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Minor League Update Borucki Bounces Back
Ryan Borucki picked up ten strikeouts, didn't allow an earned run, but took the loss. TJ House had a good start, supported by Rowdy Tellez, and Buffalo won. Both Borucki and House were bouncing back from bad starts. New Hampshire and Lansing were both rained out. Vancouver start their season on Thursday.

Buffalo

TJ House gave up six runs in his last start and pitched six shutout innings the start before that. Well the roller coaster continued its run on Wednesday. House pitched six shutout innings, five hits, one walk and five strikeouts. House is till looking for the consistency that would put him in line for a call-up.

Christian Lopes and Steve Pearce were in the middle of the runs. Lopes was 3-3 and scored the first run and in the sixth his second single movedShane Opitz into scoring position. Lopes is having a good June, can he keep it up? Pearce was 1-3, his single scored Opitz with the fourth run. He was also hit by a pitch and scored in the three run third inning. Rowdy Tellez singled off the wall to score two runs in the third. It was his only hit in four tries.


New Hampshire

The Fisher Cats were rained out. They will play a doubleheader tomorrow with Conner Greene and Francisco Rios starting.


Dunedin

Dunedin lost a 1-0 game with each team having just four hits. With runners on second and third in the fifth inning, and with one out, Bradley Jones at third base made an error that let the only run of the game score. That caused Ryan Borucki to take the loss. Borucki had given up seven runs in his last start so this was a nice bounce back start. Borucki went seven innings and gave up all four hits. He walked one and had ten strikeouts. He now has 76 K's in 62 innings. Dan Young pitched a clean eighth. He is putting together a nice season, a WHIP of 1.1 and a 2.22 ERA.

The hits for the Jays were few, just four. In addition to his error Jones was 0-4. Five years ago DJ Davis was a number one pick. Now he has a .566 OPS in A ball and is striking out around 30% of the time. His time might be coming to an end. Cavan Biggio was a fifth round pick last year. He is doing OK as a 22 year old in Dunedin this year but there are no signs of growth yet in his numbers.


Lansing

Lansing were rained out. They will play a doubleheader tomorrow. Lansing have five games left in the first half of their season, they are 2.5 games out of a playoff spot. They need to run the table on the five remaining games to have a chance.



Three Stars

Third Star - Christian Lopes

Second Star - TJ House

First Star - Ryan Borucki


Boxes

Posted by Gerry on Wednesday, June 14 2017 @ 09:54 PM EDT.
Borucki Bounces Back | 26 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
85bluejay - Thursday, June 15 2017 @ 04:39 AM EDT (#343607) #
what's the deal with Roemon Fields and the temporary inactive status - is it innocuous (fatherhood/death in family) or more ominous.I am really interested to see how he performs after the hot streak.
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jerjapan - Thursday, June 15 2017 @ 11:04 AM EDT (#343620) #
Bonus baby Hector Guerrero has 15 singles in 30 ABs, with nary an extra base hit, and a mere 1K. 4 for 7 in steals may indicate a raw athlete. At 19 years old in the DSL, 20 in September, he may be promoted quickly.

Danny Young, a 2015 8th rounder, might be a reliever of interest. He's been effective in the Dunedin pen this year and while not overpowering, he does generate ground balls. I like the approach of drafting guys who are exclusively relievers at this range in the draft.
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#2JBrumfield - Thursday, June 15 2017 @ 11:11 AM EDT (#343621) #
It's Opening Night for Vancouver as they begin a five-game series with the defending Northwest League champion Eugene Emeralds. Here's a story on the longest-serving Canadian from the Canadians in 2016.
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#2JBrumfield - Thursday, June 15 2017 @ 11:35 AM EDT (#343624) #
Juan Nunez, Dalton Rodriguez, Kyle Weatherly, WIlfri Aleton and Dany JImenez are listed as the C's probable starters in Eugene.
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hypobole - Thursday, June 15 2017 @ 12:49 PM EDT (#343632) #
One DSL pitcher who's caught my eye is 18 yr old (though 19 in 3 months) 6' 5" RH Joi Concepcion. 3 GS, 12 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 12 K.

