Batter's Box Interactive Magazine

Patrick Kivlehan homered in the eighth to earn a win for Buffalo. New Hampshire had four players hit a home run as they ran up the score. Dunedin lost two games, Bluefield one, the GCL Jays lost too. Lansing and Vancouver won. Vancouver are having a tough season but they have been hitting better since Philip Clarke arrived.

Buffalo 5 Pawtucket 4

New Hampshire 13 Hartford 8

Dunedin 2 Tampa 8 - Game 1, continued from previous day

Dunedin 1 Tampa 2 - Game 2, 8 innings

Lansing 3 Peoria 2

Vancouver 7 Everett 3

Bluefield 1 Pulaski 8

GCL Jays 8 GCL Phillies 10 - 10 innings, Game 1, continued from July 3rd, (Game 2 was suspended in the first inning)

DSL Orioles 6 DSL Blue Jays 9

Here are some things I noted from Thursdays games:

Buffalo were being no-hit into the seventh inning before rebounding to win. The big blow was a three run home run by Patrick Kivlehan that turned a 4-2 deficit into a 5-4 lead. Buffalo had just three hits.

Ryan Borucki started and went five innings and 80 pitches. He was charged with fur runs, three earned, on six hits with two walks.

Edwin Jackson pitched two innings in relief.

Jason Adam pitched one inning. Adam was in the major leagues with KC last year and signed as bullpen depth.

Ty Tice picked up his first AAA save.

Angel Camacho was an eighth round pick in this years draft. He had two hits for Bluefield with a home run, his second. Camacho is hitting .322 for Bluefield.

Three strikeouts in four at-bats for Griffin Conine.

Four home runs for the Fisher Cats. Brock Lundquist, Vinny Capra, Nash Knight and Christian Williams each homered. Each of these four have had hot spells this season but have settled in to hitting around .250. None of them have moved into top tier prospect status.

Riley Adams did not homer but he did have three hits. Riley continues to run hot and cold this season.

Hector Perez was charged with four runs in four innings. His ERA is over five and his WHIP is very high. He hasn't figured out AA yet.

Once again, one of the games in the Dunedin doubleheader went to extra innings.

Alejandro Kirk 2-3 with a double. That is all.

Maximo Castillo pitched six innings, three hits, one run, eight K's. His ERA is now 3.16.

Will Robertson had a couple of hits, drove in three and hit his first home run. When Robertson was drafted some observers noted that his swing needed a revamp for the pro level. I don't know if he is revamping yet but we shouldn't expect great things from him until next season.

Yorman Rodriguez had three hits, Philip Clarke had just one but it has been the two catchers leading the offense for the C's.

Grant Townsend pitched well again, 5.2 shutout innings with six K's. He has been Vancouver's best pitcher, his ERA is 1.93 and his WHIP is .94.

Two more hits for Orelvis Martinez, his batting average is up to .370. He could get a few games in Bluefield before the end of the season but Miguel Hiraldo and Leonardo Jimenez are there.

Justin Maese pitched two innings, 24 pitches. He did give up four runs. Maverik Buffo pitched three innings, also 24 pitches. Buffo had made it as far as Dunedin last season so he should be ready to rejoin that team.

Juan Pizarro has been one of the best hitters in the DSL. He had two more hits on Thursday and four RBI. One of his hits was his first home run. Pizarro is hitting .321.

3 Stars

3rd star: Maximo Castillo

2nd star: Brock Lundquist

1st star: Patrick Kivlehan

Boxes

Posted by Gerry on Friday, July 12 2019 @ 08:40 AM EDT.

Kivlehan KO's Sox | 44 comments | Create New Account

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

lexomatic - Friday, July 12 2019 @ 09:01 AM EDT (#376971) #

I hope Borucki doesn't think that line is "women get woolly " though that might increase his chances of staying in the show.

scottt - Friday, July 12 2019 @ 09:50 AM EDT (#376972) #

Clarke is supposed to be advanced for a catcher.
His coach was letting him call his games.

