Out in Leftfield - And Beyond

   When we think of the top Blue Jays outfield prospects, we really don't think about Anthony Gose or Moises Sierra, which is probably a good thing, because they have 342 and 279 major league plate appearances, respectivley.  Gose's potential seems to always just be beyond his grasp; his mediocre minor league numbers this year diminished what was left of his prospect status, but he performed well enough in his late season audition that the club has to be thinking about him as an eventual replacement for Colby Rasmus.  Sierra, for his part, is immensely physically talented, but his baseball IQ is limited, and his performance may never match his toolkit.
   The Blue Jays have focussed on pitching in the Alex Anthopolous draft era, and it shows in the following list, to be frank. The highest-ranked outfield prospect the Jays have drafted since 2009 is Jake Marisnick, who was drafted in the 3rd round in 2009, and made his MLB debut with the Marlins this summer after being dealt in the Jose Reyes/Mark Buehrele/Emilio Bonafacio trade last off-season.
  That the Blue Jays have opted to focus on pitchers in the top rounds is not new, nor is it surprising.  Many other organizations (see Baltimore and Tampa Bay, to name two),  have a "grow the arms and buy the bats" philosophy.  Scouting a college or even a high school pitcher is an easier process than evaluating a position player.  If you reach 95 with your fastball, you reach 95. If your curve has a big enough bite and a large enough differential from your fastball, you'll do that anywhere.  You hit .455 in high school competition in, say, Oregon, and you may not hit that in California.  Pitchers have exemplars that are easier to measure and evaluate.  Drafting a top prep hurler represents less risk, in most cases, than drafting a high ranking high school outfielder not named Byron Buxton.

1.  Kevin Pillar
   Pillar has overachieved from his pro debut, and his rapid rise culminated with a month-plus in the bigs this fall.
  His struggles at the plate in the majors were well-documented.  That shouldn't take away from the fact that he can hit, and will likely continue to do so, although maybe not at the level he did in the minors.
  Pillar can play all three outfield positions well.  He can run, although his speed isn't blazing.
  He has had the "fourth outfielder" label applied, but if he gets 350 at bats, he won't hurt this team.

2.  DJ Davis
  Davis was called the best Mississippi prep product since Charlie Hayes, and while maybe that's more of a reflection on the state where football is king, many scouts drool over Davis' toolkit.
   The Jays have started him very slowly, with  2012 1st round pick Davis having spent most of his first two pro seasons in rookie ball.
  Davis anchored the outfield and lead off for a strong Bluefield team this year, and showed some surprising pop.  He got off to a strong start, but sagged late in the season, to finish .240/.355/.386.  Davis has struck out 146 times in 453 at bats over his two milb seasons.  He is considered one of the fastest players in minor league ball after Kenny Hamilton, but that still hasn't translated into high stolen base totals.
  Davis was one of the youngest players in his draft class, and didn't turn 19 until mid-season.  His performance didn't deter Baseball America, which named him the 2nd best prospect in the Appalachian League.  Scouts are still very high on Davis.  We still see the odd Kenny Lofton reference, and we'll take it.  Davis is still a few years away (2017, by our best guess), but he may prove to be well worth the wait.

3.  Kenny Wilson
  Injuries limited Wilson to 60 games this season.  Sent to Arizona this fall to make up for some lost at bats, Wilson acquitted himself reasonably well.  Speed is a huge part of Wilson's game, as his 55 steals in a breakout 2012 season at Lansing proved.  Even though he hasn't advanced past AA in 6 milb seasons, the Jays thought enough of the 2008 2nd round pick to place him on the 40 man roster this month.  With his speed and athleticism, he may have been scooped up in the Rule 5 draft.  Wilson is only a .231 hitter through his time in the minors to date, but at 23, there's still some time for his bat to come around.

4.  Dwight Smith, Jr
   The 2012 sandwich pick struggled in his first pro year in 2012, but responded well to the challenge of playing full season ball at Lansing.  Smith hit a solid .284/..365/.388 at Lansing, with 25 steals in 30 attempts.  Smith caught fire as the season ended, hitting .322/.393/.438 in August.  He is a line-drive hitter, who hits to all fields.  Smith has no one tool that jumps out, but has an advanced feel for the game.
   Like his father, Smith should make a contribution to a major league team as at least a fourth outfielder.

