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The affiliates were 4-5 on the back of strong pitching down on the farm.

Syracuse 1 BUFFALO 3

Scott Copeland was excellent over six and two-thirds. He allowed a solitary unearned run on five strikeouts, two walks, and six hits. The Bisons collected just three hits and Dalton Pompey was at the heart of what little the AAA affiliate did generate at the plate. He scored twice, hit his way aboard once, and walked once. He also stole a base. Aaron Sanchez pitched a shutout inning in relief.

New Hampshire 3 PORTLAND 4

Ugly bottom half of the ninth doomed the Fisher Cats. The Red Sox affiliate scored all four runs in that fateful inning. No one was probably more disappointed than starter Jeff Hoffman. Hoffman pitched five and a third innings of shutout baseball. He walked two, allowed four hits, and struck out five. At the plate Matt Newman had two hits and Martin Medina hit a homerun.

Dunedin 3 BRADENTON 6

Jairo Labourt did not walk anyone. That’s cause for celebration, no? He pitched well over five innings of work. He struck out seven on eight hits and allowed just one earned run (two in total). J.D. Davis had two hits and Rowdy Tellez homered.

Bowling Green 0 LANSING 5

Chase Mallard pitched seven shutout innings of two-hit baseball. Mallard collected thirteen ground ball outs. D.J. Davis had two hits and a stolen base.

TRI-CITY 6 Vancouver 4

Carl Wise had two hits and two RBIs. Starter Jon Wandling struggled in three innings. He allowed six runs.

Bluefield 1 GREENEVILLE 8

Gabriel Clark had two hits and starter Dalton Rodrigues pitched five innings of one earned run ball.

GCL Phillies 3 GCL BLUE JAYS 6

Cliff Brantley had two hits and Reggie Pruitt had one in the leadoff spot. Pruitt also stole a bag.

GCL BLUE JAYS 8 GCL Phillies 2

Game two and another win. This time Juan Luis and Rodolfo Duran both had two hits. Starter Osman Gutierrez pitched six innings of two-run baseball.

DSL Blue Jays 4 DSL D-BACKS 6

Three Stars

3. Jairo Labourt

2. Scott Copeland

1. Chase Mallard

Box Scores

Pitching > Hitting | 40 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
85bluejay - Friday, July 24 2015 @ 08:14 AM EDT (#305740) #
In his last 39 IP, Hoffman has a 30:7 K:B ratio - when you consider he's coming back from TJ and it's his 1st year of pro. ball, that's very encouraging - hope he doesn't get moved - definite rotation candidate next year, maybe even a Sept. BP guy this year.
PeteMoss - Friday, July 24 2015 @ 09:25 AM EDT (#305742) #
Tellez kind of gets overshadowed by Alford's performance this year - but he is really raking this year at age 20 in high A. 302/350/528/879 OPS. I'm sure I'm missing someone - but seems like the Jays first good slugging prospect the Jays have had since Josh Phelps.

In terms of OPS - Tellez is 2nd in the league and Alford is 3rd behind Harold Ramirez a Columbian OF prospect from the Pirates Org who's also 20.
hypobole - Friday, July 24 2015 @ 09:27 AM EDT (#305743) #
Is Travis Snider someone?
uglyone - Friday, July 24 2015 @ 09:42 AM EDT (#305744) #
surprisingly i could argue that tellez' line is better than what snider was doing.
JB21 - Friday, July 24 2015 @ 09:53 AM EDT (#305746) #
Colombian's don't like when you spell Colombia with a "u", FYI.
Mike Green - Friday, July 24 2015 @ 10:28 AM EDT (#305748) #
...and Dewey is not particularly fond of the "plural apostrophe"!
Mike Green - Friday, July 24 2015 @ 10:35 AM EDT (#305749) #
When the subject of 20 year old power hitters in Dunedin comes up, I immediately think of Carlos Delgado.  He hit 30 homers there in a full season and put up a .324/.402/.579 slash line.  Tellez is obviously not quite there, but Delgado turned out to be a near Hall of Famer. 
uglyone - Friday, July 24 2015 @ 11:02 AM EDT (#305752) #
mike i wonder if those delgado numbers shouldnbe adjusted for run environment?

on another note...Pompey's return to AAA is going pretty well....

Pompey: 33pa, 18.2bb%, 3.0K%, .385babip, ,370avg, .148iso, 1.003ops, 7.9spd, 196wrc+

his career AAA line is looking pretty good for a 21/22yr old again, too...