He should crack the top 30 even though the Jays are waist deep in catchers.
I'm really eager to see Maile moved and a bunch of catchers promoted.

Manoah was tweeting after the Home Run derby and seems quite invested in the Jays.
It will be interesting to see how fast he moves through the system.

uglyone - Friday, July 12 2019 @ 10:44 AM EDT (#376973) #

I'm not one to care about milb relievers, but I think we might have one to start caring about in Ty Tice, given that hes now all the way up in AAA in just his 22yr old season, and still dominating. He's a midget that throws mid to high 90s with a 90mph slider. They obviously like him to promote him all they up this quickly so Don t be surprised to see him in Toronto before the end of the year.

PeterG - Friday, July 12 2019 @ 10:58 AM EDT (#376974) #

Tice won't be put on 40 man roster this year as those spots will be necessary for players needing to be protected. A bit of a crunch coming with multiple players soon to be activated from 60 day IL.

uglyone - Friday, July 12 2019 @ 11:33 AM EDT (#376975) #

Eh that pushes the concept of "needing to be protected" a little too far.

bpoz - Friday, July 12 2019 @ 11:48 AM EDT (#376977) #

The 60 day DL is an excellent tool. Merryweather could have been put there if a spot was needed.

I see a lot of easy add/subtract 40 man manipulations. Bichette will be up in the next month or 2.

PeterG - Friday, July 12 2019 @ 11:57 AM EDT (#376978) #

UO, they won't bring up Pearson in September for the same reason. There are other relievers ahead of Tice that need protection and likely wont all get it: Z. Jackson, Snead, McClelland. Next year at the earliest for Tice.

uglyone - Friday, July 12 2019 @ 12:24 PM EDT (#376979) #

Again, "need protection" is a stretch for many of the names on the 40 man.

bpoz - Friday, July 12 2019 @ 01:29 PM EDT (#376980) #

40 man protection is a key factor in having a good team.

Alford and Tellez needed protection and were good choices to protect. Alford is running out of time, as he has burnt his last option. Tellez seems to have proven that he is a ML player.

Borucki was protected when he had just mastered Lansing. Development reports had said he should be protected. The next year he dominated and advanced 3 levels. Dominated AAA in 2018 and got to the Majors. Burnt 2 options. He has a long history of injuries.

There are no guarantees. The 40 man is well stocked with ready and close to ready ML players. SRF is ready and is now getting his ML test. Same with McKinney and others. SRF and McKinney have not passed the test yet but have options left and therefore time. Both are considered decent. Murphy and Y Diaz will start their ML test by Sept possibly.

There is potential for a 40 man crunch a few years in the future. Jhon Solarte is in the GCL with quite a few others. He is V young and the Jays are adding a lot of quality from the Int'l market. His group will be rule 5 eligible after the 2021 season. He needs to be in AA for protection consideration. Chazez Young needs protection after the 2020 season. He should be in AA by then and may earn the protection. But it could be getting to be a numbers game.

uglyone - Friday, July 12 2019 @ 01:38 PM EDT (#376981) #

Kingham
Law
Biagini
Gaviglio
Richard
Romano
Schafer
Waguespack
Merryweather
Maile
Drury
Davis

All have spots on the 40 man. Not sure any of those guys actually "needs protection".

And then there's stroman Giles Phelps Smoak Sogard Galvis who are all likely to be traded.

uglyone - Friday, July 12 2019 @ 01:42 PM EDT (#376982) #

Their ages for the record:

Kingham 27
Law 28
Biagini 29
Gaviglio 29
Richard 35
Romano 26
Schafer 26
Waguespack 25
Merryweather 27
Maile 28
Drury 26
Davis 27

bpoz - Friday, July 12 2019 @ 01:56 PM EDT (#376983) #

That is an excellent list UO. Are you thinking that losing any on that list will NOT kill us??

Merryweather throws 100 mph I believe. Romano also throws hard. Most likely both will be given time to fail. Romano has already started his ML test as a reliever.

