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Minor League Update Thundering Herd Now 4-0
The affiliates went 1-3 on Monday with the lone win coming from the Buffalo Bisons.

A couple of housekeeping items before I delve into the highlights of Monday's action. First, I would like to announce my personal blog has been revamped with a new name. It's called CsPlusBaseball.com as it will be about all the Vancouver Canadians. Having been in BC for five of the six seasons the C's have been affiliated with the Blue Jays, I got a lot of photos in the vault. Slowly but surely, I'm breaking them out to look at past games and players who have worn the C's uniform. New name but same low price. I hope you can check it out when you have nothing else better to do.

Secondly, I was asked to contribute to Jay Blue's 2017 Toronto Blue Jays Minor League Handbook by sharing my thoughts on the C's 2016 season. Don't let that deter you from ordering a copy! Gerry put Da Box on the handbook map by contributing in previous editions. It's loaded with lots of information about every Blue Jays prospect in the minor league system and its minor league affiliates so it's a very handy reference tool. It's worth checking out.

Okay, on to the games...

Buffalo Bisons

A quartet of players from the 2012 Vancouver Canadians have made a quick impact with the bats. Third baseman Jason Leblebijian is hitting .600 after clubbing his second home run of the season Monday. Outfielders Ian Parmley and Dwight Smith Jr. are hitting .571 and .462 batting average with three runs batted in while Christian Lopes belted a walk-off homer Sunday in the first game of a doubleheader against Scranton/Wilkes Barre and is batting .273. 2012 C's Reliever Wil Browning got the victory Sunday. Rowdy Tellez - a 2014 Vancouver Canadian - homered twice on Saturday.

New Hampshire Fisher Cats

Anthony Alford is scorching hot with the stick as he reached base five times in Monday's loss to Reading. He is 9-for-12 with all nine hits being singles and has one stolen base so far. Ryan McBroom had a three-hit night and is now hitting .308.

Jon Harris' Double-A debut was one to forget as he gave up three home runs, resulting in five of the six runs he gave up over four innings in a loss to Reading. Some thought Harris' promotion to Double-A was an aggressive one for the 2015 first-round pick after he split last year between Lansing and Dunedin. Another 2012 Vancouver Canadian, Carlos Ramirez struck out four over three scoreless innings. Ramirez - who began his tenure in the minors as an strong-armed outfielder - is trying to put it all together as a right-handed pitcher. The native of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic compiled a 3-0 record, a 2.20 ERA and nine saves with 41 K's over 41 innings with Dunedin in 2016.

Dunedin Blue Jays

Like Harris, Conor Fisk had a tough time keeping the ball in the yard as he gave up two homers in 5-2/3 innings, resulting in three runs as the D-Jays lost to the Florida Fire Frogs Monday. His peripherals were good as he struck out seven without walking anyone and he recorded five ground ball outs. Fisk was a 10-game winner with Dunedin last season and hopes to make the jump to Double-A later this year despite a fastball that only touches 90 MPH on a good day.

Lansing Lugnuts

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was only 1-for-4 as the Lugnuts lost Monday to Bowling Green for their first loss of the season but he's still hitting .375. Guerrero's Bluefield teammate from last year, Bradley Jones, is off to a good start with the Lugnuts with a triple, a home run and four runs batted in to give him a .368 batting average. Jones clubbed 16 home runs with the Bluef-Jays in 2016.

Monday's Linescores

*** 3 Stars!!! ***


3. Ryan McBroom, New Hampshire


2. Anthony Alford, New Hampshire


1. Jason Leblebijian, Buffalo

Images from MiLB.com.


Tuesday's Schedule

Rochester @ Buffalo, 1:05 pm ET - Brett Oberholtzer
Reading @ New Hampshire, 6:05 pm ET - Shane Dawson
Dunedin @ Florida, 6:35 pm ET - Ryan Borucki (0-1, 3.60)
Lansing @ Bowling Green, 7:35 pm ET - Andy Ravel

