Clutchlings Notebook - Who Wants a Promotion?

Matt Smoral
Eddie Michels photo

  After a week off, it's time for another look around the Blue Jays minor league system.

Who's in Line for a Promotion?
   Full season minor leagues are a only a few weeks away from mid-season, which is usually the time when organizations bump their top-performing prospects up to the next level.
  Over the past few seasons, this has been a busy time for those of us who follow Blue Jays prospects, but the pickings appear to be slimmer this time around.
   One of the reasons for that would be an apparent change in philosophy by the new regime running the development side of the organization.  The multi-level promotions of prospects within a season like that of Daniel Norris, Dalton Pompey, and Kendall Graveman may be a thing of the past.
  Another factor is likely that after all of former GM Alex Anthopoulos' trade deadline wheeling and dealing is that many of the fastest rising prospects are no longer in the organization.

   When teams promote a player, there are many considerations.  A player's readiness from a competitive point of view is probably chief among them, but teams also consider the physical and emotional maturity of the player.
    It is somewhat easier to decide if a pitcher is ready more so than a hitter, based on the organization's assessment of his delivery, fastball command, and secondary pitches.  With a hitter, there are more performance-related aspects to consider - does he have weaknesses in his swing and/or pitch recognition that will be exploited by pitchers at the next level?  Is there a position for him to play?
    In deciding whether or not to promote a player, teams gather opinions from many people in the organization:  the player's manager and coach, minor league instructors, farm department people, and scouting staff.  In addition to the above, they consider the player's makeup - does he have the work ethic to hone the skills he may need to upgrade to succeed at the next level?  How well will he handle the pressure?  How will he react in the event of adversity?

   This year, the organization decided to send Anthony Alford and Conner Greene back to Dunedin to start the year, even though Greene had ended 2015 with New Hampshire, and Alford cracked the upper levels of many Top 100 lists.  Sean Reid-Foley was sent to Lansing, even though he had spent time in Dunedin last year.  The message to these players was that they still had aspects of their game to work on, and that promotions were not necessarily guaranteed.  Alford missed a month of action after being injured in a home plate collision in Dunedin's first game and is just getting his timing back, while Reid-Foley has had some ups and downs as he adjusts to a tweaked delivery (which I'll detail in a future post), but was masterful in his last start against Dayton, an 8-inning, 10K effort, which has to have lifted his stock considerably with Lansing.  Greene would seem to be the likeliest candidate of the three, although there isn't necessarily an opening for him in New Hampshire's rotation at the moment.
   The prospect with the highest chance of being elevated would have to be Jon Harris.  After failing to get out of the first inning in his first start of the year in April, Harris has been lights out, running off a 34 inning scoreless streak over his next 6 starts before coming back to earth (9 hits, 7 earned runs in 4.1 IP) in his last start.  Harris has dominated Midwest League hitters, and there appears to be a spot in Dunedin's rotation for him.  As much as the new management seems to wanting to be taking things gradually with their top prospects, it will be a surprise if the 2015 1st rounder is still in Lansing a month from now.

   Beyond Harris and possibly Greene, it's hard to see another player being elevated at this point.  Of course, a pair of Lansing relievers (Colton Turner and Connor Fisk) and starter Francisco Rios were promoted earlier this month. RHP Patrick Murphy was promoted from extended to Lansing a few weeks ago. If there was a name that might be worth mentioning, however, it's that of New Hampshire OF Dwight Smith Jr, who has hit .390 over his last 10 games, and has been a big part of the Fisher Cats resurgence, although there does not appear to be a spot for him in Buffalo's outfield at the moment.

Smoral on the Rebound
   When I get asked "whatever happened to...?" about a prospect, Smoral's name almost always comes up.
    The 2012 sandwich rounder has had a hard time staying healthy, putting together only one solid season (and in short season ball, at that) during his time in the Blue Jays system.
   Back issues kept him in extended last year, and his season came to a crashing halt in August when he took a line drive off his temple.
   He pitched for the first time since then earlier in May in extended, and after a rough outing pitched much better in a two-inning inter squad stint just over a week ago. Baby steps to be sure, but perhaps Smoral is on the road to resuming his career.  The good news is that he's pitching, period.

Jordan Romano Update
   I like to keep an eye on as many Canadian born and raised prospects as I can; those who toil in the Blue Jays organization are a special interest.
   Romano, a 10th round pick from Oral Roberts in 2014, missed all of last year recovering from Tommy John surgery.  Regular readers of this blog know that I've been following his progress closely since then.  Checking in with him last week, the Markham native was upbeat (as usual), and informed that he will be working as a starter this year.  When asked what the difference in his mindset between relieving (which he did in his first year in the system) and starting, Romano responded:

I'm getting my reps in down here but I'm itching to get out of here. The biggest thing for me is not letting a bad or good inning effect my mindset for the next inning. Keep the same mentality going into every inning.  It's pretty fun going 5 or 6 instead of 1.

   Romano reports no problems with his elbow, which many Tommy John patients report in their first few months after starting to throw again, "Just regular general stiffness, there's like no extra soreness in my elbow after throwing."  For now, Romano is biding his time, waiting either for a spot in Lansing, or in short season in a couple of weeks.  Reports from Florida indicate that he hit 97 in a game against the Pirates.  At 6'4"/200, he is yet another long, lean, and athletic pitching prospect that the organization is stockpiling.

   

A Dearth of Hitters?
   Scouting amateur pitchers, in many ways, is a less complex task than scouting hitters.
Scouts can easily identify a pitcher with promising mechanics, fastball velocity/command, and secondary pitches, regardless of the competition.  That's not necessarily the case with hitters, where the unevenness of competition, especially at the high school level, can cloud a hitter's potential.
   This may be one of the reasons the Blue Jays have shown a preference for high school pitchers - even after last July, 14 of the Top 30 Blue Jays prospects according to MLB Pipeline are pitchers.
The Blue Jays have tried to choose hitters in the upper rounds of the draft (except for 2013, when 11 of their first 12 picks were pitchers), but to this point there have been more misses than hits.  The international market has seen a similar focus on pitchers - the only true potential impact bat IFA signing during the Anthopoulos era was Franklin Barreto, who went to Oakland in the Josh Donaldson deal.
   While you can't put a lot of stock in minor league statistics, this one stands out:

   Lansing has the third-lowest (.216) batting average in all of minor league baseball.  New Hampshire ranks last in the Eastern League in batting average, and is next-to-last in slugging and OBP.  For all their strengths in identifying possible impact arms, the Blue Jays have had great difficulty developing high-level bats.  At the moment, about the only hitters who might project favourably at the major league level are Alford, Rowdy Tellez (whose bat has awoken after a slow start), and Vladimir Guerrero Jr, who not surprisingly is struggling a bit with offspeed stuff in extended.  

  While the Blue Jays have focused on pitching, the Red Sox have drafted the likes of Mookie Betts and signed IFA's like Xander Bogaerts, who project to be first-division players for the next decade. Perhaps this will change with the new regime - the top 3 Indians prospects at the moment are hitters, and their system has already graduated Francisco Lindor.  With an aging core of everyday players, however, there does not promise to be a great deal of immediate help from the farm system.

Dwight Smith Jr on a Tear

   So not all is doom and gloom when it comes to the hitting prospects.  After a slow start, the 2011 sandwich rounder is tearing the cover off the ball for New Hampshire, helping to revive a moribund Fisher Cat offence.  

   Hitting as low as .206 on May 14th, Smith has been on a tear, hitting .364 over his last 10 games, and logging six multi-hit games during that stretch. Smith is repeating AA after an injury and inconsistency riddled 2015, and while the organization would likely prefer to see a more sustained stretch of this type of production, you would have to think he will see AAA Buffalo at some point this season.

   The knock on Smith has been that he does not have the kind of power a corner outfield bat should have, and the organization did experiment with him at 2nd in the Arizona Fall League a few seasons ago.  Just the same, his line-drive stroke is hard to ignore, and he may be finally starting to put things together.

Clutchlings Notebook Vol 4 Ed 5

Sean Reid-Foley

More news from around the Blue Jays minor league system.....

   First, I just received word that Lansing RHP Francisco Rios has been promoted to Dunedin.  I wrote about the 2012 IFA from Mexico just yesterday, after I charted and watched his May 1st start.  I'm very anxious to see how he fares against tougher competition.  Rios is the fastest rising pitching prospect in the system at the moment.  The Lugs and D-Jays have not confirmed the promotion, but a source close to the situation confirmed it early this evening.

