John Lott argues persuasively that Chad Mottola deserves the credit for Hech's surprising success at AAA.   He says Mottola made an adjustment in Hech's swing which seemed to succeed immediately.   If that's true, we may have a real star in the making.  Here's the story:

http://sports.nationalpost.com/2011/08/20/mottola-helps-the-light-go-on-for-jays-prospect-hechavarria/

If true then I want Mottola up next year along with his best students.

Adeiny does seem to be able to taste the majors right now and doesn't want to blow it.

Let's also give a star to the forgotten one. Justin Nicolino started for Vancouver and pitched 5, giving up 0 runs 2 hits, 0 walks and 3 K's, with a 6/3 GO/FO ratio.

We all wondered why Hech got promoted to AAA.  Maybe that's why - to see if Mottola could work a little magic.  If so, and if true, we might be looking at our Jays hitting coach next year.

Interesting how some players mesh with a particular coach, while others don't. D'Arnaud has been raking at AA, so presumably he's getting all the help he needs from Justin Mashore. In any case, I would like to see Hechavarria sustain his success over at least a couple of months before hailing Mottola. I still don't much care for that odd hands-only swing that Snider seemed to have developed under his tutelage.

But didn't Hechevarria start his current hot streak while he was still with the Fisher Cats?

In his last eight starts, spanning 33.1 IP, Nicolino has allowed 17 H and 3 ER with a 4:41 B:KK. If you're planning to see him pitch in Vancouver, you might want to hustle out to a game asap. He's not going to be there for long.

Chat Mottola, meet Aaron Hill.

This may seem radical, but: is there any reason why the Jays can't have two hitting coaches? If Mottola is getting improvement out of Hechavarria and Snider, among others, and Murphy is Bautista's go-to guy, why not have both of them around? Maybe only one of them would be allowed to wear a uniform, but whatever.

Given the amount of money that teams invest in ballplayers, having a personal hitting coach for each player might even be a worthwhile expense.

It's also worth mentioning that Las Vegas is a much better hitting environment. There are probably people reading this message that could hit .300 in Las Vegas (not me, though). Hech is going to have to consistently hit at least .350 in Sin City to be considered a viable prospect. He's still very young, so he might be able to do it.

This may seem radical, but: is there any reason why the Jays can't have two hitting coaches? If Mottola is getting improvement out of Hechavarria and Snider, among others, and Murphy is Bautista's go-to guy, why not have both of them around? Maybe only one of them would be allowed to wear a uniform, but whatever.

Given the amount of money that teams invest in ballplayers, having a personal hitting coach for each player might even be a worthwhile expense.

I've thought of that.  Could be an issue with power politics or whatever.

My Dutch is weak at best, but I understand "Syndergaard" translates as "Ryan Express".

It's also worth mentioning that Las Vegas is a much better hitting environment. There are probably people reading this message that could hit .300 in Las Vegas

It's also worth mentioning that Hech has not played in Vegas yet. His current hot streak has been in relatively neutral hitting environments of Memphis and Nashville.

Could be an issue with power politics or whatever.

Any hitting coach who tries to get territorial about his job could be gently reminded what the club's priority is - to get the Jays' hitters to maximize their potential.

It's also worth mentioning that Hech has not played in Vegas yet.

Good point :-) - I didn't realize that. Part of my post still stands, though - he will need to hit at least .350 in AAA to be considered major league ready. The Jays need to find a more hitter-neutral AAA farm club ASAP.

If Hech's defense comes as advertised, he doesn't need to hit like Thames or Lawrie in the majors. If he can hit 9th in the Jays' order with a MLB line of, say, 250/330/380, he would be an asset.

Agree with greenfrog. Hech doesn't have to hit anywhere close to .350  to be major league ready. We're talking premier defensive shortstop here, not a clumsy 1st baseman.

Well, Jeter is hitting 292/350/380 and the Yankees are 76-47.

Scutaro is hitting 279/342/380 and the Red Sox are 76-48.

So you can field an outstanding team with a SS whose OPS is in the low 700s. Plus, Hech's defense looks like it will be quite a bit better than that of the above players.

Keep in mind, too, that Hech is still only 22 and doesn't even turn 23 until next April  (assuming that Cuban birth certificates are accurate).  If he continues to hit well at the AAA level, as a shortstop at the age of 22, that's quite impressive. 