My DSL hitter is 5' 9" infielder Kenny Mauricio. 17 yrs 3 mo old, hitting 9 for 24, 2BB/4K, 4 doubles. Hasn't committed a error yet.

Anyone know anything on either of these 2?
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jerjapan - Thursday, June 15 2017 @ 05:34 PM EDT (#343650) #
Hypobole, Jay Blue's 2017 minor league handbook is a good source for a lot of deep minor leaguers (Blue Jays from Away blog), but these guys are too deep - he reports that Mauricio got a 110K bonus, which indicates some upside.  No bonus reported for Concepcion, so he's a lower profile guy.   
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Marc Hulet - Thursday, June 15 2017 @ 05:59 PM EDT (#343654) #
I'm fairly certain you'll see Guerrero come stateside within a month. His approach at the plate is too advanced for the DSL.

Watch out for Naswell Paulino... he's also been overpowering so far and can hit 90 mph as a lefty... lots more velo to come and he was an amateur outfielder before the Jays converted him to the mound... he's made huge strides in a short period of time.

Concepcion is promising: 88-92 already with a potentially plus CB. Good control for his age.

Mauricio: he's a prospect... Good hitting approach but average speed and power so probably a 2B long term.
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mendocino - Thursday, June 15 2017 @ 06:16 PM EDT (#343657) #
Just to add Concepcion signed for $150,000
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hypobole - Thursday, June 15 2017 @ 07:01 PM EDT (#343658) #
Thanks, everyone.
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Mike Green - Thursday, June 15 2017 @ 07:11 PM EDT (#343660) #
Bichette is 2-2 with a double tonight. Ho hum.
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SK in NJ - Thursday, June 15 2017 @ 08:40 PM EDT (#343665) #
Bichette is now 4-4 with HR, double, and SB.

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GabrielSyme - Thursday, June 15 2017 @ 08:45 PM EDT (#343667) #
What would a hitter have to do to skip hi-A? Can't recall anyone being skipped over a full-season league in the middle of a season. Bichette is making me wonder.
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Mike Green - Thursday, June 15 2017 @ 08:56 PM EDT (#343669) #
I wonder what the best offensive season by a player under 20 is in Midwest League history.  At 18, Alex Rodriguez had 278 at-bats in the Midwest League and hit .319/.379/.605 (which is quite a distance from what Bichette is doing) with a 24/44 W/K- very comparable to what Bichette has done so far.  He was promoted to double A in mid-season and then to triple A and then got a cup of coffee with Seattle in September.  He laid waste to the PCL the following year and was off and running.  Of course, Rodriguez was the 1st overall draft pick, was a fine defensive shortstop and was a year younger, but still...
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greenfrog - Thursday, June 15 2017 @ 09:26 PM EDT (#343670) #
Bichette is 1/1 so far in game 2. Now hitting .396.
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John Northey - Thursday, June 15 2017 @ 10:36 PM EDT (#343673) #
You know Bichette is impressive when you can compare him to A-Rod and not look silly. Lets hope he keeps it up.

