Batter's Box Interactive Magazine - Wallace Continues to Wallop

Only three games on Sunday but that doesn't mean there wasn't good news for Jays fans.

Omaha 2 Las Vegas 6

Brett Wallace is really knocking on Toronto's door, isn't he? As Lyle Overbay hovers around the Mendoza Line, Wallace continues to assault the PCL. On Sunday, he launched his 11th homer of the year, a solo shot, as part of a 2-for-4 day to bump his average to .310. Five other 51s had two hits including Kyle Philllips who doubled twice and scored a pair, as well.

Reidier Gonzalez started and won for Las Vegas. He sports the fairly odd season line of 4-2 with a 7.78 ERA. Gonzalez went six frames allowing just a run on three hits though he walked five against four punch outs. Sean Henn and Jeremy Accardo, with a perfect ninth, preserved the victory for the 51s.

Portland 4 New Hampshire 3

After knotting the score at 3-3 in the bottom of the 8th, the Fisher Cats dropped Sunday's game thanks to an RBI double off Danny Farquhar in the ninth. Farquhar's been struggling with his command so far with 15 walks in 16 innings. Three of those came on Sunday (though two were intentional). Randy Boone started and went 5.1 allowing a run on four hits and four walks against, yup, four strikeouts. Adrian Martin and Tim Collins, with two strikeouts in 1.1 innings, also got some work in.

Adam Calderone continued his scorching play of late with his 7th homer of the year and fourth in his last four games. Shawn Bowman and Jonathan Jaspe each picked up a pair of hits.

Of note, there was a weird play in the bottom of the ninth. Well, at least weird when recalled in point form. After Jaspe singled to lead the inning off, Darin Mastroianni pinch ran and was bunted up to second. The next play appears as this:

Darin Mastroianni out at 2nd, center fielder Che-Hsuan Lin to shortstop Jose Iglesias.

That's it. And the boxscore doesn't show Mastroianni being picked off so it doesn't appear to be one of those crazy little league plays where the centerfielder sprints in to catch the runner napping. So what the hell happened?

Bradenton 3 Dunedin 2

The D-Jays dropped this one but that's of little matter as good news came in the form of Jesse Litsch's second start back from Tommy John surgery. Litsch went 8 strong and allowed three runs on five hits against 2 walks and five strikeouts. He has now thrown 15 strong Hi-A innings and appears ready for a trip to New Hampshire.

The other rehabber today was Edwin Encarnacion who went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts. The D-Jays managed only 5 hits on the day but two were solo homers off the bats of Welinton Ramirez and Tyler Pastornicky with his second in as many days. Remember he hit one all of last year.

Adeiny Hechavarria was 1-for-4 and is now 4-for-16 on his season. He has a hit in each game, though so he's only 52 shy of Joe D's streak.

Lansing @ Bowling Green- Postponed

Three Stars:

3rd Star: Kyle Phillips- 2-for-3, 2 R, 2 2B, RBI, BB
2nd Star: Brett Wallace- 2-for-4, R, HR (11), RBI
1st Star: Jesse Litsch- 8 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K

Posted by braden on Sunday, May 16 2010 @ 10:53 PM EDT.

Wallace Continues to Wallop | 33 comments | Create New Account

The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.

greenfrog - Monday, May 17 2010 @ 12:00 AM EDT (#215137) #

PCL/Vegas-adjustments aside, I'm still amazed at how much better Wallace is doing than Michael Taylor (who is a year older than BW) so far this season:

Wallace: 310/369/614
Taylor: 232/290/408

That's almost a 300-point difference in OPS. Right now, the post-Doc challenge trade is looking like a heist for AA.

TamRa - Monday, May 17 2010 @ 12:48 AM EDT (#215138) #

Noted in passing:

JPA has gone ice-cold. He's 4 for his last 33

Eric Thames' cold snap has reached 10 games (.162)

Litsch's next game will be at NH

Lott reports Zep will start for Vegas Tuesday night and Tallet will within the next few days thereafter...

stevieboy22 - Monday, May 17 2010 @ 01:06 AM EDT (#215139) #

I know it is kind of mean of me to kick Cooper while he is down, but where does Cooper rank among the worst Jays First Round Draft Picks of all time?

I would probably put Cooper ahead of guys like Negron and Ahrens, because at least they had upside.. Cooper seemed like he was one of JP's "safe picks," someone who would have a good probability of being okay and a small probability of being an all star... I must admit, I have never even seen him play, but in hindsight he feels like a waste of a pick...

bball12 - Monday, May 17 2010 @ 04:55 AM EDT (#215140) #

Braden,

Your question on the NH play in the 9th.