5.  Dalton Pompey
   The Mississauga native made huge strides in his fourth minor league season, playing as a 20 year old in full season ball at Lansing.
   Pompey hit .261/.358/.394, and was 38-48 in steals, and played a solid centre field.  The switch hitter is still a bit behind American prospects his age, but Pompey is making up for lost time quickly.  Like Smith, he had a hot August - at one point, he scored nine consecutive times when reaching base.

6.  Chaz Frank
The 22nd round pick out of North Carolina was slotted into the lead off slot for Vancouver, and helped lead them to their third straight Northwest League title.  Not blessed with burning speed, Frank is very aggressive on the basepaths.  We watched him make the third out at third base one inning in July, then scored on a passed ball that barely eluded the catcher's grasp later in the game.  Apparently, that wasn't out of character for Frank.  He hit .282/.412/.365 for the Canadians.  At 23, he's likely close to reaching his ceiling.   It's hard to ignore that on-base percentage, though.

7.  Mike Crouse
The physically gifted Crouse, like his fellow Canadian Pompey, is still a bit behind other prospects his age.
Things came together for him somewhat this summer in Dunedin, where he hit .250/.343./.403.  Scouts like his tools, but BC native Crouse, who made his pro debut in 2008, has yet to advance beyond A ball.  At 23, there's still time, but not an abundance of it.

8.  Jacob Anderson
 Anderson was a  supplemental first round pick in 2011 (from a California draft class that wasn't considered deep in outfielders), and had an impressive pro debut with the GCL Jays after signing close to the deadline in August of that year.  Expectations were high, but he had a dismal 2012 in the Appy League, where he had a difficult time making contact.
   Anderson missed all of 2013 after ungoing surgery to correct a rib problem.  Did this injury effect his swing in 2012 ?  There isn't much information to go on, but that seems a possibility.
  Anderson is described as having the kind of power-speed combination that scouts covet.  Having just turned 21, time may be Anderson's biggest asset.  In an organization with more outfield depth, it's hard to see Anderson making most top prospects list.  Just the same, scouts had to see something in his tools to warrant drafting him so high in 2011.  He's still a bit of a reach, and has lost a year of development.

9.  Anthony Alford
  Alford is one of our favourite prospects, but the chances of him ever donning a Jays uniform again at any level are slim.
   Alford was drafted out of Mississippi HS in the 3rd round of 2012.  Most teams shied away from him because of his committment to Southern Miss to play football, but the Jays gave him $750 000 to give being a two-sport athlete a try.  Alford signed, and had a brief stint in the GCL that year, before heading off to school to play quarterback.  He led Southern Miss in total offence in his freshman year, but the team was awful, and Alford ran into problems off the playing field, and left the campus in November.
   Alford transferred to Mississippi, but had to sit out this season as a transfer.  He had another brief tour with the GCL Jays, then headed off to school once again. In two minor league seasons, Alford has accumulated all of 40 at bats.  And with his transfer, he will be 23 when his college football days are over in 4 years.
   Alford probably has the best toolkit in the Jays organization, but with his intent to try to forge a football career, it's unlikely that he will ever make it to the big leagues, unless he gives up on that dream.  JJ Cooper of Baseball America observed:
   With such limited exposure to pro ball, it’s hard to make any sort of assessment of Alford’s chances to be a big leaguer. He’s one of the best athletes in the minors and is a plus defender in center field. But as long as his pro baseball experience consists of a few weeks in the summer around classes and football, it’s going to be very hard for him to develop into a polished hitter.


10. Thomas Collins
   It's hard not to include this guy on our list.
More commonly known as Boomer, Collins put up great numbers in the CGL this summer, and was named a GCL All-Star.
 The reason he doesn't rank higher is because he's 24.  Collins started his collegiate career at Nebraska, but transferred after his freshman year to Dallas Baptist, and had to sit out a year as well, in accordance with NCAA rules.
  By all accounts, Collins is the ultimate team player.  Even while redshirted, however, Collins quickly developed a reputation as a leader and hard worker - so much so that even faced with a limited travel budget,  Dallas Baptist took him to the NCAA Super Regional just to have him in the dugout.
  Collins played summer ball in Alaska, and there are glowing reports about his time there as well.  He is active as a volunteer both at his school and his Texas hometown of Waxahachie.
  Despite his success in the Florida complex, the Jays obviously didn't think his future is bright enough to have taken away playing time from the trio of outfield prospects playing at the next level in Bluefield.  The non-drafted free agent is the ultimate org guy. Sounds like he's a character guy as well.

