Batter's Box Interactive Magazine

Now that everyone has had a chance to recover from the minor league season, the news flow is starting again. This week the Jays announced their award winners and Baseball America have started publishing their League their top 20's.

The Webster Awards will be presented at tomorrows game. The winners are:

AAA - Kevin Pillar

AA - Jon Berti

High A - Dwight Smith Jr

A - Mitch Nay

SS A - Franklin Barreto

Rookie+ - Richard Urena

Rookie - Juan Kelly

DSL - Enmanuel Morreta

Some of these players will be on TV and on the radio tomorrow.

Baseball America has started publishing their league top 20's, starting at the lower levels.

GCL - Sean Reid-Foley #8

For SRF the scouting reports a FB sitting 92-95, an above-average slider and a developing change-up. Many scouts wonder about his arm action, whether it is a future injury waiting to happen.

In his chat Ben Badler said he liked lane Thomas, called him an explosive athlete. He also still likes Yeltsin Gudino and Freddy Rodrigues, both very young, even though they didn't have great statistical years.

Appy League - Richard Urena #3; Matt Smoral #7; Ryan Borucki #12; Dan Jansen #16.

In his chat Clint Longenecker says he likes Jesus Tinoco even though he didn't make the list. He reminds scouts of Henderson Alvarez. His FB has a lot of sink, and he adds a change and a curve. Tinoco has problems repeating his delivery at the moment.

Also Josh Almonte is noted as having good tools but Longenecker points out Almonte's high BABIP as a reason for downplaying his 300 BA.

Rowdy Tellez was under consideration for the list but scouts needed to see more power.

Northwest League - Franklin Barreto #1; Jairo Labourt #3; Miguel Castro #4; Max Pentecost #8; Roemen Fields #20.

Two interesting things for me. One, Labourt is rated ahead of Castro. And 2, Fields made the list. Fields production tailed off in August and it looked like the league was catching up with him. But given that it was his first professional season he might have tired. A Lansing outfield of Fields, Alford and DJ Davis would be fun to watch.

John Manuel handled the chat. Ryan McBroom didn't make it, he needs to shorten his swing and he is following LB Dantzler who was comparable to McBroom last year but scuffled this year.

Barreto might stay at short, some managers knocked his ability to make the routine play but he has infield actions and should be able to stay in the infield.

Alberto Tirado suffered from a lack of command and not showing his secondary pitches. He did mention Tirado's lively arm but commented on his smaller stature and lack of command.

He was asked about Labourt ranking ahead of Castro. The answer was they were very close but Labourt is a lefty and was able to dominate with just his fastball.

Midwest League - The Jays were shutout

In the chat JJ Cooper said that some scouts still like DJ Davis but they felt his development path would be long and slow. Some scouts thought is would take 3-5 years for Davis to put it together.

Florida State League - Daniel Norris #3; Dalton Pompey #5; Dwight Smith #19

Most of the comments under the reviews were known already. Of note was the comment that some scouts gave Pompey an 80 grade in centrefield. Smith's speed was questioned meaning he could end up in left field and will his bat be good enough for left?

John Manuel in the chat: (Cole's) 90-92 with athleticism and a plus changeup. He needs to trust his fastball and breaking ball more consistently. Boyd is more deceptive from an unusual delivery, though he has four pitches he throws for strikes. I didn't get any plusses on Boyd. Graveman, we've chronicled fairly well of late, but he's a 90-92 mph sinker-slider guy who took off as he threw more fastballs, commanded the pitch well and gave hitters a different look with the cutter. I like all three and would rank them Cole, Graveman, Boyd.

Eastern League - Aaron Sanchez #5

There were no Jays questions in the chat

International League - Jays were shut out

Posted by Gerry on Friday, September 26 2014 @ 04:13 PM EDT.

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

Mike Green - Friday, September 26 2014 @ 04:56 PM EDT (#294016) #

Lane Thomas just turned 19. I like the sound of an explosive athlete who plays centerfield and has a broad range of skills.

Gerry - Friday, September 26 2014 @ 05:10 PM EDT (#294019) #

Chad, the Jays have been trying Thomas at third base as well as having him play CF. There was a response in the chat that said "Thomas is not a burner" so he might not end up in centre. Thus the look to see if he can play third.

