6 Blue Jays Prospects Headed to Arizona

Ryan McBrrom - Clutchlings photo

  The Arizona Fall League was established almost a quarter century ago to serve as a finishing school for team's top prospects.  With play centered at the spring training homes of several MLB teams in the Phoenix area, it's the ideal lab for scouts to evaluate prospects' play against top competition.  Sometimes teams send players there to learn a new position or role, make up for missed time, or to generally have a chance to play against elite competition.
   When Tommy John surgery shut him down for the last half of 2013 and the first half of the following season, Roberto Osuna had a chance to pitch in a relief role to get some added innings in Arizona in the fall of 2014.  The team saw enough to invite him to spring training the following year, where he impressed enough (even though he had never pitched above High A) to break camp with the team, and the rest is history.
   Six Blue Jays prospects and pitching coach Vince Horsman will make the trek southwest when play begins in October to suit up for the Mesa Solar Sox.  The league features six teams, and the schedule opens on October 11th, with the season wrapping up with the playoff final on November 19th.  The Fall Stars game on November 5th will be televised, but few other games likely will be.  Fortunately, there is a bevy of prospect evaluators live Tweeting the games, so there are sources of information.

   Here's a look at the invited Blue Jays
Conner Greene RHP
   The organization's top pitching prospect had his development intentionally slowed this season.  Despite finishing last year at AA (in his first year of full season ball), Greene began 2016 back at Dunedin, with a goal of improving his fastball command.  Experimenting with several arm angles, Greene's results in April and May would suggest that he was struggling, but it was more a product of coming up with an effective arm slot - as fans, we sometimes don't realize that minor league pitchers do not always approach a start with having a goal of producing a W for the team.  One Blue Jays prospect whose change up needs refining said that he is under orders to throw 10 of them in a game.  As a minor league pitcher, there are always things to work on.
  Greene began to blow Florida State League hitters away in early June, and was back in New Hampshire by July.  He tossed a couple of gems with the Fisher Cats, most noticeably six innings of no-hit ball in mid-August.  While he can dial his fastball up to the mid-90s, he's at his most effective when he works down in the zone, inducing weak contact.

Anthony Alford OF
   There's nothing wrong with a prospect facing adversity early in his career.  If he treats it as a learning experience, and keeps to the fundamentals and skills he's been taught by the organizations's instructors, he'll eventually break out of it.
  Such is the case for the Blue Jays top prospect entering the 2016 season, who scuffled through an injury-plagued first half of the year after a breakout 2015 campaign, his first since quitting football to focus solely on baseball.
  Alford was injured in a home plate collision on Dunedin's opening game, then missed time with a concussion suffered just a few weeks after his return in May.
   Consistency at the plate was elusive for Alford in the season's first half, and there was a lot of swing and miss to his game, as his K rate reached 30%.  Still, Alford works the count well, gets on base, and uses the whole field, and what has to be encouraging to the club is the 8 Home Runs and .459 slugging percentage he's posted in the second half, suggesting that the power is starting to show.
  Alford is in Arizona to get more reps, and to be challenged by the top level pitching he's going to face.  It's another stepping stone on his way to the big leagues.

Matt Dermody LHP
   Dermody was yet another tall, lean (6"5", 180) pitcher the Jays stockpiled during the Brian Parker/Alex Anthopoulos era.  I saw him start in Vancouver in 2013, weeks after he had been selected in the 28th round out of Iowa.
  Dermody was drafted out of high school (where he threw the first 6-inning, 18K perfect game in state history) by the Pirates in the 26th round, but opted to attend college in his home state.  The Rockies chose him in the 29th round in 2011, but he opted to stay in school.  The Diamondbacks took him in the 23rd round in 2012, and Dermody was on the verge of signing, until an MRI revealed a 40% UCL tear. Dermody went back to school and rehabbed his elbow, but had little signing leverage, and the Blue Jays, always big fans of projection, chose him late, and shipped him off the to GCL.
  My notes from his Vancouver outing showed that he sat 92 with his fastball, which had some life down in the zone, but he struggled with his secondaries.  He split time as a starter and reliever with Lansing the following season, and by 2015, he was a full time bullpen arm with Dunedin.  After giving up 98 hits in 77 FSL innings last year, there was little to suggest that he would be due for a breakout season a year later.
   Repeating Dunedin this year, he quickly rose to New Hampshire and then Buffalo, joining the Bisons solid bullpen corps.  His numbers this year tell a different story, as he posted a 1.82 ERA between the three levels over 54 innings.
   What has been responsible for Dermody's transformation?  The usual suspects - adding some deception to his delivery to make him tougher on lefthanded hitters, and improved command of his fastball and slider.