Transactions for the past week, from Baseball America

Traded: C Martin Medina to Nationals for cash
Recalled: LHP Chad Girodo
Optioned to Triple-A: 3B Matt Dominguez
Placed on 7-day DL: RHP Bobby Korecky, RHP Sean Reid-Foley, RHP Tom Robson, LHP Pat McCoy, 3B Emilio Guerrero, OF Melky Mesa
Reinstated from DL: RHP Bobby Korecky, 1B L.B. Dantzler, OF Anthony Alford


  The Blue Jays had a surplus of Catchers heading into the season, and have shed some of that depth by trading Medina and releasing Humerto Quintero in April.
  Top prospect Alford showed some rust after almost a month-long layoff due to injury, striking out in 8 of his first 9 ABs as a DH.  He's back playing the outfield, but was moved to LF on Sunday, possibly to ease the strain on his right knee.
  Reid-Foley has been his usual bat-missing self with Lansing, with 20Ks in 18 IP, but still is working on his command, as his 10 walks would suggest.  He was activated today, and will start in Bowling Green tonight.
  Several sources had suggested that Robson would be a candidate to move quickly this year, and he was hitting 96 with his FB when I saw him in March.  Command problems have plagued him (22 BBs in 16 innings) so far, and when he's been around the plate, he's been hit hard.  No word on what the injury is, but the slow starts he and LHP Ryan Borucki have had are a big reason why the D-Jays, who had the best collection of talent in the system at the start of the year, are three games under .500.  Both missed most (Robson) or all (Borucki) with arm-related issues last year.  Borucki has been hit particularly hard, and has been up in the zone most of the past month - an issue the team has tried to address between starts, but with little success.

Andy Burns
   Reading Jeff Passan's excellent new release, The Arm, got me thinking, in a roundabout way, about Andy Burns.
   Passan discussed legendary pitcher Nolan Ryan, who was something of a medical marvel, hitting mid 90s with his fastball well into his 40s.  That he did this with a torn UCL, which Ryan was advised (but refused) to have Tommy John surgery on when he was 39, is nothing short of amazing.
One of the things Ryan talked to Passan about was how the Angels usually only had a 9-man pitching staff when he pitched for them in the 70s.  And that meant longer benches for position players. Today's teams typically carry 12 or 13 arms, which means 3-4 less spots for position players.  That translates to more action for regulars (the median player in the 74 Angels usual lineup had 484 PAs; for the 2015 Jays, it was 507), and an increased importance in versatility among the non-starters.
  The Super Utility player is a response to that roster change.  Ben Zobrist, of course, is the gold standard for the role, contributing with his bat while filling a multitude of positions capably.  The Blue Jays have been grooming Burns for such a role for several seasons, and he may get a chance to display some of that versatility after getting called up on Friday, as the Jays started a week of interleague play.
   Burns was a bit of an under the radar player, having to sit out during his draft year after transferring from Kentucky to Arizona.  Primarily a SS in college, Burns has played all four infield positions, as well as the corner outfield spots in the past few seasons.  After a breakout 2013, he seemed poised to move up the ladder to AAA, but he struggled a bit at the plate in 2014.
   A BA scouting report from 2013:

Burns is an above-average defender with first-step quickness, soft hands and agility. He should be an average hitter and excels at driving middle-away fastballs and stays on breaking balls well. He has bat-to-ball skills and a good idea of the strike zone. With present gap power, he has the strength for at least average power

  Burns's stay with the Blue Jays may be brief, but he will be back.  The only thing he had left to prove last year was his ability to hit AAA pitching, which he did at a .293/.351/.372 clip.  With his ability to hit, play a number of positions, and run the bases well, Burns should find himself in a larger role with the team later this year, or early next.

 
Jon Harris
  The struggles of the Jays' first round pick in 2015 have been well-documented.  Last year, fatigue was likely the culprit, and a few things beyond his control resulted in him lasting less than an inning in his first start this year.
  Harris missed a couple of weeks when he had to return home to Missouri to attend a family funeral, but he has shown in two starts since his return why the Blue Jays chose him last year.
  He hasn't given up a run in either start, and finished the fifth inning for only the second time in his short pro career, and picked up his first career Win to boot, in Lansing's 1-0 victory over the Astros' Quad City affiliate last week.
  Command has been one of his biggest issues since turning pro, but Harris walked only one batter in each of those last two starts.  His absence means that he's still on a pitch count of between 60 and 70 per game, but the shackles should come off soon, giving Lansing yet another electric arm in the starting rotation.
   

Andrew Guillotte
   I wrote about the scrappy Lansing outfielder/leadoff hitter last week.
   I admit that I didn't pay much attention to Guillotte, a 32nd round pick out of McNeese State last year.
   Guillotte's numbers were solid, but not spectacular for a Vancouver team that did not have much to watch beyond Harris (and later, Angel Perdomo) last summer.
   A fixture atop Lansing's batting order this year, Guillotte has posted a .319/.413/.436 line to start the season, and has been a sparkplug in the Lugnuts lineup.  Suffice to say, he's on my radar now.
   Guillotte works the count, gets on base, steals bases, and can play all three outfield positions.  He was not heavily scouted in college - his father Bill told me that the Jays were the only team that had talked to him seriously prior to the draft.  He had a storied college career, earning 2nd team All Southland Conference honours after his senior year, and 1st team recognition in his junior season. Guillotte was the fourth-toughest hitter to strike out in the NCAA last year, fanning only 11 times in 249 ABs.  He led the Cowboys in hits, runs, doubles, and stolen bases last year, and became their all-time leader in hits.
   At 5'8", Guillotte is long-used to hearing his name and the word "undersized" in the same sentence.
According to his dad, that's never stopped him:

.when Andrew was 8 or 9 he told me he couldn't wait to be the biggest kid in the team. Knowing that I am only 5'7", he was never going to be the biggest kid on the team. So I told him, Andrew, you will never be the biggest kid on the team, that is why you have to play with the biggest HEART!! I know I am biased, but I don't know another kid who loves the game of baseball more than Andrew Guillotte.

  The Louisiana-based Guillottes were able to see Andrew play with the C's in Everett, WA last year, and were in the stands a few weeks earlier when he hit his first pro Home Run for Bluefield,  Bill was able to capture it on his phone:

Matt Smoral

   Few prospects have had as rocky a road as the 2012 Comp round pick has had.

Tall southpaws tend to develop slowly, but Smoral has been plagued by myriad injuries dating back to his senior year of high school.  He hasn't topped 54 innings in his career, and that high water mark was achieved in 2014.  To his credit, Smoral left a strong impression that year, making BA's Top 20 Appy League prospects list, and just missing the Northwest League version.

  2015 was pretty much a write off for the Ohioan.  Back issues limited him to 13 innings, and his season ended in late August when he took a line drive off of his temple, just above his eye.

   Smoral faced live hitters for the first time in almost 8 months in an extended game on Saturday, and threw 30 pitches, according to Eddie Michels of Rocketsports.  Baby steps to be sure, but maybe Smoral is finally on the road to recover.

Eddie Michels/rocketsports-ent.com photo

Jackson Lowery
   Another Blue Jays minor leaguer I admit to overlooking is this righthander, signed as a free agent from Arkansas last year.  He played for a Bluefield team that similarly was bereft of high level talent for much of the summer.
  Lowery started his collegiate career as an infielder with Central Arkansas, then converting to pitching and transferring to Meridian CC, before moving to Arkansas.  He pitched most of last season in the Razorbacks' bullpen, becoming their go-to long reliever.
  I asked Lowery how he is faring with the grind of extended, where players train every morning, then play an afternoon game five to six days per week.  He's handling it well, judging from his response:

Spring has been going well, just trying to get better everyday. I am working on developing my change up and fine tuning my slider mostly and I never stop working on fastball command.  Being a member of the Blue Jays and having the opportunity to play for such an awesome organization is all the motivation I need. I love playing the game and for it to be my job is a dream come true, not a day goes by that I am not grateful to be playing the game as my job. I have the best job on the planet. Also being undrafted and proving people wrong is always motivating to me.

  Ordinarily, a free agent college bullpen arm doesn't attract much attention, but Lowery's numbers at Bluefield last year (21Ks in 16 innings between the GCL and Appy League) merit at least a second look.
  He's at extended spring training at the moment, but should head northwest to join Vancouver when their season opens in June.


 

Smoral Looking to Rebound in 2016

MiLB.com photo

    Progress in any field of endeavour is seldom made in a straight line.
In the world of professional sports, especially one with a development curve as steep and long as baseball's is, progress can come in a series of backward and forward steps that on balance leave the player moving forward.

   Organizations don't always mind seeing a prospect struggle.  For some, the difficulties they experience in their early years of pro ball are the first extended taste of failure they've ever had at a game that has come so easily for them.  The lessons learned from that adversity can go a long way to helping to develop that prospect.

   And that may mean that Blue Jays LHP Matthew Smoral is ready to break through, and start to fulfill the potential the team saw in him when they took him as a first round compensation pick (50th overall) in 2012, despite having missed most of his senior year of high school competition with a foot injury.

   The accepted wisdom in baseball that left-handers seem to take longer to develop, and tall ones even more so.  6"8" Smoral made his pro debut in the GCL in the summer of 2013, walking 26, hitting 10, and striking out 27 in 25 innings.  Invited to Instructs that fall, the organization worked on refining Smoral's delivery to help correct his control issues.  Sent to Bluefield for the start of the 2014 season, Smoral had a scintillating Appy League debut, striking out 8 batters over 3 innings.  By mid-season, he was promoted to Vancouver, and played a prominent role in the C's bid for a fourth consecutive NWL title that just fell short.