Mastroianni on 2nd - pitcher attempts pickoff - ball hits him in the back and bounces to shortstop. Runner back safely.

Next play - pitcher attempts pickoff again. Ball hits Mastroianni in the helmet and bounces directly to centerfielder.. Mastroianni takes off running to third - realizes he is dead meat and trys to get back to second - CF throws him out at 2nd.

mathesond - Monday, May 17 2010 @ 07:45 AM EDT (#215141) #

Considering Hech is still in the minors, it's only fair to compare his hitting streak to Joe D's minor-league streak, which was 61 games in 1933. Of course, that's only good enough for 2nd best all time, behind the immortal Joe Wilhoit's 69 game back in 1919

greenfrog - Monday, May 17 2010 @ 08:14 AM EDT (#215142) #

I wouldn't put Cooper in the same category as budget picks like Negron. Lots of people thought that Cooper would hit enough to be a valuable 1B or DH, notwithstanding his poor fielding skills. The rationale was something like, instead of picking someone with average skills across the board, why not pick someone with one outstanding skill (batting). Obviously, that assessment hasn't held up (thus far, anyway), but it's not as if most, or even many, scouts expected him to flame out.

John Northey - Monday, May 17 2010 @ 09:18 AM EDT (#215145) #

Augie Schmidt. Drafted 2nd overall ahead of Dwight Gooden. The only guy in the top 11 that year not to make the majors.

Or you could just take pretty much any first round pick outside of Lloyd Moseby before the good streak started in the very late 80's. Gillick really had issues with that first round.

MatO - Monday, May 17 2010 @ 10:03 AM EDT (#215149) #

People expect too much of draft picks. At pick 17, I'd say that history shows that at best it's 50-50 that the player will make it as a regular in MLB.

LouisvilleJayFan - Monday, May 17 2010 @ 10:45 AM EDT (#215155) #

Speaking of drafts, has anyone seen an updated mock draft lately?

cybercavalier - Monday, May 17 2010 @ 11:31 AM EDT (#215156) #

About Brad Emaus.

Have he been considered switching into a shortstop? Besides his health, his bat seems ready for AAA. Playing him as a SS shall put him in a fast track to MLB then a 3B or 2B, although the Cuban shortstop prospect is regarded as the future.

John Northey - Monday, May 17 2010 @ 11:49 AM EDT (#215158) #

Shifting from 3B/2B to SS and being successful is rare. It is hard to move in that direction on the defensive scale. If he was good enough defensively to play SS he would've done it as you always try to keep guys on the hardest defensive position they can handle for as long as possible unless it is starting to hurt their offense too much (thus Wallace moving off third).

Emaus has 246 games at 2B, 51 at 3B, 2 at 1B, and 3 at DH - that does not suggest he could shift to SS easily, quickly, or effectively. If he played a few at SS I'd say there was a chance, but this is his 4th year in the system with 0 games at SS so I doubt game #1 will come now.

mendocino - Monday, May 17 2010 @ 11:57 AM EDT (#215159) #

Baseball America's May 14 Mock Draft had the Jays taking college OF Michael Choice. In the mix was SS Christian Colon (Boras Corp, high price tag) and high school outfielder from Washington Josh Sale (Snider)

TamRa - Monday, May 17 2010 @ 01:22 PM EDT (#215164) #

Have he been considered switching into a shortstop? Besides his health, his bat seems ready for AAA. Playing him as a SS shall put him in a fast track to MLB then a 3B or 2B, although the Cuban shortstop prospect is regarded as the future.

The fasted path to the majors in the Jays system is clearly at 3B

FisherCat - Monday, May 17 2010 @ 01:38 PM EDT (#215165) #

Figures I go to the only game against Portland that the FCats LOSE! Urgggh.

Anyway, Mr. Calderone is plain sizzlin! He has to be the hands-down EL player of the week. Just for the games against the Sea Dogs. The HR yesterday was a no-doubter! It would've cleared the RF bullpen at FENWAY.

Another observation, and I noted this during some of my brief reviews of the Fishers last year, Mastroianni is a very daring (i.e. careless) baserunner at times. I know he has great speed, but is too liberal with his leads. Yesterday he should've just kept going to third and "forced" the CF to beat him with the throw, which I think may have been close if so.

Also, Farquar has stopped using his submarine delivery it seems. He almost exclusively is 3/4 now, with an occasional side-arm pitch mixed in. The gun registered 91-93mph on occasion, but as I've stated before I don't trust the park's radar.

