Batter's Box Interactive Magazine Batter's Box Interactive Magazine Batter's Box Interactive Magazine
Dunedin brought their bats and Buffalo did not. Miguel Burgos turned in a nice outing in Bluefield while the Mississippi boys set the table in Lansing. Someone needs to convince Anthony Alford that baseball is good—football is bad.

Scranton/WB 4 Buffalo 1

Esmil Rogers was solid over six innings of work, but there were hallmarks of the Rogers we have come to known in Toronto over these past two years. In the third Rogers retired the first two batters and then promptly loaded the bases after a single and two, two-out walks. A run would later score on a dropped strike three. His manager after the game would reflect that he thought Rogers was unlikely to make it out of that inning. Nonetheless the overall line is impressive—six innings, four hits, one earned run, three walks, and four strikeouts.

Not much going on at the plate. Ryan Goins had two of the Bisons’ four hits and the team went 0-7 with RISP. Three Bisons were named to the AAA All-Star game. They are Dan Johnson, Liam Hendriks, and Bobby Korecky.

New Hampshire vs. Reading RAINED OUT

Dunedin 14 Clearwater 6

Dunedin brought the bats tonight as they amassed fourteen runs on sixteen hits. Every Dunedin Blue Jay had a hit tonight with a grandslam by Nick Baligod being the highlight. Baligod would add another hit and would score twice on the night, while Marcus Knecht collected three hits, including two doubles. On the night, Dunedin seems to be coping well with the promotion of Dalton Pompey.

Lansing 9 West Michigan 8

The Mississippi duo at the top of the order had four hits, a walk, stole two bases, drove in three runs, and scored three times. Alford and Davis had stellar nights while Matt Dean homered and drove in four runs in the three hole. Alford, Davis, Dean, and co. did this against a highly touted pitching prospect in Jonathan Crawford to boot.

Jeremy Gabryszwski had a rough start, but was bailed out by his bullpen. Brady Dragmire pitched three and a third of shutout ball in relief and Griffin Murphy hung on for the save.

Salem-Keizer 4 Vancouver 6

Roeman Fields had a dynamic night at the top of the order, collecting four hits and needing just a homerun to complete the cycle. He would also steal two bases, leading the Canadians over the visiting Volcanoes.

Jairo Labourt went four and third, striking out five while walking two batters. He allowed just one unearned run and has been solid so far with Vancouver.

Bluefield 2 Elizabethton 0

5’9 LHP Miguel Burgos threw shutout baseball through five innings. He allowed just three hits and struck out six. Josh Almonte provided the offence with a two run homerun in the sixth.

GCL Blue Jays vs. GCL Yankees 2 RAINED OUT

DSL Braves 2 DSL Blue Jays 7

Three Stars

3. Nick Baligod

2. Roemen Fields

1. Miguel Burgos

Box Scores

Everyone hits in Dunedin | 16 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Thomas - Friday, July 04 2014 @ 04:47 AM EDT (#289374) #
Korecky and Hendriks have been rewarded for their All-Star seasons with trips to the majors, albeit briefly and without much success in each case. Will Dan Johnson eventually get a similar reward and, if so, will the result be any different?
Hodgie - Friday, July 04 2014 @ 09:16 AM EDT (#289378) #
Curious what it is that people see in Dan Johnson that I am missing? He was a fine depth signing but I fail to see what role he has on the big club. Don't the Jays have enough DH types already? While the soon to be 35 year old is having a nice season in Buffalo, does anyone really think his numbers there will translate into something useful in Toronoto?
Mike Green - Friday, July 04 2014 @ 09:39 AM EDT (#289379) #
Dunedin seems to be coping well with the promotion of Dalton Pompey.

The club is 2-4 since he left.  There is more to it than that, of course, and it's only 6 games.  Norris and Chung left a little eariler. 

In any event, it's nice to see the D-Jays (and in particular Dwight Smith Jr.) get their hitting groove back. 
Mike Green - Friday, July 04 2014 @ 10:04 AM EDT (#289381) #
however, it was not enough for the Canadians to top the visiting Volcanoes.

Unless my coffee is really not working, it does look like Vancouver won the game.  Right?
Ryan Day - Friday, July 04 2014 @ 11:27 AM EDT (#289390) #
Johnson's played 416 games in the majors, and has only managed a career 236/337/411 line - dandy for a middle infieder, but not much use from a 1b. He hasn't even shown a useful split - over his MLB career, he's got a 746 OPS vs RHP, and 751 vs LHP.

I could see bringing him up if Lind AND Francisco hit the DL, but otherwise he's not likely to offer much to the team.
sam - Friday, July 04 2014 @ 11:39 AM EDT (#289392) #
Apologies all. Thank you for bringing the mistakes to my attention. I've made some changes to the post.
Mike Green - Friday, July 04 2014 @ 11:43 AM EDT (#289393) #
It depends on what you want.  Neither Francisco nor LInd hit left-handers a lick, and neither play decent defence.  Johnson would have a potential role on the club, but it's questionable whether there is room for Lind, Encarnacion and Johnson on the roster. You are probably better off with a RH hitter who has a role other than playing first base, or else a RH bat-first player who also plays first base competently. 
uglyone - Friday, July 04 2014 @ 11:48 AM EDT (#289394) #
I didn't know his splits were that good. I'll take that .750ops as our dh vs. Lhp.
Mike Green - Friday, July 04 2014 @ 12:13 PM EDT (#289395) #
Frank Viola Jr. (what exactly is the difference between a junior viola and a violin?) was promoted and gets the start for Dunedin tonight.  Sweet music and fireworks- what could be better?
Ryan Day - Friday, July 04 2014 @ 01:22 PM EDT (#289401) #
You could do worse than Johnson, but the team should be aiming higher - it really needs a solid RH bat who can play the outfield (and in a perfect world, could at least fake it in centre field). I had hopes that Pillar could be that guy, but so far he's been helpless against MLB pitching.
PeterG - Friday, July 04 2014 @ 01:27 PM EDT (#289403) #
helpless? ...bit of an over statement. He has looked ok against major league pitching this season, especially considering how little of it he has faced.
jgadfly - Friday, July 04 2014 @ 03:54 PM EDT (#289414) #
3rd of July and Alford is still playing baseball and in Lansing ... still has to be better than 2 a-days in Miss. heat and humidity
PeterG - Friday, July 04 2014 @ 06:44 PM EDT (#289423) #
it would be huge if Alford could  somehow be convinced to play baseball full time.
Marlow - Friday, July 04 2014 @ 10:41 PM EDT (#289431) #
A nice article by John Lott on Aaron Sanchez  (http://sports.nationalpost.com/2014/07/04/toronto-blue-jays-prospect-aaron-sanchez-ponders-a-perfect-storm/)

As a side note, once again Eric Kratz's quiet influence can be seen in the piece.  I really wish the Jays see the value of keeping this guy on the roster, instead of Thole.
TangledUpInBlue - Saturday, July 05 2014 @ 03:22 AM EDT (#289440) #
helpless? ...bit of an over statement.

He walks like an Arencibia, that's the problem. Wait, no -- looking at their career MLB numbers, it seems Arencibia has twice the walk rate of Pillar.
PeterG - Saturday, July 05 2014 @ 11:54 AM EDT (#289454) #
that's simply a "needs improvement".....still a longways from "helpless"
Everyone hits in Dunedin | 16 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.