   Heading into 2015, the sky appeared to be the limit for Smoral.  The year before, he routinely sat between 91-93with his fastball, touching 95 and showing great movement when down in the strike zone, and showed a slider that could be downright nasty when he commanded it.  The plan likely was for the Ohio native to start in the Midwest League with Lansing, but back issues kept him in Florida when spring training camp broke.  Brought along slowly, Smoral pitched under the watchful eyes of the Blue Jays medical staff out of Dunedin's bullpen in June, then was sent to Bluefield to presumably get stretched out.
   Except that Smoral really never did get stretched out, and was limited to 10.2 innings over 8 appearances, before a late-August screaming line drive off of the side of his head caused the Blue Jays to shut him down for the season.

  Entering 2016, Smoral has disappeared from the prospect radar.  The Blue Jays 9th ranked prospect after 2012, 13th after 2013, and 11th after 2014, as well as the Appalachian League's 7th top prospect in 2014 by Baseball America, Smoral is appearing on few top prospects lists at this point, and for good reason:  2014 was a major step backward for him.
  But there is good news on the horizon.  Smoral tweeted a video of himself which clearly shows he's healthy once again:

@AssaultAirBike 51 Cals in 30 sec here @FitnessDiesel . What's the 60 sec record? #TrainingThroughPain #SufferBetter pic.twitter.com/JK1SoaLWth

— Matthew Smoral (@MattSmoral) January 21, 2016

  It would also appear that Smoral has been working with the crew from Driveline Baseball, a pitching consulting firm that has worked with a number of Jays prospects:

A picture of where @drivelinebases has taken my arm path this offseason, compared to the last two years. pic.twitter.com/JXoGgSgIFV

— Matthew Smoral (@MattSmoral) January 18, 2016

  The improved arm angle should allow Smoral to stay on top of his pitches better, and keep the ball down in the strike zone with greater consistency.  Besides staying healthy, command has been his biggest issue since turning pro.

 Undoubtedly, Smoral still has a long road ahead of him.  Entering his 4th pro season, he has thrown all of 4 innings above short season ball.  At the same time, his health and his mechanics appear to be the best they've been in some time.  It's hard to predict a breakthrough season for him just yet, but some of the ingredients are there.

Spring Training Prospect Update #3

   The trickle of news coming out of spring training is turning into an April torrent.
With the Blue Jays making what's becoming their annual end-of-spring-training trip to Montreal for a pair of final exhibition games, the season opener is fast approaching.  We should know what the full season minor league rosters should look like by the end of the weekend.

Here's what's in the news:

2014 first round pick Jeff Hoffman has been making steady progress in his recovery from Tommy John surgery, and threw in his first spring training game yesterday.  I think it went ok:

On his road back from TJ surgery, #BlueJays prospect Jeff Hoffman threw a 1-2-3 inning today in ST and worked at 95-98 mph. Wow
— Frankie Piliere (@FPiliereD1) April 1, 2015

   Before we get too excited, Hoffman is still at least a month away from when-it-counts game action.  And if there's one thing we've learned about the recovery, it's that most players take closer to 18 months to fully recover their velocity and command, Roberto Osuna being a case in point.  Still, it was welcome news.

   If you don't follow our Left Coast friend Charlie Caskey (@CharlieCaskey) on Twitter, you should.  Caskey follows the Vancouver Canadians, and blogs about them for the Vancouver Sun.  Charlie also likes his barley and hops beverages, and is a dedicated dad, so he's all right in my books.
   Caskey has a source who let him in on some developments with several Blue Jays minor leaguers, and he shared some of that information in a pair of posts today.  The first involves news about the possible makeup of Lansing's pitching staff this year.  It's always interesting to see who the club sends to Lansing, the lowest of the full season teams in the organization.  Some pitchers move up the ladder from the GCL to the Appy League to the NWL one step at a time before hitting full season play in the Midwest League, while others skip one or more of those rungs and are fast-tracked to Lansing.
   And the news about Lansing isn't good.  Ryan Borucki, who made a comeback from TJ last year and pitched well at Bluefield and Vancouver, has been shut down with a sore elbow.  Maybe it's just the regular spring soreness, but it takes on added urgency when a player is throwing with a replacement ligament.  Not to get ahead of ourselves, but the success rate for a second Tommy John is considerably less than that of the first. This could be precautionary, of course, but he likely will be staying in Florida next week.
  Fellow southpaw Matt Smoral followed the same route as Borucki last year, and word from Caskey is that he's not had the best of springs, and he may be on the bubble.  It could just be a hiccup, or it could be he needs time in Extended Spring Training.  The Blue Jays 2nd round pick in 2012 has been brought along very slowly, but made excellent progress last year.
   Finally, yet another lefty, Jairo Labourt, seems to be having an electric spring, and may find himself in Dunedin next week.  Labourt was challenged with an assignment to Lansing last year, but had trouble with his command, and was sent back to Extended.  Sent to Vancouver to join the C's for short season play, he was one of the NWL's top prospects, and restored much luster to his reputation.
  As well, we had learned earlier in the month that Alberto Tirado will remain in the bullpen this year, and if I had to guess, he'll start with Dunedin.  Tirado struggled with the cool Midwest weather last year, and while all Blue Jays prospects raised in warm weather climates have to deal with it eventually, if he's been pitching as well as we hear he has, High A will be the better placement for him.
   Last year's 2nd rounder, Sean Reid-Foley, appears to be poised to skip both Bluefield and Vancouver for Lansing.  He's definitely on the fast track.
   On the position player side, Caskey reports that Lansing's outfield may resemble a track team, with speedsters Roemon Fields, Anthony Alford, and DJ Davis possibly getting assignments there.
   Davis, the club's first round pick in 2012, was a disappointment last year at Lansing, but was one of the youngest players in the league, and is still learning the game.  I've written extensively about Alford, the two-sport star who suddenly gave up on college football last September to focus on baseball, and while he proved during his time in Australia this winter and with the big club earlier this month that he still is raw, his ceiling is quite high.  Then there's Fields, who two springs ago was out of baseball, and working for the US Postal Service. Here he is, hitting a routine stand-up triple against the Orioles:

   According to Caskey, a Florida-based scout puts Alford ahead of Davis in terms of development.  At the same time, Davis played some of his best baseball last summer in the brief time fellow Mississippian Alford was in the lineup.  Pairing them up at least to start the season could be beneficial for both, although it's hard to see Alford spending the whole season in Lansing.  Blue Jays fans may be just as excited about Alford next spring as they have been about Roberto Osuna and Miguel Castro this spring.  As for Fields, there is talk that he could start at Lansing or Dunedin.  Veteran superscout Mel Didier said that he is the best defensive outfielder in the organization, major and minor leagues.

    Caskey also reports that Catchers AJ Jimenez and Derrick Chung are out with injuries - no word on the extent with the oft-injured Jimenez, and Chung's sounds like an oblique, which isn't serious, but can be if it's not treated properly.

   Jeff Moore of Baseball Prospectus had a few observations about Blue Jays prospects at Spring Training today.
   About Dwight Smith, who has been playing some second base this spring, he offers:

 ..an intriguing player last year in the FSL, but one likely to end up as a fourth outfielder thanks to his “tweener” profile (not enough power for a corner, not enough defense for center). Perhaps in an attempt to remedy that, he has added a rather extreme leg kick in his stance. It might cost him some contact, but if it moves his power up a tick on the scale it could be enough to make him an everyday player. Stay tuned.

    On Emilio Guerrero, who the Jays have been attempting to convert to an outfielder, Moore observed:

 The overall product doesn’t add up to the sum of the parts for Emilio Guerrero (Blue Jays), who continues to look the part but baffles scouts with below-average baseball IQ and poor execution at the plate. The frame, at 6-4 and thin, is ideal, and he handles it well enough to handle shortstop for the time being, but the lack of approach at the plate continues to hold him back.  

 

Speaking of Osuna and Castro, I won't be surprised to find one of them back in the minors before the end of April, and if I had to wager, it would be Osuna.  Both were almost unhittable earlier in the month, but now that rosters have been pared and hitters are getting their timing back, both have given up some contact and been touched for some runs in their last few outings.  Castro may be groomed to be a multiple innings guy, but Osuna needs to pitch, and if he has a few rocky outings, I could see him making his way back, probably to AA, where he should be stretched out as a starter again.

   Spring Training is a time of renewal, and for some players, it's a chance at redemption - another shot at the big time.  At the same time, we tend to forget that for every player who makes it to the majors, there are dozens who don't, and the end of March for some can be the-writing-on-the-wall time.  Such was the case for righthander Ben White, who announced his retirement on Twitter:

Thanks everyone who supported me the past 4 years. Today I retired from the Toronto Blue Jays & the game of baseball. pic.twitter.com/T8w80vyXp6
— Ben White (@Bennyhana42) April 1, 2015

   White hails from Parksburg, PA, about an hour outside of Philadelphia, and played college ball at Temple.  White signed with the Blue Jays as an undrafted free agent following his senior year in 2011, and had advanced from Vancouver to New Hampshire, where he started a pair of games last year.  White has been a solid, if unspectacular performer for the team, pitching to contact.  If I had to speculate, there may not have been room for him in New Hampshire's rotation this year, with John Anderson converted to starting, and Taylor Cole, Matt Boyd, Casey Lawrence, and Jayson Aquino (acquired before spring training for reliever Tyler Ybarra) ahead of him, White may have felt at 26 that it was time to move on with this life.  He exited from the game in a classy manner.