Regarding the ML test that each prospect should at least participate in, Romano has not yet burned any options. Is his role to come in and throw as hard as possible for 1-3 innings? Danny Barnes did well for 2-3 years until he got replaced. Biagini is in competition to hold his spot in the pen. This level of player knows when his spot on the team is slipping.

finch - Friday, July 12 2019 @ 02:08 PM EDT (#376984) #

Baseball America chat, Andrew from Alberta asked: �Who could you see being a few breakout prospects for the Blue Jays in the second half of the season? Thank you.�

Answer: �Keep an eye on Otto Lopez out in Lansing. He's getting some love.�

Interesting answer. I�ve liked Otto Lopez since I first saw him in Vancouver. I would think there would be other players before him mentioned but I�m glad he�s in the eyes of some of the minor league talent evaluators.

Nigel - Friday, July 12 2019 @ 02:13 PM EDT (#376985) #

bpoz - when your team is in the process of losing 100 games (plus or minus), by definition, it means you have a bunch of replacement level (or worse) players on both your 25 and 40 man rosters. The Jays don't even remotely have a 40 man roster problem. Players like Law and Kingham are the definition of freely available talent. If anything, uglyone is being charitable on how short his list is above.

Nigel - Friday, July 12 2019 @ 02:16 PM EDT (#376986) #

Lopez can hit and can control the strikezone - there is a lot to like there if you focus on what he can do rather than on what he can't do (i.e. play SS and steal bases). Put him in LF or 2B for the rest of the year and let's see what happens.

cascando - Friday, July 12 2019 @ 03:21 PM EDT (#376987) #

From that list, I would keep Biagini and Romano. Biagini might have trade value (in the way Oh had trade value, anyway.) Romano has shown enough to get another look. For a team with this little depth, the bar is pretty low.

That still leaves at least 10 spots on the 40-man for new players or prospects that deserve a promotion. The priority should be on what is best for the development of players that might have a role on a future contender.

Worth noting that this situations arises after a few years of intentionally acquiring "MLB-ready" "assets" in trades. Pretty damning of the front office, IMO.

scottt - Friday, July 12 2019 @ 05:48 PM EDT (#376988) #

Ty Tice's ERA is good, but his WHIP at AAA does not scream promotion.

Kingham 27 Last year, was still projected to be a number 3 starter with the Pirates.
Law 28 Has looked terrible at times, but was still better than Tice while in Buffalo. Can be dropped but not for Tice.
Biagini 29 At this point, Biagini has too much seniority to be dropped just to try make room on the 40. Same as Sanchez.
Gaviglio 29 He's been better than replacement value. Trade him if someone offers something, but don't drop him.
Richard 35 He's currently in the rotation, so can't be dropped for a reliever.
Romano 26 Has been better than Tice. Will probably be used in high leverage this year, once Giles is gone.
Schafer 26 He's also been better than Tice.
Waguespack 25 He's a decent starter option.
Merryweather 27 He's going to start some games in Toronto this year.
Maile 28 No argument there. Throw him in a package if it helps to get a return.
Drury 26 I would never have acquired him in the first place. The sooner he's gone the better in my book.
Davis 27 He's still hitting and walking in Buffalo. Hard to drop, he'd be in Baltimore the next day.

Jackson can be dropped. He's on the 10IL.

Pompey will have to take a spot on the 25 as soon as his rehab is over.
That or he gets DFAed.

PeterG - Friday, July 12 2019 @ 06:06 PM EDT (#376990) #

Kingham is someone who needs to be kept until he gets a solid opportunity. I think he will be held through the off season in order to compete for rotation spot next season.

It will be interesting to see what they do with Pompey. It will depend on what he does in the 8-12 days he is likely in Buffalo. If he seems promising, he could get a shot and take Davis' 40 man spot. If he doesn't, chances are he would be DFA with little worry he would be claimed on waivers.

