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Matt Smoral struck out nine in five innings and Richard Urena had three hits to lead Bluefield to victory. Scott Gracey one-upped Smoral as he struck out seven in 2.2 innings. Sean Nolin made a rehab start for Dunedin but the hitters won the game by batting around twice. Vancouver won easy with Jairo Labourt leading the way.

Buffalo's hitters are quiet, like the big club, and they lost. Daniel Norris was bombed even though Dalton Pompey and Andy Burns had a couple of hits each. Lansing also lost with yours truly watching.



Buffalo 1 Pawtucket 3

  • Raul Valdes was good but Brandon Workman was better.
  • Kyle Drabek struck out the side in an inning of work but gave up a run thanks to two wild pitches and two hits. Chad Jenkins also pitched an inning, he had a couple of baserunners but stranded them.
  • Ryan Goins had two of the Bisons five hits. He is hitting .285 but his OPS is just 677. That translates to approx. a 550 major league OPS.


Portland 10 New Hampshire 3

  • Daniel Norris had a second straight bad start. There might be unusual circumstances in this game, Norris was involved in a collision and was hit with a couple of come-backers. His opponent, top Red Sox prospect Henry Owens, allowed nine hits in 6.1 innings.
  • Dalton Pompey had two hits but K'd 3 times.
  • Scott Gracey was hot and cold....he had 7 K's out of 8 outs. But he gave up five hits and two runs. Tyler Ybarra pitched a strong 2.1 innings.
  • Andy Burns had another two hits and now has an OPS of 1100 in July.


Jupiter 7 Dunedin 12

  • Jupiter outhit the Jays 14-13 but the Jays batted around in the fourth and fifth to score ten runs.
  • Sean Nolin pitched 2.2 innings and struck out five. He did give up a run. Griffin Murphy went 2.1 shutout innings and now has 6.1 shutout innings to start his Dunedin career.
  • Nick Baligod and Christian Lopes each had three hits. Baligod had four RBI.


Clinton 6 Lansing 2

  • Brad Allen was a little unlucky on the first two runs, the third run was a hanging change-up that was disappeared. On the other hand Matt Dermody was hit all over the park.
  • Matt Dean had a good night, a hard hit line drive single, a double off the right field wall and a walk.
  • DJ Davis had two hits, he had just three hits in his previous nine games.


Vancouver 12 Tri-City 2

  • Jairo Labourt pitched six shutout innings and he only walked two. He has 39 K's in 34.2 innings with only 20 hits allowed.
  • Max Pentecost was 3-5 with a triple. He is hitting .435 in five games with an OPS over 1000.
  • Franklin Barreto had two hits with his first home run of the season.


Bluefield 3 Pulaski 2

  • Matt Smoral struck out nine in 5 innings. He did allow a run. For the season Smoral has 36 K's in 21.1 innings.
  • Ugeth Urbina pitched against the Jays. This UU is 20 years old.
  • Richard Urena had three hits and now has an OPS of 818 as an 18 year old. I have some news on Urena, stay tuned for an interview next week.
  • Rolando Segovia is a 19 year old 2B from Venezuela. He was ice cold in June but red hot in July. He has an OPS over 1000 over his last ten games.
  • Dan Jansen had two doubles and was hit by a pitch. He too has been very hot recently.


GCL Yankees 9 GCL Jays 4

  • Nick Wells was roughed up for six runs in 2.1 innings.
  • Edwin Fuentes and Angel Gomez each had three hits including a triple.
  • Lane Thomas has been cold recently. He did have a hit today but that was just his second in his last five games.


3 Stars

3rd star: Jairo Labourt

2nd star: Nick Baligod

1st star: Matt Smoral


Boxes

Smoral and Gracey Dominate | 34 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Mike Green - Sunday, July 20 2014 @ 09:07 AM EDT (#290044) #
Matt Dean is coming along.  He is evening out his W/K as the season rolls on, while maintaining his power.  I wonder if the club will aggressively promote him to New Hampshire to start 2015.  He'll be 22 in December, and if he picks it up just a bit from where he is now over the remainder of the season, you could certainly justify it. 
uglyone - Sunday, July 20 2014 @ 11:18 AM EDT (#290046) #
Even just a few more games of this and they should really be bumping pentacost upnto lansing. A- was a conservative place to start him in the first place.
PeteMoss - Sunday, July 20 2014 @ 11:50 AM EDT (#290047) #
You can see why some GMs aren't keen on the International free agent market. It takes forever to make an impact on the big league team and most GMs will be long gone by the time a 16 year old signee makes an impact (or even can be used as trade bait). F.Barreto for example was signed two years ago for 1.45 million and he's moving quicker than most.

