Andy Burns is looking legit. Maybe even 5-tool studly.

knock on wood.

would love to see a quick promotion to AA. he's been delayed by injury, but 22 is still a bit old for A+.

does anyone know what happened to wes etheridge?

I dunno what Burns' ceiling is but it's not like Kevin Ahrens should be hard to shove into the unemployment line.

Some one said age 25 for a prospect in AAA, and drop a year for each level". That should be be the max age for a 'prospect'. I agree with him. While 22 is a bit old in A+, he's still within limits. Seasons missed to religion, injury, other should be considered when 'not a prospect'.

From Davidi's latest:

Top prospect Aaron Sanchez is on the seven-day DL after tweaking a muscle in the shoulder blade area but the injury isn’t considered serious.

Also a few notes on Alford (likely heading to Vancouver with Davis).

Andy Burns didn't play his final year of college, as he transferred to Arizona(his stats line is empty, so red-shirted or injury).  So its possible that he is just getting his game back in gear, and improving with the ab's.  He is second in the FSL in OPS behind Miguel Sano, ahead top prospect Gregory Polanco of the Pirates.

Andy Burns is looking legit. Maybe even 5-tool studly.

I don't know about that, but I do know that a hitter who bangs out doubles, triples and home runs and walks more than he strikes out, and plays a key defensive position competently, would be welcome.  Burns will be turning 23 in August, so hopefully he is moved to New Hampshire after leading Dunedin to the first half title in the FSL. 

Well, I’ve averted my eyes for a while (the old Rob Ford defense); but it’s not working. 

So, come on;  this is Da Box.  We don’t do that here.  The word is “surprise”. 

Ops, my mistake, fixed thanks

Still not fixed, 2 R's required.

the old Rob Ford defense

Which one?  I am hoping for an intoxication defence rather than one of the routine "forged video" or "it wasn't me" defences.

"I had a little more than a wee dram and I thought it was kind of my friends to give me a pipe (of tobacco, of course) to calm my nerves.   I felt a bit strange, and I was thinking kindly of Justin Trudeau's dad for bring our country a new flag.  I don't know if the words came out right when I told my friends."

Andy Burns

6'2", 109lbs

Has always played SS before, and is naturally athletic, but projects better as a 3B and has pretty much made that conversion as of now. On draft day, his bat was a bigger question mark than his defense - so defensively he projects well, both in range and arm.

He's so far played about a full season's worth of games in the minors - 148 games played so far.

So we have a good and easy sample size to look at with his minor league numbers so far. Caveat is that so far his minor league has seen an extremely steep learning curve each year. He struggled as a 20yr old in short season ball, then hit quite well as a 21 year old in A ball, and now is crushing it as a 22 year old in A+.

Overall his numbers:

Contact: 17.8k%, .308babip, .273avg
Patience: 11.0bb%, .089isobp
Power: 38db, 8tr, 18hr, 254tb, .203isop
Speed: 33sb, 11cs, 8tr

The power and speed combo really stand out. He's at around a 40db/10tr/20hr/70xbh full season pace, and he's got plenty of filling out to do yet. And he's showing 30+ stolen base potential as well.

The contact and patience numbers are good, but not great. But while his patience and power have stayed pretty steady this year and last (11.7bb% - 12.0bb%, .216iso-.224iso), the big difference so far this year has been a massive improvement in contact rate. He's cut his his K-rate in half (23.1k% to 11.4k%), his babip has jumped from good (.306) to very good (.338) (remembering that good minor league hitters should be posting a babip that would look unsustainable in MLB), and as a result his batting average has jumped bigtime, .248 to .327.

If that improvement in contact is for real and not just an SSS fluke, then I'm getting legit excited about this guy.


Here's how his rates have improved from year to year:

Age 20 (rk/A-): 110pa, 7.3bb%, 12.7k%, .259babip, .250avg, .059isobp, .130isop, 10.9sb/600pa
Age 21 (A): 325pa, 11.7bb%, 23.1k%, .306babip, .248avg, .103isobp, .216isop, 27.7sb/600pa
Age 22 (A+): 184pa, 12.0bb%, 11.4k%, .338babip, .327avg, .081isobp, .224isop, 52.2sb/600pa

The Aaron Sanchez update, assuming it's accurate, is great news.

I posted the same update on Sanchez in yesterday's minor league thread and I got it straight from the Jays front office.  I had also spoken to another Jay's contact who didn't know the full story but he had heard it wasn't serious so that's a double confirmation.

I tweeted this earlier today but seems appropriate to post it here as well:

Baseball Prospectus on Andy Burns posted today:

"...ability to barrel premium velocity; still developing defensively; average power potential; solid-average runner; destroying High-A pitching; the test will come at Double-A; .333/.413/.558 with 9 2B, 4 3B, and 6 HR in 156 at-bats."

Again won't post the link as it's behind a pay wall.

Balbino Fuenmayor has been released by the Jays. He was signed for $750,000 several years ago. I hope he still has a lot of it.

Daniel Norris, 10 K's through 4 innings.

Since many people wanted to send him to Bluefield he has been pitching really well.

Norris done after four innings. All those strikeouts use a lot of pitches. He gave up 3 hits, two infield hits and a ground ball to centre. Norris walked 2.

Since many people wanted to send him to Bluefield he has been pitching really well.

Many? I thought it was just me.

And you really DON'T have to rub it in EVERY time he is successful. I'm perfectly open to admitting a mistake (apparently) - and have - and I'm notorious for saying "we (the fans) are not privvy to the info the team has so the team should enjoy the benefit of the significant doubt"

I made a long distance observation, a perfectly reasonable one given the track record at the time...I would suppose I wouldn't have to say "I could be wrong but..." because, ya know, that goes without saying.

Balbino Fuenmayor is an example of how a guy can look good when signed but may not ever develop.  7 years in the minors, 248/293/385, never reached A+.  Signed at 17, now is 23 and probably (based on merit) shouldn't be higher than short season ball.

Ah well.  Some prospects do well, some never figure out anything.  As Gerry said, hope he invested his bonus rather than spending it on misc stuff that is long gone.