There is no way Tice is being added to 40 man this year but 2 relievers who might are Zach Jackson and Jackson McClelland. Kirby Snead is an outside possibility.

hypobole - Friday, July 12 2019 @ 06:12 PM EDT (#376991) #

The Happ trade stunk. But what other "damning" trades are you thinking of?
Grichuk for Greene/Leone, Diaz for Woodman, Thornton for Diaz all seem good trades.
Teoscar hasn't really worked out, but we got him for negative WAR Liriano.

PeterG - Friday, July 12 2019 @ 07:01 PM EDT (#376992) #

Jays using almost all their allowable draft pool overage (what remained after Clarke deal) to sign Masson. Jim Callis has reported that the signing bonus for the Canadian OF was 297,500 which is 172,500 over the 125,000 slot.

jerjapan - Friday, July 12 2019 @ 07:36 PM EDT (#376995) #

Was Hendricks for Chavez Atkins? That was a poor trade.
Biagini is going to be arb eligible isn't he? He's not worth even a minor raise.

greenfrog - Friday, July 12 2019 @ 07:40 PM EDT (#376996) #

Two trades-not-made that could have made the Jays better faster were Osuna (before the assault charge), when the Astros reportedly made a very aggressive offer for him, and Donaldson before last off-season, when the Cards offered Jack Flaherty plus another prospect for JD.

uglyone - Friday, July 12 2019 @ 08:27 PM EDT (#376997) #

Why would Tice have no chance but guys who he's better than do?

hypobole - Friday, July 12 2019 @ 08:43 PM EDT (#376998) #

Liam Hendriks was traded before Atkins was hired.

scottt - Friday, July 12 2019 @ 09:08 PM EDT (#377000) #

Biagini is not worth the money, but at the same time, the Jays' payroll is so low that it doesn't matter much.
He's already dodged arbitration once settling at 900K. 1M?

Nigel - Friday, July 12 2019 @ 09:24 PM EDT (#377001) #

Moreno with another HR tonight. Given all reports suggest his defence is promising and he clearly can run (not just for a C), I think there�s a good case to be made that he�s the Jays third best prospect (after Bichette and Pearson). I would actually say - what else could a C prospect of his age in the MWL possibility do better?

Gerry - Friday, July 12 2019 @ 09:29 PM EDT (#377002) #

Two home runs for Kevin Smith tonight. Could the all-star break have helped his hitting?

dan gordon - Friday, July 12 2019 @ 09:52 PM EDT (#377004) #

The 40 man roster situation will become clearer after the trade deadline, when we see who is left.

I'd certainly expect Zach Jackson to get called up soon. He's been untouchable for a while now in Buffalo. In his last 11 games, covering 17 1/3 innings, he's allowed no runs on 8 hits and 4 walks, with 21 strikeouts, for an EDRA of 0.00 and WHIP of 0.692. If you extend it out to 17 games, he's at 27 1/3 innings, with 2 runs, 12 hits and 7 walks for an ERA of 0.66 and WHIP of 0.695. He needs to be added to the 40 man after this season anyway, unlike Tice, so he's more likely to get called up.

Romano has been similarly dominant. Since May 22nd, with Buffalo, he has pitched 13 1/3 innings, allowing 1 run on 7 hits and 3 walks, with 19 strikeouts, for an ERA of 0.68 and WHIP of 0.750. He looked good in his short stint with the Jays, striking out 11 in just 5 innings, allowing just 2 hits and a walk, although both hits were HR's. I saw him pitch in a Jays game, and he looked dominant until he gave up a HR in a game where he was maybe kept in too long (40 pitches). It looks like the Jays caught a break when Texas returned him to Toronto this spring.

Shafer has some very good numbers in Buffalo this year, after producing great results the previous year.

I certainly expect those 3 guys will be on the 40 man roster this off season, particularly Romano and Jackson.

John Northey - Friday, July 12 2019 @ 11:45 PM EDT (#377005) #

So with that Masson signing and the deadline to sign drafted guys done the Jays did pretty good, leaving only about $4k on the table which wouldn't have signed anyone.