   Dermody's rise up the ladder was made complete by a promotion to Toronto when major league rosters expanded today.  He likely won't play a huge role in September, but gives the bullpen some much-needed southpaw depth.

Danny Jansen C
   The Blue Jays have stockpiled pitching since 2010.  They seem to be doing the same with catchers, which is not such a bad idea, given the uniqueness and demands of the position, and the length of time it takes to develop one.
  Jansen has moved steadily up the ladder, spending this year at Dunedin, but has missed parts of the last three seasons due to injury, and the team is likely anxious to speed up his development.  Early in his career, the highly-regarded 2013 16th rounder was drawing raves for his catching skills.  He is already an excellent pitch framer and blocker of balls in the dirt, and has been praised for his ability to handle a pitching staff.
   Jansen will never be a middle-of-the-order hitter, but the organization thinks enough of his skills to give him some added experience in Arizona.  Even with Max Pentecost and Reese McGuire ahead of him on the Blue Jays catching depth charts, there are many who have said that Jansen could play in the majors one day.

Tim Mayza LHP
    Minor league relievers don't tend to have a lot of value.  Their main job, it seems to an observer, is to protect the valuable young arms of the starting rotation from having to go beyond their pitch count, which usually leads to a fairly high attrition rate.
   Lefty bullpen arms can sometimes be a different matter, and Mayza is developing into one of them.  Armed with a fastball that can touch 95, and complemented by an improving slider, Mayza had a breakout season with Lansing last year, and sandwiched a promotion to AA between stints with Dunedin this year, fanning 63 in as many innings.
   Mayza has a "tall and fall" delivery, and with his back partially turned to home plate, can be tough on left handed hitters, and profiles as another southpaw specialist.  He struggled a bit with his command at AA, but the organization felt comfortable in challenging him with an assignment to the AFL.

Ryan McBroom 1B/DH
   Originally drafted by the Royals after his junior year at West Virginia, McBroom opted to go back to school, and the Blue Jays nabbed him in the 15th round in 2014.  And all he's done in his first three pro seasons is hit: .297/.339/.502 at Vancouver, .315/.387/.482 (and Midwest League MVP) at Lansing, and .279/.329/.477 mostly with Dunedin this year.
   McBroom is rarely mentioned in talk of the system's best prospects, however.  At 6'3"/230, he's pretty limited defensively, and while he's passed L.B. Dantzler as a prospect, his path upwards will likely always be blocked by Rowdy Tellez.  The team experimented with him in the outfield last year, and perhaps there will be a return to that in Arizona, but McBroom's future is entirely dependent on his bat.
  But what a bat it is - McBroom has topped 20 Home Runs in the pitcher-friendly Florida State League, and while he scuffled in a brief trial with New Hampshire this summer, it will be very interesting to see how he fares against tougher pitching in Arizona.  Success in the southwest may help him break through as a prospect.

Clutchlings Notebook Vol 4 Ed 2

Tim Mayza - Clutchlings photo

 Another wrap of the goings on in the Blue Jays minor league system for the past week.