Extra Innings
  • The Buffalo News looks at Casey Lawrence's turnaround with the Bisons.
  • The New Hampshire Union Leader says Ryan McBroom celebrated his 25th birthday in style.
  • WKAR-TV looks at the new uniforms of the Lansing Lugnuts and The Lansing State Journal looks at their new caps.
  • The Lansing State Journal has a story on Justin Maese.
  • The Register Herald in Beckley, West Virginia looks at the Mercer Cup rivalry between the Bluefield Blue Jays and the Princeton Rays.
  • CanadiansBaseball.com has a feature on Tom Robson and an early preview of the 2017 MLB Draft.
Posted by #2JBrumfield on Tuesday, April 11 2017 @ 12:22 AM EDT.
Thundering Herd Now 4-0 | 10 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
dan gordon - Tuesday, April 11 2017 @ 01:59 AM EDT (#340503) #
Leblebijian is an interesting player. Sure he's a bit old for a guy just hitting AAA for the 1st time, but he is really improving quickly. His HR totals the last 4 years: 2,5,9,13, and now he has 2 in his 1st 10 AB's this year. Two years ago, he was in Lansing. Not sure how his overall defense is rated, but he's playing SS and 3B in Buffalo, and his career range factor as a SS in the minors is almost as good as Goins', 4.25 vs 4.30. He's starting to look like a guy who's going to make it to the majors, at least as a backup. A couple of years ago, I'd have said no way. I'm rooting for him, I like "against the odds" guys like that.
[ Reply to This ]
Gerry - Tuesday, April 11 2017 @ 09:10 AM EDT (#340506) #
I see Tom Robson is in the bullpen now. Seeing how he has had TJ surgery its not a bad move. He does throw hard and he should be an interesting follow this year.
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jerjapan - Tuesday, April 11 2017 @ 11:07 AM EDT (#340511) #
I'm with you on Leblebijian Dan. I've read nothing but high praise from his various minor league managers. he's been on my radar since winning team MVP in Australia two seasons back. Versatile, character player, improving bat, solid D, and a longshot to make it - that's the kind of minor leaguer I like to pull for.

Nigel recently splashed some cold water on his D at SS though, after seeing him play in person a few times. If I recall correctly, he was concerned that Leb was too large and immobile for SS, (although he's about the same size as Tulo).

I'm also glad to see Robson in the pen.
[ Reply to This ]
Mike Green - Tuesday, April 11 2017 @ 11:28 AM EDT (#340513) #
Alford's PAs so far this season: 3 ground-ball singles to the outfield, two infield hits, three line drive singles, one fly ball single, one line out, two strikeouts, and four walks.  With Alford's speed, he can be a good hitter with 50% of his balls in play being on the ground especially if it leads to a reduction in his K rate. 

I wonder if he is consciously trying to do this. 

[ Reply to This ]
lexomatic - Tuesday, April 11 2017 @ 12:43 PM EDT (#340517) #


I wonder if he [Alford] is consciously trying to do this. 

I actually hope not. The scouts suggest he has a fair bit of untapped power potential, and to give that up to be a slap hitter would be a waste. Now, if it's something out of the Gose playbook - work on this specific thing for a bit and try to hit these kinds of pitches or pitches in this location for groundballs until we tell you otherwise- I'd be OK with. I'd say that if he doesn't develop much more, his speed gives a groundball approach as a fallback. That shouldn't be a goal if more is possible.

I have no idea about game circumstances and if more was possible, but  9 times on 1b and only 1 SB? I'd really love for him to have extra Raines time for baserunning training.Heck, I'd love for him to have Devo training on fielding if possible. I'm not sure how much of White's defense is teachable, but if any is, I'd do that for sure.

That said, there's lots to be encouraged about this stretch. If he can continue to walk and cut down on strikeouts and just continue to get experience and stay healthy, it promises SO MUCH. I'd be looking for 270/350/400+ 10 +HR and 25+ SBs 60/120 BB/K in close to 500 PAs as solid while jumping a level. Hopefully he can do better, too, though Eastern League is tough.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/top-17-prospects-toronto-blue-jays/

[ Reply to This ]
uglyone - Tuesday, April 11 2017 @ 01:34 PM EDT (#340522) #
I'd like to see him do everything possible to cut down the strikeouts, even if it means shortening his swing. I think he has enough raw power that it will show itself eventually, even if his swing plane means that he won't be a huge HR hitter.
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Mike Green - Tuesday, April 11 2017 @ 01:55 PM EDT (#340525) #
Hitting a lot of ground balls and line drives is not necessarily the same thing as being a "slap hitter".  Derek Jeter had almost 60% of his batted balls on the ground, but hit the ball pretty hard. 

It's early days for Alford, but I'll be watching his ground/air rate as well as his K rate- and his IsoP- this year. 

[ Reply to This ]
Mike Green - Tuesday, April 11 2017 @ 03:12 PM EDT (#340527) #
If Gameday is accurate, Rowdy Tellez is chasing ptiches up today.  Maybe a little over-excited still after the Opening Day dramatics.
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dan gordon - Tuesday, April 11 2017 @ 03:59 PM EDT (#340529) #
Buffalo having a tough time against the Red Wings today, just 2 hits, singles by Parmley and Leblebijian, after 8 innings. Tellez will get one more shot in the 9th. On the positive side, Oberholtzer had a good start, 4 shutout innings and 7 K's.
[ Reply to This ]
ramone - Tuesday, April 11 2017 @ 06:29 PM EDT (#340537) #
Mike, I watched the first half of the game on MiLB.tv, and tweeted this out as well, but they were pitching Rowdy almost exclusively with high fastballs in and away. Rowdy looked to be struggling with them as well, to my untrained eye at least.
[ Reply to This ]
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