Pompey: 191pa, 10.5bb%, 16.2k%, 105wrc+
krose - Friday, July 24 2015 @ 11:07 AM EDT (#305753) #
It is perhaps worth noting that in Sanchez's inning he threw 14 pitches of which 6 were strikes.
Mike Green - Friday, July 24 2015 @ 11:08 AM EDT (#305754) #
You definitely want to adjust Delgado's (and Tellez') numbers for age/level and run environment.  At the time, Bill James pointed out the difference between Dunedin and High Desert in naming Delgado the best hitting prospect in the minor leagues at the time (if I recall correctly). 

Since he returned to Buffalo, Pompey not only has been putting up a very fine slash line but has also been really working the pitcher.  It is easy to imagine him as a lead-off hitter. 

finch - Friday, July 24 2015 @ 11:15 AM EDT (#305755) #
When a prospect is rushed to the big show, clearly it takes some time to reverse the damage.

I wonder if AA's past deal w/ the Mets makes him reluctant to make a trade involving a top pitching propect. Syndergaard has been better than expected. I'm still in the belief that whomever takes Matt Boyd and another lesser arm will be our trading partner. Matt Boyd doesn't have the strong arm that AA loves.
jerjapan - Friday, July 24 2015 @ 11:23 AM EDT (#305756) #
When a prospect is rushed to the big show, clearly it takes some time to reverse the damage.

Finch, is there any evidence at all that this meme is true?  Or is this just the discounting principal? 

Pompey may have benefited from being overmatched.  He's talked about not being psychologically ready when he was first demoted, but the experience of failure can be a positive.  It also makes sense that exposure to the best coaching and facilities would help, as would talking to and playing with the best of the best. 

Being 'rushed' certainly hasn't hurt Osuna.
uglyone - Friday, July 24 2015 @ 11:37 AM EDT (#305760) #
osuna and sanchez seem to be unshakeable, even when they've had struggles.

norris and pompey seemed to meltdown a bit when things went bad.

finch - Friday, July 24 2015 @ 11:38 AM EDT (#305761) #
Could it be that Osuna had the mental to handle the promotion and Pompey didn't? Osuna played professionally in Mexico which is a viewed as a high level league. Pompey wasn't ready for the promotion to the Jays. Baseball is a mental grind and Pompey admitted he wasn't ready mentally. The Jays clearly rushed him. Shouldn't the Jays know the mental strength and mental make up of their players? They spend so much money in signing bonuses and player development; there's no excuse in rushing a player not knowing his mental make up.
jerjapan - Friday, July 24 2015 @ 12:08 PM EDT (#305768) #
Finch, I'm a high school teacher and coach and have a good understanding (I hope) of the psychology of my students / athletes, and young people in general.  I consider myself to be a good motivator.  That said, I make mistakes, or witness colleagues doing so, frequently.  Sometimes people react to a challenge well, and other times you will be surprised and disappointed by the response - there are just too many variables to mental health for us to play armchair psychologist. 

And who knows why Pompey struggled?  mechanical adjustments?  the uncertainty of a new team with new teammates and a new city?  I'm sure the Jays do consider the psychology of their players - every sports team does. 

Mike Green - Friday, July 24 2015 @ 12:18 PM EDT (#305771) #
Pompey handled the adjustment well in 2014.  In 2015, the club decided after he went into a slump that he was moping about it and sent him down.  In my view, that judgment was hasty.  Whether or not that is correct, the time in the minors has now carried on much too long given the needs of the team and his performance there.

Colabello in LF against a RHP, even assuming his BABIP is sustainable, is of significantly less value than Pompey performing at his career major league averages because of the enormous difference in their defensive abilities.  And there is every reason to believe that Pompey can do better than he has so far.

uglyone - Friday, July 24 2015 @ 12:20 PM EDT (#305773) #
much to 92-93's chagrin, i mentioned before the season that i had a much better second- or thirdhand impression of the mental makeup of our current crop of kids than previous ones.

they pretty much all seem like geniuinely humble hardworking ultracompetitive kids - stroman, hutch, osuna, sanchez, travis, pompey, norris all seem to fit this mold. None of them seem either too cocky/entitled or too sensitive/insecure.

that's my impression at least.

but even then it seems like some of them - most notably hutch norris Pompey - are a little too easily frustrated out there. these guys get visibly upset at themselves and maybe beat themselves up too much.

of course, that might be just the guys who bave struggled the most....but then again Sanchez gets beat up all the time and still always maintains his composure.

that's probably too much pseudo psychobabble already but in short i can understand both why the team felt good about pushing all these guys and why it didn't work for some.
finch - Friday, July 24 2015 @ 12:22 PM EDT (#305774) #
Jerjapan, all valid points indeed. When a player says he's not mentally ready for the grind, this should set off alarm bells for a MLB team. Why isn't he ready? Why didn't we know this? Is it him? Is it us? etc.

