Batter's Box Interactive Magazine - Sanchez, Norris, McGuire

A trio of pitching prospects took the hill today. Aaron Sanchez was excellent, Daniel Norris was OK while Deck McGuire was disappointing. Miguel Batista, definitely not a prospect, pitched very well for Buffalo. Buffalo kept on winning, Dunedin won too, but New Hampshire and Lansing lost.

Buffalo 4 Lehigh Valley 1

Buffalo had great pitching in this game. Miguel Batista gave up one hit and one unearned run through six innings. Brad Lincoln pitched two perfect innings and Neil Wagner gave up one hit as he finished off. Combined it was a two hitter.

Buffalo scored all their runs in the sixth with five singles and a walk. Anthony Gose, Luis Jimenez, Andy LaRoche, Lance Zawadski and Ryan Goins were the singlers. The Bisons only had two hits in the other eight innings. LaRoche had two hits.

Binghamton 15 New Hampshire 2

Deck McGuire couldn't find the plate today, he walked six in 4.1 innings and had no strikeouts. He was charged with eight runs. McGuire had two of the walks in the first inning when he loaded the bases with no outs. A couple of ground balls led to two runs. In the second a lead-off double led to a third run. Then in the fifth another lead-off hit was followed by two more walks. Two singles made it 5-0. Chorye Spoone came on in relief with the bases loaded and he walked in all three runners. In total the pitchers for the Fisher Cats walked 11 hitters.

Ricardo Nanita scored both runs. He had a solo home run in the fourth and in the eighth he singled and scored on a single from Sean Ochinko. Ochinko, Nolan and Nanita had two hits to lead the offense.

Daytona 1 Dunedin 9

Aaron Sanchez gave up some runs last time out but on Sunday he had the longest start of his career, 6.2 innings. Sanchez is on a 75 pitch limit so this shows there were many quick at-bats. Sanchez gave up two hits while getting five K's. The one run came via an infield hit, a hit batter and a wild pitch. To put it another way the two hits anchez allowed were an infield single and a line drive by prospect Jorge Soler.

Matt Newman hit a solo home run in the first. Dunedin added three in the second on three singles and a couple of walks. KC Hobson homered in the third and the Jays added 4 runs in the fifth. Kevin Patterson's double was the big blow. Every Dunedin hitter had a hit, Patterson, Newman, Gabe Jacobo and Derrick Chung had two each.

Lansing 5 Fort Wayne 7

Daniel Norris started and gave up five runs in four plus innings. He gave up six hits and three walks, not good numbers. But he competed which is an improvement. In the first inning he gave up a lead-off double and followed that with a wild pitch. But he was able to escape that inning with one run allowed. Fort Wayne scored again in the second on two hits and a walk. Norris had a three up, three down third and just gave up a walk in the fourth. But in the fifth the first three hitters singled and that was the end of Norris' day. All three hitters scored to make it five runs conceded by Norris. Through four innings Norris had conceded two runs on three hits and three walks. The fifth inning turned it from a decent start to a not so good one.

Lansing trailed 5-0 into the sixth. In that inning the Lugnuts loaded the bases on walks. Then Christian Lopes, Carlos Ramirez and Chris Hawkins singled and add in an error to make it five runs scored and a tie game. But in the bottom of the sixth Ben white gave up a lead off home run followed by another run and the Lugnuts were in a hole they couldn't get out of.

Dalton Pompey was the only hitter with two hits, he also had a walk.

Three Stars

#3 - Dalton Pompey

#2 - Miguel Batista

#1 - Aaron Sanchez

Box, Box

Posted by Gerry on Sunday, April 21 2013 @ 07:52 PM EDT.

Sanchez, Norris, McGuire | 23 comments | Create New Account

The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.

greenfrog - Sunday, April 21 2013 @ 09:20 PM EDT (#270705) #

Lots to like in Sanchez's start, not least the single walk in 6.2 IP.