Is he or isn't he hurt?
   I wrote last week that top prospect Anthony Alford was injured in a home-plate collision in Dunedin's first game, and that to eyewitnesses the injury did not appear to be all that serious.
   Our first clue that something wasn't right with the prized outfielder came a few days after, when he was placed on the 7-day Disabled List.  Word started to leak out through social media that the injury was more serious than had been first reported.
   D-Jays broadcaster Spence Siegel (@SpenceSiegel) reported on Jesse Goldberg-Strassler's weekly review of the Blue Jays organization "Around the Nest" that the club was seeking a "second opinion," on Alford.  Shi Davidi of Sportsnet divulged a few days later that Alford had undergone ACL surgery in high school, and that the home plate injury may have been knee-related.
   The incident illustrates one of the frustrations of writing about minor league baseball. Injuries are treated like state secrets by teams, and it's hard to fathom just why that is.  Certainly, prospects are always under consideration as currency for trades to upgrade the major league team, so perhaps there's some need to keep that information under wraps, although it's hard in this day and age to think that a team could successfully keep that from the public for any length of time.  Those of us who follow the progress of prospects from afar find it frustrating when a player we've watched for several years basically disappears from the radar, with nary a word about it.
   Emails to several club officials when unanswered, and an inquiry to the D-Jays led to a vague response.  Some of my Twitter followers said that they contacted Alford through social media - this is a route I prefer not to take, because sometimes the prospects are the lowest links on the food chain in these situations, and I would rather not get them into difficulties with the organization.
   Davidi went on to say in his article that the club prefers that Alford rehab his knee, rather than opt for surgery, which is not uncommon for the team in situations where the tear of the ligament in question is not complete.  When Roberto Osuna had a slight tear of his UCL early in 2013, they opted for an ultimately unsuccessful regimen of rest, rehab, and PRP therapy to try to mend the injury.
   So, reading between the lines, we can surmise that the injury to Alford is serious enough to keep him out of the lineup, but not sufficient to undergo surgery (at least in the club's medical staff's opinion).  Either way, it's looking more and more like a lengthy absence for the speedy Mississippian.

The Dunedin Bullpen
   The D-Jays are off to a great start, thanks to a bullpen that gave up only 5 runs over 43 innings through their first 8 games.  It truly is one of the deepest pens in the system, featuring arms lik Adonys Cardona, converted OF Carlos Ramirez, Matt Dermody, Tim Mayza, Jose Fernandez, Alonzo Gonzalez, and Chris Rowley.  There's a good balance between left and right handers in this mix, and if Dunedin starters can make it to the 5th inning with a lead, there's a good chance that this group will preserve the win.   There may not be a lot of value in relievers at the lower levels of the minors, but this could prove to be one of the better groups this team has had in the bullpen at High A in some time.
    Command may be an issue from time to time, as the bullpen issued 14 walks over 5 innings on Sunday.



Jordan Romano Update
   The Markham native missed all of last year as a result of Tommy John surgery.  The 10th round pick out of Oral Roberts in 2014 has been pitching in extended spring training, and reports that he's hit 95 with his fastball, and is sitting 92-94 in his return.  He was pleasantly surprised by his command, as well, noting, "Honestly everything is back to normal. Thrown 4 innings, and issued 1 walk."
   Romano struck out almost 12 batters per 9 innings pitching out of Bluefield's pen in 2014, limiting Appy League hitters to a .209 average.  He is getting closer to returning to game action, but it will be interesting to see where he lands this season.  The organization's preference is to keep rehabbing prospects in Dunedin, but there may not be space for him.  Romano may start in the GCL, then quickly move to Vancouver.
   Another good arm for an organization that is stockpiling them at the lower levels.

Kevin Pillar and Pitch Recognition
   I'm straying from my usual focus in writing about a Major Leaguer, but I've always been a huge fan of Pillar's.
    Lightly recruited in high school, Pillar attended Division 2 Cal State Dominguez, where his high school baseball coach had landed as job as an assistant coach.  The gritty Pillar knew only one way to play the game, according to an article in the L.A. Daily News - full out:

“We had a saying: ‘Game Speed,’ ” said Murphy Su’a, then the Toros’ baseball coach. “That’s the way we wanted to do everything. Kevin was at the forefront of that.” 

   Pillar broke his foot in his sophomore year.  In batting practice, when he collided with the centerfield wall.  And he didn't leave the field.

   Much of the rest of Pillar's history is well known:  an NCAA record 54-game hitting streak in his junior year still didn't garner much attention, and he lasted until the 32nd round of the 2011 draft.
Sent to Bluefield to start his pro career,  Pillar won the Appalachian League batting title in 2011.  Just wait until he gets to the next level, some said - his limitations will be exposed.  Skipping Vancouver, Pillar spent only a half season with Lansing in 2012, but observers there saw enough to name him the Midwest League's MVP.  Still, the best projection most evaluators could bestow on him was, "overachieving, Reed Johnson-type fourth outfielder."

