Batter's Box Interactive Magazine Batter's Box Interactive Magazine Batter's Box Interactive Magazine
Minor League Update Dwight Smith the Unstoppable!

The affiliates were 4-2 tonight, with double headers for Buffalo, and Dunedin making up postponed games.  Dwight Smith continued to be the best hitter for Dunedin with two more strong performances.  As well, former First Rounder’s Ricky Romero and Deck McGuire each struggled in their starts tonight.



 

Buffalo 0 – Lehigh Valley 1 (Makeup of April 7th Game, 7 Innings)

In Game two of the double header, Marcus Stroman pitched a 7 inning complete game giving up one unearned run, on 3 hits to go along with allowing 5 walks, and 8 strikeouts.

The Bisons offense wasn’t able to do much in game 2, as they managed to only have 3 hits.

 

Buffalo 5 – Lehigh Valley 3 (11 Innings)

Ricky Romero had another very rough start giving up 3 earned runs on 4 hits with 4 walks, and 4 strikeouts.  Afterwards Chad Jenkins, Bobby Korecky, and Rob Rasmussen combined to pitch 7 scoreless innings.

Buffalo managed to have 9 hits, including 3 from Juan Francisco, and a double in the top of the 11th inning by Steve Toleson that scored 2 of the eventual game winning runs.

 

New Hampshire 1 – Reading 4

In Deck’s second start of the year he was hit hard giving up 4 earned runs on 10 hits with 1 walk, and 4 strikeouts.  Deck was followed by 3.1 scoreless combined innings from Wil Browning and Tony Davis.

New Hampshire only managed to score one run when Jon Berti singled home Mike Crouse in the 6th inning.

 

Dunedin 6 – Daytona 4 (Makeup of April 8th Game, 7 Innings)

Dwight Smith continued to hit well with two hits including a double, three RBIs, and his second stolen base of the year.

Taylor Cole lasted 5.2 innings giving up 2 earned runs on 2 hits, with 1 walk, and 9 strikeouts.  Justin Jackson relieved Taylor giving up 2 runs on 3 hits in 1/3 of an inning pitched.

 

Dunedin 1 – Daytona 0 (7 Innings)

Dwight Smith and Derrick Chung each had 2 hits.  Dalton Pompey doubled home the only run in the third inning scoring Derrick Chung.

Matt Boyd had a fantastic start pitching 5 scoreless innings, and was followed by Efrain Nieves, Danny Barnes, and Arik Sikula.

 

Quad Cities 4 – Lansing 6

The Lugnuts had 11 hits tonight, totaling 6 runs, which included doubles from Mitch Nay, DJ Davis, Jorge Saez and Matt Dean. 

Alberto Tirado was given the start and lasted only one inning, giving up 2 hits, and 3 walks which amounted to 2 earned runs.  Griffin Murphy followed with 3 scoreless innings while giving up 1 hit, and striking out 5.  Jairo Labourt pitched the next 3 innings while giving up 2 earned runs on 2 hits, 4 walks, and 4 strikeouts.

 

Three Stars

1. Dwight Smith

2. Matt Boyd

3. Marcus Stroman

Posted by tercet on Thursday, April 10 2014 @ 08:20 AM EDT.
Dwight Smith the Unstoppable! | 23 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Mike Green - Thursday, April 10 2014 @ 09:00 AM EDT (#284501) #
Here are some other minor league notes.  Happ's rehab continues apace; he moves up to Buffalo and gets the start today.   Juan Francisco went 4-6 with a walk in the double header last night.  Chad Jenkins went 4 scoreless innings, 1 hit, no walks and 4 strikeouts. 
[ Reply to This ]
whiterasta80 - Thursday, April 10 2014 @ 09:03 AM EDT (#284502) #
Free Chad Jenkins.