Jays Flying in Arizona

  In the aftermath of a disappointing sub-500 season for the parent club, there is reason for optimism in the performance of much of the large contingent (thanks to that losing record) of prospects the club sent to the US Southwest to play in the Arizpna Fall League.
   Righthander Drew Hutchison, continuing his comeback from Tommy Joun surgery, has looked more and more like the promising starter the Jays skipped from Double A in 2012.  In his final AFL start, Hutchison surrendered one earned run in 4 innings, giving up 4 hits, while walking 3 and striking out 4.  This performance comes on the heels of his worst outing last week.  Over the course of 6 starts, Hutchison has given up 18  hits, striking out 20, while walking only 6.  The cailbre of competition may have been lesser than what he would have faced in the majors, but one has to start thinking of Hutchison in terms of at least the back end of the major league rotation at some point next year.
   Andy Burns has built upon his strong season at two levels with strong play at the plate and several positions in the field.  After a slow start, Burns has caught fire over the last 10 games, and as play in the AFL winds down, sports a .343/.422/.443 line.  Burns has spent time at 3rd, 1st, and the corner outfield positions this fall.  With Brett Lawrie holding down 3rd at the major league level for some time to come, the
Jays are obviously looking for a spot for Burns.  His timetable for reaching the bigs has accelerated. Burns and Hutchison were named AFL player and pitcher of the week for the week of October 28 - November 3rd.
   Outfielder Kenny Wilson, who was sent to Arizona to make up for lost time after injuries limited him to 60 minor league games this season, got off to a hot start, then cooled somewhat.  As the season is drawing to a close, Wilson has heated up again, homering in consecutive games, as part of a 6-15 stretch.. Wilson is an interesting prospect, who seemed on the verge of leaping up the prospect rankings with a breakout season at two levels of A ball in 2012.  Injuries sidetracked him this year, and his up and down AFL stint still makes it hard to get a read on his prospects for the long term.  He has hit .267/.340/.411, and has been 11/16 in stolen bases.
  Catcher Derrick Chung, who was a last-minute injury replacement for A.J. Jimenez, has surprised with the bat as well.  Chung has split the catching duties in the AFL with Rockies prospect Dustin Garneau, and has hit for a surprising .390/.447/.439 line in 13 games.  Granted, that is a small sample size (45 plate appearances), but it builds in his .287/.341/.336 at Dunedin (Chung has not hit a professional home run). Chung played several positions in his 2012 debut season, but settled in behind the plate this year.  From all accounts, he has picked up the position quickly.  At 25, however, the clock is ticking loudly for him.  It's nice to see him contribute just the same.
   Righthander Marcus Stroman, after pitching 111 innings in his first full pro season, has had his load tightly monitored in Arizona.  After starting with New Hampshire this year, Stroman has shifted back to the bullpen, and has pitched mostly in one or two inning stints.  Stroman has continued to pitch in the 93-95 range with his fastball, and has further developed his change to go with his slider.  If we had to wager, we would be willing to say that Stroman will be the next prospect called up to the big club.  Whether or not that's out of spring training or not is the question, depending on the club's success (or failure) in landing starting pitching this offseason.
 

  And finally, righthander and prized prospect Aaron Sanchez overcame a bit of a slow start to nearly lead Salt River to the AFL playoffs.  Sanchez gave up one earned run in his last 4 starts, and finished with a 2-1, 1.16 record, striking out 21 in 23 innings. Control was still a bit of an issue, but more and more we're beginning to think it's a result of the movement on his stuff, particularly the late life on his fastball.  Sanchez is learning to harness that, and from the outings we saw, he has developed a smooth, repeatable delivery, despite what some observers were saying earlier in the fall.
   Here's an interesting comparison, now that the minor league season has been put to bed:

Sanchez

Team	League	W	L	ERA	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	WHIP
DUN	FSL	4	5	3.34	22	20	0	0	0	86.1	63	40	32	4	40	75	1.19
SRR	AFL	2	1	1.16	6	6	0	0	0	23.1	11	4	3	0	11	21	0.96

                            6      6        2.86    28    26       0         0         0    109.2   74    44    35       4      51     96     1.15

Syndergaard

Team	League		W	L		ERA		G		GS		CG		SHO		SV		IP	H		R	ER	HR	BB	SO	WHIP
STL	FSL		3	3		3.11		12		12		0		0		0		63.2	61		25	22	3	16	64	1.21
BIN	EAS		6	1		3.00		11		11		0		0		0		54.0	46		23	18	8	12	69	1.08
Minors			9		4		3.06		23		23		0	0	0		117.2			107	48	40	11	28	133	1.15

  Obviously, Syndergaard had the better season.  He started the Future Stars game, and topped several "best of" post-season minor league polls.  His BB/K ration was better than Sanchez', but other than that, there's not a lot a difference between their totals for the season. 