Mike Green - Friday, September 26 2014 @ 05:17 PM EDT (#294020) #

Thanks, Gerry. I have a strong suspicion that he'll end up in right field. There may be an opening there by 2018 or 2019!

ayjackson - Friday, September 26 2014 @ 08:13 PM EDT (#294027) #

Dickey throw-in Wuilmer Becerra coming in at #18 on the Appy list as well with some nice numbers.

bpoz - Saturday, September 27 2014 @ 09:20 AM EDT (#294038) #

Every year I think Lansing is going to have a great team. I have not changed my mind. I see 2015 as being a very good year. Lots of young talent at first glance.

ramone - Tuesday, September 30 2014 @ 03:57 PM EDT (#294153) #

According to this link, Alford is leaving football to play baseball full time:

http://olemiss.247sports.com/Article/Ole-Miss-safety-Anthony-Alford-leaves-team-for-baseball-career-31620776

Gerry - Tuesday, September 30 2014 @ 04:46 PM EDT (#294157) #

Alfords decision is a good one for the Jays.

In case you don't know the full story Alford thought of himself as a two sport star, a la Bo Jackson. It also seemed that football was number one on his list.

This summer AA went to Lansing to see Alford play and offered him a lot of money to play baseball full time. As an aside, Alford had an oh-fer in that game with several K's. Alford turned him down and shortly thereafter left Lansing to get married and get ready for football season.

This season Alford has been a backup on the college football team, Ole Miss, at two positions, safety and punt returner. It probably sunk in with Alford that he wasn't going to get regular playing time and therefore unlikely to be NFL calibre. If he was going to get paid, baseball was the road to follow.

The timing is excellent for the Jays and Alford. Alford turned 20 in July and next year he will play the season at age 20 and 21. That is the key development age for a hitter and now Alford will be a full time player at that age. Alford is 18 months younger than Dalton Pompey and it was at age 21 that Pompey took his great leap forward.

Mike Green - Tuesday, September 30 2014 @ 05:08 PM EDT (#294158) #

Here's a nice brief summary of Branch Rickey's career from Tracy Ringolsby. I did not know that Allan Roth, baseball's first statistician, was hired in 1947; I thought that it was in the 1950s. Sabermetrics did indeed precede Rickey and Roth. George Lindsey was working on it back in the teens. Both he and Roth were Canadians....

Gerry - Wednesday, October 01 2014 @ 12:03 PM EDT (#294206) #

I added the Northwest League prospects above.

ramone - Wednesday, October 01 2014 @ 02:02 PM EDT (#294217) #

Probably posted this under in the wrong spot, here it is again.

Looks like Alford will be playing in the ABL as per John Lott:

http://sports.nationalpost.com/2014/10/01/toronto-blue-jays-prospect-anthony-alford-gives-up-football-will-start-immediately-to-catch-up-on-baseball/

Gerry - Wednesday, October 01 2014 @ 05:10 PM EDT (#294224) #

NWL chat comments added.

Doom Service - Saturday, October 04 2014 @ 08:50 PM EDT (#294301) #

Shut out in the Midwest League. No Lugnuts.

Haven't seen this anywhere else, but Blue Jays pitchers headed to Arizona Fall League appear to be: Blake McFarland, Sean Nolin, Roberto Osuna and Arik Sikula. Position players Ochinko, Berti, Pompey and Smith were announced weeks ago.

Apologies if that's been posted elsewhere.

Maldoff - Sunday, October 05 2014 @ 05:51 PM EDT (#294306) #

Wow, that's very surprising that Mitch Nay, nor Dawel Lugo or Matt Dean. for that matter, made the Midwest list

Gerry - Sunday, October 05 2014 @ 08:12 PM EDT (#294310) #

I added one chat answer about DJ Davis to the story above.

Gerry - Monday, October 06 2014 @ 10:53 AM EDT (#294323) #

Three FSL top 20's for the Jays, details added above.

Mike Green - Monday, October 06 2014 @ 11:09 AM EDT (#294324) #

Dalton Pompey the #5 prospect in the FSL? Sure. He's never going to hit 40 homers.

Sometimes I just shake my head and wonder what they are thinking. Your eyes tell you that this is a player who is dominating high A ball at age 21 (and kinda did OK when he was promoted afterwards!). The statistics tell you that this is a player who is dominating high A ball at age 21 and is pretty clearly the best player in the league.

ogator - Monday, October 06 2014 @ 12:29 PM EDT (#294325) #

The Arizona Fall League opens tomorrow.