That is all.
[ Reply to This ]
tercet - Thursday, April 10 2014 @ 09:33 AM EDT (#284505) #
I'd love for Chad Jenkins to get a shot, but he is behind Esmil Rogers and Todd Redmond on the depth chart only because he has options.  The Jays have no need for 3 long men in the bullpen.
[ Reply to This ]
ogator - Thursday, April 10 2014 @ 10:29 AM EDT (#284511) #
Maybe Jenkins should be starting and Romero relieving. I understand why they want to give Ricky every chance to find himself but at some point, he is taking chances away from people who are more deserving.
[ Reply to This ]
Ryan Day - Thursday, April 10 2014 @ 10:32 AM EDT (#284512) #
I don't even know what criteria the Jays have for the pen at this point. They started with Jeffress, who isn't very good but maybe could have been stuck at the back of the pen. But Gibbons threw him out there right away, he was lousy, and then DFA'd. Then they almost called up Jenkins, who Gibbons said he'd wanted on the team all along; but they couldn't call him up yet, so settled on Walden, who didn't even pitch. Then they brought up Wagner, who is pretty good but essentially the same type of short-reliever as Jeffress.

I don't know why they didn't just break camp with Wagner instead of Jeffress, if they wanted a reliever who would be good right now.
[ Reply to This ]
bpoz - Thursday, April 10 2014 @ 10:38 AM EDT (#284513) #
Romero 81 pitches only 38 strikes. It is quite clear what he has to work on.
[ Reply to This ]
PeterG - Thursday, April 10 2014 @ 10:58 AM EDT (#284514) #
Romero can be released as far as I am concerned. I would try and work a buyout to maybe save a few dollars.  I totally agree that Jenkins should be starting. He has shown obvious improvement and if he can go 4 solid innings, why not 5 or six?
[ Reply to This ]
uglyone - Thursday, April 10 2014 @ 11:41 AM EDT (#284518) #
"Then they brought up Wagner, who is pretty good but essentially the same type of short-reliever as Jeffress."

Well they're both hard throwers, but wagner has been significantly more effective.

MLB

Wagner: 45.0ip, 8.0k/9, 3.2bb/9, 4.00era, 4.21fip, 3.64xfip
Jeffress: 52.1ip, 8.6k/9, 6.5bb/9, 4.47era, 3.95fip, 4.44xfip

AAA

Wagner: 117.2ip, 10.1k/9, 3.2bb/9, 3.82era, 2.68fip
Jeffress: 109.1ip, 9.6k/9, 4.6bb/9, 4.61era, 3.77fip
[ Reply to This ]
cybercavalier - Thursday, April 10 2014 @ 11:47 AM EDT (#284519) #
Romero never posted over 1.70 K/BB in Double-A or Triple-A. Could he be "rushed" ? Anyway, can playing in Double-A again help him not walking hitters ?
[ Reply to This ]
Ryan Day - Thursday, April 10 2014 @ 11:53 AM EDT (#284520) #
Yes, Wagner is obviously much better - I just meant the filled the same role as a RH short reliever. Which is why I don't understand why they didn't just start the season with Wagner, when Jeffress was going to be more of a long-term project they didn't have the patience for.
[ Reply to This ]
Mike Green - Thursday, April 10 2014 @ 12:00 PM EDT (#284521) #
Presumably, it was all about option status.  That isn't a great thing, but fortunately Jeffress threw in only 2 low leverage situations.  The only result will be that the Blue Jays' Pythagorean record will look worse than it would have had Wagner got the call to begin with. And baseball does not have a Mathematician's Bonus Prize yet.  
[ Reply to This ]
PeterG - Thursday, April 10 2014 @ 02:36 PM EDT (#284525) #
The NH roster has a lesser number of starters than Buffalo. If Romero has to be kept, send him to NH and let Jenkins start in Buffalo. This should be obvious to those responsible for such decisions.
[ Reply to This ]
Mike Green - Thursday, April 10 2014 @ 03:25 PM EDT (#284527) #
I think that it would be great if someone like Roy Halladay could sit down and have a chat or four with Ricky Romero. They were teammates in 2009, but this time Halladay might do a lot more talking about where he came from. 
[ Reply to This ]
jerjapan - Thursday, April 10 2014 @ 04:04 PM EDT (#284529) #
Jenkins profiles as a major league reliever at this point, no?  I see no harm in letting him get used to the role.  That said, maybe Romero would be better off coming out of the pen?  That lack of control would doubtless drive a manager nuts in a reliever, but is there any chance he's an effective starter again?
[ Reply to This ]
China fan - Thursday, April 10 2014 @ 05:12 PM EDT (#284534) #
i don't think Jenkins should be relegated to an exclusively bullpen role until the Jays have exhausted every possibility that he could have some potential as a starter. And I agree that Romero can be demoted to New Hampshire, if necessary, to make room for Jenkins in the rotation.

