Brad Mills is a rarity among professional baseball players, he has a degree in civil engineering.  Many pro baseball players are drafted from high school or after their junior year of college and most don't have a degree.  As Mills notes below many of those players who stay in school to complete their fourth year take a less challenging degree to compensate for the demands and the travel required for playing in a top flight baseball program.  Mills has made a very good start to his pro career and is among the Blue Jays top 30 prospects.  Mills has a 3.79 ERA in seven starts for Lansing, he has allowed fewer hits than innings pitched and has more strikeouts than innings pitched, both positive signs. 

The road was a kind place to the parent club and its top affiliate last night.  However, the home cooking didn't help the other affiliates as they looked lost.

Another strong start from Kyle Ginley following his promotion to Dunedin.

Justin Jackson was a supplemental first round selection of the Blue Jays in the 2007 draft.  Jackson played in the Gulf Coast League in 2007 and is now a member of the Lansing Lugnuts.  Jackson has made a good start to the 2008 season and is playing well for a 19 year old.  Recently Batters Box talked with Jackson in Lansing.

Clayton McCullough is the manager of the Lansing Lugnuts, a move up from managing the GCL Jays last season.  Tom Signore is the pitching coach in Lansing.  I spoke with both of them last week in Lansing.

Quiet day on the farm as affiliates split a pair.

One night after a sweep New Hampshire were the only team with a win.  Brett Cecil pitched well and Travis Snider hit a three run home run.  David Purcey and Randy Boone pitched OK but both lost.  Dunedin Jays took the example of the big club and were blown out.

All four affiliates won.  New Hampshire scored three in the eighth to win 12-11.  Scott Campbell had five RBI's while the number 7, 8, 9, and 1 hitters went 13-16 with five walks.  Brad Mills pitched a great game as Lansing got a big win against division leader West Michigan.  Syracuse easily handled Durham behind a good start from John Parish and Dunedin survived a ninth inning scare to win 7-6.

Seriously. It was a bloodbath. The Jays just can't hit right now... from the majors right on down.

I attended three Lansing Lugnuts games from Sunday through Tuesday in downtown Lansing, the home of never ending construction.  Oldsmobile Park is the lovely home for the Lugnuts and as always in a minor league park there was lots of entertainment for the fans.  Lansing is two hours from the border at Sarnia so it is easily driveable in a half day.

A rain-out and a day off led to a 1-1 day.  Dunedin won with ten runs but three of the runs scored on bases-loaded walks, two on bases-loaded hit batters and two on wild pitches.  New Hampshire were blasted, they had one hit and gave up ten runs. 

Kyle Ginley's first start in the Florida State League was one to remember, Marc Rzepczynski's Midwest League debut wasn't too shabby either and Kane Davis had nothing to be ashamed of.  However, the affiliates only managed to win just one of four on the evening.

A 3-1 night in the minors.

You know what makes you feel like an idiot?  When you accidentally delete a Minor League Report, mere seconds before publishing it.  No, I hadn't saved a draft.  Yes, I know how important it is to do so.  Thanks for mentioning it.

It wasn’t a very memorable night on the farm as the affiliates went 1-3 and were outscored 26-20 over the four games. Despite scoring twenty runs there weren’t too many noteworthy performances by the offence and several starters struggled, including one who didn’t make it out of the third inning. In between two strikeouts Travis Snider showed he might be slowly breaking out of his slump. Also, somewhat sad news out of Lehigh Valley as a former Blue Jay finds himself out of work.