Cats squad. Missing do to injury was Brant Calamarino.

A few notes:

-Ryan Patterson has changed his uniform number yet again. Ryan has claimed #16 previously worn by Chipper. Last year Patt  swapped his #12 with David Smith for Smiths #5.

-Aaron Mathews changed from #1 to #12.

-Kyle Yates has claimed the #5 in favor of #26.

 

Enjoy!

Looking forward to Romero's start on Sunday and will be multi-tasking with watching Doc against the Red Sox and listening to the Fisher Cats game. 

Noticed that Brett Cecil is no longer listed on Dunedin's roster.  Dropped in order to add Benitez.  Any info from any minor league info masters.