John Sickels weighs in on the Jays top 20 prospects. Having just 3 players in the Bs is really low.

After weeks of hot stove action it is time to begin Batters Box 2008 coverage of the minor leagues.  On Friday of this week Baseball America will release, on their web site, their Blue Jay top ten list but we are starting the week with another Blue Jay top ten, this one from Deric McKamey who is about to publish the third edition of his Minor League Baseball Analyst.

After a visit to the Hardball Times I saw that today was the deadline to finalize the 40 man roster for this year's class. The Jays 40 man roster is currently full.

Baseball America has published several Jays related articles recently.

Evaluating prospects is an uncertain pastime. Players are hindered by injuries, some obvious, some hidden to the fans and some hidden from the organization. Position players can often show little until they mature, sometimes around age 21. Pitchers can be helped by a new pitch or better mechanics that improve their control. In 2007 Brian Wolfe pitched well in the bullpen for the Jays even though he was not rated as a top 30 prospect by Batters Box or Baseball America.

In that spirit here are some players to watch who just missed our top 30 list. There is very little reason to differentiate between the bottom half of Blue Jay prospects this year. An argument could be made for any of these players to be in the top 30.

On Tuesday we delivered #30-#21, and yesterday #20-#11. Now, we are proud to present our selections as the top 10 Blue Jay prospects for 2007. Youth will be served.

Yesterday, we took a closer look at our #30-#21 prospects. Today, it is #20-#11. In past years, the more highly rated prospects were higher up in the system. Not so this year, as recent drafts take up more than their share of the prized slots. As you shall see.

We continue a Batter's Box tradition with our annual top 30 Blue Jay top prospect list. It is a combined effort of Thomas Ayers, Mike Green, Pistol, Gerry McDonald and Niall O'Donohoe. Today, we look at numbers 30-21.

In preparation for the top 30 prospect series which will begin tomorrow, it is helpful to have a sense of the league standards and park factors for each of the affiliates- Syracuse in the International League, New Hampshire in the Eastern League, Dunedin in the Florida State League, Lansing in the Midwest League, Auburn in the New York Penn League and the GCL Jays in the Gulf Coast League.

The Jays announced their R. Howard Webster Award winners, for the top players at each levels of the minors yesterday.

Baseball America will announce their top 20 prospects in each minor league over the next couple of weeks.  The top 20's start Thursday with the Gulf Coast League.  Two Blue Jays are featured, John Tolisano and Kevin Ahrens.  As BA moves through the minor leagues players like Brett Cecil, JP Arencibia, Travis Snider and Kyle Ginley will be looking to make the lists.  Snider will likely be the #1 prospect in the Midwest League.  Robinzon Diaz and Brian Jeroloman have outside chances of being named in the Eastern League and the Florida State League respectively, perhaps Adam Lind in the International League if enough managers saw him play.

How would the Doubledays and starter Brett Cecil perform in the second game of the Best-of-3 series against a very good Brooklyn Cyclones team, knowing that the first league title in franchise history was only one win away?

Auburn took the opening game of their 3 game set with Brooklyn by a 7-1 score.

Auburn moves onto the NY-Penn League Championship after defeating Oneonta 4-3.

The Auburn Doubledays live to fight another day thanks to a dominating pitching performance from the hardest name to spell in the system.  The relief pitching wasn't half bad either and the offence finally showed up in the series.  It all boils down to a third and deciding game between Auburn and Oneonta tonight at Falcon Park.