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The New Hampshire game would have been fun to go to.  Randy Boone pitched a one hitter over seven innings and Danny Farquhar twice had to get out of bases loaded jams with a couple of timely double plays.  Lansing and Auburn played games where all four teams reached double digits in hits, Auburn came out ahead where it matters, Lansing did not.  Dunedin and the GCL Jays each split a double-header, Dunedin were no-hit in game one and needed an Adam Loewen home run to win game two.  Another Canadian, Michael Crouse had a nice day for the GCL Jays. Las Vegas lost despite home runs from Travis Snider and Brian Dopirak.

Albuquergue 4  Las Vegas 2

David Purcey had a Purcey-like start, he pitched 5.1 innings and gave up four runs on seven hits and four walks.  Purcey threw 105 pitches, 61 for strikes.  Las Vegas had only seven hits but two of them were back to back home runs in the eighth from Travis Snider and Brian Dopirak.  Snider was the only 51 with two hits.


New Hampshire 4  Altoona 2

New Hampshire grabbed the lead in the first inning, Todd Donovan led off the game with a walk and he scored later on a single by Darin Mastroianni.  Randy Boone gave up a double to the first hitter of the game but didn't allow another hit through seven innings.  Boone walked three and had six K's.  The score remained 1-0 until the seventh, Adam Calderone doubled and David Cooper drove him in with a single.  With a 2-0 lead Zach Dials came on for the eighth and immediately gave up three hits and a walk and the lead was down to 2-1 and the bases were loaded with no-one out.  The call went out for Danny Farquhar who got the old 1-2-3 double play and then the third out. 

In the ninth Al Quintana led off with a double and Darin Mastroianni singled to bring in an insurance run.  Mastroianni then scored on a single by Jon Diaz.  Farquhar, having enjoyed getting out of the jam in the eighth, decided to do it again in the ninth.  With one out Farquhar walked two then gave up two singles, the score was 4-2, the bases were loaded and the tying run was on second.  But Farquhar again got the double play ball he needed to end the game.

New Hampshire had 13 hits, Mastroianni had three, five players had two including David Cooper.


Dunedin 0  Daytona 4 - game 1

Four Daytona pitchers combined on a no-hitter, The Jays drew two walks.  Bobby Bell gave up 2 runs in each of the first and second innings but ended up pitching five innings with five hits allowed.


Dunedin 3  Daytona 2 - game 2

After being no-hit in the first game Dunedin only had four hits in game two.  However three of those hits came in the second inning and one of them was a home run by Adam Loewen.  On the mound Ryan Page continued his fine run with six shutout innings.  Alan Farina pitched a nervous seventh giving up two runs.


Great Lakes 7  Lansing 5

Lansing outhit Great Lakes 14-10 but the Lakers bunched their hits more effectively.  Chris Holquin started and gave up five runs in five innings.

Emanuele, Chavez, McDade, Sobolewski and House had two hits each.


Hudson Valley 8  Auburn 11

This was another game with lots of hits, 16 for Hudson and 12 for Auburn.  Auburn scored ten runs between the fifth and seventh innings to put it away.  Markus Brisker led the hitters with 2 hits, a sac fly and four RBI's.  Sean Ochinko had two hits and scored three runs.  Lance Durham had two hits, runs and RBI's.


GCL Blue Jays 0  GCL Yankees 3 - game 1

Each team had just three hits, the Yankees did a better job of getting on base by other means.  The three hitters who scored the Yankee runs got on base via a walk, a hit batter and catchers interference.  A couple of timely hits and that was the game.  Sam Strickland pitched five innings, gave up one run, and took the loss.

Murphy and Dominguez had two hits each.


GCL Blue Jays 6  GCL Yankees 2 - game 2

Through four innings the Jays were down 1-0 and had only two hits and it looked like a replay of game 1.  But in the fifth with two on and two out Canadian Michael Crouse tripled in two runs and Gustavo Pierre followed with a double to make it a 3-1 game.  In the sixth Jack Murphy doubled and Jon Fernandez singled him in.  After the Yankees got that run back in the bottom of the sixth Crouse doubled and scored on a single by Nick Zaleski.  John Roberts tripled him home to make it a 6-2 game.  The Jays used four pitchers, Nestor Molina started and gave up one run on two hits over five innings.