Guys who were ranked who were drafted and didn't sign are Nate LaRue RHP round 25 rank 165, Owen Diodati CA round 29 rank 303, and Connor Phillips RHP round 35 ranked 151.

I love the idea of Masson - just 16 and now in the Jays system. That gives the Jays tons of time (in theory) to develop him and see what he becomes. He will need to be protected at a young age on the 40 man I suspect (probably by age 21) but with any luck he'll do the Vlad path and dominate then become a star - we can hope.

dan gordon - Saturday, July 13 2019 @ 12:58 AM EDT (#377006) #

Some of the recent International signings who are hitting well in the low minors:

Gabriel Moreno, 19, in Lansing .310/.372/.538/.910

Miguel Hiraldo, 18, in Bluefield .309/.349/.494/.843

Orelvis Martinez, 17, Gulf Coast League .280/.351/.500/.851

John Solarte, 18, Gulf Coast League .320/.383/.500/.883

Juan Pizarro, 17, Dominican Summer League .307/.365/.409/.774, 11-2 SB

Adrian Montero, 18, Dominican Summer League .299/.440/.391/.831, 14-3 SB

Glevin - Saturday, July 13 2019 @ 02:44 AM EDT (#377007) #

Not worried about the 40man at all. Jays have tons of marginal players and will likely trade 3 or 4 players off it as well. Even guys like Hernandez, Mckinney, and Tellez. Do they get taken in the rule V? Maybe, maybe not but none project to be even average major leaguers. I wouldn't rush up someone to take a spot, but I also wouldn't worry about losing another marginal player. Look at last year. People were very upset at losing Bergen, Smith, and Ramirez. They are all marginal major leaguers on bad teams.

pooks137 - Saturday, July 13 2019 @ 03:15 AM EDT (#377008) #

Even guys like Hernandez, Mckinney, and Tellez. Do they get taken in the rule V?

Guys on your 40-man are exempt from the Rule V draft. These guys would only be eligible for the draft if they get outrighted off the 40-man

To outright a guy off your 40-man, you have to expose him to waivers, which has much less onerous requirements than the Rule V and only requires a 40-man spot for the claiming team

I would guarantee some tanking team would take a flier on Tellez. I don't think either Hernandez or McKinney would make it through waivers either. Some team with a terrible OF like the Giants would definitely add guys for free

scottt - Saturday, July 13 2019 @ 07:35 AM EDT (#377010) #

Jansen is now hitting.
The same is possible for Tellez and Hernandez.
First step for those 2 is to chase less.
Second step is to develop a 2 strike approach that works.
If it's possible for Urshela, it's possible for others as well.

Hernandez looks lost.
Tellez just loves swinging at breaking balls.

scottt - Saturday, July 13 2019 @ 07:37 AM EDT (#377011) #

There's a need for a handful of relievers with options to ride the Buffalo shuttle.
However, guys like Paulino, who are starters in AAA, should end up in the pen if they can't crack the rotation.

bpoz - Saturday, July 13 2019 @ 01:33 PM EDT (#377026) #

Thanks for the nuggets of minor league info.

Good list of young hitters Dan Gordon. J Pizzaro for sure. Some of us are valueing the bb/k ratio highly. Adrian Montero, Gabe Martinez (16 years old) and E Sanchez. They have a long way to go but still very promising.

dan gordon - Saturday, July 13 2019 @ 08:57 PM EDT (#377045) #

Kevin Smith has started to hit. He's 2 for 4 today so far, with a HR, after hitting 2 dingers yesterday, and now is 12 for his last 35 (.343) with 4 HR's, although he's still striking out way too much, with 15 over that span. Smith at 3B today, with Warmoth at SS and Espinal at 2B.

Reid-Foley only gave up 2 hits today, but walked 5. Patrick Murphy had a decent performance, as he tries to figure out the no-toe-tap delivery - 4 1/3 IP with 7 K's, only 3 hits, but he walked 3, and gave up 3 runs. Wall has a triple and HR. Bichette 1 for 4 so far with 2 SB's, after a highlight reel defensive play yesterday.