I really hope the Jays push Bo and Vlad this year and move them up to A+ or even AA for July/August. Might as well see what you have in those two. If they can eat up AA then they are ready for the majors, if they can eat up A+ then they could be ready mid-2018. If they have troubles then they can learn from that and be reminded they are not Supermen.
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dan gordon - Friday, June 16 2017 @ 12:00 AM EDT (#343676) #
Bichette ended up the day 7 for 8 with 2 doubles, a HR and a SB. Now hitting .400 on the nose. I can understand being conservative with minor league promotions for very young players, but he clearly does not belong in Lansing any longer. I'd be disappointed if he isn't moved up right after the all-star game next week. The only blemish I can see is the 10 errors at SS in 39 games, but that's splitting hairs. I'm sure there are some difficult infields in the Midwest League. The analyst on McCown's show today said Bichette looked fine at SS.
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Shoeless Joe - Friday, June 16 2017 @ 12:24 AM EDT (#343679) #
I've tried not to get too excited about Bichette, but now after 50 games into a season every number you look at is insane. He has a 31.3% line drive rate! Mike Trout as a 19 year old put up a line drive rate of almost half that at 16.1% with a comparable strikeout rate. This guy hits the ball hard, and please god promote him to at least Dunedin soon.
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85bluejay - Friday, June 16 2017 @ 04:44 AM EDT (#343683) #
When Bo Bichette got off to hot start in short season ball last year, I was skeptical (same with Cavan Biggio) mainly because his brother Dante had done the same with the yankees only to fizzle just as quickly and because I think bloodlines offered him better preparation for pro ball - but this year's performance has been impressive and encouraging and while I think he deserves a promotion, I'm ok with whatever the player development department decides - so far I've had no quibbles with their decision making.
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85bluejay - Friday, June 16 2017 @ 05:04 AM EDT (#343684) #
A poster had earlier mentioned that the Vancouver Canadians roster was weak & unimpressive - I looked at the opening day lineup and beg to differ - I thinks it's one of the most encouraging Canadians lineup in terms of players I think can become interesting prospects. Canadians opening day starter Juan Nunez missed all of 2016 - does anyone know details of the likely injury - was it TJ?
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lexomatic - Friday, June 16 2017 @ 08:17 AM EDT (#343688) #
Is anyone concerned about Vlad Jr having an under 30 fb %? If this is going to be what his batted ball distribution is going to be like going forward- hard to tell, different from last year, first full season, age, etc - then he might not hit for much home run power. Lotta pop-ups, too.
I only noticed because I was looking at Bichette's numbers too.

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Mike Green - Friday, June 16 2017 @ 09:20 AM EDT (#343694) #
I went looking for a discouraging comparison for Bichette in the Midwest League.  It was hard, but I found one (sort of).  Jimmy McMath had a so-so year at age 17 in the Pioneer League and then made it to the Midwest League at age 18 in 1968.  He went .388/.460/.597 in 224 PAs with a positive W/K, was promoted to double A where he was so-so and got a September cup of coffee with the Cubs (14 PAs).  That was the extent of his major league career.  

Ian Kinsler traveled through the Midwest League at age 22 and hit .402/.465/..692 in 255 PAs (30 doubles and 11 home runs). He was promoted to the Texas League in mid-season and succeeded there.  He made it to the majors at age 24.  I guess that's the way to look at it.  Bichette looks to be about the same hitter at age 19 as Kinsler was at 22.

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China fan - Friday, June 16 2017 @ 09:33 AM EDT (#343696) #
Valdez struck out 10 over seven innings for Buffalo last night. He has definitely leaped to the front of the "next starter to be promoted" sweepstakes, although the Jays probably won't need one now, since they have Sanchez coming back soon and Biagini pitching well. Still, it's good to know that Bolsinger won't be needed next time.
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hypobole - Friday, June 16 2017 @ 09:56 AM EDT (#343698) #
Bolsinger and his 5.61 ERA over 5 starts was pretty bad.

And then there's the Orioles who are rocketing down the standings.

Gausman 14 GS - 6.49 ERA
Asher 6 GS - 6.98 ERA
Jimenez 8 GS - 7.71 ERA
Tillman 8 GS - 8.07 ERA
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hypobole - Friday, June 16 2017 @ 11:43 AM EDT (#343701) #
Not a Jays Journal fan, but posting this especially for the Bo Bichette spray chart that's totally awesome.

https://jaysjournal.com/2017/06/16/blue-jays-bichette-may-teams-top-prospect/
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bpoz - Friday, June 16 2017 @ 12:01 PM EDT (#343702) #
Every minor league team won last night.
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John Northey - Friday, June 16 2017 @ 12:41 PM EDT (#343703) #
For starting pitching AL East... runs per 9 IP allowed
NYY: 4.05
BOS: 4.24
TOR: 4.45
TBR: 4.49
BAL: 5.15

So a bigger spread from Tampa to Baltimore than from NYY to Tampa.

For the Jays the team with Lawrence, Bolsinger, Latos: 3 wins vs 7 losses
Biagini: 3-4
Estada/Happ/Sanchez/Liriano/Stroman: 26-22

So a bit of a spread but not as big a cost as I expected from the subs. 26-22 for the big 5, 6-11 for the scrubs. Happ & Estrada are a combined 4 games under 500 so they haven't been big helps this year. Seems odd given how well Estrada has pitched at times (beautiful 10.2-2.2 K-BB rate per 9 IP) but there you go.
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