One last note:
  Caskey and I compared notes about pitchers in minor league camp who have impressed, and we had one in common:  lefty Matt Boyd, who Caskey's source said has been "throwing fuel" this month.
  Boyd is another player I've written a fair amount about, and have gotten to know a little bit through our interactions on Twitter.  There's no cheering in the press box, but since I'm not a beat writer (or a journalist, really, although I try to produce quality content), I can pull a bit for this guy, who was matching Daniel Norris and Kendall Graveman strike for strike last spring, until foot and elbow (bone chips) issues limited his effectiveness.

    I write a regular Monday notebook, the first issue of which should be out early next week (maybe even Monday) - I'm holding out for the announcement of those minor league rosters.

Who's the Next Blue Jays Breakout Prospect?

   After Blue Jays prospects Daniel Norris, Kendall Graveman, Miguel Castro, and Dalton Pompey caught heavy doses of helium and quickly ascended the prospect ladder in 2014, it's time to take a look to see who could be poised for a similar breakout this year.
   Norris was on most Top 10 Blue Jays prospects list heading into last season.  Such was not the case with Graveman and Pompey.  And while Pompey and Norris' stats over the final weeks of the 2013 season gave a small glimpse of what was to come, Graveman gave no such indication of the quantum leap he was about to take.
  So, in determining who these prospects might be,  we looked at what their numbers over the last six or so weeks of the season were like.  We also tended to look at those outside of our Top 10, too.  So, here are several players who might make several jumps up the minor league ladder this year, and become familiar names to diehard Blue Jays fans -  if everything falls into place for them:


1.  Jairo Labourt, LHP
   Labourt's 2014 was very much a tale of two seasons.
  Challenged with an assignment to Lansing to start the season, Labourt struggled with his command, and was sent back to extended spring training after walking 20 in his first 14 innings.
Labourt regrouped in Florida and was sent to Vancouver when Northwest League play started in June. He was brilliant in the C's rotation, and was named the league's 3rd best prospect by Baseball America.  
   He rediscovered his command in the Pacific Northwest, striking out 82 in 71 innings, while walking 37.  Right handed hitters managed only a .171/.286/.202 line against him.
   Labourt's fastball sits in the low 90s, and touches 95.  His slider rates as his best secondary pitch, sometimes showing tilt and depth, but he had trouble commanding it this year.
 Why he may breakout:  From mid-July on, Labourt posted an 0.95 ERA in 9 starts totalling 47 innings.  He walked 22, and struck out 53.  He will be eager to repeat that success in a second shot at the Midwest League.  If he continues to command his fastball and develop this secondaries, Labourt could advance several levels this year.

2.  Rowdy Tellez, 1B
   We've tried not to go overboard in our praise of the Californian slugger.  This may be the year that the Blue Jays take the wraps off of him and let him soar.
   A legend on the showcase circuit during his high school years, Tellez struggled in his first summer of pro ball in the GCL in 2013, but brought his final numbers up to near-respectability with a hot final week of the short season summer.  Reports out of Florida said that he barreled up a lot of balls in the final two weeks of the season.
   He struggled again at the next level with Bluefield of the Appalachian League again this summer, going 0-33 at one point.  And then Tellez took off.  He mashed Appy League pitching, and earned a late season promotion to Lansing, before moving back down to Vancouver to help with the C's bid for a fourth straight NWL crown.
     For the season, his line was .305/.375/.438.  Despite the fact that his hit tool far surpasses anything else in his toolkit, Tellez is not a one-dimensional slugger, as his OBP would suggest.  Tellez has a respectable K/BB ratio for a power hitter.
   The Blue Jays have been very patient with Tellez to this point.  The Midwest League can be tough on a young hitter, but if Tellez can overcome his tendency to start slowly, he may start to move rapidly this year.
   Tellez is another one of Blue Jays Performance Coach Steve Springer's protegees, and you can almost hear Springer in Tellez's approach to hitting:

“The name of the game is to not get yourself out,” espoused Tellez. “You want to be selective in the zone and not chase. And when you do get your pitch, don’t miss it. Pitchers are going to make pitches and hitters are going to miss pitches they should hit. That’s why it’s a game of failure. It is what it is. It’s baseball. But I don’t find myself striking out a lot, ever, really. Knock on wood.”

Why he may break out:  From mid-July, Tellez hit .365/.421/.535.  He has a solid approach at the plate.  His development may accelerate in full season ball.

 3.  Matt Smoral, LHP
   The Blue Jays have made a habit of taking longer looks at players whose senior high school seasons were disrupted or even lost to injury, and they took a pair in 2012 in Arizona HS third baseman Mitch Nay, and Ohio Prep Southpaw Smoral, who was shut down for his senior year after surgery to repair a foot injury. Both are still developing, but the Blue Jays may have acquired good value for both.
   Smoral didn't make his pro debut until 2013, and struggled in the GCL, but that wasn't a surprise.  The complex league is a place where the organization places some prospects on the potter's wheel and re-molds them in a more efficient cast.  The GCL is often the place where those new products get some of the rough edges rounded off.
   Playing under the lights for the first time with Bluefield this year, Smoral was electric in his debut, striking out 8 in 3 innings.  Promoted to Vancouver, Smoral held his own against the more advanced NWL hitters.  He likely will be anxious to atone for a poor outing which likely cost the C's the final game of the league championship series.
  Command of his fastball is the issue for Smoral.  Once he consistently develops it, his secondary pitches, his slider in particular, will become that much more effective.  At 6'8", he gets considerable downward on his plane, and his high elbow lift gives him good deception in his delivery.  His size also gives him good extension on his fastball, and gives it late life.
Why he may break out: Tall lefthanders, for whatever reason, seem to take longer to develop.  Once he develops improved control of his fastball, he will take off.  Smoral will start at Lansing this year, and could be poised to make multiple jumps up the ladder.  

4.  Ryan Borucki, LHP
   Because you can't have enough tall, athletic left handed pitchers.
Borucki was another 2012 draftee whose arm issues scared most teams away.  The Blue Jays took him in the 15th round, and he gutted out 4 outings in the GCL that year.  The elbow did not improve, and Borucki underwent Tommy John surgery at the end of spring training, 2013.
  Sent to Bluefield with Smoral to begin 2014, Borucki was lights out in the Appy League, striking out 30 and walking only 6 in 33 innings.  Sent to Vancouver, Borucki didn't miss a beat, and Northwest League hitters managed only a .159 batting average against him.
   Borucki threw 90-93 before his surgery, and indications are that he has that velocity back.  He won't blow hitters away, but he missed a lot of bats this year despite being around the plate a lot.  That tells you a great deal about not just his command, but his feel for pitching.
  Borcuki will start at Lansing, and may move quickly.  As a midwesterner, he's familiar with the cool Midwest League spring.
Why he may break out:  Borucki already seems to have conquered any command issues.  He knows how to pitch.

5.  Dan Jansen, C
   As with any sort of final pick, this was a tough one.  Matt Boyd, yet another southpaw, merits consideration.  He pitched better than Graveman and Norris through May, but a foot injury and later bone chips led to inconsistency and a loss in velocity.  Boyd says he is healthy, and if he makes a quantum leap this year, well, you read it here first.
   This spot has to go to Jansen, though.  With only a relatively small sample size on his playing resume, he has already drawn rave reviews for his receiving skills, and has established himself as a decent hitter.  Another overlooked high school player (from the non-baseball hotbed of Wisconsin - the most noted Dan Jansen from that state to this point is the former Olympic speed skater), Jansen missed the last month of the season with a knee injury, but all reports say that he is recovered and ready to go for spring training.  He has excellent bat speed, and has been lauded for how he handles a pitching staff.
Why he may break out: The drafting of Max Pentecost and the signing of Russell Martin pushes Jansen down the depth charts, but that may be doing him a favour.  There is no need to rush his development.  That may allow him to spend most of the season at Lansing, and while he may not move up the ladder at a rocket pace, it may allow his status as a prospect grow, and make him a breakout prospect in that manner.

  A final word of caution:  these are prospects, after all.  Their development is not necessarily linear.
The odds of all of the above leaping into mega-prospect status are still long, and we may not see the type of leaps made by Norris/Graveman/Pompey/Castro for a long time.  The above, however, are players who allowed the same kind of glimpses into their potential that group gave us in 2013.

Clutchlings' Revised Top 10 Blue Jays Prospects

   The laptop had no more than cooled off after we published our first Top 10 list a few months ago, when the Blue Jays traded Franklin Barreto, Kendall Graveman, Sean Nolin, and Brett Lawrie to Oakland for Josh Donaldson.  While we hated to see Barreto, in particular, go, the addition of Donaldson makes an already-potent top half of the batting order that much better.
   Given that Barreto and Graveman were in that Top 10, and given some other developments over the past few weeks, we decided to revise that list.  Noticeable for his absence is OF Anthony Alford, who just missed the cut.  Watching the youngster against the veteran Australian League pitchers this winter has made us realize that he's a bit further away that we had originally thought.  By his own admission, Alford was too aggressive at times, and the ABL pitchers made him pay.  Still, the experience will only pay off for him down the road, and if you think Dalton Pompey plays some highlight-reel defence, wait until you see Alford and his Dysonian glove cover centerfield.