SK in NJ - Saturday, July 13 2019 @ 09:12 PM EDT (#377046) #

The 40 man roster only becomes an issue when good prospects are potentially left exposed due to lack of available spots. I don't see the Jays in that position yet. There is a lot of mediocrity on the 40 man right now, and the team could easily trade/DFA/non-tender players like Teoscar, McKinney, Drury, Tellez, etc, to make additional room if necessary.

I don't think the team is in any rush to add anyone to the 40 man that doesn't need to be added on, though. Bichette will because the team wants him to be up with the other top position player prospects, but I would assume minor league relievers are not a top priority.

dan gordon - Sunday, July 14 2019 @ 12:17 AM EDT (#377049) #

We may see players that we feel are easily dropped from the 40 man roster, like Drury and McKinney, but that doesn't mean the Blue Jays feel the same way about those players. They actually seem to like Drury, for instance. The risk is that they drop, or fail to add, players who actually are decent prospects, in order to keep players that they have a (probably) misguided attachment to. I feel this happened last fall, and it almost cost them Romano, who looks like a possibly very good relief pitcher now, and did cost them one other guy that I can't name without starting a bun fight.

scottt - Sunday, July 14 2019 @ 04:04 AM EDT (#377052) #

It's difficult to add relievers as most MLB relievers are failed starters and teams want to be able to option some of their relievers and it's hard to hide a reliever on a bad team. When the Jays picked up Biagini, they weren't a bad team and they had a solid rotation.

There will not be a lot of room for guys like Smoak, Sogard and Galvis next year.

Like him or not, Drury is just a depth piece. Ultimately, the hope should be to trade him for a 45 prospect to free a spot for a rising prospect, in a year or two. He's arb eligible this fall.

Kelekin - Sunday, July 14 2019 @ 05:23 AM EDT (#377054) #

Certainly nice to see Kevin Smith have a couple good games, it's been awhile. He ended his 32-game strikeout streak too!

It's a little early, but I think next year's Lansing infield situation could get messy, which is a good problem to have. In Vancouver you have recent draftees Schwecke, Eden (who they seem to be trying at CF now), Morris, and in Bluefield you have Camacho, Hiraldo, Barger, and Jimenez. Certainly the last three are young enough to move up to Vancouver, but historically the young'ns tend to move from Bluefield directly to Lansing if they perform well.

scottt - Sunday, July 14 2019 @ 06:56 AM EDT (#377055) #

At first glance, Conine is striking out too much.
However, he's hitting .312 and has 11 HR in 37 games.
Also, he's got 16 walks which bring his OBP to .394.

Those are results that I'd take at the MLB level, even with the strikeouts.

Now the strikeouts, I guess it depends on other factors.
Does he have holes in his swing? Is he chasing? Taking too many strikes?
Does he have problem with certain types of pitches, hitting them or recognizing them?

It could be easier for him to work on his specific issues at a higher level where he's less successful.

hypobole - Sunday, July 14 2019 @ 09:30 AM EDT (#377058) #

208 batters have had 100 PA's in the MWL so far. Only 6 have a higher SwStr% than Conine's 21.5%.

dan gordon - Sunday, July 14 2019 @ 04:51 PM EDT (#377078) #

Eric Pardinho has a nice game going for Lansing today - 5 shutout innings with 4 strikeouts. Pannone had 4 shutout innings for Buffalo, and Zach Jackson continued to dominate with 2 shutout innings and 5 strikeouts. Kirk had a 3 for 5 day for Dunedin, which got HR's from Noda and Samad Taylor, who is hitting .313 with 3 HR's in July.

bpoz - Sunday, July 14 2019 @ 11:27 PM EDT (#377107) #

Conine's .384 OBP is acceptable but H Danner's .273 OBP is not acceptable.

They both have until the end of the 2021 season before rule 5 protection is needed. So a bit of time left.

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