Mike Green - Sunday, April 21 2013 @ 10:21 PM EDT (#270708) #

Brad Lincoln's 2 shutout innings today was his second in a row, with no walks and 5 Ks in the 4 innings. He's ready for the major league bullpen any time, but the club does need to decide the best way to get him or Cecil (or both) to be ready to take on a starting role, if required.

TamRa - Monday, April 22 2013 @ 05:04 AM EDT (#270710) #

question for next minor league exec interview:

WHAT THE H-E-DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS IS WRONG WITH DANIEL NORRIS?

I mean...just..just...this site don't allow the proper euphemisums here...

Lugnut Fan - Monday, April 22 2013 @ 06:07 AM EDT (#270711) #

I saw Norris throw once this year and his stuff looked good. The coaches have said that his stuff is good as well. What I saw though was that he was elevated in the zone. I sat next to the opposing dugout and heard a returning hitter talk to the on deck guy. His comment was that Norris threw hard, but he would give something to hit.

John Northey - Monday, April 22 2013 @ 06:23 AM EDT (#270712) #

I'm thinking the #6 starter is Miguel Batista now. He is 42 now, but was over 100 for ERA+ 3 of the past 4 years, with an 84 last year. Wildness is what has killed him as the past 5 years his BB/9 were 4.2 and up, with all but one at 4.9 and up. I suspect he has a deal where if another team asks for him he can leave unless the Jays call him up (not an odd deal for ML vets). I suspect he'll have 2 or 3 more AAA starts before the pressure hits though, maybe lasting until June in Buffalo if we are lucky.

Checking the AAA rotation, Claudio Vargas has a shiny ERA at 1.59 but 4.8 BB/9 so he hasn't really been anywhere near that good. Dave Bush is at 0.82 for ERA with 1.6 BB/9 and 7.4 K/9 (just 2 starts) thus why he got that call up and why he might get another if he can do that again. Justin Germano has been pounded 8.44 ERA due to a 1.7 HR/9 ratio despite his 1.1 BB/9 and 6.8 K/9. The one start wonders Tyson Brummett, Edgar Gonzalez, and Casey Lawrence all were pounded pretty hard. Ramon Ortiz is here and did well in his 1 AAA start (5 IP 2 BB 7 SO).

Quite the headache though. 8 guys have already started for Buffalo in 14 games. That is nutty. Good news for Buffalo is the Jays are willing to sign Batista, Ortiz and the like to give vets a chance who might be able to trick AAA hitters even if they can't do much up here anymore. Guys like that know that the Jays will give them a shot at a ML paycheque or two at the back end of the pen now thanks to Ortiz & Bush getting (brief) shots so that should help in signing more if needed both this season and next winter. Guys at that stage just want one more shot at the majors, one more chance to show they still have it. If giving them a shot during blowouts to save the rest of the pen helps sign more of them then so be it.

Gerry - Monday, April 22 2013 @ 09:16 AM EDT (#270716) #

I don't know for sure but it looks to me that Norris has poor command. That fits with what Chad said above. Norris has good "stuff" but if you leave it in the middle of the plate it will get hit. Obviously Norris and Vince Horsman will be working on that all season. Right now, I am not looking for Norris to be fantastic, I am looking for signs of improvement. More 1-2-3 innings, pitching deeper into games, fewer hits and walks are all signs of improvement.

China fan - Monday, April 22 2013 @ 09:43 AM EDT (#270718) #

"....the club does need to decide the best way to get him [Lincoln] or Cecil (or both) to be ready to take on a starting role, if required...."

I think the word "need" here is rather exaggerated. Lincoln and Cecil have both been given plenty of opportunities as starters, for years, and both have failed in that role. They've finally found a measure of success as relievers, and they seem to be best in short stints of an inning or so. Their stuff seems to play best in short intense efforts. Why mess with success?

Sure, someone like Brandon Morrow can be patiently converted to a starting role, but most pitchers are not Brandon Morrow. When you find their strongest role, that's where they should remain.

I agree with Mike that the Jays need to identify a 6th starter. But they probably have already got a short list of potential emergency starters, and I would agree with John Northey on the likely names on that list.