I'm glad to see Stroman's early success. If only he hadn't had that really bad implosion in a late exhibition game in spring training. That rattled my optimism about him, and makes me think he needs a half-season or more in Buffalo before he gets a crack at the majors.
[ Reply to This ]
John Northey - Thursday, April 10 2014 @ 06:28 PM EDT (#284536) #
5 walks in 7 innings suggests Stroman isn't ready for prime time yet.  While in the minors he can get away with it (the low # of hits) in the majors he'd be in deep, deep trouble doing that.  Still, overall a good sign as 8 K's and a complete game (even if just 7 innings) are strong positives.

McGuire's game is interesting... 1 walk, 4 K's, 0 HR, 1 double in 4 2/3 IP doesn't sound bad, but the 10 hits killed him.  Giving up 11 fly balls and 5 line drives it sounds like he was lucky to only have one extra base hit against.96 pitches, 66 for strikes vs his first game 91 pitches 61 for strikes. That first game just 2 line drives and 9 fly balls.  Yes, I love B-R.  McGuire is one I'm keeping a close eye on this season as I think he is on the edge of a major breakthrough.
[ Reply to This ]
soupman - Thursday, April 10 2014 @ 06:43 PM EDT (#284537) #
i have concerns over stroman's heater. if he had pinpoint control, i could more easily get behind the people that want him up here now in toronto, but he's walking far too many guys in leagues where they aren't going to punish him the same way when he throws (what looks to me like) an arrow straight fb to get back in the count. he's only 22, and i think he could use AT LEAST another year in the minors to refine his command and work on the 3rd and 4th offerings.

that's just my untrained eye on it. i'd be happy to be surprised/totally wrong though!
[ Reply to This ]
soupman - Thursday, April 10 2014 @ 06:46 PM EDT (#284538) #
just looked at stroman's #s from previous years - i should eat crow on that. that said, from the spring starts i saw, and the line so far in aaa...i'll stick by what i said. hopefully the walks are just a small sample issue, or the results of something he's been asked to work on.
[ Reply to This ]
PeterG - Thursday, April 10 2014 @ 09:27 PM EDT (#284543) #
A full year in Buffalo won't hurt him (Stroman).
[ Reply to This ]
whiterasta80 - Thursday, April 10 2014 @ 10:49 PM EDT (#284546) #
Jenkins may end up as a major league reliever, but all he's done when given the chance to start in the majors is give us quality innings. I don't understand how that doesn't earn you an extended run.
[ Reply to This ]
Lylemcr - Friday, April 11 2014 @ 11:18 AM EDT (#284561) #
I like Ricky, but he needs to be released.  He needs to find a new home and a fresh perspective.
[ Reply to This ]
hypobole - Friday, April 11 2014 @ 05:47 PM EDT (#284587) #
And most likely a new career.
[ Reply to This ]
katman - Saturday, April 12 2014 @ 03:07 AM EDT (#284605) #
Well, Stroman does need a half-season or more in Buffalo before getting an MLB crack. He needs to show consistent success, and he needs to understand how to control the homers. E. Santana has manged ok without that control, but (a) it has sapped his potential, and (b) you have to have the front-end stuff working at ES-level quality, which I'm not sure Stroman does yet. Hence the refinements in Buffalo.

There's no reason to rush Stroman. If need be, Redmond starts and Jenkins becomes a long reliever. Plus, there's Happ.

[ Reply to This ]
Dwight Smith the Unstoppable! | 23 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.