Crouse was 3-4, Zaleski and Roberts had two hits each.


Three Stars

3rd star - Michael Crouse
2nd star - Adam Loewen
1st star - Randy Boone


Standings

Las Vegas - 58-63, last place, 16.5 GB
New Hampshire - 54-65, 5th place, 15 GB
Dunedin - 25-22, 3rd place, 9 GB
Lansing - 18-30, last place, 16.5 GB
Auburn 21-34, last place, 13.5 GB
GCL Jays 24-23, third place (tie), 3 GB

Boone, Farquhar Lead Fisher Cats, Two Canadians among Three Stars | 30 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Mike Green - Sunday, August 16 2009 @ 09:57 AM EDT (#204799) #
David Cooper is hot. He's .360/.450/.660 for August.  If he continues to hit  for the remainder of the month, he can safely be promoted to Las Vegas next year despite his poor beginning in New Hampshire.
sam - Sunday, August 16 2009 @ 10:43 AM EDT (#204801) #
I disagree. Regardless of his hot hitting the rest of the way, he should start next year in Double-A. Two reasons. One, this year has been about adjustment. From what I've read, the Blue Jays have been re-tooling his swing and hitting mechanics. It's important that he gets comfortable with them and begins to trust the changes which will only come from continued and extended success. He might go home in the offseason and pick up bad habits again, so it's important he returns to Double-A to the same coaches, hopefully comes back where he left off and then is promoted much like Brian Dopirak was this year. Second, there is no rush with Cooper. That is not to say he is "blocked," but that he has several players ahead of him in the minors and majors who could play First-Base. The aforementioned Dopirak has revived his career and should be rewarded with a promotion. I would argue that there is no reason to promote Cooper until his numbers drastically improve for a significant amount of time until they are somewhat in line with the players he will likely compete with at the Major League level.
sam - Sunday, August 16 2009 @ 10:53 AM EDT (#204804) #
sorry just to follow up. I don't know if I read this here or Rance Mullinicks said it but there is something to be said about extended time in the Minor Leagues. One of the reasons for Romero's success according to the forgotten source was his extended time in the Minors. Here was able to make the adjustments but more importantly learn how to get by or be good when not good. You don't come to the ballpark everyday and feel like you're going to throw a perfect game or have four hits, so it's important that you learn how to make the adjustments in order to be successful regardless of struggles. I think this pertains to hitters just as much as it does pitchers. As much as I would love to see some of these guys with the big-league club, I think it's important that they put in their time in the minors because in the long run it'll be better for the Blue Jays.
MatO - Sunday, August 16 2009 @ 11:16 AM EDT (#204805) #
There is no one answer about how long a player should stay in the minors or be moved up.  Romero made some improvements toward the latter half of 2008 but he was terrible in spring training and was on the verge of being sent down until Arnsberg intervened and spent a lot of time working with him and turned him around.  Romero then got hurt and when he went on rehab he was pretty awful again until he got to the majors and I assume Arnsberg fixed him again.  In this case it seems that major league coaching helped him and being in the minors he may have just scuffled along.
uglyone - Sunday, August 16 2009 @ 12:42 PM EDT (#204806) #
So it is time we start calling Snider the best Jays' prospect.......ever?
Mike Green - Sunday, August 16 2009 @ 01:06 PM EDT (#204807) #
Dopirak should have been in the majors a month ago.  If he starts 2010 in triple A, that will be a sign that the club has no interest in giving him any kind of a shot.  Randy Ruiz is a fun player to watch, but Dopirak actually could help the team in a complimentary role over the next few years.
metafour - Sunday, August 16 2009 @ 02:19 PM EDT (#204809) #
Dopirak should have been in the majors a month ago

A month ago? He's played a whopping 29 games in AAA.  Why should he have been promoted essentially straight from AA?
Ryan Day - Sunday, August 16 2009 @ 03:09 PM EDT (#204811) #
I imagine the Jays will send Cooper to the AFL. If he's successful there, AAA would seem likely.
Olerud363 - Sunday, August 16 2009 @ 03:14 PM EDT (#204812) #

So it is time we start calling Snider the best Jays' prospect.......ever?