More importantly, the Jays have almost certainly got high hopes that Romero can return to the rotation this season, as soon as his adjustments click into place. Yes, we can be skeptical about Romero, but I think most of us would agree that he deserves a few starts in the majors at least. In that scenario, Happ returns to the bullpen and becomes the logical 6th starter, as the Jays had always planned.

Mike Green - Monday, April 22 2013 @ 09:53 AM EDT (#270720) #

Romero will not be ready for six weeks at least; he has not thrown in a game yet. If a starter goes down, it won't be an "emergency" start for Batista or Bush, it'll be 9 or 10 of them. You really don't want that.

hypobole - Monday, April 22 2013 @ 10:16 AM EDT (#270722) #

It makes little sense for Cecil to be moved back to a starters role. The Jays moved him to relief because although he was getting hit hard by RHB's the past few years, he was effective vs lefties. As a starter, opposing teams would stack their lineups with righthanded hitters. As a reliever he can be shielded.

This year only 16 of the 40 hitters he's faced are righthanded. His splits:
vs RHB .308/.438/.615
vs LHB .095/.130/.190

China fan - Monday, April 22 2013 @ 10:19 AM EDT (#270723) #

MIke, you're really focusing on a worst-case scenario. It's always possible to imagine a worst-case scenario that the Jays wouldn't have an immediate solution for. But it's not necessarily a reason for a dramatic change in the current usage of the pitching staff.

In your worst-case scenario, you're suggesting an immediate major injury to a starter, followed by 6 weeks of waiting for Ricky Romero because nobody else could possibly be adequate. How much of a danger is this? First, an immediate injury to a key starter is pretty unlikely. Second, I think 6 weeks of waiting for Romero is a bit of an exaggeration, unless his collapse is worse than we think. (He was reported on April 9 to be close to game action.) Third, the task of converting Lincoln or Cecil to the starting rotation would also take weeks -- maybe not 6 weeks, but a couple weeks at least. More importantly, the Jays have assessed Lincoln and Cecil pretty carefully for the past two months (since the beginning of spring training) and they've concluded that their best stuff is in short relief stints. And that's also been evident from the performance of both of them recently. I just don't think the Jays are going to panic and tamper with success, solely because of the remote possibility of a worst-case scenario.

Mike Green - Monday, April 22 2013 @ 10:27 AM EDT (#270725) #

That's true. For his career, the splits are not so ugly and there is a basis to hope, given the increased velocity this year compared with the previous two, that he can hold his own against righties in a starting role and make his living on LHH. I'd rather that the club had him in the long relief role now throwing 2-3 innings per appearance.

Mike Green - Monday, April 22 2013 @ 10:37 AM EDT (#270727) #

CF, it's April 22 and Romero still hasn't thrown in a minor league game. He was completely ineffective when he last threw in March. Six weeks is a very optimistic time-frame for his return to the major leagues at this point; I had anticipated that he would be ready by mid-May but that was under the assumption that he would have had 3 starts already.

As for the concept of 1 starter going down being a "worst case scenario", do we need to remember the events of last June? Having a starter ready to go 10 starts is something that every team should have. With Romero and Nolin unavailable, the Jays do not have someone right now.

hypobole - Monday, April 22 2013 @ 10:46 AM EDT (#270729) #

Disagree, Mike. The long relief role should go to a pitcher who doesn't have massive platoon splits. Cecil has had over .300 difference in OPS in both 2011 and 2012. With the increased velocity, Cecil shouldn't be the long man, but he could well be used in higher leverage situations when strong lefty hitters are coming up.

Mike Green - Monday, April 22 2013 @ 10:58 AM EDT (#270730) #

You could do that, but you have Loup and Oliver. Personally, I think that Cecil is the most likely of all the pitchers available to the club to give you 10 starts with an ERA under 5 with 5.5-6 innings per start (as he has done over his career). At this point, I don't think that the 2011 and 2012 failures are any more relevant than the 2010 success.

hypobole - Monday, April 22 2013 @ 11:28 AM EDT (#270734) #

Mike. I'm not going to tell you what to believe, but unless Cecil shows a dramatic improvement in his ability to get right hand hitters out, I see no way Gibbons will move him to a starting role.