#1  Daniel Norris, LHP
   Norris has become something of a folk hero this off-season, with his shaggy beard and Westfalia van of the same name.  Personally, I don't find it odd at all that a young man his age loves the outdoors and adventure, but some in the media are playing up that granola-ish image. The problem with promoting such an image is that intends to become a lasting impression for some, which is a shame, because Norris is more than a ball player.  He's a bright, articulate, thoughtful young man who is quite interested in the world around him. Let's hope the media doesn't turn him into something of a caricature.  Former Cards and Brewers C/DH Ted Simmons once said of his years in the late 60s at the University of Michigan, "(it was) a time when I learned more how to function as a member of society, and less as someone who was trying to hit the curveball." And in the world of baseball, it takes a lot of courage to think like that.
   After hammering out his control issues and learning to trust his fastball in Low A in 2013, Norris rode a rocket to the big leagues last year.  Bone chips in his elbow that had to be removed after the season cost him some velocity when he was called up to the Blue Jays in September, but it was impressive how he used his guile and secondary pitches to get outs just the same.
   Norris led all minor leaguers with a 11.8/9 strikeout rate this year.  Sitting between 91-95 with his fastball, he touched 97 on occasion.  His slider and change project to be plus offerings, and he lands in a good fielding position after his delivery.  Norris is the total package.
  About the only thing that Norris has to work on is economizing his pitch count, and lasting deeper into games.  If he has proven that he is capable of doing that this spring, he should break camp with the Blue Jays.  If not, he will head to Buffalo for more seasoning, but his stay there may not be all that long.

#2 Aaron Sanchez
  The ascent of Sanchez, while not as meteoric as that of Norris, was still a welcome development last year.
  It's not easy wearing the crown of Top Prospect for as long as Sanchez has, and the team's minor league development staff have put considerable work in helping him harness his abundant natural ability.
   Sanchez, to put if bluntly, has had troubles keeping his walk totals down as a minor league starter.  With the big league bullpen in shambles, the club converted Sanchez to relief shortly after promoting him to Buffalo.  After a couple of appearances, he found himself on a big league mound in Toronto.
   Sanchez was lights out in relief.  With his pitch repertoire pared down to his sinker (thrown 60% on the time while in the majors), and his fourseamer (23%), Sanchez was brilliant for two months in the Toronto bullpen.
   The dilemma now becomes should he be stretched back out as a starter, and compete for the 5th starter's job with Norris and others?  The answer for now seems to be yes.
   Sanchez throws with a nice, easy delivery, and the ball seems to explode out of his hand.  There are concerns with how short his landing is, as the club has shortened the stride in his delivery to help him keep on top of the ball.  The concern, among some, is that this delivery puts unnecessary strain on his shoulder, and an injury may only be a matter of time.
   If Sanchez struggles with his control in spring training, will the club send him back to Buffalo to get things ironed out, or will he become a back of the bullpen arm?  As with many players the Blue Jays have drafted over the years, the upside and risk of Aaron Sanchez appear to be of almost equal proportions.

#3 Dalton Pompey
    The development of Pompey is a tribute to the doggedness of the Blue Jays scouting staff, and the patience of their minor league people.  They stuck with him through his first three minor league seasons, when his performance was marked by inconsistency and injury, gave him time to develop in Lansing, and then watched him blossom last year. There were signs in his last month at Lansing in 2013 that he was about to bust out, but no one expected that he would become the mega-prospect he turned into in 2014.
   Pompey hits the ball hard, draws walks, plays highlight reel defence, and is both a stolen base threat and a smart baserunner.  Unless he stumbles badly in spring training, you would have to think that he will either claim the centrefield job outright, or earn a portion of it in tandem with Kevin Pillar.
   He should be a fixture in the top of the Blue Jays batting order for years to come.

4.  Jeff Hoffman, rhp
 We've been back and forth on Hoffman.  That the Baltimore Orioles, either themselves or through media intermediaries, were said to be insisting on the 2014 draftee as part of any compensation package for GM Dan Duquette, tells a great deal about his potential.  The Blue Jays, wisely (if this was the case), backed away.  We also learned, via Jeff Blair of Sportsnet, that the Braves were asking about Hoffman, and were  willing to send Justin Upton in return.
   Hoffman had Tommy John surgery in early May.  All appears to be going well with his rehab. He was throwing off a mound around Christmas time, and appears to be on schedule to return to game action in late April or early May.
  Everything that we have heard and read about Hoffman is that he is front-of-the-rotation material.  The Blue Jays appear to have obtained a top 3 pick for 9th pick bonus money.  Patience for at least this year is the key.  He will have to deal with the usual command and velocity issues that players coming back from the surgery have to deal with.  Like the next guy on the list.

5.  Roberto Osuna, rhp
   Osuna had no trouble dialing up his old velocity, touching 95 with his fastball in the Arizona Fall League.
   His plus changeup, and his advanced feel (for someone just turning 20) for pitching returned, too.  What he appeared to be missing was his command of all of his pitches.  Osuna caught too much of the strike zone in the AFL, and the elite hitters there made him pay for it.
  There is also a concern among some that Osuna's fastball doesn't have enough movement, due to the wrist wrap in his delivery.  The club has invited him to spring training with the major league club, which suggests they have high hopes for him.
  One positive thing about Osuna's TJ surgery in July of 2013 is that you don't hear the words "high maintenance body" applied to him any more.  He has lost considerable weight, and appears to be taking his nutrition and conditioning seriously.

6.  Miguel Castro, rhp
   Take away the impressive seasons Norris and Kendall Graveman had, and no other Blue Jays pitcher made as much progress as Castro did last season.
  In only his second stateside season, he progressed as far as High A,  dazzling hitters with the command of his plus fastball.  Just turned 20 on Christmas Eve, Castro was invited to spring training as well, with the suggestion from GM Alex Anthopoulos that we will see Castro pitching out of the Blue Jays pen sooner rather than later this summer.
   The issue with Castro has been the development of his secondary pitches, although his fastball gives him a larger margin of error than it would for other pitchers.  He gets good sink on his fastball, which can bore in on right handed hitters; with his milb career splits against them, we can understand the Blue Jays toying with the idea of having him pitch in relief.  He is still so young, however, we hope that he will be given at least one more season to develop his off speed and breaking pitches.

7.  Richard Urena, ss
   With the Barreto trade, Urena now becomes the team's shortstop of the future.  Some have labelled him major league-ready defensively. Unlike Barreto and Dawel Lugo, who were part of the same IFA class as Urena in 2012, he is projected to stay at the position.
   A natural lefthanded hitter, Urena tried switch-hitting this year, and was successful.  Reports suggest his power grades as below average, but he has plus bat speed, and barrels up balls well to all fields.  Urena will not turn 19 until later this month, but once he reaches full season ball (which should be this year), his development could accelerate quickly.

8.  Max Pentecost, c
   Pentecost leaps into our top 10 from the margins after some second thought (and the trade of Graveman and Barreto).  His shoulder surgery will back up his developmental timetable somewhat, but the kid is an athlete - one who can actually play.
   Pentecost profiles as a bat-first catcher.  The club has some work to do with his receiving and game-calling skills.  He is regarded as fast, and not just for a catcher.
  Which brings to mind tales of the legendary Branch Rickey.  In the days when farm systems were in their infancy, Rickey pioneered the tryout camp, where mass numbers of players were culled.  For Rickey, the most important tool was speed, both from an offensive and defensive perspective, and one of the first acts of his camps was to line the prospective players up and run a 60 yard dash; those who finished in the back of the pack were sent home before they ever even picked up a glove or bat.
According to Kevin Kerrane, who wrote the excellent treatise on scouting that is Dollar Sign on the Muscle, "(Rickey) believed it (speed) to be the single biggest indicator of major league potential."
  Keeping that in mind, we're inclined to look a little more favourably on Pentecost now.
 
9.  Devon Travis, 2b
   There is no Blue Jays prospect who has sparked as much divided opinion as Travis.
Blocked by Ian Kinsler in Detroit, the Tigers were set to give him a shot in the outfield, but ultimately saw Anthony Gose as a better bet for depth.
   At this point, the only thing holding Travis back would be his lack of experience.  Unless he has a knockout spring, that would be the only reason to send him to Buffalo.  And if incumbent Maicer Izturis' rehabbed knee isn't up to the task, the time may be sooner rather than later for Travis.
   Travis lacks one outstanding tool, and that seems to be the hangup for some people.  There's everything in the CV he has compiled to this point to indicate that he will hit.  Maybe not for a batting title, but he will provide some spark to the offence, while playing adequate defence.
   We have to make room for him on this list.  He's almost major league ready.  He's maybe not a multiple WAR guy, but he's not far away from helping this club plug a longstanding hole.