Delgado is the best prospect I can remember.   But Snider has progressed faster and is now roughly 1 year ahead of Delgado.  Snider was more impressive as a 19 year old in a-ball.   As a 20 year old Delgado dominated the fsl...  While Snider didn't dominate any level, he was aggressively promoted through 4 levels and finished the year in the majors, which is arguably a more impressive season.    As a 21 year old Delgado dominated aa.  At 21 Snider struggled in the majors but went back and crushed aaa.  Similar to what Delgado did at 22. 

Very similar prospects.  You could argue Snider is better because he's been a little bit younger at each stage. 

Other prospects I can remember...

Rios, Wells: Athletic, but inconsistent minor league hitting records. (yes they were incostent from the very beginning, maybe we should check out their little league stats).

Green: Didn't have huge power numbers in the minors.

Lind: One of the better minor league hitting records...  though not athletic so never viewed as a "super-prospect".

Felipe Lopez: Visions of a short stop who could pop 30 a year... never happened.

I am sure I am missing some.  Who else??  Other then Delgado just can't remember any this good and this young.  I cringe at any suggestions of trading Snider... even for Adrian Gonzales.  Prospects like this come about every 15 years.  Once in a generation. 

 

 

sam - Sunday, August 16 2009 @ 05:08 PM EDT (#204813) #
Are we going to sign any of the high school players we drafted this year?
Mike Green - Sunday, August 16 2009 @ 05:14 PM EDT (#204814) #
Dopirak's 25 and is pretty clearly a better player than Kevin Millar.  You don't need to see him hit in Las Vegas to know that.  For a big guy like Dopirak, these are the years when you need to make hay, and it is in the club's interest to give him that opportunity.  You start him off as a platoon 1B/DH, and if he demolishes lefties (as I think he might very well do), you consider whether you can give him extra work. 
85bluejay - Sunday, August 16 2009 @ 06:28 PM EDT (#204815) #

Best Jays prospect ever?

It was a long time ago,but I think Tony Fernandez  was the most hyped Jays prospect ever - In fact, I remember Pat Gillick saying in answer to a question

about wether the jays would consider keeping Alfredo Griffin (fan favourite) and trading Fernandez, that He would only Trade tony for someone like allstar

Mike Schmidt.  Also, after his breakout AA performance in 1985, some were labelling Sil Campusano the best prospect in baseball. I would rate Snider and

Delgado about equal as prospects, but my recollection was that Tony Fernandez was the BEST(and most hyped)  jays prospect ever.

 

 

Jim - Sunday, August 16 2009 @ 06:54 PM EDT (#204816) #
It might actually be good for Dopriak to go through Las Vegas though.  It's not like it's going to hurt him.

If they were really interested in winning games at the major league level, they would wake the manager from his coma. 

If it turns out it's a 100 million dollar payroll you want to keep that pick in the top 15 anyway.  Putting together wins now potentially hurts them.

LouisvilleJayFan - Sunday, August 16 2009 @ 08:22 PM EDT (#204817) #
Was Derek Bell a big prospect? He's the only Blue Jays farmhand to have won Minor League Player of the Year.
greenfrog - Sunday, August 16 2009 @ 08:27 PM EDT (#204818) #
I can understand being frustrated with Cito (one of the BP writers described him as "tactically inert"), but hey, the guy did deliver two WS wins to Toronto. I'm not a big fan of his managing style, but the team's problems have much more to do with sinkholes in the lineup at offensive positions (Wells, Rios, Millar) and injuries (Marcum, Litsch, McGowan) than they do with the manager.
Jim - Sunday, August 16 2009 @ 08:43 PM EDT (#204819) #
Cito might not be their biggest problem, so that means you just let him sit there flatlined while the world goes on around him?