Ryan Day - Monday, October 06 2014 @ 02:30 PM EDT (#294327) #

Pompey needs to overcome his low draft ranking. BA can be aristocratic in that respect.

On the other hand, even if you doubt his improved performance, Pompey has crazy tools: Speed, defence, contact, patience... he won't hit 40 homers, but I could see him hitting 20. Usually BA falls hard for that sort of package.

Mike Green - Monday, October 06 2014 @ 03:23 PM EDT (#294329) #

Pompey needs to overcome his low draft ranking. BA can be aristocratic in that respect.

Concur. After Pujols' great minor league season in 2000, he was the #42 prospect in baseball according to BA. He had been a 13th round draft pick.

It's pretty ridiculous. All that low draft order means (in Pompey's case) is that when he was 17 in June, 2010, scouts thought that it was unlikely that he would succeed. If you hold impressions of what a 17 year old might turn into at age 21 against them when they are 21, you obviously have not thought much about the unpredictability of development.

Mike Green - Monday, October 06 2014 @ 05:20 PM EDT (#294334) #

Here's a fine article from the Hardball Times on short pitchers. The points mirror the ones made here when we were discussing Marcus Stroman's future four months or so ago, but it is nice to see the data.

Gerry - Monday, October 06 2014 @ 09:58 PM EDT (#294337) #

The Blue Jays have released 1B Kevin Patterson and OF Jonathan Jones.

bpoz - Tuesday, October 07 2014 @ 09:47 AM EDT (#294338) #

I calculated that the Jays will get the 17th pick in next year's draft.

ogator - Tuesday, October 07 2014 @ 04:31 PM EDT (#294358) #

Daniel Norris had elbow surgery? Rotoworld says it was to remove a bone spur and some lose bodies. Rotoworld reports the news as ho hum. Maybe I'm misinformed but elbow surgery for any reason on a 21 year old pitcher seems significant.

James W - Tuesday, October 07 2014 @ 05:49 PM EDT (#294361) #

For now, the Jays will draft 18th, because Houston gets the #2 pick as compensation for failing to sign Brady Aiken.

Mike Green - Friday, October 10 2014 @ 11:57 AM EDT (#294390) #

I had a look at the top 5 prospects in the FSL and I realize that my BA criticism was overdone. They have it: Glasnow, Crawford, Norris, Schwarber and Pompey. That's a helluva top 5 for an A+ league. The Carolina League top prospects, for instance begin with Gallo and follow up with prospects who are (in my opinion) clearly lesser prospects than any of the top 5 in the FSL.

I hadn't paid sufficient attention to Glasnow. He's 6'7', 200 who turned 21 in August. He's been dominating but with poor control until this year. He made significant improvements in his control with a much lower walk and wild pitch rate. He threw 124 innings this year. Still, by all accounts, he has an excellent fastball and a curve and a change that are works-in-progress. I'd have Pompey over him easily. Schwarber is (I am pretty sure) going to be a big bat in MLB, but is unlikely to add as much value overall as Pompey. Crawford is a different animal altogether. He seems to have all the skills and he is two years younger than Pompey. Terrific prospect- he probably won't make top 10 lists but he ought to. He looks to me to be between Correa and Lindor in a great young shortstop time.

Gerry - Friday, October 10 2014 @ 12:37 PM EDT (#294393) #

The Jays have released a lot of players:

Released: RHP Brett Barber, RHP Hunter Carnevale, RHP Kramer Champlin, RHP Francisco Diaz, RHP Jesse Hernandez, RHP Adaric Kelly, RHP Joey Lovecchio, RHP Kamakani Usui, LHP Brent Powers, C Aaron Munoz, 2B Angel Rojas, SS Peter Mooney, OF Nick Baligod, OF Nathan DeSouza, OF Brenden Kalfus

None of these players were on top 30 lists and some were signed as minor league free agents. Jesse Hernandez has been a long time pitcher for the Jays as has Kramer Champlin. Peter Mooney has played at AA but is a Jon Diaz type player. Nathan DeSouza is a local product who had mixed results over the last few years.

Gerry - Wednesday, October 15 2014 @ 10:39 AM EDT (#294445) #

Aaron Sanchez was the only Jay to make the EL top 20. There were no Jays in the IL top 20. Lists above have been updated.

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