As a franchise, you want to limit these types of experiences for your players. We truly don't know how one reacts with challenge but pushing a kid through 4 levels in 1 season, with a cup of coffee in the bigs, then expecting this kid to be your CF is unrealistic. I think position players need more experience and more seasoning. I said at the beginning of the year, Pompey didn't belong w/ the opening day roster. They should have given him a month + at AAA rather than rushing him. It's great to see that he's back and I hope he does well when he's called up.
85bluejay - Friday, July 24 2015 @ 12:30 PM EDT (#305776) #
I expect Colabello to be moved by July 31st, so that should take care of that defensive nightmare - I fully support the Jays handling of Pompey this year & I trust the team will call him up at the appropriate time - We've all seen the results of the "free Snider" , "free Lawrie" hysteria of the last few years.
whiterasta80 - Friday, July 24 2015 @ 12:45 PM EDT (#305778) #
I think Pompey has been handled quite fine and am becoming more and more confident that the next trip up he will be here to stay.

The issue with the situation is that we never found an adequate replacement and ended up with a suboptimal LF situation. We were very...very lucky that Pillar turned out to be a player this year because otherwise we would be sunk at two positions. In fairness to AA much of the issue can be attributed to Saunders recovering at the rate of a 90 year old widow, but there must have been low cost options out there as a temporary solution.

JB21 - Friday, July 24 2015 @ 03:30 PM EDT (#305781) #
Thx Mike! I need to work on that...
JB21 - Friday, July 24 2015 @ 03:34 PM EDT (#305782) #
Lawrie wasn't rushed at all, and actually missed his original call up because he broke his hand the night before he was scheduled to be called up. As a result he had to spend more time in AAA than he probably needed due to the rehab.
Mike Green - Friday, July 24 2015 @ 03:59 PM EDT (#305784) #
Philippe Aumont was signed and will join Joba Chamberlain in Buffalo.  All Can-con requirements continue to be met...
ogator - Friday, July 24 2015 @ 04:39 PM EDT (#305785) #
I'm in favour of giving Aumont a chance with a minor league contract but that guy has a very serious strike zone problem.
Mike Green - Friday, July 24 2015 @ 04:54 PM EDT (#305786) #
The major league staff has, thankfully, really improved in the control department as the season has moved on.  They have actually allowed fewer walks than league average.
bpoz - Friday, July 24 2015 @ 04:55 PM EDT (#305787) #
D Pompey was drafted in 2010. He did well enough in 2014 to be protected from the rule 5 draft.
The only down side to adding him in Sept 2014 rather than the 2014 off season is that we took the risk of losing the player that he replaced on the 40 man roster.
Unfortunately I have no idea regarding the scope of our loss in this matter.
Mike Green - Friday, July 24 2015 @ 08:27 PM EDT (#305794) #
Matt Boyd is pitching a beauty for the Herd tonight so far- 5 innings, 1 hit, 1 walk, 5Ks.  He has well and truly dominated the high minors this year. 
cruzin - Friday, July 24 2015 @ 09:22 PM EDT (#305795) #
Boyd finishes will a line of 7IP, 2H, 2BB, 7Ks, 104 Pitches and a game score of 78.

With the way he absolutely dominated AA with video game like numbers this year after getting hit hard last year in his initial attempt at AA, he's been something else. I know he's not the glamour prospect with "STUFF" so to speak, but someone who can do control their pitches with an almost 9K/9IP and less than 2BB/9IP is incredibly valuable. I really hope we don't try the "sell high" approach with him.
Mike Green - Friday, July 24 2015 @ 09:56 PM EDT (#305797) #
Buffalo wins 2-1.  Lansing and Bluefield have scored 17 and 18 runs respectively. 
China fan - Friday, July 24 2015 @ 09:58 PM EDT (#305799) #
"....Saunders recovering at the rate of a 90 year old widow...."

That's a little unfair.  It was an unusual and complicated injury and surgery.  Saunders and the medical staff have all found it difficult to assess, and the rehab process has been a lot more complicated than originally thought.  Initial assessments said he was out for the season; those guesses were replaced by more optimistic assessments that were equally speculative.  I think Saunders has been working as hard as he can, but it's an unusual injury and an unusual surgical outcome -- not unprecedented, of course, but difficult to assess.
cruzin - Friday, July 24 2015 @ 11:00 PM EDT (#305805) #
"It was an unusual and complicated injury and surgery."