Hope everyone is ready for the fun to continue:
Boston
Los Angeles
Tampa
@ Boston
@ Texas
Yankees
Minnesota
@ Detroit
@ Yankees
@ Tampa Bay

That's a fun 33 game stretch.   If they don't find a way to go 5-5 on this homestand, they are looking at 86-88 losses.

greenfrog - Sunday, August 16 2009 @ 08:46 PM EDT (#204820) #
In the encouraging news dept.:

Adam Loewen (pre-All Star 43 G): 207/301/283 (18:53 BB:K ratio)
Adam Loewen (post-All Star 47 G): 291/398/486 (26:44 BB:K ratio)
The_Game - Sunday, August 16 2009 @ 09:54 PM EDT (#204821) #
You are forgetting about Josh Phelps. While he wasn't as good (or as hyped) as Delgado/Snider, he was a major hitting prospect for this team.
Olerud363 - Sunday, August 16 2009 @ 10:54 PM EDT (#204822) #

Josh Phelps was a pretty good prospect at one time.  Was older then Delgado/Snider which makes a difference.   Actually Phelps and Brian Dopirak were vaguely similar. 

I was very excited about Phelps (as were many others), not to excited about Dopirak.  Which is weird because they are not that different.  Dopirak is a little older, a little worse k/bb. 

Fernandez the prospect and Campuisano were before my time (started following as a 13 year old in 87) so can't comment on the hype around him.

Snider is the best prospect I've seen in my 20 years of following the team.   Basically even with Delgado but a little younger. 

 

 


 

 

ayjackson - Monday, August 17 2009 @ 12:14 AM EDT (#204823) #

I see Tim Wallach is the best manager prospect in PCL.  Make it so, JP.....or will it be AA.

(link is subscriber only)

TamRa - Monday, August 17 2009 @ 01:02 AM EDT (#204824) #
Alex Gonzalez was once #4 on BA's top 100 list.

Looking over BA's archive since 1990:

1990-
3. John Olerud
49. Glenallen Hill
51. Alex Sanchez
75. Derek Bell

1991-
22. Eddie Zoskey
25. Mark Whiten
38. Steve Karsay
53. Marcus Moore
69. Mike Timlin
92. William Suero

1992-
15. Bell
46. Nigel Wilson
62. Alex Gonzalez
67. Carlos Delgado
70. Howard Battle
82. Eddie Zoskey

1993-
4. Delgado
27. Gonzalez
47. Shawn Green
55. Karsay
75. Jose Pett

1994-
4. Gonzalez
5. Delgado
10. Jose Silva
28. Green
66. D.J. Boston
99. Paul Spoljaric

1995-
6. Green
8. Gonzalez
33. Silva
72. Shannon Stewart
77. Angel Martinez
100. Chris Carpenter

1996-
40. Marty Janzen
46. Stewart
82. Carpenter
93. Pett

1997-
23. Roy Halladay
28. Carpenter
57. Stewart
67. Kelvim Escobar
74. Billy Koch

1998-
38. Roy Halladay
52. Vernon Wells
99. Kevin Witt

1999-
12. Halladay
33. Koch
67. Feilpe Lopez
69. Vernon Wells

2000-
4. Wells
38. Lopez
67. Cesar Izturis

2001-
12. Wells
32. Lopez
99. Joe Lawrence

2002-
36. Josh Phelps
70. Jayson Werth
75. Gabe Gross
81. Orlando Hudson
98. Dustin McGowan

2003-
36. McGowan
94. Werth
97. Jason Arnold

2004-
6. Alexis Rios
18. McGowan
35. Guillermo Quiroz
72. Gross
87. Francisco Rosario
96. Aaron Hill

2005-
64. Hill
69. Brandon League
79. Quiroz

2006-
48. McGowan
87. Ricky Romero

2007-
39. Adam Lind
53. Travis Snider

2008-
11. Snider

2009-
6. Snider
43. J.P. Arencibia
72. Brett Cecil

Interestingly, out of 48 individuals named here, 18 were utter failures, maybe half that many were real star level guys (so far)


jerjapan - Monday, August 17 2009 @ 08:56 AM EDT (#204828) #
Jon Olerud was the most hyped prospect I can recall because of the unusual circumstances.  Certainly the greatest draft-day coup is Jays history?  According to the cube, Olerud didn't play a game in the minors until 10 Abs in his final season ... incredible. 
Jdog - Monday, August 17 2009 @ 09:43 AM EDT (#204829) #
Jays sign 18th round pick Daniel Webb to a 450,000 dollar bonus according to BA. Good news, now lets get the 2-4 round picks signed

http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/draft/
davidcanavan - Monday, August 17 2009 @ 10:36 AM EDT (#204832) #
Webb could be a really nice sleeper pick for the Jays. He was highly ranked going into last years draft but fell and didnt sign. He apparently throws in the mid 90's and is big but doesnt have much offspeed stuff. ( http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/events/draft_report/y2008/index.jsp?mc=webb ). Still mid 90's projectable arms with huge upside don't grow on tree's, this is great late round drafting by the Jays
uglyone - Monday, August 17 2009 @ 11:21 AM EDT (#204837) #

