I am not a scout, I just play one on the internet.  I was in Lansing last weekend to see three Lugnut games.  I spoke with manager Sal Fasano, pitching coach Antonio Caceres, scouts and others hanging around the team to build a picture of the players, to go with what I observed.

My observations are below.  Remember it is tough to evaluate a hitter in a handful of at-bats, they might be hot or cold that weekend which would influence my comments.

Kenny Wilson

The Jays are converting Wilson to be a switch hitter and that is obvious in his swing.  I did not see Wilson face a left-handed pitcher but by all reports Wilson has a much better swing right handed and his numbers this season show better performance right handed.  I would say Wilson's left-handed swing is a work in process.  As Fasano mentioned the Jays want Wilson to use his speed and hit the ball on the ground or low at least from the left side.  From here on my comments on swing relate to Wilson batting left-handed.

I thought Wilson looked a bit tentative or weak in his swing.  He did not show much power or conviction with it and was hitting ground balls and slapping the ball to left field.  That sounds negative but I am much more optimistic than that.  First it takes years to learn to hit properly as a switch hitter so to expect a lot from Wilson would be unrealistic.  Second he looks a lot more comfortable than last season.  Third, Wilson fouled off quite a few pitches so his hand eye coordination is pretty good.  In two games he struck out once and that was a called strike on an inside pitch.  So, in summary, Wilson does not have a strong swing but he has good hand-eye coordination and with more time I expect the swing to get a lot better.

Wilson looked good in centre, based on discussions he has great range and an average to below average arm.

Ryan Goins

Goins is a left handed hitter.  As I said a few days ago I thought Goins had the best at-bats of any Lugnut hitter.  He looked like he was swinging at good pitches and taking balls or pitches that were not good to hit.  Several of his outs were well hit balls that went right at fielders.  I don't think Goins has huge power but he knows what he is doing and could easily move up to Dunedin if there was a place for him.

Defensively he looked smooth although I was told his range was average.  he is not a particularly fast runner and was pinch-run for in one game.

Ryan Schimpf

Schimpf, like Goins, is a left handed hitter and looks muscular, like a lefty Aaron Hill.  Schimpf is listed at 5'9" and 180 lbs.  As Fasano said Schimpf is a big swinger at the moment, which the Jays are trying to modify somewhat.  In three games Schimpf struck out swinging three times but had a smoked triple in the first game and had a hit in the last game where he pulled a 95 mph fastball.  Can he make enough contact to survive at higher levels?  That will be his challenge.

Defensively Schimpf is average.

Mark Sobolewski

Sobolweski is the oldest hitter on the team, born in 86 versus 88 for Goins and Schimpf and 90 for Wilson and Jimenez.  Sobolewski does have power and makes contact.  It's not that I didn't like him it's just that he seemed to be a see ball, hit ball kind of player which might not sork as well at higher levels.  Could be handle Dunedin now?  I think so.

Defensively Sobolewski has a very good arm.  He has two throws over to first, a regular over the top throw and a side-army type throw.  Because of the latter throw he sometimes tries to "ole" the ball to his right, and then side-arm the ball to first.  I imagine coaches would prefer he moved his feet than do that.  Although i think Jose Bautista has a tendency to do that too.

Bradley Glenn

Brad Glenn was lights-out in April, but not so good since then.  I heard that he injured his shoulder trying to make a diving play in the outfield and the injury bothered him for a while.  He has been medically cleared to play, and did, but his swing is not back to where it was in April.  So did he get out of his groove, or is there something still going on with the shoulder.  We don't know but hopefully he gets it back again soon.

AJ Jimenez

You should have read that Fasano loves Jimenez.  Defensively Jimenez looked great, he has a plus arm and picked off a couple of Loons runners at third with strong throws to Sobolewski.  He threw one runner out but did make a not so good throw on another.  He didn't have a lot of pitches to block but he looked good on a couple, there were no runners advancing with freebies.