10.  Sean Reid-Foley, rhp
  We've developed a tradition of using this spot for a high ceiling, but far away player.  Like Alford, who we still believe in, but he still has a steep learning curve ahead of him.
   Again, reading over reports this winter, there's a growing consensus that the Blue Jays stole one when they selected Reid-Foley. The Blue Jays may once more have acquired a top level talent without paying a commensurate (relatively speaking) price for it. He did not overwhelm in his first pro season, but you have to look no further than the top 3 players on this list to realize that you can't read much into that.  In the back fields of the Dunedin complex, much goes on in the way of rebuilding swings and overhauling deliveries.  Reid-Foley may have been in the shop for some alterations last summer, and it will be interesting to see where and how he develops this season.  We think prospects like Ryan Borucki and Matt Smoral who are ahead of Reid-Foley in terms of age, experience, and devlopment may be more likely breakthrough candidates this year, but he may ultimately have the highest ceiling.

Toronto Blue Jays Top Prospects: 11-20

11.  Devon Travis 2B
     Travis is the latecomer to this list, and while what we've read about him has mostly been positive, we don't know enough about him yet to bump him further up the list.
  Travis reminds us a bit of Kevin Pillar.  Not highly rated in his draft year and the owner of average to slightly above average tools, all Travis has done in three minor league seasons is hit, posting a .323/.388/.487 line.  Baseball America is firmly in the Travis camp, noting that he has hit at every level.  Here's more from their latest report on him:
 
   He has superb hand-eye coordination, good balance at the plate and strong bat control, which allows him to make consistent contact and use the whole field. He’s a smart player who’s been able to make adjustments as he’s moved up the ladder

   Keith Law, on the other hand, is less than sold:

   Had a great year but....... he's old for where he played, and he's an undersized guy without tools. Not a prospect for me, nor for any of the scouts I talked to who'd seen him.

   The true evaluation of Travis probably lies somewhere in between.  The Tigers, faced with a thin market for outfielders, felt that Anthony Gose could develop into at least a league average player, and act as insurance if Steven Moya proves to be not quite ready for MLB action.  They also felt that they could live with several more years of Ian Kinsler, even with his production due to start to decline, at second base, ahead of Travis.
   You're not getting an all star with Travis.  You're not getting a gold glover or much of a base stealing threat, either.  What you are getting is a guy who consistently barrels up the ball, who may hit 10 to 15 home runs a year, and a guy who has made the necessary adjustments at every level he has played at.  And with second being a bit of a black hole in the Jays lineup for several years, the club will take that.

Travis' Milb Page

ETA: late 2015/early 2016
Projection: everyday 2nd baseman, bottom third of the order bate
Worst Case Scenario:  utility infielder

12.  Sean Nolin  LHP
   Nolin has been the forgotten man in the Blue Jays plans, but he showed this fall in Arizona that when he's healthy, he can very much be in the picture.
   Leg injuries have limited Nolin to 20 starts in each of the last two years.  In 2013, he matched Marcus Stroman strikeout for strikeout with New Hampshire.  At 6"4"/230, Nolin is projected as a back of the rotation innings eater.
   Nolin commands all four of his pitches well.  His fastball grades as average, but he can touch 95 on occasion.  His size allows him to create a downhill plane on his pitches, and his delivery can make it tough for hitters to pick up the ball.  Nolin gave up a fair number of fly balls earlier in his minor league career, but he induced much more groundball contact this year.
   The biggest challenge Nolin has faced the past two years is staying healthy.  Marcus Stroman, Aaron Sanchez, Daniel Norris, and possibly even Kendall Graveman have passed him.  The lefthander went to Arizona this fall to make up for lost innings, and after a couple of rough outings early in the schedule, he was back to his old form over the last half.
   It's hard to say where Nolin fits in the Blue Jays plans.  Called up in 2013 for an emergency start, he caught too much of the strike zone and was pummeled by the Orioles.  Even though he missed almost a month this year, he pitched well down the stretch for Buffalo, and was called up when MLB rosters expanded at the end of August, but pitched all of one inning in September.
 With the the starting rotation beginning to become a bit crowded,  Nolin's greatest value to the club may be as trade bait.

Nolin's Milb Page

ETA:   2015
Projection:  Back of the rotation starter
Worst Case Scenario:  Front of the bullpen guy



13.  Max Pentecost  C
 The Blue Jays nabbed Pentecost with their second first round pick in June, 11th overall.
All indications were that he was a hit-first, defence-second receiver, but was at least adequate behind the plate.  Jason Kendall comps were made.
  After he signed,  Pentecost spent the obligatory week in the Gulf Coast League, then was off to Vancouver, for what was presumed to be the real start of a brief apprenticeship in the minors, which would see him in the majors leagues as early as next summer.
   Pentecost arrived in the Pacific Northwest in rough shape however, likely from the rigors of an extended collegiate season on a frame that scouts felt could use some bulking up to begin with.  Pentecost was behind the plate for only 6 games for the C's, and was limited to 87 Plate Appearances before being shut down and sent back to Florida for rest and rehab in August. Reports we had about his catching skills in that small sample size were less than glowing, but we'll give Pentecost a pass for now.
   Pentecost turned out to have a shoulder injury which didn't respond to treatment, and underwent what we presume is surgery to repair a torn labrum on October 8th.  Recovery from the procedure, of course, depends on the extent of the damage, but it's typically 9 months to a year for a full recovery. Which means that 2015 isn't necessarily a write off for him, but it does move the projection back, and the signing of Russell Martin takes away the urgency.
   Pentecost has above-average speed for a catcher, and has a line drive swing that isn't projected to produce great power, but should generate plenty of singles and doubles.  There is every indication that he is a premium athlete - he was the MVP of the summer collegiate Cape Cod League in 2013, and won the Johnny Bench Award as the nation's top college catcher in 2014.  There is every indication that he will be a solid contributor to the lineup.  The injury issue which has stalled his timetable is the only thing keeping him out of the Top 10.

Pentecost's Milb Page

ETA:  Late 2016
Projection: hit first, defence second catcher
Worst Case Scenario: platoon catcher

14.  Mitch Nay  3B
  Nay may have been surpassed by Pompey, Barreto, and maybe Alford as the best position player prospect in the system, but he still figures highly in the Blue Jays future plans.
  Nay missed a season of development in 2012 due to a broken foot, but had a breakout year in short season play in 2013, raking at Bluefield before being promoted to Vancouver in time for the NWL playoffs, in which he was named the MVP.  This season at Lansing, the power wasn't in present in as much quantity as had been hoped, but his 34 doubles were tied for third in the league.  The Midwest League is not a home run hitters paradise, particularly the Lugnuts' home Cooley Law School Stadium.  Power is often the last took in a hitter's kit to develop, so the thinking that some of those doubles will turn into homers in more favourable environments.
  Nay has an advanced approach at the plate, and makes consistently hard, up the middle contact.  He still projects as a middle of the order of the bat.  The concern about Nay has always been about his range, which can take away from his plus arm.  With Brett Lawrie ensconced at third for the foreseeable future, a move across the diamond may be in store for Nay.
  Other top prospects list have ranked Nay higher than we have, and while we're still high on him, his presence on this secondary tier is more of a reflection on the rate of his development relative to other players in the system.

Nay's Milb Page

ETA:  Late 2017
Projection:  Middle of the order, starting 3rd Baseman
Worst Case Scenario:  IB/DH platoon player

15.  Matt Smoral  LHP
   Smoral was yet another gem the Blue Jays drafted who other scouts shied away from because of a broken foot in his senior year of high school and a college commitment.  Toronto took him as a comp pick in 2012 and gave him a $2 million bonus, and were prepared to wait on the 6'8" lefthander.
   Smoral didn't make his pro debut until the GCL started in June of 2013, and missed a fair number of bats.  And when he wasn't missing bats, he was missing the strike zone.
   The Blue Jays moved him up the ladder to the Appalachian League in 2014,  Smoral's  Appy debut was a sizzling one, striking out 8 and walking 3 in 3 innings.  Named the league's 7th prospect by BA, Smoral was promoted to Vancouver in August, and wasn't overmatched against older hitters, although a meltdown in the NWL finals by Smoral cost the C's a chance at a four-peat.
   Smoral touches 96 with his fastball, with late life.  His slider was one of the best in short season ball, and projects as a plus pitch.  While he made strides with his delivery this season, Smoral still must improve on his command (5.7K/9 this year).
   Smoral projects as a front of the rotation starter if he can harness his command.  Tall lefthanders who missed a year of development tend to take longer to reach their ceiling, so the Blue Jays may not be as aggressive with their promotion of him as they were with other pitchers this year.

Smoral's Milb Page

ETA:  2017
Projection: #2/#3 starter
Worst Case Scenario:  Brett Cecil or Aaron Loup's replacement

16.  Dwight Smith
   If Mitch Nay flew under the radar this year in the shadow of more high profile position players in the system, the son of the former Major Leaguer by the same name was barely a blip on the screen.
Playing in the Florida State League in front of dozens of spectators every night, all Smith did was post an OPS of .816 with virtually no protection in the lineup, in cavernous FSL stadiums, and in the flyball-killing Florida heat.
   A sandwich pick in 2011, Smith has made steady, if unspectacular progress.  Smith lacks the power of a corner outfielder, and the Blue Jays may have plans to try to turn him into a multi-position utility player, as evidenced by the brief trial he had at second base in the Arizona Fall League. It will be interesting to see if the club has him play several positions at New Hampshire next year.
   We find that when we talk about prospects who are in this tier, we tend to talk about what they can't do.  What Smith can do is get on base consistently, and use his line drive stroke to find the gaps.  He has average speed, which all but rules out centrefield, except in an emergency.
   It doesn't hurt that Smith hits from the left side, too.

