Batter's Box Interactive Magazine - Bowden Francis Leads Buffalo to Victory

Two wins and two loses on Thursday. New Hampshire had both losses while Buffalo and Dunedin won. Vancouver were rained out. Bowden Francis shut down Scranton for 6.2 innings before running into a bit of trouble. Gabriel Martinez hit his first home run for Dunedin.

Scranton 3 Buffalo 7

New Hampshire 2 Altoona 5 - game 1

New Hampshire 2 Altoona 11 - game 2

Eugene at Vancouver - postponed

Fort Myers 2 Dunedin 5

This is what I noted from yesterday's games.

Gabriel Moreno was 1-4 with a double and a strikeout on an automatic strike. The minors have a pitch clock this season but its not just for pitchers. The hitter has to be ready to receive a pitch within a time frame too. Moreno wasn't ready and a third strike was called.

Bowden Francis has been somewhat forgotten this season despite being the top ranked starting pitcher in AAA. On Thursday he shut down the Yankee affiliate for 6.2 inning before a single, walk and home run put three runs on his record. After three starts he has a 4.11 ERA. Adrian Hernandez made his AAA debut, the faced three batters going K, out, walk.

Cullen Large went 2-4 and is hitting .375. I am not sure what his best defensive position is, he is a utility guy in AAA, but the bat continues to improve for the 26 year old. Logan Warmoth and Vinny Capra had two hits each and both of them are hitting over .300'

Joey Murray started game one for the Fisher Cats. He just threw 3.2 innings with two runs conceded on four hits. In game two, Nick Fraze allowed some runs for the first time this season, two earned in four innings. His ERA is now 1.35.

The NH hitters had a bad day, just nine hits over two games. Orelvis was 0-7 with four strikeouts. Tanner Morris homered, his third.

Kendry Rojas had a better start for Dunedin, two earned runs over four innings.

Dunedin have had a tough start to the season, after Thursdays win their record is 4-8. The hitters have not hit well. Rainer Nunez and Damiano Palmegiani are hitting around .280 but the next best regular, Estivan Machado, is hitting .229. It was encouraging then for Gabriel Martinez to hit a two run home run, his first. Jordan Groshans also helped out going 1-3 with a walk and a run scored.

Three Stars

Third Star - Logan Warmoth

Second Star - Cullen Large

First Star - Bowden Francis

Boxes

Posted by Gerry on Thursday, April 21 2022 @ 09:39 PM EDT.

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85bluejay - Friday, April 22 2022 @ 05:34 AM EDT (#412735) #

The forgotten Logan Warmoth is also off to a nice start especially in the BB/K department like Samad Taylor - hopefully amongst Taylor/Warmoth/Cullen/Capra the Jays may find some quality utility players or more - all seem to have positional versatility.

jerjapan - Friday, April 22 2022 @ 10:25 AM EDT (#412737) #

I agree 85.

Warmoth finally looks like he knows what he needs to do at the plate. He hasn't played the IF since 2019 though. He got more starts in CF last year than either corner, but I think he needs to prove he can play CF to have a chance as a reserve OF. Hopefully he is playing the corners this year due to the presence of Smith in centre.

Same with Large, if he can't handle 3B / 2B defensively, the offensive improvements wont be enough for him to get a look as a utility guy. But it does feel to me that the org is at least providing clear paths to the big leagues for loyal AAAA org types.

My money is on Taylor out of the guys you listed due to age and tools, but he's another guy whose utility is tied to his versatility - if he can play 3 or 4 spots in the bigs, that helps, but he has played around 80% of his games at 2B over his career.

I know riding the Buffalo shuttle isn't a glamorous gig, but for a guy like Taylor Saucedo - picked in the 21st round, 28 years old - this is likely as good as it gets until he runs out of options.

greenfrog - Friday, April 22 2022 @ 10:39 AM EDT (#412738) #

If you had to bet on one of those players, it might make the most sense to bet on Taylor because of his age (still just 23) and performance last year (141 wRC+ in 374 PA at AA) and this year (161 wRC+ in 52 PA). Also, as others have mentioned, he has dramatically improved his BB:K ratio this year. I know some scouts have been pessimistic about his chances of success in the majors, though.

If he can put it all together -- speed, defense, power and plate discipline -- he could turn out to be a very valuable player. He could still be a useful player with only three of those four attributes.

Mike Green - Friday, April 22 2022 @ 10:55 AM EDT (#412740) #

Exactly, greenfrog. At age 22-23, he's put up a .293/.387/.492 line with 36/9 SB/CS in 436 PAs in the high minors. That's good for a 143 wRC+. From a statistical point of view, he's a very good prospect. If Bo Bichette or Matt Chapman was injured, the Jays would probably move Espinal over and call up Taylor.

Gerry - Friday, April 22 2022 @ 02:45 PM EDT (#412750) #

Shi Davidi had some updates today.

Otto Lopez should be activated next week.

Yosver Zulueta should join Dunedin next week.

Eric Pardinho should hit Vancouver in a few weeks.

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