Starting Stewart at AA would seem to confirm that the Jays have no intention of letting their premium arms see the light of Vegas (if that wasn't clear before).  I can't think of another reason for him to be back in AA.

Gerry, Thanks for the good work. If it's worth reporting, Bauxites usually see it first!

BTW, I believe Jesus Merchan landed with the New Orleans Zephyrs (AAA-PCL) in the Florida Marlins Organization.  He shows up in some reported spring training games for N.O. and is on the MILB site as Active status for N.O. as a shortstop.

I also heard that Bongiovanni was released.

Interesting to see that the Adeiny Hechavarria - Jonathan Diaz double (and triple) play machine is still in tact in NH.  Add the newly svelte "man mountain" Mike McDade  (this year's Defence Player of the Year in the Blue Jays Org), and we're in for some great D from the NH infield.  Diaz earned the organization's defence honors last year.

I have reached out to try and find out what is wrong with Alvarez.  I get limited time with the coaching staff and it's not worthwhile to do a laundry list of injuries.  Remember that there is probably at least one hitter, and one pitcher, on each roster with no real injury.  They are there to be available in case an active player gets injured.

I would guess that some more players will get demoted and/or released over the first month as guys get healthy.  Just think what could happen if Francisco, Morrow and Dotel come off the DL in the next week or two.  Three current major league pitchers will have to go to AAA.  AAA will have to move 3 pitchers down or out, so there are still moves to be made.

In general the starting pitchers are younger than the relievers, who are often former starters.  I see that New Hampshire has two 30 plus year old starters.  When Alvarez comes back, and if a major league starter goes down, a guy like Randy Boone might go down to AA and one of the 30 year olds might be moved.

As was mentioned, Lansing could put out nine position players aged 20 or younger.  That is low for the Midwest League.

In addition to Zach Stewart being surprised by his AA posting, Alan Farina is also likely disappointed by his assignment to AA.

Evan Crawford has moved quickly to AA.  Some of you may have seen him recording five outs against Tampa in the last spring training game.  Crawford looks to have good LOOGY potential.

I just went back and checked my pre-spring training forecasts of where starting players will start and I did a pretty good job.

I got the catchers and first basemen right.  At third base I didn't think that Sobolewski would make it to AA but I did say that something needed to be done to get playing time for Sobo and Ahrens.  I also thought Matt Nuzzo would be in Lansing, but the spot went to Bryson Namba.

In the middle infield I pretty much got them right other than Gari Pena who got the Lansing 2B job.

I had thought Anthony Gose would go back to Dunedin but I did say that a good spring could see him in AA.

I did not see Randy Boone in AAA but I think he is there because of injuries.  I also thought Aaron Sanchez would be in Lansing but I did get the rest mostly correct.

I'm very, very surprised that Stewart is going to New Hampshire.  If they really don't want their top pitching prospects to go to LV, what are they going to do when they've got Alvarez, McGuire, Jenkins, Sanchez, Wojciechowski, Hutchison, Diaz, and others ready to move up from AA in the next couple of years?  Sure, it's a tough pitching environment, but they have to be able to use their AAA team for starting pitching prospects or things are going to get seriously backed up. 

 A pitcher has to be able to deal with adversity.  If a guy can't handle pitching in LV, what's he going to do in NY or Boston with 40,000 leather-lungs yelling insults at him about his ancestors?  It's not like they'd be pitching in some softball league diamond with a 250 foot fence.  What does it add to a team's offense, a run and a half a game?  Two?  Crazy.  Farina should be there, too.  Some of the Lansing pitchers could be in Dunedin, too.  I think they need to clear out some of the non-prospects and make a bit more room.  Especially when some of the injured return.

Thanks for providing the lists - great stuff!!

That is probably the most exciting Jays AAA lineup I have seen since I started following prospects maybe ten years ago. Lawrie and Thames I think are both legit and Cooper may even finally be salvaging his career.  Plus other guys like Mastroianni, Loewen, Jeroloman. The recent success the Jays have had with young pitchers (Romero, Cecil, Morrow, Drabek, etc) leads me to believe they know what they are doing with keeping a guy like Stewart out of Vegas. I'll trust in that because clearly Stewart has nothing to prove at AA, not that he can't work on things there.

Other than that not many surpises from what I had figured. Only real shocks to me were Tolisano at AA, Wojciechowski at Hi-A (Jenkins started at Lansing, I guess they view Wojo as more advanced), Nestor Molina starting at Hi-A (assuming that is the case?), Gailey stuck in Hi-A yet again, Goins over Jackson as starting SS (my how Justin has fallen, even his glove doesn't seem highly regarded anymore), the Lansing infielders Pena and Namba, Turnbull repeating A and Eiland not listed anywhere.  

I suspect it has less to do with pitchers handling adversity than it does giving the club an ability to assess

Well, if the club knows what it is doing, as you suggest, than certainly they would be able to assess a pitcher's performance in LV.  Also, it's not a matter of everything "lifted in the air hitting the seats" - the effect is mainly on batting average.  Home runs at LV are pretty well earned.  The infield is rock hard and a lot of balls go through that would be caught elsewhere.  The thinner air means flys travel faster and are more likely to fall in. I'm sure the organization is aware of this kind of thing and they would make the appropriate allowances in evaluating their players.  It seems much more likely that the reason for Stewart being sent to AA is to avoid exposing him to that environment.  They obviously know him better than we do, and maybe they think it might affect the way he pitches.  I still think he should be in AAA to provide a better challenge, and I think it would be demoralizing to remain at the same level after such a good season and training camp. 

Re: Stewart

There could be other factors involved of which we are not aware.

1. Maybe they just want to keep him with the same pitching coach since he was progressing last year?  Not sure if the staff changed.

2. isn't it difficult to throw a good curve in LV?  Maybe they'd prefer he work on that in NH where they won't all be sitters.

I got some more information......

Henderson Alvarez should be back within a couple of weeks.

I was told Zach Stewart is in AA because "that's the best place for his development".

I wasn't getting any more than that comment so it is up for interpretation.  The obvious interpretation, as people here have noted, is that they think Las Vegas is bad for his development.

Lansing vs Michigan State 7 pm est

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