Offensively he did not have a great series, just one hit in two games as a starter.  I didn't notice anything in particular in his swing, although I will agree with Fasano, he is not a hacker.

Brad McElroy

Brad McElroy has an unusual swing, he almost looks to be in motion a bit like Johnny Damon.  But he hits to all fields, showed power and speed.  The movement in his swing makes me nervous that he will run into problems at higher levels but he was Lansing's best performer on this weekend.

Balbino Fuenmayor

Balbino is a big guy but I think his bat is a little slow.  Balbino has great power and he can hit the ball a long way but he fouls off a lot of pitches to the right field side which often means a slow bat.  His big hit in the series was a double off the wall down the right field line.  Balbino doesn't look to have a very adaptable or flexible swing.  When I was coaching we would say I hope the pitcher throws the ball where he is swinging.

Eric Eiland

For the first two and a half games Eiland showed nothing.  He was taking pitches, looking at strike three or hitting weak ground balls.  His only hit was a bouncer in front of the plate that the second baseman couldn't handle.  Then Eiland comes up late in game three with a runner on third and the count goes to two strikes and you think he is finished here.  But he hit the ball hard to deep right centre where it was caught for a sac fly and then in the tenth he smoked a line drive to the wall in left centre to drive in the winning run.  But at the end of the day I think Eiland is a bit like Balbino, his swing is not adaptable enough to succeed against better pitchers.

Chad Jenkins

I did not see Jenkins pitch but the basic issue with him is that he has only been pitching professionally for 2 months.  Both Fasano and Caceres point out that he is just getting used to pro ball.  Yes he has some things he needs to work on but it sounds like he has had a mulligan for the first couple of months.  Caceres flat out said he wasn't ready to be promoted yet.

I did hear some lamenting Jenkins not pitching in 2009.  even if he had been with Auburn for three weeks it would have helped him get used to the pro lifestyle and approach.  Jenkins didn't get that and it has set him back in his development.

Evan Crawford

I did not see Crawford pitch but the feeling is that if Dunedin needs a starter Crawford would get the call. 

Crawford is somewhat like Chuck Huggins who pitched last season in Lansing, both are average sized lefties with good curveballs.  Crawford appears to be more of a ground ball pitcher, he will show the hitter the curve early but then come back with the 2-seamer or change to get the ground ball.  Huggins uses the curve as an out pitch.

Ryan Tepera

I did not see Tepera pitch except in the bullpen.  Tepera has made the biggest strides this season, I heard his mechanics were a mess when he was drafted but as they have been straightened out he has picked up speed and control.

Ryan Shopshire

Shopshire pitched on Saturday and his command was terrible for the first two innings.  He got it together for the middle innings but he is a work-in-process.  Neither his slider nor change-up are sharp enough yet to get higher level hitters out.  The hitters seemed to see him well, his slider or change-up weren't sharp enough to be considered out pitches at this stage.

Dave Sever

Sever started the Sunday game.  He didn't appear to have his mechanics down either, he was missing up and away a lot and like Shopshire he wasn't fooling too many hitters. 

Matt Wright

I had seen Wright pitch in Florida and I liked him but he struggled in this appearance.  His pitches were up and he was getting hit.  If he can keep his ptches down Wright could do well as a lefty reliever.

Dustin Antolin

I saw Antolin last season and was impressed with his loose action and his 91-94 mph fastball.  This time his fastball was down to 90-91 although he appeared to have improved his command and his secondary pitches.  He could easily get promoted this season but I liked him better at 94 than 90. 

Aaron Loup

Loup pitched an inning in relief.  One scout told me he liked him, said he reminded him of Ted Lilly.  Loup is a lefty who throws from a 3/4 angle to get a good angle back to the hitter.  In his inning I saw him throw he mainly threw fastballs which sat around 90 mph.  Loup also throws a change-up and a slider.