One name I haven't seen mentioned this year actually finished the Fisher Cat game with a clean inning of work. This was Joel Carreno's 4th appearance - 4.2 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 9 K thus far. It's still early, but I hope he's put the nightmare 2012 season behind him and is more like the kid we saw in 2011 with the nasty slider and ice water in his veins.

Pillar is hitting .350 in New Hampshire, and ordinarily you would just describe it as an early season fluke.  He has however hit .320 or better every season, and the Jay minor league clubs do not play in high-average environments. 

He's 24 years old and apparently a student of the game.  Once in a while, a player like Pillar will emerge and be a very good player for a few years or more.  I think of Wade Boggs and Rusty Greer.

Kenny Wilson has 4 stolen bases and an OPS of .855 in his first 9 games at the AA level. Pretty good numbers for a CF with defensive skills. He's still in his age-23 season.

There are a fair number of decent looking kids for the pen coming through.  Hopefully a few will provide cheap solid innings in 2014 and beyond.  Trick is to get a few to stick as starters for 2014 (Johnson going most likely), 2016 (Buehrle, Happ & Morrow), and 2017 (Dickey & Romero).  So the need for 2014 isn't high (hopefully we have Hutchison and Drabek ready for that season along with Romero) but 2016 and beyond will be.  Thus kids in low A are the target right now - to develop and be very patient with them.

The pen sees replacements needed for Oliver (2014), Janssen (2015), Cecil (2017), Rogers (2017),  Santos (2018), and the rest (5+ years each of team control).  Not bad.  Seems AA has been very forward thinking in getting everyone under control when it comes to pitching both rotation and bullpen.  Johnson, Oliver and Janssen are the only ones who might need replacing anytime soon.

Offense?  Davis (2014), Blanco (2014), Lind (2017 or 2014), Rasmus (2015), Cabrera (2015), Bonifacio (2015), DeRosa (2015), JPA (2017), Izturis (2017), Bautista (2017), Encarnacion (2017), Reyes (2019), rest are 5+ years.

So big issues are backups and DH next year (unless Lind turns it on), CF/LF/backups for 2015, and CA/2B/RF/DH for 2017.  Luckily our top hitting prospects are Gose & Sierra (outfielders) so they can be put into the outfield next year and someone moved to DH (Bautista or Cabrera).  The winter of 2016/2017 will be very interesting with tons of key guys having contracts run out (Dickey, Romero, JPA, Izturis, Bautista and Encarnacion) after having 3 rotation guys run out after 2015.

Lansing and Buffalo rained out today.

There is video up of Roberto Osuna this year at Lansing. I saw him last year at Vancouver, and he looks slimmer than he did at Vancouver, where he looked to still have some baby fat on him.

He seems to have picked up the tempo of his delivery and has added some exaggeration to his leg kick. He still tends to come out of his delivery a fair bit, but the stuff is definitely there still and he basically had his way with hitters with just a well-spotted fastball. One concern I have, he seems to be pitching a bit more across his body this year. Have a look where his front foot lands this year as opposed to last year. Pitching cross your body like that does not bode well for pinpoint command.

In the start I saw last year and then the subsequent video I saw of another of his starts, he was most effective when he stayed on top of his fastball and was then able to run it a bit more in on right-handed hitters. He then got more of a two-plane action to his slider. This year he seems to have ever so slightly dropped his release point and as a result has a more slurvy breaking ball (see warm-ups).

He still comes right after you and has a very good fastball. He didn't feature much secondary offerings in this start, but clearly showed a feel for the strike zone which is right up there on the list of things you most want to see from a young pitching prospect.

For those asking, his velocity almost exclusively comes from his whippy arm speed. In last year's start it was quite clear he sort of lulled his body forward and then came this very quick arm. It was almost like his body and arm were operating at two different speeds. I think that's why they've got him pitching with a bit more tempo to get the two more in-sync.

Two start verdict: A definite pitching prospect and one to watch out for. Is he a phenom? No. He lacks the put away breaking ball and the multiple plus offerings. But, he can pitch off his fastball which is really saying something and he shows feel for secondary offerings and has clear work ethic. He is athletic, which is an underrated consideration for a pitcher and necessary to make the mechanical adjustments all pitchers need to make in the minor leagues. Keep in mind he is 18 and shouldn't pitch more than a 100-115 innings at Lansing this year.

Offense?  Davis (2014), Blanco (2014), Lind (2017 or 2014), Rasmus (2015), Cabrera (2015), Bonifacio (2015), DeRosa (2015), JPA (2017), Izturis (2017), Bautista (2017), Encarnacion (2017), Reyes (2019), rest are 5+ years. . . . . The winter of 2016/2017 will be very interesting with tons of key guys having contracts run out (Dickey, Romero, JPA, Izturis, Bautista and Encarnacion) after having 3 rotation guys run out after 2015.

John, John, John.   My esteemed fellow bauxite,  please stop this sort of post.  Please.  They are a serious threat to my health, causing alarming blood-pressure spikes.   Why do you do it?  You’re talking about 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, even 2019!  Completely, utterly, bafflingly pointless.  Of all the players you mention, none will likely be with the team when you speculate.  (Even Drabek and Romero might never pitch for the Jays again.)  We simply cannot know.   Cannot know.... cannot know.... cannot ... .  Please, have mercy.  . . . . stop.