But it really fills out your prospect pool and at the very least add some depth to the organization.
finch - Sunday, July 20 2014 @ 12:32 PM EDT (#290048) #
I wrote this in an earlier post but you've got to love the Jays' elite pitching prospects moving forward; I'd match them up against any organization.

Smoral
Norris
Sanchez
Hollon
Hoffman
Castro
Tirado
Joubert
Osuna

A lot of our positional prospects are doing really well

Nay
Dean
F. Barreto
Urena
Lugo
Smith Jr
Penetcost

They Jays should have 4 to 5 prospect in the top 100 and probably another 4 to 5 in the 101 to 200 range. It's been a great development year on the whole.

I'm happy to see improvement is Thon Jr but REALLY disappointed in the development of DJ Davis. I was really hoping we drafted Trey Ball but he's not doing any better for the Red Sox.

IMO, looks like the Jays will have an organization rank in the top 5.
ISLAND BOY - Sunday, July 20 2014 @ 12:46 PM EDT (#290049) #
I have never so many promising prospects at the lower levels of the Jays systems, with the caveate, of course, that they still have a long way to go to become major league players. On a different note, I haven't seen it mentioned here but I might have missed it, but what does it mean for Houston since they didn't sign their top two picks. Will they now have three picks in the top ten of next years draft?
Hodgie - Sunday, July 20 2014 @ 01:15 PM EDT (#290050) #
Now that I can no longer count Pompey as a position player sleeper I suppose it is time for me to quietly cheer on a new underdog. In light of that I am choosing to hitch my wagon to the forgotten man, Christian Lopes. After a horrid 2013 and inauspicious start to 2014 he has started to turn his season around with an outstanding month of July and has quietly brought his season line up to 103 wRC+. The once highly regarded high school prospect is a long shot no doubt, but he continues to control the strike zone and doesn't turn 22 until October. A strong finish to the season could put him back on the prospect map and should see him manning 2B for New Hampshire in 2015.
Sal - Sunday, July 20 2014 @ 01:23 PM EDT (#290051) #
"what does it mean for Houston since they didn't sign their top two picks. Will they now have three picks in the top ten of next years draft"

They will get the second pick over all and whatever the standings dictate this year. If they're the worst team in baseball again this year, they'll have the top two picks next year. Nix was a 5th round pick, and I think picks are protected up to the 4th round only, so they will just lose that pick.
uglyone - Sunday, July 20 2014 @ 01:41 PM EDT (#290053) #
I agree with the giddy excitment over our prospects right now.

The system lacks the truly elite guys at the top (though, really, there was no reason for Stroman not to be ranked much higher than he was coming into this season), but it's starting to look pretty loaded.

The list of legit mlb upside arms goes at least 15 deep, and a whole bunch of them have more than just average mlb upside.

And the jays can also now put together pretty much a full lineup of position prospects with legit mlb upside as well.
finch - Sunday, July 20 2014 @ 01:59 PM EDT (#290055) #
I would have to say that Shane Optiz is my underdog. I think he's very underrated and was a HS draft pick that has always played a couple years above league average. In his first 3 years, he was a minimum of -1.6 age difference. Even in 2013 when he hit .309 he had an age difference of -1.8. I'm not aware of how good his glove is but he could be a super utility type or keep the 2B job warm for a season or two for Franklin Burreto
PeterG - Sunday, July 20 2014 @ 02:13 PM EDT (#290056) #
my off the radar guy is lhp Daniel Lietz......also another lefy Miguel Burgos
uglyone - Sunday, July 20 2014 @ 02:15 PM EDT (#290057) #
If we're talking about low-level sleepers....I'm still on the Shane Dawson train all the way.

But now I have a new pet fave...

LHP A.Perdomo - 20yrs, 6'6", 200lbs

2014 GCL: 23.0ip, 30.9k%, 8.5bb%, .291babip, 1.04whip, 1.96era, 2.35fip
2013 DSL: 26.2ip, 36.1k%, 15.1bb%, .294babip, 1.28whip, 3.04era, 3.05fip

apparently he already has a mid-90s fastball, with potential plus Curve and Change as well.
PeterG - Sunday, July 20 2014 @ 02:37 PM EDT (#290058) #
among position players, how about Justin Atkinson?
uglyone - Sunday, July 20 2014 @ 03:01 PM EDT (#290059) #
we might also want to keep a close eye on our two rookie ball catchers Juan Kelly and Danny Jansen.