And in order to upgrade the Jays lineup, Hech only needs to hit better than Aaron Hill, since Escobar will presumably switch to 2B when Hech arrives.  Anthopoulos, of course, is refusing to admit that possibility for now.  But we shouldn't put a lot of faith in those denials.  Anthpoulos cannot publicly utter any hint of switching Escobar to a new position until he is absolutely certain that it is needed.  It would be extremely undiplomatic for him to hint at that possibility now -- it would be very insulting to his stellar SS who has been doing an excellent job all year.  So don't expect Anthopoulos to admit the possibility of switching Escobar to 2B until it actually happens -- but don't doubt that it could indeed happen.  Anthopoulos is very good at this diplomatic part of his job, which does require occasional dissembling to the media.   (For more on this, see Griffin's very good summary of AA's achievements in his article in the Star today.)

250/330/380

If Hech can actually put up that line in the majors, he could be an incredibly valuable player. I don't think people realize how offence has gone down around the league, MLB average OPS was at 750 3 years ago, its at 713 right now. If Hech can actually become a league average hitter along with gold glove defence which everyone seems to believes in, he could very easily become a 4 WAR+ borderline all star player.

For him to be a useful everyday shortstop, he has to hit something like 250/310/360 or maybe even slightly worse.

"If he can hit 9th in the Jays' order with a MLB line of, say, 250/330/380, he would be an asset."

He would also have the slimmest margin of error to remain useful. I mean the above scenario is useful, but the Jays need better than that to compete in this division. You can't really afford to punt a lineup spot. I want better. I want him hitting in the 270/330/400+ range with the good defense, at least. Otherwise he's NOT an upgrade... though you could argue he'd be an upgrade over Hill, the way he's been hitting the last few years. That's another issue.

A .710 OPS would be about league average or a little better for a shortstop. If Hech's defense is as good as advertised, he'd be a well above average player. Elvis Andrus has 3.2 WAR this year despite a .676 OPS. Alexei Ramirez has compiled 4.3 WAR, 4th among all shortstops, with a .733 OPS.

he will need to hit at least .350 in AAA to be considered major league ready

that's going a little overboard. People are taking this Vegas/PCL thing way too far. Just knock 100pts or so off our AAA guys' OPS and you'll get a pretty decent picture of how they'd be doing in a "normal" AAA environment. Hech doesn't have to hit .350 to be considered for a promotion.

The team OPS in Las Vegas is .855. So, if we knock off 100 points, we get a team MLB equivalent of .755. Toronto's team OPS is .738. No, that pretty clearly is not enough.

It's probably about 200 points. That would put Lawrie at .870, Thames at .830, Cooper at .795, Snider at .690.

I don't think uglyone was talking about a Vegas -> Toronto translation, but a Vegas -> more reasonable AAA environment translation. In which case 100 sounds fine to me.

He would also have the slimmest margin of error to remain useful. I mean the above scenario is useful, but the Jays need better than that to compete in this division. You can't really afford to punt a lineup spot. I want better. I want him hitting in the 270/330/400+ range with the good defense, at least. Otherwise he's NOT an upgrade...

How many all-stars does an AL East team need to have to compete every year, 25? Is that how many the Spankees and Red Schlocks have?

My wife's polish had Rzepcynski as 'Turnip-man'

If he can hit 9th in the Jays' order with a MLB line of, say, 250/330/380, he would be an asset.

Agree with the other comments. Andrus has a career OPS of .672 and is a huge asset. As with Andrus, OPS is a poor indicator of Hechavarria's value. If Hechavarria can learn to take more walks (which should be one of the results of later swing commitment) and become a more efficient base-stealer, then he'll be as valuable to the Jays as Andrus is to the Rangers. He's a better athlete than Andrus IMO, with a better glove and more pop in his bat.

Doug Davis said some interesting things about Hechavarria last month, among them: "For me Adeiny and Brett Lawrie are very similar. Not necessarily as hitters but in their approach and in the mental part of the game. They are both very athletic players and they truly believe they can hit everything they swing at."

Once Hech learns not to swing at everything, as Lawrie has, he'll be fine.

Alcides Escobar .252/.287/.334 1.7WAR
Elvis Andrus .277/.334/.342 3.2WAR

It really shouldn't take much for Hechavarria to be a valuable commodity provided the defensive reports are accurate. He's a very real asset.