While I agree everyone's body recovers differently from surgery. Removing part of the meniscus is neither unusual nor complicated surgery when someone injures their knee.
China fan - Saturday, July 25 2015 @ 01:16 AM EDT (#305808) #
I'm not saying it was a rare operation.  But nor was it a routine or predictable thing.  The recovery process can be complicated -- as demonstrated by the recovery times for various players, which are all over the map.
cruzin - Saturday, July 25 2015 @ 11:32 AM EDT (#305811) #
China fan,

In general, all surgeries are not fully predictable as there may be some complications. But as far a knee surgeries go, removing part of the meniscus is about as "routine" as it gets. That's also why the expected recover time is quite short compared to say the ACL surgery that Stroman had.

The unexpected part is the bone bruise that results from Saunders putting weight on the operated knee and subsequent swelling which put him back on the DL. This isn't the norm per se, hence the OP who compared his recovery time to a 90 year old. While I understand you thought that post wasn't fair, it seems apt since Saunders recovery time is quite a bit longer than normal.
Mike Green - Saturday, July 25 2015 @ 09:15 PM EDT (#305837) #
Dalton Pompey had 5 hits today including a triple and a double, and Wolf was very good again.  Interesting times.
China fan - Saturday, July 25 2015 @ 09:53 PM EDT (#305840) #
"....Saunders recovery time is quite a bit longer than normal..."

Given that he was originally expected to be gone for the season, how do we know what "normal" is in this kind of injury?

And the crack about a "90-year-old" is obviously ridiculous and insulting. 
Mike Green - Saturday, July 25 2015 @ 10:01 PM EDT (#305841) #
I think the suggestion is not that Saunders did anything wrong.  Rather it is that he was brought back a little too early and as a result suffered a bone bruise and has ended up with a very long healing time from relatively uncomplicated knee surgery.  Saunders was unquestionably very eager to get back.
China fan - Saturday, July 25 2015 @ 10:13 PM EDT (#305842) #
All we know is that Saunders' bone bruise has not healed as fast as the Jays had hoped.  Nobody has established that this was caused by him being "rushed back too early."  Here's the latest and most detailed report on Saunders (by Arden Zwelling today), and nobody in this report is suggesting that his problems were caused by him being brought back too early:  http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/blue-jays-saunders-my-seasons-not-over-yet/

It's equally plausible that the bone bruise would have taken this long to heal anyway, whether he had played in late April or not.  The first month of resting, in June, didn't help much.  Playing or not playing, it's taken a huge amount of time to heal.

By the way, to correct my earlier comment about the February prognosis: the Jays originally didn't say that he would be gone for the season, they just guesstimated that he would be gone until the second half of the season.  Then he came back in late April.  And now they're saying September.  My point is simply that the estimates have been all over the map, because there's no guaranteed timetable for these kinds of injuries.
cruzin - Sunday, July 26 2015 @ 01:32 AM EDT (#305854) #
China fan,

You're absolutely there are no guaranteed timetables for any type of injuries and their recovery time. The timetables usually given are the typical average one and you'll get extremes on either side of the curve.

But let's clarify something you mentioned about the estimates being all over the map:

1st estimate - Initial prognosis of 2nd half return was based on repairing the meniscus. Since repairing essentially stitching back the tear in the meniscus and then letting the body heal. This requires a longer recovery period vs just removing the damaged part(s).

2nd estimate - Late April estimate was result of going into the surgery and realizing a repair was not possible since the damaged part was beyond fixing so they removed it and cleaned up the area. This is less invasive and doesn't require the tear/damaged meniscus to heal.
Side note: Saunders had apparently decided to remove instead of repair the meniscus the day of or before the surgery, but when the surgeons went in, repair wasn't even an option.

3rd estimate - Has been an absolute moving target as this is where the unexpected part of the complication with the bone bruise shows up. No one was expecting a bone bruise would happen, as most don't experience complication.

Therefore, initial estimates were in line with a meniscus being either repaired or simply removed. The unexpected and highly variable part is simply the bone bruise that was not foreseen.
China fan - Sunday, July 26 2015 @ 01:37 AM EDT (#305855) #
Thanks, cruzin.  Those are good points, and informative to the discussion.
hypobole - Sunday, July 26 2015 @ 09:24 PM EDT (#305955) #
Jake Anderson sighting in Bluefield. Went 1-4 with a double as DH.
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The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.