John Northey - Monday, April 22 2013 @ 11:59 AM EDT (#270735) #

Cecil's big asset for starting is he has done it before. But as mentioned, those platoon splits killed him. Right now in a worst case situation we'd probably see a 3 headed monster type situation where a AAAA guy gets a few starts, then sent down when a turn can be skipped and another AAAA comes up for the next few. Mix and match to try to get them out of the majors before everyone starts teeing off on them. Have an 8 man pen for those starts too, with a backup starter ready for a 3-5 inning stretch if needed. Might even see a 3-3-3 situation, 3 innings each for 3 guys in an effort to cobble together a decent game going R-L-R or L-R-L to mix up the other teams platoons.

Mike Green - Monday, April 22 2013 @ 12:03 PM EDT (#270736) #

I am heartened that the club quickly got over preconceptions about Kawasaki's limitations and have installed him for the moment as the leadoff hitter against RHP. Maybe a few successful PAs against RHB for Cecil will be enough for the club to make the adjustment for him too. I have nothing against the Lincoln option, but Batista and Bush seem to be poor choices (and no, that's not a political comment).

cybercavalier - Monday, April 22 2013 @ 01:24 PM EDT (#270739) #

Re John Northey and Mike Green:

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/news/hot_stove/y2012/free_agent_tracker.jsp

Besides Miguel Batista and Dave Bush, who both had been Jays players and re-joined the Jays this season, how about free agents like David Pauley and Brad Penny. For Pauley, his suspension may still kick in if he is signed. Or Jack Egbert and Dustin Moseley are choices.

cybercavalier - Monday, April 22 2013 @ 01:49 PM EDT (#270741) #

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/minor-league-standouts-and-players-of-note/

From this almost one year old article, Chris Tillman is an Orioles in Baltimore; Hector Rodriguez is a first season AAA with the Braves but his ERA there are around 8.00.Andres Meza and Pablo Menchaca are still playing in the Mexican League meaning immediate help to Jays' pitching is impossible due to their pitching adjustment to MLB. The same adjustment story goes for Rodriguez, whose very high ERA shows.

Yusmeiro Petit is an AAA Giants and has extensive MiLB and few chances in MLB, would Petit be helpful to the Jays ? To get Petit from the Giants shall be easy as a minor league contract signee.

92-93 - Monday, April 22 2013 @ 02:01 PM EDT (#270742) #

"First, an immediate injury to a key starter is pretty unlikely."

Let's not tempt fate, especially considering Dickey left his last start after 6 shutout innings and only 65 pitches.

ogator - Monday, April 22 2013 @ 03:02 PM EDT (#270747) #

Did Dustin McGowan evaporate? He appeared in the spring and then got put on some DL and then not a word. Does his wife know where he is? Is he working on some new secret pitch? Is he pitching in some secret league? Did Mr. Peabody see him in the Way-back machine? If he has had some kind of set-back, please don't tell me. I'm not strong enough to hear that kind of news. If he hasn't had some kind of set-back, where in the world has he gone?

John Northey - Monday, April 22 2013 @ 03:09 PM EDT (#270748) #

MLB Trade Rumors lists "4/22 Injury Report: On the 60-day disabled list (March 27, right shoulder surgery)" but that was more bookkeeping as he was to go down for a 30 day rehab assignment at some point but odds are the Jays are just waiting until they feel he will A) make it through the 30 days and B) if he lasts that he'd actually be ready for the majors.

Right now I suspect McGowan, like Romero, is working out in Dunedin in extended spring training. Meaning that they play intrasquad games regularly but aren't reported on by anyone since stats aren't kept and the games aren't official in any respect and don't always follow standard rules (ie: you might have them throw 20 pitches then sit down for a period of time, then throw another 20 with a full team on the field but not getting 3 outs each time).

Mike Green - Monday, April 22 2013 @ 03:13 PM EDT (#270749) #

The Bisons won again today. Break up the Herd!

Negrych had 3 more hits- .488/.543/.780 after 11 games is impressive.

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