Here are the opening day rosters for the minor league teams. The big story could be the DL, AJ Jimenez, Sean Nolin, Danny Barnes, Chad Jenkins, John Stilson, Tyler Ybarra and Evan Crawford all start the season on the DL.
My first quick look also notes that:
Marcus walden makes the jump to AA after a half season ion Dunedin. I liked Walden last year but AA is a big test for his style of pitching.
Alonzo Gonzalez makes the jump to lansing after a brief debut last season. Gonzalez was a JC selection as was further advanced than the high school pitchers.
Daniel Norris and Roberto Osuna are also starting in Lansing.
Emilio Guerrero beat out a lot of competition to be the shortstop in Lansing.
Chris Hawkins returns to Lansing for a repeat.
I have added more comments at the bottom.
| BUFFALO | NEW HAMPSHIRE | DUNEDIN | LANSING |
| R Redmond, Todd - 28 | R Bibens-Dirkx, Austin - 28 | R Sanchez, Aaron - 20 | R Osuna, Roberto - 18 |
| R Germano, Justin - 30 | R McGuire, Deck -23 | R Lawrence, Casey - 25 | R Avendano, Javier - 22 |
| R Vargas, Claudio - 34 | R Walden, Marcus - 24 | R Hernandez, Jesse - 24 | R Cole, Taylor - 23 |
| R Bush, David - 33 | R Brummett, Tyson - 28 | R Copeland, Scott - 25 | L Gonzalez, Alonzo - 21 |
| R Ortiz, Ramon - 40 | R Tepera, Ryan - 25 | L Romero, Ricky - 28 | L Norris, Daniel - 20 |
| R Carlyle, Buddy - 35 | R Beck, Chad - 28 | R Antolin, Dustin - 23 | L Murphy, Griffin - 22 |
| L Hinshaw, Alex - 30 | R Magnuson, Trystan - 28 | R Gracey, Scott - 26 | R Browning, Wil - 24 |
| L Perez, Juan - 34 | R Carreno, Joel - 26 | L Davis, Tony - 25 | R Johnson, Matt - 25 |
| R Lincoln, Brad - 28 | R Everts , Clint - 28 | R Grifantini, Marco - 27 | R Sikula, Arik -24 |
| R Wagner, Neil - 29 | R Boone, Randy - 28 | L Nieves, Efrain - 23 | R Ghysels, Chuck - 23 |
| R Burnett, Alex - 25 | L Wright, Matt - 26 | R McFarland, Blake - 25 | R Donahue, Tucker - 22 |
| R Storey, Mickey - 27 | L Hottovy, Tommy - 31 | R Meyer, Andrew - 25 | R Kadish, Ian -24 |
| R Griffith, Shawn - 26 | R White, Ben - 24 | ||
| Thole, Josh - 26 | Ochinko, Sean - 25 | Munoz, Aaron -24 | Nessy, Santiago - 20 |
| Nickeas, Mike - 30 | Murphy, Jack - 25 | Chung, Derrick - 25 | Conner, Seth - 21 |
| Hernandez, Leo - 23 | |||
| Jimenez, Luis - 30 | Robinson, Clint - 28 | Jacobo, Gabe - 26 | Fuenmayor, Balbino - 23 |
| Negrych, Jim - 28 | Tolisano, John - 24 | Berti, Jon - 23 | Lopes, Christian - 20 |
| Goins, Ryan - 25 | Nolan, Kevin - 25 | Mooney, Peter - 22 | Guerrero, Emilio - 20 |
| LaRoche, Andy - 29 | Schimpf, Ryan - 25 | Burns, Andy - 22 | Pierre, Gustavo - 21 |
| Velez, Eugenio - 30 | Nanita, Ricardo - 31 | Patterson, Kevin -24 | Sweeney, Kellen - 21 |
| Anderson, Lars - 25 | Dominguez, Oliver - 24 | Flores, Jorge - 21 | |
| Kawasaki, Munenori - 32 | Ahrens, Kevin - 24 | ||
| Zazueta, Amadeo - 27 | Opitz, Shane - 21 | ||
| Langerhans, Ryan - 33 | Pillar, Kevin -24 | Knecht, Marcus - 22 | Melendez, Ron - 23 |
| Gose, Anthony - 22 | Wilson, Kenny - 23 | Jones, Jonathan - 23 | Pompey, Dalton - 20 |
| Sierra, Moises - 24 | Glenn, Bradley - 26 | Crouse, Michael - 22 | Hawkins, Chris - 21 |
| McCoy, Mike - 32 | Loewen, Adam - 29 | Newman, Matthew - 24 | Ramirez, Carlos - 22 |
| DL | DL | DL | DL |
| R Korecky, Bobby - 33 | Van Kirk, Brian - 27 | R Champlin, Kramer - 23 | |
| R Hernandez, Fernando - 28 | |||
| Zawadzki, Lance - 28 | R Spoone, Chorye - 27 | ||
| Jimenez, Antonio - 23 | |||
| Talley, Jon - 24 | R Marze, Dayton - 24 | ||
| R Jenkins, Chad - 25 | Hobson, KC - 22 | ||
| R Stilson, John - 22 | L Ybarra, Tyler - 23 | ||
| R Barnes, Daniel - 23 | |||
| L Crawford, Evan - 26 | Rankin, Pierce - 24 | ||
| L Nolin, Sean - 23 | Baligod, Nick - 25 |
| |
Buffalo
The rotation is as expected, as is the lineup. Chad Beck goes back to AA. Lars Anderson is on the roster which suggests he cleared waivers. Brad Lincoln is listed as a reliever. I had thought he would be the sixth/seventh starter in waiting in AAA. I guess that didn't work out.
New Hampshire
The Jimenez injury allows both Murphy and Ochinko to be in AA, we will see who gets the playing time. Kevin Ahrens is in AA but listed as a backup. The DL list in AA is extensive. Matt Wright gets the jump to AA as a lefty specialist.
Dunedin
Kevin Mooney gets the starting SS job despite being injured for all of last season. Andy Burns slides over to third. Catcher is interesting with Aaron Munoz and second year pro Derrick Chung.
Lansing
Javier Avendano gets a starting job. Jeremy Gabryszwski does not. The Jays resisted the temptation to promote Alberto Tirado. The Jays do not seem to be doing tandem starting so the bullpen should get lots of innings. Look for Griffin Murphy to get some of those in long relief.
The Jays had lots of competition for shortstop...Dickie Thon, Jorge Vega-Rosado Jorge Flores, Franklin Barreto but the job went to Emilio Guerrero.
Who will get the 3B at-bats between Sweeney and Pierre?
Dwight Smith Jr and Jacob Anderson did not make the roster. Some of those draft picks do not look so good.
Chris Hawkins will be disappointed not to be in Dunedin.
The Missing
The rosters do not include extended rosters or releases so here are the most notable "missing" players: Keenan Bailli; Egan Smith; Casey Beck; Dayton Marze; Marcus Brisker; Jason Leblebjian; Drew Permison; and Brandon Berl.