   Despite the detractors, Pillar made his MLB debut in 2013, and played a vital role in the ending the Blue Jays' 22-year playoff drought in 2015.  He got to the majors to stay through a combination of athleticism, high baseball IQ, and a never-say-die attitude.
   That aggressiveness, of course, can be a mixed blessing.  On the one hand, it allows Pillar to make incredible, highlight-reel catches.  On the other, perhaps because he's had to fight for pretty much everything he's accomplished in baseball, Pillar is not content to be a patient pitch hunter.  As a result, he tends to put himself in pitcher's counts.  His average exit velocity ranked 715th among all MLB players last year, and only 5 players swung at a higher percentage of pitches outside the strike zone last year.  Those two facts don't add up to being in a hitter's count much of the time.
   Pillar's walk rates have consistently hovered at around 5% throughout his time in the minors and the majors.  He's a volume hitter, however - he could post higher OBP and batting averages in minor league baseball, because the pitchers there lacked command, and Pillar could sit back and wait to hammer the occasional cookie delivered into his wheelhouse.  At the major league level, where pitchers can command their arsenal of pitches better, Pillar's aggressiveness at the plate has been something of an impediment.
   Manager John Gibbons showed great faith in placing Pillar atop the Blue Jays batting order this season, but that faith was not rewarded.  Pillar suggested to the Toronto media that his pitch selection might be improved in the leadoff role, but such has proven not to be the case over the first half month of the season.  And maybe it wasn't fair to put him in that role - not just because analytics suggest that a player with his skill set would be better suited to the bottom of the order, where his speed could be more of a factor in putting him in scoring position ahead of a singles hitter like Ryan Goins, but also because for years, Pillar has known only one approach at the plate:  see the ball, hit the ball - put the ball in play, and make the defence get him out.   It may be too late for him to drastically change that.  Just as a generation of Dominican prospects grew up with the mantra, "you can\t walk your way off the island," the same may have held true for Pillar's generation of D2 players.

   If you felt so obliged, you can enter your email address near the top of this page to receive these and other Blue Jays prospect updates without having to search for them.  Later this week, I'll be posting about RHP Jeremy Gabryszwski, who is pitching for New Hampshire this year.  Never considered a top prospect, he gives up contact, but has managed to get hitters out at every level.  For daily updates about all things Blue Jays prospects, follow me on Twitter:  @Clutchlings77.