Both had good seasons last year and are having very good starts to their season this year.
Richard S.S. - Sunday, July 20 2014 @ 03:24 PM EDT (#290062) #
Catching wasn't a strength for this team lately as A.J. Jimenez was still maybe 2 years away, if not more. Max Pentecost was drafted because he should move faster and possibly be in AA in two years (they hope). Matt Morgan was drafted to get another fast moving, high upside Catcher in the system (I hope).

It's nice to see some unexpected potential developing from within the system. It could turn Catching into a position of strength once again.
uglyone - Sunday, July 20 2014 @ 03:31 PM EDT (#290063) #
So after Hodgie and Mike pointed out that I was underrating Barreto's offense this year, I decided to do a bit of research for comparison....and realized that I was underrating his offense kind of hugely.

In fact, we might be witnessing the best 18yr old hitting performance in Jays' prospect history at the moment, if my numbers are correct.

Age 18:

SS F.Barreto (A-): .908ops, 154wrc+
CF V.Wells (A-): .888ops, ???wrc+
1B C.Delgado (A-): .777ops, ???wrc+
CF D.Bell (A-): .756ops, ???wrc+
RF T.Snider (Rk): .979ops, 165wrc+
RF A.Rios (Rk): .646ops, ???wrc+

can anyone find a jays prospect who hit better at 18 than Barreto is hitting?


and yes, I know there's plenty of time for Barreto's numbers to drop significanty this year.
PeterG - Sunday, July 20 2014 @ 04:33 PM EDT (#290066) #
JIminez is ready now and you will see him in September. He would be a
huge defensive upgrade over the present trio. Scouts said he could have
handled the majors last year defenisvely but should improve his hitting
some which he has done. I expect him to be here to stay by mid season
next summer at the latest. He may well start the season in TO.
China fan - Sunday, July 20 2014 @ 04:58 PM EDT (#290067) #
Three more hits for Pompey today, plus a stolen base.
eldarion - Sunday, July 20 2014 @ 05:21 PM EDT (#290068) #
I was thinking the same thing about Barreto. The other day, I decided to check up on Tellez, given the hype he had received on his drafting. I discovered that Urena, almost a full year younger than Tellez, has dramatically outperformed him on the same team...and Barreto, essentially the same age as Urena, has outperformed him at a level higher. Barreto's having a great season thus far. Things can change between now and the end of the season, true, but credit where it's due: he's performing exceedingly well for an 18 year old. Do we know how well relative to the rest of his league?
PeterG - Sunday, July 20 2014 @ 05:36 PM EDT (#290070) #
Barreto could easily be in TO within 2 years. He should be the #1 ranked prospect imo although Pompey is making it close.
uglyone - Sunday, July 20 2014 @ 05:38 PM EDT (#290071) #
the 154wrc+ number up there means he's hitting 54% better than league average.

Here's the top hitters in the NWL this year, before today's games:

1. 1B M.Davis (22.2): 136pa, 1.082ops, 196wrc+
2. OF L.Tendler (22.10): 153pa, 1.029ops, 183wrc+
3. 2B S.Spivey (22.0): 133pa, .967ops, 174wrc+
4. C M.Greene (19.11): 131pa, .958ops, 173wrc+
5. C J.Marra (21.6): 119pa, .957ops, 162wrc+
6. SS F.Barreto (18.4): 159pa, .908ops, 154wrc+
7. C J.Trevino (21.7): 156pa, .912ops, 146wrc+
8. OF Z.Cone (24.7): 140pa, .889ops, 144wrc+
9. OF E.Pinto (19.9): 130pa, .829ops, 137wrc+
10. SS F.Cordero (19.10): 130pa, .841ops, 130wrc+

Barreto's the youngest hitter in the league this year. The only other 18yr old in the league is Juremi Profar, with a .602ops and a 72wrc+. For some reason Profar has had stints at both A and AAA this year, I have no idea why.

The 19 year olds on this leader list are closer to 1.5yrs older than Barreto than 1.0.
uglyone - Sunday, July 20 2014 @ 05:42 PM EDT (#290072) #
"He should be the #1 ranked prospect imo although Pompey is making it close."