Smith's Milb Page

ETA: Late 2016/early 2017
Projection:  Platoon Corner OF
Worst Case Scenario:  Utility Player

17.  Rowdy Tellez
   The legend of Rowdy Tellez is growing.
A hitter of prodigious BP and Home Run Derby blasts in various Showcase events as a High Schooler, MLB teams were scared off by his USC commitment prior to last year's draft, but the Blue Jays used savings gained elsewhere in the draft to convince him to sign after taking him in the 28th round.
   Tellez struggled in the first weeks of his pro debut season in the GCL last year, but found his groove in the closing week, when he hit everything hard.  Sent to Bluefield this season, Tellez got off to another slow start, including an 0-33 stretch, but caught fire and hit .293/.358/.424.  The club skipped Tellez over Vancouver to Lansing, where he acquitted himself well in two weeks of play.
  There is no disguising Tellez's role.  He is a bat first player, period.  Yet his is not necessarily a hit or miss approach.  Tellez has shown patience at the plate, walking almost as much as he struck out this year.  He has above average bat speed, and can drive balls to the opposite field.
   At 6"5"/230, Tellez is a below average runner who will have to pay attention to his conditioning, and work hard to be even an average first baseman.  He should return to Lansing this year, and will likely split time at first and DH with the presence of Ryan McBroom, who had a great debut season at Vancouver.  We are excited about his future, but he is still far away, and if he doesn't hit, he won't provide any value to the club.

Tellez's Milb Page

ETA:  2017/18
Projection:  Middle of the Order 1B/DH
Worst Case Scenario:  AAAA Player

18.  Jairo Labourt
   There's a temptation to label Labourt as a disappointment this year.
The tall Dominican lefty started the year with Lansing, where he was one of the youngest players in the Midwest League, and he struggled mightily, walking 20 batters in 14 innings. To be fair, he was not the only prospect on the team who had difficulty with the challenge the organization presented him with.
   Sent back to extended spring training, Labourt rediscovered his command, and was sent off to Vancouver when short season play started, where he became the C's ace, and was named the NWL's third best prospect by BA.
   Labourt challenges hitters with his mid 90s fastball, and was very successful against right handed hitters, who hit .171/.286/.202.  Labourt demonstrated much better command with Vancouver, striking out 82 and walking 37 in 71 innings. He did hit 8 batters, showing a willingness to pitch inside.
   If not for his Lansing experience, we would no doubt be looking at Labourt's season through a different lens.  His is a live arm that should perform well in another stint at Lansing.  The organization has to make a 40 man roster decision on Labourt after next season, so his timeline may be moved up.

Labourt's Milb Page

ETA:  2017
Projection:  Middle of the rotation starter
Worst Case Scenario:  Front of the bullpen guy

19.  Sean Reid-Foley

   When a prospect drops in the draft due to concerns either about signability or durability, you can bet that the Blue Jays will be in the running to scoop him up.  They covet impact players.

   Such was the case with righthander Reid-Foley, who fell to the Blue Jays in the second round last June.  Some teams were scared off by his delivery, while others felt that he was committed to Florida State. The Blue Jays felt that they scored another first rounder.

   Reid-Foley caught a heavy dose of helium last spring with added velocity on his fastball.  At 6'3"/215, and with a fastball that touched 97, he was a man among boys in Florida high school competition.  He pounds the strike zone, and shows an advanced feel for pitching.
  There are concerns about his delivery.   He throws across his body, and the inverted W in his delivery is a tell-tale sign of future elbow/shoulder issues to some.  You can't really see the W here, but what you can see is a compact delivery, a nasty slider, and hit and miss stuff:

Reid-Foley's Milb page

ETA: 2018

Projection:   Front of the rotation starter

Worst Case Scenario:  Hard to determine - he's very far away

   
20.  Ryan Borucki

   This was the hardest of all our prospect picks to make.  We had to choose from a variety of players at different stages of development.  There were some we considered who had disappointing seasons but still have high ceilings (DJ Davis), some who surprised, but are too far away (Lane Thomas),  and some who we're still high on, but have to wonder about their earlier projections (Dawel Lugo/Alberto Tirado).
   Ultimately, we've decided to go with Borucki.  In his high school senior year, he played mostly first base, due to an elbow injury that he chose to rehab.  The Blue Jays took a flyer on the tall, athletic Illinoisan, and took him in the 15th round in 2012.
   The injury didn't respond to treatment, and Borucki opted for Tommy John surgery in March the following season, which cost him all of 2013.  Borucki teamed up with Smoral in the Bluefield rotation this year, and followed him to Vancouver late in the season.  He had the lowest walk/9 ratio (1.6), and the best K-BB ratio (5.0) of any lefthander in the Appy League.  He pitched even better in the Northwest League.  On the year, Borucki gave up just 39 hits in 57 IP this year, walking  only 9, while striking out 52.
   Borucki sat between 92-94 early in the season, but lost a touch of velocity as the season wore on, which isn't a surprise.  He pitches off his fastball, and the best of his secondary pitches at this point is his change, which shows plus potential.  His curveball will need an upgrade if he is to repeat his success at higher levels.
  At 6'4", Borucki still has plenty of room for projection.

Borucki's Milb Page

ETA:  Late 2017/Early 2018
Projection: Middle to end of the rotation starter
Worst Case Scenario:  Front end of the bullpen guy
 

Blue Jays Dominate BA's Short Season Top Prospects List

    There quite simply is no publication that does a better job of keeping readers up to date about prospects and trends across college and minor league baseball than Baseball America.
   Even though the minor league season has drawn to a close, BA still keeps fans interested by publishing their Top 20 Prospects for every minor league, starting about mid-September.
   Since information for lower level prospects can be hard to find unless you're willing to go behind a pay wall, these lists are gold for a prospect hound.  We've mined some Blue Jays-related nuggets from the chats BA held after publishing their Top 20 Gulf Coast, Appalachian, and Northwest Leagues lists, featuring BA staffers Ben Badler, Clint Longenecker, and John Manuel, who are three of the best in the business.
  Some might think it's a bit lazy of us to just list these conversation snippets, but we would rather present them in full and then offer our comments about them.  And it saves you, dear reader, from having to go to BA's website and look them up for yourself.  Which you're more than welcome to do, of course.

Josh (Windsor, ONT): Beyond the four players that made the top 20, are there any sleeper prospects from the Bluefield club? Further, do the Jays have anything with Jesus Tinoco?
Clint Longenecker: Yes, the Blue Jays lower minor league teams always have talent, a tribute to their international and domestic scouting departments. Jesus Tinoco has a real chance to emerge with continue development, both physically and mentally. He has youth (19), a great body, the fastball (velo and life) as a foundation for his prospect status. He can really sink the baseball. His combination of fastball velocity and heavy sink reminded some of former Blue Jay farmhand Henderson Alvarez, who has the 7th highest GB rate among MLB starters. His changeup is presently his best secondary offering and his curveball shows 12-6 tilt at its best, though it is inconsistent. Tinoco will need to improve his lower half in his delivery because he often collapses his front leg and falls off to the first base side, causing him to not get on top of his pitches. But he has the raw materials to emerge. Keep your eye on Tinoco.

   We feel the same way about Tinoco.  He did not pitch as badly as his numbers would suggest this year.  We asked Bluefield Catcher Danny Jansen about Tinoco, who said he had, "Dominant stuff. He throws hard and when he got his sinker working, he was really hard to hit."

   His numbers (4.95 ERA, 1.46 WHIP, .270 BA) were obviously influenced by the times when he didn't have that sinker working.  Tinoco pitched 6 innings in 4 of his starts, which is a lengthy outing by lower minors standards, and gave up a total of only four earned runs over those starts, adding more credence to the notion that when he was on, he was really on.

   We should also point out that Jansen, who was having a great season (.283/.390/.484) before being sidelined with a knee injury in early August, was named the Appy's 16th best prospect, and may have been ranked higher if not for the injury.

   We admit to having overlooked Josh Almonte and his success at Bluefield this year,  mainly because it was his third season of rookie ball.  The organization may need to accelerate him next year to get a truer sense of what they have.

Gerry (Toronto): Josh Almonte had a breakout season, hitting over 300. Was he close to the list?
Clint Longenecker: Almonte absolutely had a case from a tools-based perspective. A late-round Northeast prep player, Almonte really blossomed this year after struggling to make contact in the GCL for 2 years. He has tools with his plus speed and arm, as well as above-average raw power he shows in batting practice. Although he hit .300 this year, Almonte’s line was propped up by an unsustainable BABIP (.413) that was among the highest in the league and unlikely to continue going forward. His breaking ball recognition will need to continue to improve. His upward trajectory is very encouraging and he will be one to monitor going forward.

Here are some thoughts about Lane Thomas, a 5th round pick in June, who was promoted from the GCL to the Appy League:

Ben (DC): How close did Lane Thomas come to making the list? Seems like he had a good yr in GCL for Blue Jays. Thanks.
Ben Badler: Another close call. He’s an explosive athlete with plus speed and squared up a lot of balls for hard contact, although the over-the-fence pop didn’t show up this year. He’s intriguing, and I still like Yeltsin Gudino and Freddy Rodriguez, even if their numbers didn’t do much to inspire confidence next year. They can’t all be Franklin Barreto.