   We're feeling more and more comfortable with the notion that Sanchez is a keeper.

Morning Links

  Twitter is such a goldmine of virutally any kind of information one could imagine.  In our case, of course, it's baseball-related in general, and prospect-focused in particular.  We thought that we would share a couple of great links to articles we really enjoyed this weekend.

   The first is an article written by Rany Jazayerli of Grantland.com.  Jazayerli is one of the founders of Baseball Prospectus, and is one of my favourite baseball writers.  He's also a dermatologist, presumably in his spare time.   Jazayerli took a look at the Cardinals' record of player development over the past dozen years, and to no one's suprise, discovers it's not a coincidence that the Cards are in the post-season again.  Jazayerli looks back at a decade of successful drafting and development, and observes that:
  ...the Cardinals are deep into their success cycle: This is their 13th winning record and 10th playoff team of the past 14 years. By all rights, the pressures of winning every year should have eroded the team's foundation of young talent, as the need to win right now, year after year, should have forced the Cardinals to trade prospects to keep the good times rolling. And it ought to have been difficult to develop prospects in the first place given that the Cardinals' success has forced them to draft late in the first round every year.
   That the Cards haven't folded Jazayerli credits to the hiring of Jeff Luhnow as scouting director in 2005.  Luhnow, now the Astros GM, was an unknown in 2005, but brought an analytical (sabermetrical?) approach that caused tension in the St Louis front office, but has brought unmatched success to the Gateway City.18 of the current players on the Cards' pre-playoff 25 man roster are homegrown, and they manage to stay between 8th and 11th in payroll almost every year.  As a result,
   Since 2000, the Cardinals have been to more League Championship Series than any other franchise and more World Series than any other franchise, and they're four games (make that two, now) away from winning more world championships than any other franchise in that time.

   In another article, Sports Illustrated writer Joe Posnanski, concerned about the future of the game, has posed a series of major changes to baseball. 
    In this blog post, he suggests "freeing" the minor leagues.  Baseball, according to the ratings, has become much more of a regional sport.  And that, combined with the pace of play and late World Series game starts, Posnanski observes, means that more people watched the Thursday episode of The Big Bang Theory than Game #2 of the Series.  
  Posnanski is not the first to propose cutting the minor league's shackles:  it goes back at least as far as Bill James.  In the glory days of the minor leagues (pre World War II, pre Branch Rickey), the minors truly were "free".
   As James observed in his Historical Baseball Abstract:
  The minor leagues did not start out as what they are.  By a long series of actions and agreements, inducements, and rewards, the minor leagues were reduced in tiny degrees from entirely independent sovereignties into vassal states, existing only to serve the needs of major league baseball.

   Posanski posits that America is underserved if you consider that there are 30 major league teams, but many large cities (like his home of Charlotte, NC, the largest metro area in the U.S. that doesn't have a major league team) are home to minor league teams.  He estimates that half of the population of the U.S. is in a similar situation.  And the problem with minor league teams, of course, is that they exist solely to serve the major league parent.  Posanski writes:

 The White Sox make every single determination about the Charlotte Knights. They decide who plays in Charlotte and who doesn’t. They decide how many pitches each Charlotte pitcher throws and what positions each Charlotte player plays. If a player is hitting well, they will take that player away. If a pitcher is pitching well, they will take that player away. If a pitcher is throwing a two-hit shutout and he reaches his pitch-limit, they will take him out in the middle of an at-bat. If a player is having trouble bunting, they will have him bunt in bizarre situations. If a pitcher is working on developing a change-up, they will have throw it even if he can’t get hitters out. If the Knights have an excellent shortstop but the parent team already has one — they will move that shortstop to second or third base without thinking twice. If there’s a super exciting prospect in Class AA, there’s a good chance he will skip right over Charlotte.