A Night at the Nat

 A recent west coast road trip found us at Vancouver's venerable Nat Bailey stadium, to watch the hometown defending Northwest League champs take on last year's runner-up Boise Silverhawks on a beautiful early July evening.
   The Blue Jays and Vancouver first reached a player development agreement in 2011, and the results have been nothing short of spectacular.  The Canadians also won the NWL title that first year, and with a mix of recent college draftees and players from extended spring training on this year's roster, are competitive again this year, just two games out of first at game time.
   Vancouver has a lengthy minor league history, dating back almost a hundred years.  The city hosted a Triple A team in the Pacific Coast league for most of the last half of the previous century.  When the franchise relocated to Sacramento after the 2000 season, the NWL relocated its Southern Oregon team to the lower mainland.  The Canadians were affiliated with the A's from 2001 to 2010.  Locally owned since 2007, the Canadians have drawn significantly better as a Jays affiliate, attracting over 162 000 games in their first season.  After 14 home dates this season, they're averaging just over 4 600 fans per game, trailing only Spokane. The C's are very popular in Vancouver - many people we encountered during our stay were thrilled to hear we were taking in a game, and most indicated that they had either recently attended a game, or were about to in the near future. With a PDC in effect until the end of the 2016 season, it's hard to see the Jays giving up on this market, where their farmhands can play in an enthusiastic environment.  It helps to further grow the brand, too.
   The Canadians make their home at Nat Bailey, nestled up against green space in a central Vancouver neighbourhood.  The Nat was originally named Capilano Stadium, and was built in 1951.  It was renamed in 1978 to honour a local restaurateur who had been pivotal in bringing minor league ball back to the city.
The new ownership invested heavily in renovations upon taking over the club.  The stadium now hosts the Canadians and the UBC Thunderbirds, and seats over 5 000, with a kids play area down the left field line, and other family-friendly amenities that are in vogue in milb parks today.  There are a few obstructed views because of several pillars which support the grandstand - we were behind one with our grandstand seats.  We didn't know the seats were obstructed when we purchased them online, and while we were able to shift down a bit after the 2nd inning in order to get a clearer view of home plate, the club should indicate the view for purchasers, or discount the seats.  The Nathan's famous hot dogs and selection of local craft beer helped make up for having to peer around the pillar.
   The evening's game featured a pair of celebrities.  One was former Expo and Canadian Baseball Hall of Famer Tim Raines.  Raines, who was known as the Rock, is more like a boulder now.  He was in town in his role as a roving Jays minor league baserunning and outfielder coach, working with the young Canadians on the finer points of the game.  Raines patiently sat under the grandstand, signing memorabilia from mostly middle-aged men until the 7th inning.
   Another famous name was that of Gretzky.  Not Wayne, in this case, although he was in town for a game a few days later, but rather his son Trevor, who was chosen by the Cubs in the 7th round of the 2011 draft.
The younger Gretzky reminded spectators that this was Class A (short season) ball by taking a bad route on Chaz Frank's leadoff double in the home half of the first, then robbing LB Dantzler of another double by making a sliding grab along the left field line two batters later.  Frank repaid Gretzky the favour by getting caught stealing at third, breaking a baseball cardinal rule of not making the third out at third base (taking the bat out of NWL player of the week Jordan Leyland's hands).
   Starting for Boise was Edmonton native Rob Zastryzny, the Cubs' 2nd round pick last month.  Zastryzny, who grew up in Texas, was making his pro debut, and was limited to only that first inning of work.  His successor, James Pugliese, was touched up for four runs by the Canadians in the third, not helping his own cause by booting a routine double play ball.  Frank again showed his aggressiveness on the base paths, scoring from third on a ball in the dirt that Boise catcher Cael Brockmeyer couldn't control.  The ball bounced only a few feet from home, but Pugliese couldn't handle the toss from Brockmeyer, and Frank slid across with the third run of the inning.
   Starting on the mound for the Canadians was Matt Dermody, a 6'5" beanpole with the build that the Jays are so fond of.  Dermody was drafted by the Blue Jays in the 28th round of the June draft out of the University of Iowa.  The lefthander had been drafted previously by the Pirates, Rockies, and Diamondbacks. Dermody was making his first start as a pro, after a pair of long relief outings for the Canadians.  Dermody was clocked around 89-90 with his fastball, reaching 92 in the 3rd.  His offspeed stuff was coming in around 76-77, and he was successful in keeping the Silverhawks' hitters off balance as a result.  Dermody was really only in trouble during 3rd inning, when he gave up a one-out single to Brockmeyer, followed by a double to the left field wall by Gretzky.  Brockmeyer showed again his inexperience at the pro level when he attempted to score from third on a groundball to 3rd base by leadoff hitter David Bote.  Canadians 3rd baseman Andy Fermin easily threw Brockmeyer out at home. Second baseman David Harris made a nice play to end the inning, quickly stepping in front of Bote to field a slow roller and throw out the batter at first.
   Dermody pitched 5 scoreless innings, giving up only those two hits.  The Silverhawks' Pugliese was followed by a pair of relievers, who kept the Canadians off the scoreboard for the rest of the game.  Lefthander Scott Silverstein relieved Dermody in the 6th, and may have been the most impressive pitcher of the night.  Silverstein was the Jays' 25th round pick last month out of Virginia.  Silverstein had previously made one start with Bluefield of the Appy League prior to his promotion to Vancouver. With his fastball mostly around 92, Silverstein pounded the strike zone down low, and retired the first six hitters he faced.  In the 8th, he got into a bit of a jam, allowing a pair of singles around a strikeout. Bote hit a one-hopper right back to Silverstein, who promptly wheeled and threw to shortstop Dickie Thon Jr who was covering 2nd.  Thon's relay to first wasn't in time to nail Bote, but for some reason, Boise shortstop Danny Lockhart, who was on 2nd when the ball was hit, didn't move on the play, even though he was forced.  By the time he realized his error and bolted for 3rd, Canadians first baseman Dantzler had thrown to Fermin to nip him for the thrid out.  Silverstein blanked Boise in the 9th to preserve the shutout and the win.
    The Canadians in-game entertainment staff do a great job.  On the video scoreboard, there's a good balance between information and entertainment.  The grounds crew has quite a YouTube following - they put together a nice little choreographed routine to Michael Jackson's Beat It when they had completed their 3rd inning raking of the infield.  Here's a sample of their work:

All in all, it was a good night at the ball park.