Ben (DC): Any feedback on Lane Thomas from his brief time in Bluefield? Seems like he was a very interesting pick this year who did well this year. Did Rowdy Tellez come close? Thanks.

Clint Longenecker: Lane Thomas is an exciting player that the Bluefield staff praised. He got time at third base this summer, an interesting development because he has an above-average arm. He ran well but was not a true burner in center field, where he played most as an amateur. He plays the game hard and has natural aptitude for the game. He will likely see some time at Bluefield or Vancouver next summer, given the Blue Jays history with recent high school draftees, and will absolutely be someone who could factor onto the list.

   So, Thomas is a long way away, but there's a lot to be optimistic about.  Interesting how Badler said he has plus speed, but not enough to play CF, according to Longenecker.

 Tommy G (Milwaukee): I really liked Matt Smoral coming out of H.S. seemed to put it together this year for the first time. What kind of ceiling does he have if he puts it all together?

Clint Longenecker: He did. It was a strong year and he got innings, which is what he needed most this year. He could be a No. 2 starter if everything clicks because of his fastball-slider combo (because he can get out RHH with his slider) and very high strikeout rates. Like most prospects, however, the odds of him reaching that ceiling are low, so lets revise expectations because his control is unlikely to ever be good enough to be a No. 2. He would have to exceed expectations to do throw that many strikes, but old baseball adages are that lefties and tall pitchers develop late. He is a rarity who fits both of those descriptors. The key for him next year will be getting innings, again, and seeing how he holds up in full season ball.

   This is something we've been saying about Smoral for over a year.  We can't really close the book on his ability to reach his ceiling just yet for the reasons Longenecker outlined, and because he missed his senior year of high school, and may still be a bit behind on the developmental curve relative to his peers.

  About Smoral and Ryan Borucki, who were also rotation-mates in Vancouver, Jansen told us:

     Smoral and Borucki are both outstanding pitchers, they both have dominant stuff and can both control their pitches. They always bring confidence and compete everyday, which is the biggest reason I love catching them

   And things would not be complete with a Rowdy Tellez update:

  Feng (New York): I was wondering what the feedbacks were on Rowdy Tellez and Josh Almonte. Was a little surprised that Tellez didn't make the top 20.

Clint Longenecker: Almonte was covered. Tellez was a strong consideration for the list. He made strides with his hitting approach this year and its tough not be be intrigued by a potential power bat. Scouts wanted to see Tellez hit for more power in games this year (.131 ISO) but his long-term power projection is still there. He is capable of putting on a show in BP. He controlled the zone well in the Appy League. It was a good developmental season for Tellez, whose body looked good because of the hard work he put in.

   That, to us, is a surprisingly lukewarm assessment of Tellez.  The Blue Jays saw more, apparently, and skipped him over Vancouver for a few weeks of play at Lansing, where he demonstrated some of that power, putting up a .949 OPS in 49 PA's.  His excruciatingly slow start (he went through a 0-26 dry spell - although was hitting the ball hard, according to reports - and was hitting .103/.191/.121 in early July) likely didn't help him. 



  The crowning jewel to these lower level reports for Blue Jays fans had to be the Northwest League list and chat, featuring 5 Vancouver Canadians, led by Frankie Barreto, who BA earlier had named Short Season Player of the Year. Barreto followed that up by being named the best NWL prospect. 

@Jaypers413 (IL): Thanks for the chat, John. Is it a safe assumption that Schwarber would have topped this list had he qualified? In addition, what was the consensus opinion of his skillset during his limited time in Boise?
John Manuel: He hit 4 HR in 5 games. One league manager Brian talked to said he was “Mickey Mantle against us,” and another said, “You will live with the passed balls if he hits like I think he’ll hit.” Weighing that against Barreto would have been a fun exercise. I can see arguments for both of them.

  Barreto no doubt benefited from having Ryan McBroom hit behind him in the C's lineup.  McBroom was one of those middle round picks that may not have high ceilings, but are a perfect fit for the Northwest League:

Jon (Florida): Do you have any info on Ryan Mcbroom 1b with Vancouver? Is he a prospect for the bluejays?
John Manuel: McBroom definitely had his supporters. He has present power, with a pretty aggressive approach that allowed him to succeed in his debut. He hit some long home runs that impressed managers as well as fans. He needs to shorten his swing some, and his bats-right, throws-left profile is worth mentioning because it’s fairly rare. He might have had a chance to try third base is he threw righthanded. Some managers knocked him as a below-average defender at first. L.B. Dantzler put up similar numbers in the league last year and wasn’t able to follow up this year. McBroom will see if he’s up to the challenge.

  We all know the position change is coming for Barreto, but everything he has shown this season suggests the bat will play:

Brian (Denver): Which #1 league prospect has a higher ceiling as a SS, Northwest league Franklin Barretto or Appalachian league Ozhaino Albies?

John Manuel: Albies sounds super exciting and more likely to be a shortstop, but Barretto for me because of the bat. He may not be a shortstop long-term, but that dude can hit. Barretto’s defense gets knocked by the managers we talked to, who obviously value reliability and making the routine play, but we have good reports on Barretto’s infield actions. He has a shot to stay in the infield if not at shortstop, so I’d go with him. Albies is 5-foot-7 and we have mixed reports on just how much offensive upside he has in terms of how much he’ll impact the baseball. No such questions exist for Barretto. Both exciting players though.

Feng (New York): Hi, I was wondering if Barreto is a top 100 player? And if he is, would anyone else from this league make it on the top 100 list?

John Manuel: I think he probably is, and he’s likely the only person from this Top 20 to merit such consideration. The other possibility may be Miguel Castro, who has the big arm and athleticism but whose secondary stuff is probably too raw for top 100 right now. He could have been No. 2 or No. 3. I thought Barretto was a clear No. 1, but 2-3-4 were tough for me and Brian to rank. They could have gone in any order really.

  Max Pentecost also fell off of our radar a little bit due to his abbreviated season.  And it looks like BA didn't get the greatest read on him, either:

Zach (San Diego): Why did Max Pentecost rank #8 in the paper thin Northwest League Top 20? And if you can tell us what's a reasonable ceiling and/or comp for this kid?

John Manuel: Managers and scouts in the league saw Pentecost catch all of six games. We were asking them to weigh in essentially on a DH. So we dinged him a bit for that, ranking him behind two potential starting corner bats who are younger than him. Baez and Cordero are much riskier bets for sure, so we could have ranked him higher. I thought the top 12 guys were a fairly clear top 12; after that, there was not much differentiation.

 Baseball Prospectus is one of BA's biggest competitors, at least on the web side of the publishing business.  BP has produced a couple of print compilations of their writers' best work, including an essay by Jason Parks entitled, "From the Buscones to the Big Leagues,"  in Extra Innings. For anyone who follows prospects, this treatise on the pros and cons of the international market, as well as the ups and downs international players often go through when they play stateside is must reading.
   In this piece, Parks takes us through the highs and lows of a fictional Dominican pitching prospect named Jose, who pitches for the equally fictional Greens over his first five pro seasons, and makes for really entertaining and informative reading.  We sometimes forget that the transition to a new country, culture, climate, and language can be huge for some players, and they understandably can take a step backwards in their development, especially in their first full season.  Such seems to be the case for Tirado, who started the year at Lansing, but was sent back to Extended Spring Training after he had difficulties repeating his delivery and finding the strike zone.
Steve (Vancouver): How come Alberto Tirado didn't make the list?

John Manuel: He just did not throw enough strikes. Managers knocked both his command and lack of secondary stuff, but he was one of the livelier arms in the league and is just 19. More than likely 2014 will be a bump in the road for him because the arm can be electric. But he’s clearly behind Labourt and Castro, who throw more strikes, have big arms and are bigger-bodied guys.

   And we finish with a question that we ourselves had after our first glance at the list:

Roy (Indiana): Why is Labourt ranked ahead of Castro? From what I've seen of both Castro seems more a finished pitcher but with more or less equally high ceilings.

John Manuel: Lefty vs. a righty, but I had those guys flipped several times. Just having a lefthander who can dominate often older competition essentially with one pitch, plus the fact that Labourt’s arm is pretty clean and works easy enough to believe he’ll command the ball better down the line, gave him the edge. Both those guys are exciting for having easy gas as starting pitchers, which separated them from the pack. Looking at the league overall, pitching prospects were probably the weakest spot. I’m not sure how many future big league rotation members will come from the NWL. If someone were taking odds, I would take zero and let you have the field, and I’d like my chances. Castro and Labourt obviously were the exceptions, as the only pitchers in the top 10.

   Catcher Mike Reeves, who played at three levels this year (but in reverse) caught both this year, and he acknowledged on the excellent "Your Van C's" podcast with Greg Balloch and Charlie Caskey that while Castro is the better prospect at this point, Labourt was the C's best pitcher this year.  That he didn't follow Castro up the ladder may be due to his earlier struggles at Lansing, and the organization may have wanted to let him stay where he was having some success.