Barreto v. Pompey is an interesting argument.

and then throw in Pentacost into that "top position prospect" argument as well.

in fact, we might have 3 legit top-end (i.e. challenging for top-50 status soon) position prospects, at the three toughest defensive positions.
eldarion - Sunday, July 20 2014 @ 07:00 PM EDT (#290073) #
Jesus...that list is...wow. Barreto is having a HECK of a season. The league leader is almost 4 years older than him.
garvin4ever - Sunday, July 20 2014 @ 10:56 PM EDT (#290079) #
Does anyone know what's going on with Jacob Anderson? He hasn't played in a month.
James W - Sunday, July 20 2014 @ 10:59 PM EDT (#290080) #
Gerry said yesterday that Anderson is rehabbing a knee injury.
garvin4ever - Monday, July 21 2014 @ 02:51 AM EDT (#290082) #
Thanks. That guy sure is snake-bit.
ogator - Monday, July 21 2014 @ 07:46 AM EDT (#290083) #
Two of this year's draft picks who have been impressive are Chase Mallard and Ryan McBroom. Yesterday's Vancouver game was big for both of these kids.
John Northey - Monday, July 21 2014 @ 08:50 AM EDT (#290085) #
Barreto hitting 326/405/486 while 3.3 years younger than league average is very impressive.  Last year he hit 276/343/482 while 2.8 years younger than league average.  I'd love for the Jays to challenge him in August in Lansing and if he does well send him to Dunedin next year to start with a AA shift if he keeps this up late in 2015 and a shot at the big club in September 2016.  Reyes is signed through 2017 so the Jays probably will target having Barreto ready by the end of 2017, ideally with a few call-ups in 2017 (whenever Reyes is DL'ed) and stepping in for 2018.  That is, if he can handle SS defensively (no idea offhand if he is a future gold glover or stone glover).
Mike Green - Monday, July 21 2014 @ 09:07 AM EDT (#290087) #
Barreto is most likely not a shortstop.  Challenging him offensively and defensively is a surefire recipe for underperformance.  If the club wants to give him every opportunity to be a shortstop,, it will have to be content with slow progress through the minors.  The time frame could be expedited if they move him to a position which does not challenge the limits of his defensive ability.

Urena or Lugo are more likely to be shortstops in the major leagues.  Tim Raines was in Bluefield last week, and I imagine that he's working with Urena. 

finch - Monday, July 21 2014 @ 09:12 AM EDT (#290088) #
Baretto will most likely be moved up to Lansing before season's end, where he will probably start next season, then move up to Dunedin. in 2016 he will presumably start in AA and potentially be called up half way through that season. I don't think they'll rush the kid. If anything, I think they learned their lesson from rushing Travis Snider. You won't see any prospects rushed, especially positional prospect, to the MLB team.
uglyone - Monday, July 21 2014 @ 11:49 AM EDT (#290091) #
still don't get that great concern, Mike.

Barreto has been "challenged both offensively and defensively" so far, and it hasn't slowed him down even a bit.
bpoz - Monday, July 21 2014 @ 12:08 PM EDT (#290095) #
I disagreed a little bit about promotions because of the various playoff scenarios.
In the Midwest League the 1st half 1st & 2nd place teams qualified for the playoffs. Those 2 teams W Michigan & South Bend are running away with the 2nd half as well. So hopefully they are not allowed to take the 2nd half's 2 playoff spots. The other teams are not very good, Lansing is not the worst of them and has a good shot at a playoff spot even with their sub .500 record. They are tied for 4th place.

So I now have no disagreements about promotions.
Mike Green - Monday, July 21 2014 @ 01:27 PM EDT (#290097) #
Barreto has been "challenged both offensively and defensively" so far, and it hasn't slowed him down even a bit.

So far, it has been his glove that has been weak.  If you push him too fast on both the developmental stage and position front, it's likely that his glove and his bat will suffer.  You know it don't come easy, as the song goes.
JB21 - Monday, July 21 2014 @ 02:35 PM EDT (#290100) #
FYI Mike, Tim Raines was in Vancouver this past week as well, left yesterday.
Mike Green - Monday, July 21 2014 @ 02:41 PM EDT (#290101) #
That fine man has always got around fast. He probably worked with Fields and Barreto, and (just guessing) got a real kick out of Fields in particular.

Smoral and Gracey Dominate | 34 comments | Create New Account
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