Never say never.   Assume A.A. is thinking about acquiring a Starter in the offseason (33+ starts, 6.5 IP/start, 215+ IP).   Maybe Felix Hernandez, Adam Wainwright or some similar caliber Starter?   It's possible the Starters we have, going forward, may not be good enough.   (Felix and Ricky would be as good a 1-2 as any other team in Baseball.   Who pitches 3,4,5 would be so much easier.)   After all, we should be competing next year, the fan base won't accept anything less.

 Isn't Adeiny Hechavarria of Top Trade Value now?   Yunel Escobar is under contract for possibly 3 more years, while Thon, Pierre and the others advance.   (Of course, there's always Hanley Ramirez).   Travis Snider must learn to use his entire body to generate his swing.   Until he does, he won't gain Top Trade Value, nor will he replace Eric Thames on the team (or premit him to be traded).   I'm keeping Gose and might be open to trading Marisnick.   We have depth at Catcher, with d'Arnaud following Arencibia.  This makes Perez or Jimenez available for trading, while still maintaining depth.   Kyle Drabek, Henderson Alvarez or both, who do we trade?

We have enough for one big trade, but we have many holes.   1) Starting Pitcher: I think an Ace to pair with Ricky would be best, but a solid #3 would suffice.   2)  A Top Closer must be obtained as well as several (3-4) quality relievers.   The Bullpen must be reworked - leading (?) baseball in blown saves is not good enough.   3) Second Base needs to be settled, a trade, a Free Agent, or ... bringing back Hill.   4) A D.H. as good as Bautista is needed.

4) A D.H. as good as Bautista is needed.

You realize Bautista is arguably the best player in baseball? The only way to get a DH as good as Bautista would be to move Bautista to DH. And then probably  he'll be 5-10% worse, because that's what happens to most players when they DH.

Hutch up to AA is official.

Las Vegas to the IL would be about 130 points of OPS. That's a whole lot. Let's say the major league entry target for Hechevarria is .265/.315/.375. He'd have to hit about .330/.390/.500 in Las Vegas to be in the right zone.

The most encouraging thing so far is 3 walks, 3 strikeouts, and 4XBH. The very nice run in New Hampshire and Las Vegas is all well and good, but he needs to be given time.

You have to wonder about Dunedin's rotation for next year.  Wojo and Tepera may have to repeat, and Lawrence should be up there.  Perhaps Nolin and Smith to round it out? It'll be interesting to say the least.  But New Hampshire and Lansing are going to be really exciting pitching-wise next season.  Nicolino, Syndergaard, Taylor, Jaye, Sanchez, Ybarra, Murphy all are names that could be thrown around for spots.  I wonder if Nicolino or Syndergaard get challenged with High-A due to the logjam.

It's also worth mentioning that Las Vegas is a much better hitting environment.

Irrelevant in this case - every game Adeiny has played so far in AAA has been in Memphis or Nashville which are not subject to the usual PCL caveats (for home games)

You have to wonder about Dunedin's rotation for next year.  Wojo and Tepera may have to repeat, and Lawrence should be up there.  Perhaps Nolin and Smith to round it out? It'll be interesting to say the least.

I was speculating on the question of minor league rotations next year last week and this was what i came up with - the major league rotation is assumed for simplicity:

(bolded the guys I'm pumped about)

ML: Romero, Morrow, Cecil, McGowan, Drabek
(Who knows about Drabek, but it works better to assume he's here)

AAA: Jenkins, Carreno, Beck, Boone, Ray
Assumes Carreno takes the Perez path, and Jenkins being a grounballer
can handle the PCL)

AA: Alvarez, McGuire, Hutchison, Molina, Liebel
(Liebel is just filler but otherwise - wow! Alvarez and McGuire might be subject to promotion at any time from June on)

A: Woj, Nicolino, Stilson, Nolin, Lawrence
(Nicolino is aggressive but he can likely handle it - if not they might plug Tepera in for a couple of months and then promote him. Stilson is an advanced college pitcher, if McGuire and Woj can open in Dunedin he should too, unless he's shifted to the pen in which case he might even open in AA)

lo-A: Sanchez, Syndergaard, Taylor, Jaye, Anderson/Smith
(assuming Anderson ever gets healthy)

Van: Norris, Comer, Murphy, Musgrove, Dyson
Health question on Dyson of course)

BBJ: Cardona, Gabryzwski, Biggs, Robson, DeSclafani

No offense to Jenkins, I'm sure he'll be a fine servicable guy in the majors...for some reason he just doesn't push my buttons.