Looking at that prospect list, here's a comparison of all the Jays' that made the top-10 in any given year at the same age as Snider:

 

Age 20

  • RF T.Snider: MLB - 73ab, .804ops / AAA - 64ab, .902ops / AA - 362ab, .818ops / A+ - 61ab, .890ops
  • CF V.Wells: MLB - 88ab, .645ops / AAA - 129ab, .838ops / AA - 106ab, .955ops / A+ - 265ab, .946ops
  • 1B J.Olerud: MLB - 8ab, .750ops
  • SS A.Gonzalez: AA - 561ab, .790ops
  • RF S.Green: MLB - 6ab, .000ops / AA - 360ab, .706ops
  • P J.Silva: AA - 91.1ip, 4.14era
  • 1B C.Delgado: A+ - 485ab, .981ops
  • CF A.Rios: A - 480ab, .650ops

 

At age 20, we see that Snider had a more impressive year than any of our other past top prospects, with Verno being the only one close (he was actually better at lower levels, but not as good at the high levels, on a similar advancement track as Snider had that year. A caveat here is that at the same age Delgado was murdering the ball in high-A, and could likely have moved up levels with similar success as Wells and Snider did.

 

 

Age 21

  • 1B J.Olerud: MLB - 358ab, .794ops
  • RF T.Snider: MLB - 99ab, .686ops / AAA - 175ab, .1092ops
  • RF S.Green: MLB - 33ab, .239ops / AAA - 433ab, .911ops
  • SS A.Gonzalez: MLB - 53ab, .469ops  / AAA - 437ab, .796ops
  • CF V.Wells: MLB - 2ab, .000ops / AAA - 493ab, .745ops
  • 1B C.Delgado: MLB - 1ab, .500ops / AA - 468ab, .954ops
  • CF A.Rios: A+ - 456ab, .752ops
  • P J.Silva: AA - 2.0ip, 9.00era

At age 21, again Snider is at the top of the list, with only Olerud moving ahead of him with his solid rookie MLB performance....although with a good september, Snider could easily move past him there.   Wells dropped off considerably at this age, while Green took a big step up and had a great year, although not quite to the level Snider is going this year. Again, with the caveat here being Delgado destorying the ball at AA, when he could likely have been moved up.

 

 

But still, overall, considering both this year and last year, there's a strong argument to be made that Snider might just be the best of the best of all our top prospects at this age - with the only challenger to that crown being probably Johnny O, who has a marginal lead that Snidey could catch with a strong finish, and who was probably always looked at as a more limited prospect solely because he never had a true power stroke.

Jim - Monday, August 17 2009 @ 11:43 AM EDT (#204842) #
Comparing Syracuse to Las Vegas isn't exactly fair to those who were in upstate NY, but at this point if Snider doesn't hit I think almost everyone will be shocked.
Spifficus - Monday, August 17 2009 @ 01:02 PM EDT (#204848) #

...an illusion generated by playing in the Las Vegas

Ummm... I can't tell if you were joking around or not, Ozzie. Just in case, there are enough reasons to be a bit skeptical about Dopirak. Over-analyzing various splits and components for a 126 AB stay in AAA probably isn't on the first page of trying to decide if he's 'trash' or not.

uglyone - Monday, August 17 2009 @ 01:26 PM EDT (#204853) #

Comparing Syracuse to Las Vegas isn't exactly fair to those who were in upstate NY, but at this point if Snider doesn't hit I think almost everyone will be shocked

 

true, but when he's got a near 200-point OPS advantage over the next closest prospect (green) at AAA, it's hard to argue that that's just park factors.

Sneeps - Monday, August 17 2009 @ 03:28 PM EDT (#204868) #
Snider's OPS is higher on the road.
Boone, Farquhar Lead Fisher Cats, Two Canadians among Three Stars | 30 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.