A big night for the Las Vegas outfield highlighted a 4-1 night on the farm with the lone loss coming in extra innings.



Maybe it's just me but doesn't Eric Thames remind you of Samuel L. Jackson in "Shaft"?  Can you dig it?

And McGuire Bretts Tampa?

Yesterday saw two newly-promoted pitchers give very strong efforts in their first starts at their new levels. It also saw a couple of strong efforts out of the bullpen, which also included one reliever, recently demoted, return to dominating his old level. Las Vegas exploded for 17 hits, including three by the streaking David Cooper, but the bats were nearly absent in New Hampshire and Dunedin.

Twenty-eight runs and 46 hits on the farm led to a 3 and 1 evening for our stars in waiting.  Only Lansing came up short, while Las Vegas, New Hampshire and Dunedin turned in good plate performances to secure their wins.

Three top pitching prospects delivered top performances on a 2-3 day.

At least the big club won!  Yep, the affiliates were 0-4 with Dunedin having the night off.  Find out who got the unceremonious send-offs in this woeful edition of the MLU.

On a night when all eyes were turned toward an entirely different set of potential future major leaguers, the farm system had a light schedule, and went 1-1. Adam Loewen can't earn wins anymore, no longer being a pitcher, but if hitter wins were a thing he would have earned one. Click through to find out how!

It was a rough day on the farm with just one win in five games.

The evening saw a postponement in Triple-A, an extra-inning loss in Double-A and Toronto’s A-ball affiliates split their games. Drew Hutchison continues to work his way up Toronto’s prospect lists, while Asher Wojciechowski continues to experience some struggles during his first professional season.

The affiliates put up 3 6’s and a 5 runs scored in the four games, giving them four-fifths of a good Yahtzee turn. Unfortunately, they came up on the short end of three of those contests, as Dunedin won a squeeker for the only victory. Nobody, including Zach Stewart or Chad Jenkins, was particularly impressive on the mound, leaving it up to a promising low-level outfielder and a high-priced shortstop to lead the offence.

Player Development Directors hold that from year to year, one-third of an organization’s Minor League players will improve, one-third will maintain their development and production, and one-third will waver.  So far, the 2011 Toronto Blue Jays Minor League system appears to be an exception.  Blue Jays Minor League players are playing exceptionally well and all the full-season teams are playing above .500-ball. 

This is a two part story, yesterday we looked at the Dunedin and Lansing squads.  Part two today covers Las Vegas and New Hampshire.  Bauxite sam volunteered to write up this half of the story so these ratings are his opinion.  I am sure he will be by to answer your questions and comments.

Thanks sam.

Brett Cecil and Adam Lind had big nights on the farm. Sounds weird, but true.

We are past the one third mark in the minor league season so before we get buried in the draft and the new short season teams I thought we should take a look at the season so far in the minor leagues.  This look is based on the one third, one third, one third rule.  For those of you who are not familiar with the rule, the expectation of a teams prospects is that one third will improve over a season, one third will disappoint, and one third will be unchanged.  Two years ago the Jays had the season from hell where almost 50% of the prospects disappointed.  This year I think we will do better.

This is a two part story, in part one today I will look at the Dunedin and Lansing squads.  Part two will feature prospects in Las Vegas and New Hampshire.

Words to that effect may have come out of the mouth of Brett Lawrie.  They may also have been muttered by the Blue Jays organization and the fan base Tuesday night.  Sportsnet's Shi Davidi says the Langley, B.C. native was hit in the hand by a pitch during his first at-bat by Tucson Padres hurler Anthony Bass at Cashman Field.  It appeared the Jays had planned to call Lawrie up in time for Friday's game in Baltimore but that plan now appears to be out the window.

In case anyone cares how the affiliates did Tuesday night, it was not a banner evening as four of the five affiliates joined the parent club in the loss column.  At least they were not totally screwed.

Nobody particularly distinguished themselves on the farm on Monday night. That's a good thing - there were just a lot of hitters who had equally impressive performances. And New Hampshire staged an amazing comeback.