BTW, re Mottola - what would be the politics of doing a "September casll up" with him - and bring him to Toronto to do some side work with Hill and see if he can spot anything that might help.

I don't blame you there on Jenkins, TamRa. (P.S. you don't ever reply to anything on twitter!)  He doesn't seem any more exciting than Litsch or Towers.  Just as a level clarification (which might have been an oversight), your A level should be A+ and your Lo-A should be A.  Vancouver is Lo-A.

I think with the fact that it sounds like Nicolino has a ways to go with his breaking pitches, I rather see him in A ball. 

I don't think Declafani will be in Bluefield next year, he was drafted as a college junior. I'm guessing he'll either be in the Dunedin rotation or bullpen for a full season affiliate.

good point - i was just plugging him into the first obvious option - Lansing probably make more sense.

by the way - Gregor tweets that Lawrence is promoted (again) to take Hutchson's turn, and i note with interest that Nicolino is on the same scheduled day as Lawrence - could he FINALLY get his due?

(P.S. you don't ever reply to anything on twitter!)

I reply to what I see - might be doing something wrong. do you mean a DM or in the open feed?

Anyway - i thought it went -

Dunedin = Hi-A (or A+)
Lansing = Lo-A (or A)
Vancouver = Advanced Rookie league ( i guess you could call it R+)
Bluefield = rookie
GCL = ??

I never heard of counting a short season team as "lo A" before...live and learn.

I thought Lansing is Low A or A-, Vancouver/Auburm were Short Season, and Bluefield/GCL were Rookie

According to MILB's drop-down menu, it's "Class A Advanced", "Class A", and "Class A Short Season". I've always thought about it as A+, A and A-.

Bluefield would be Rk+ as it is technically Rookie advanced.  Short Season teams are A ball teams (and thus classified as A-).

I used to make the same mistake and always put Lansing as Lo-A but I finally figured it out. ;)

(P.S. you don't ever reply to anything on twitter!)

Wait a minute - are you replying to this:

http://twitter.com/#!/Tammy_Beth

Or the old name? i don't use the old one anymore

TamRa: To the current one.  It's all good.  I'm following you either way.

The Jays have signed Kyle Davies, who was released by the Royals about 10 days ago.  They immediately assigned him to Las Vegas.  He's probably just fodder for the Vegas rotation, which has a habit of chewing up pitchers at an insane rate (leaving Jason Lane to pitch the last half of some games).   Davies is a former 4th-round pick of the Braves who reached the majors at a very young age, 21, and seemed to be headed for good things.  His ERA in his rookie season was 4.93 and there could have been reason to expect improvement.  Instead he has mostly declined since then, although he posted a 4.06 ERA at the age of 24 for the Royals (who had traded old friend Octavio Dotel to the Braves for him).  He's always had control issues and looked pretty bad in 2011.  But I suppose there's a remote chance that he could still return to the form of his age 24 season.

Davis was arrested for disorderly intoxication on the day before he was released by the Royals, so there may be some issues there too.  Still, perhaps worth a flyer.

Davies has a salary of $3.2-million this year, one of the highest on the Royals, but I assume the Jays are not responsible for anything more than a tiny fraction of that.  The Jays signed him on Friday after waiting the 10 days for him to clear waivers.  He's a free agent after this season.   As I said, probably just AAA filler at this point, but he was well-regarded in the past and it would be nice if he could somehow overcome his control problems.

I note with interest that Nicolino is on the same scheduled day as Lawrence - could he FINALLY get his due?

Probably not - Daniel Webb has been activated.

"(leaving Jason Lane to pitch the last half of some games)."

Jason Lane fancies himself something of a pitcher. He was one before turning pro and still feels like that may be his road back to the majors.

http://www.lvrj.com/sports/51s-outfielder-lane-makes-pitch-for-return-to-major-league-roster-127059878.html

I used to make the same mistake and always put Lansing as Lo-A but I finally figured it out. ;)

Maybe not. Here's a couple of quotes from Sickels at Minorleagueball

6) Carlos Perez, C, Grade B:  Hitting .274/.336/.374 with 29 walks, 61 strikeouts in 305 at-bats for Low-A Lansing.

24) Justin Nicolino, LHP, Grade C+:   1.22 ERA, 51/10 K/BB in 37 innings for short-season Vancouver

someone tweeted that Sanchez was promoted to Vancouver - anyone else heard this?