TamRa - Monday, May 17 2010 @ 01:43 PM EDT (#215166) #

where does Cooper rank among the worst Jays First Round Draft Picks of all time?

One man's rankings:

1. Matt Stark ('83) - over Clemens
2. Augie Schmidt ('82) - over Gooden
3.

Well hell, B-R is loading so slow I don't have time to do this...

Suffice to say that i wouldn't list Cooper yet because it's too recent. Anything 2006 and sooner can't ebe evaluated yet (Iremind you a lot of folks wrote Romero off before last year)

Also, i don't give negron a pass for being a budget pick - so was Rios. You're still oblidged to make a good one and if you say a "budget pick" is taking a third rounder when you should be taking a first rounder, you still should expect a third round talent and Negron wasn't that.

Still, there are a LOT of first rounders for the Jays who never made the majors or had a very brief and sucky career...the tie breaker for me is the quality of guy we left on the board.

The Jays have had 40 First rounders (counting compensation picks) through 2006, and of those 40, 22 were clearly failures and arguably 25 (id you count Adams, Purcey and McGowan)...

(yes, you can arguably count McGowan only because I don't want to dig through history to see how many of the other guys failed because of injury)

Of those, Gillick failed on 17 of 24, Ash failed on 5 of 11 (counting McG), and JP failed on 3 of 6 (through 2006)

Again, I grok that it's not REALLY the GM's fault if a guy failed via injury, I'm using the term "fail" very losely because I'm not going to research every guy to see what happened to him - at least not now.

sam - Monday, May 17 2010 @ 01:48 PM EDT (#215168) #

There's been a fair amount of talk of Austin Wilson and one of Cole, Covey, Whitson, and Sanchez at 11.

Based on where the Jays amateur scouts are and the talent, I think our draft might be heavy in California prep talent.

Jim Callis over at BA seems to think that reports that the Jays will consistently go over slot are bogus. He agrees that the Jays budget will be more than last year simply because we have more picks. He doesn't see a radical departure from our previous drafting.

What do people make of this? Even Sickels' mock drafts seem to suggest a college heavy/safe pick type draft.

Matthew E - Monday, May 17 2010 @ 02:29 PM EDT (#215173) #

WillRain: Well, Stark did make the majors, briefly. As Sherwood Kiraly points out, he's in the Baseball Encyclopedia, and that's a lot harder than getting into the phone book.

Ryan Day - Monday, May 17 2010 @ 03:18 PM EDT (#215179) #

Given their failure to sign Paxton last year, I suppose people won't believe the Jays are big spenders in the draft until they start spending big. Beeston said they were going to spend last year, and we all know what happened.

92-93 - Monday, May 17 2010 @ 03:28 PM EDT (#215182) #

Callis has said on more than one occasion that the Jays aren't expected to be taking risky picks and making big overslot signings. I can only hope he's misinformed because I can't imagine why the Jays would take a conservative approach to this draft, unless it's because of its perceived weakness.

mamboon - Monday, May 17 2010 @ 03:37 PM EDT (#215183) #

Thanks for the post... and your observation on Mastroianni. Despite the miscue Sunday, after Diaz Sac Bunted him to second, he has been doing quite well for himself... 18 SB leading the Eastern League this year. Five ahead of his nearest competition. He wins alot and looses a few and he comes out on top. Ditto on Calderone.

Gerry - Monday, May 17 2010 @ 03:45 PM EDT (#215185) #

Adam Calderone and Wellinton Ramirez were named players of the week today.

MatO - Monday, May 17 2010 @ 03:50 PM EDT (#215186) #

Beeston said they were going to spend last year, and we all know what happened.

I'm not sure what happened last year. They had no trouble going way over slot to sign Marasnick, Hobson and a couple of later round pitchers. I don't think money was the issue. That being said I don't know what the issue was.

92-93 - Monday, May 17 2010 @ 04:09 PM EDT (#215187) #

Presumably he was referring to the fact Beeston said at the State of the Franchise prior to 2009 that it would be a reloading year for 2010, and then despite that proceeded to cut payroll yet again for 2010.

sam - Monday, May 17 2010 @ 04:17 PM EDT (#215189) #

Last year was curious indeed. I think the Marinsnick, Hobson, and Hutchinson signings are an indicator of what is to come in this draft. If the Jays are going to commit to a stronger International program, it makes sense that they'll take more risks in the later rounds rather than signing less risky college players. Thus, less players may be signed overall, but a higher quality/potential.