  So, Posanski theorizes, free the minor leagues from this servitude, and baseball will turn back into more of a national game. Unfortunately, he doesn't pose any viable means for this to happen.  He does suggest letting colleges develop players as they do for the NFL and NBA, but acknowledges that it's unlikely a tradition of player development that is 70 years old will be replaced in such a manner.
  Food for thought, anyway.
  Lastly, we inlcude a link to a New York Times article about a bet on the 1946 Cards-Red Sox World Series that two American clergymen assigned to provide spiritual assistance to high-ranking former Nazi officers at the Nuremberg War Trials had placed as a diversion to the grim task they faced.  The article concludes with the oft-repeated allegation that Sox 2nd Baseman Johnny Pesky held onto the ball, while the Cards Enos Slaughter raced from first to home on the winning hit.  This has been refuted by many, most recently Posanski in another blog post.

Clutchlings' Blue Jays Minor League Awards

   With the 2013 minor league season now a fading memory, we thought that we would take a moment to present our own set of annual awards to the Blue Jays minor league system.


 Most Surprising Club Award  Vancouver Canadians
   This award shouldn't have been a surprise. But it was.
   The two-time defending Northwest League champs won 18 of their first 30 games, and appeared to be strong contenders for a three-peat.
  July rolled into August, and the C's limped home, with a pair of four-game losing streaks in the month, edging out Spokane by a game to clinch 2nd place in the combined Northern division standings, and qualified for the semi-finals.  Down the stretch, they lost starting shortstop Dickie Thon Jr, and Alberta-born and raised starting pitcher Shane Dawson.
   Buoyed by the call-ups of Dawel Lugo and Mitch Nay from Bluefield of  rookie-level Appalachian, Vancouver swept arch-rival Everett in two games in the semi-finals. They dropped the opening game of the final series to Boise, then took the next to games to capture their third consecutive NWL crown. Nay was named the championship series MVP.

Vancouver Sun photo

  Most Disappointing Club Lansing Lugnuts
Given the success the organization has had at Vancouver, the Lugnuts could be said to underachieved this year. Lansing lost 5 straight games at the end of April to finish the month 8-15, but were 15-15 for May, and appeared on the upswing, despite the loss of heralded phenon hurler Roberto Osuna, who was shut down and sent to Florida with a torn UCL that he ultimately would have surgery on later in the season.
   June and July were rough months for the Lugnuts, who went 23-32.  By July 17, they had been no-hit on three occasions, as the offence sputtered after a decent start.  Catcher Santiago Nessy received national attention in early July when teammate Chris Hawkins appeared to have hit a walk-off single against Great Lakes.  Nessy, who was on first, failed to touch 2nd base, and while Nessy raced to join his fellow Lugnuts as they mobbed Hawkins, the Loons alertly relayed the ball from the outfield to force him at 2nd.  It was a crowining moment in a month to forget.
  A decent August helped bump the Lugnuts' final record to 61-77, their first sub-.500 season since becoming a Toronto affiliate in 2005.
   There are many possibilities as to why the Lugnuts had a disappointing season. There's one school of thought that says that if you have a team 15 games under .500, the players on the roster are not ready for that level.  But since the Jays have had such success at the short-season level, one would think that eventually that would translate into more success at the next stop.  Some would suggest that the Jays tend to stock Vancouver with college players who succeed in short season ball, but reach  their ceiling once they reach A ball.
   Another possibility is that while Lansing was not one of the younger clubs in the Midwest League, they did have some young players at key positions, like Nessy.  And they did lose Osuna for over half of the season, and Daniel Norris for a month.
  It wasn't all a lost season for the Lugnuts, however.  After a rough start, Norris turned things around, outfielders Dwight Smith Jr and Dalton Pompey turned in solid seasons, shortstop Emilio Guerrero had a sizzling August, and 2013 draftee Kramer Champlin was a pleasant surprise in the starting rotation.
  With an influx of promotees from Vancouver and a number of players who likely will repeat Low A ball to start the season, Lansing should return to their winning ways next season.