I have a question, when drafting and signing players, does management consider the glut of players in a system (positions not withstanding). It seems like the Jays have a comfortable number of players at the High A to Triple A levels. I don't know, it seems like every year we're drafting an signing more players than we cut or promote to the major leagues. Does this sound like an unfounded observation?

ayjackson - Monday, May 17 2010 @ 04:26 PM EDT (#215191) #

Sam, I think the Jays will take the best player available and pay him what they feel he's worth. That may be over slot and may not. They won't go over slot for the sake of it.

I like the Choice pick. I think the Jays will go with Sanchez or Castellanos. Or maybe that's who I want them to take.

John Northey - Monday, May 17 2010 @ 05:11 PM EDT (#215198) #

What is interesting is many mock drafts (if not all) see Bryce Harper going to the Nationals no matter what his demands are.

One wonders though - he'd be a great grab but will they go nuts to sign him? If not who would? I remember the late 80's when Atlanta went cheap and skipped Todd VanPoppell who everyone thought was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Instead they went for Chipper Jones.

Cheap pick != poor pick. Money != good pick.

Although I'd still love to see the Jays get a shot at, then sign, Harper.

Mike Green - Monday, May 17 2010 @ 06:00 PM EDT (#215204) #

Purely subjective comment. I looked at the Choice video, and I don't care for his swing either. That doesn't mean much. I thought that Pete Incaviglia's swing was a disaster, but the man could hit some...Choice does run well.

Choice's W/K data from UT is amusing. 240 PAs, 69 walks, 44 strikeouts (and 16 homers). A metal bat Adam Dunn lite, I guess. I wouldn't put much stock in these particular college statistics myself.

sam - Monday, May 17 2010 @ 07:42 PM EDT (#215210) #

Thanks ayjackson. I agree with your opinion. I hope that's what the Jays do. With that being said, Michael Choice is certainly not the 11th best player in this draft.

In previous years, it seems as though Blue Jay management professed "the best player available" philosophy but in reality drafted the safe, affordable, pick. That was frustrating, I didn't mind too much who they were selecting, but when management came out and said they were the best players on their board when it was so abundantly clear that that wasn't the case was difficult to take.

Spifficus - Monday, May 17 2010 @ 07:47 PM EDT (#215211) #

Seems popular opinion on Choice is that the BBs are a function of his power and his lineup, and not a precise batting eye.

Personally, I'm hoping Cox falls to 11 - I like the combination of good pure hitter and raw (untapped) power at third. Castellanos would be similarly appealing. I subscribe to the theory that you have to be able to hit in order to hit for power. Ran across a quote to that effect today, but I can't remember where, or who. Choice reads as more of an OK hitter with plus power.

I'm just a bit worried about the Chistian Colon talk from all the draft blogs. Everything I read seems to scream 'solid everyday player' (and signability pick at that point in the draft) but no star-power. This seems to be contrary to how AA has run the international scouting so far.

jmoney - Monday, May 17 2010 @ 08:31 PM EDT (#215213) #

Overbay is probably playing the worst game I've seen him play. Next bluejay commerical should have those birds make a big cannon and then use it to shoot Overbay into the sun. He can't be gone soon enough for my liking.

Jdog - Monday, May 17 2010 @ 11:38 PM EDT (#215216) #

Everything I read seems to scream 'solid everyday player

The problem with this line is that generally when it is used it is not true. If indeed you were guarenteed a solid everyday regular that would be a pick well worth taking, esp after the first 10 picks, the problem is that they are generally refering to the players ceiling which is seldomed reached. Its along the lines of shoot for the sun and reach the stars........we want to be shooting for stars just not the kind this analogy talks about.

Spifficus - Tuesday, May 18 2010 @ 12:15 AM EDT (#215217) #

That's entirely the problem - there are no guarantees and I hate settling, especially when there's someone more hot and available on the dance floor. Oddly enough, it seems like Romero/Tulo again, Moskos/Weiters, or Mike Minor vs the field. Talent (and the chance to realize that talent) seemed pretty low on the list of priorities. I just don't see that being the MO of the new administration. Mind you, they may not go for Austin Wilson types due to a more standard risk vs reward measurement.

John Northey - Tuesday, May 18 2010 @ 12:19 AM EDT (#215218) #

With the draft pick protection program and a high pick I'm sure the Jays will take a risk with #11 and go with best available regardless of budget. Now, signing him will be another issue, but well worth the risk.

Wallace Continues to Wallop | 33 comments | Create New Account

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