Biggest Steps Forward   Daniel Norris
   After posting a bloated 8.44 ERA in his 2012 pro debut and having a rough April this season, there were concerns that the 2011 2nd round choice out of Science Hill HS in Johnson City, Tennessee might be a washout.  Baseball America wondered how someone with such electric stuff could be hit so hard and so often in its weekly Prospect Hot Sheet.
  After his first 7 outings ths year, Norris was 0-3, with an unslightly 10.07 ERA, giving up 34 hits over his first 22 innings.
  And then began the turnaround. Even after missing a month due to some elbow soreness, Norris went 2-5, with a 2.71 ERA.  While the won-loss record was misleading due to a strict (60-pitch) limit, Norris struck out 85 batters in 69 innings.  He was simply electric for the last half of the season, and earned a late season promotion to High A Dunedin, where by all accounts he continued to pitch well in one regular season and one playoff game for the D-Jays. He too made the national highlights when he snared a line drive in a game in August, narrowly avoiding decapitation.
   For the season, Norris was 1-7, with a 4.20 ERA.  He struck out 99 batters in 85 innings.  His poor start likely cost Norris a spot on Baseball America's Top 20 Midwest League prospects.
   There have been concerns about Norris' command and his ability to repeat his delivery.  Keith Law feels that his future lies in the bullpen.  We think that it's way too early to give up on Norris as a starter.  All indications are that with the help of Lansing pitching coach Vince Horsman, Norris made the transition from thrower to pitcher this year.

Biggest Steps Backward  Adonys Cardona
   Cardona made many pre-season Top 10 Jays' Prospects lists, including ours.
Promoted to Bluefield to start the season, Cardona struggled, and was shut down in early August, after putting together an 0-2, 6.75 ERA record, with a WHIP of 1.92.  He did have a pair of starts where he could be said to have been dominant, but his ERA was fluffed up a bit by several other starts that weren't.
He still made BA's Top 20 Appy League prospects list this season.  Apparently the scouts have seen something that those of us who can't get a first hand glimpse of him haven't.  Just the same, while you can't put a lot of stock in stats from the low minors, Cardona didn't do much this season to justify such lofty opinions.
 Obviously, although no one connected with the Jays is saying it, Cardona needs some time to recover physically or emotionally (or both) from whatever has been ailing him this season.  He doesn't turn 20 until the New Year, so time is on Cardona's side.

Pitcher of the Year  Marcus Stroman
   With the injury to Osuna and the struggles of Aaron Sanchez, Stroman emerged as the organization's top starter, and one who is neck-and-neck with Sean Nolin in terms of major league readiness.
  Because of last year's PED suspension, Stroman didn't make his season debut until May 17.  Most projections have Stroman as a late-inning power arm, but the Jays had him in a starting role in AA, likely to build arm strength, and to harness his secondary offerings.
   In 20 starts with New Hampshire, Stroman went 9-5, with a 3.30 ERA.  He struck out 129 batters in 111 innings, with only 27 walks.  Of some concern were the 13 home runs he gave up.
   Because he's all of 5'9", there are those who question his long term value as a starter.  There likely would be few questions if he was four inches taller.  Stroman was lights out at times this season, with a pair of 13 K games, and a pair of 11 punchout games. Yes, because of his height, he lacks a downward plane on some of his pitches, particularly his fastball, but he generated a lot of swings and misses for a short guy. In his first full season (minus the suspension) of pro ball, at that.  His future may lie in the bullpen (his current role in the Arizona Fall League), but Stroman was everything the Jays had hoped for this year.
   New Hampshire teammate Nolin was a close second.  Nolin was 8-3, 3.01 with the Fisher Cats, and was summoned (and pummeled) to the bigs for a start in late May.  Nolin finished the year at Buffalo, and is on the cusp of a spot in the big league rotation. Nolin struck out 116 batters in 110 innings between the two minor league stops.  He projects as a middle of the rotation starter, who should eat up major league innings one day.

Player of the Year   LB Dantzler
   Dantzler, described as a "solid senior value sign," was a 14th round pick in this year's draft (presumably for the $5 000 bonus the Jays gave mid-round seniors) out of South Carolina.
  Dantlzer showed some suprising pop in his final college season, which likely bumped his draft status.
His floor has been described as a high minor league first baseman, and he has drawn Lyle Overbay comps for his ceiling.
  Whatever his future holds, Dantzler was a rock in the Vancouver batting order this season, hitting .302/.502/.889, along with 9 homeruns in a difficult home run park.  Dantzler showed an ability to get on base, and was named the Northwest League's MVP. Baseball America tabbed him as the NWL's 19th best prospect.
   Dantzler was among the system's leaders in batting average, OBP, and slugging.  While there are questions about his long term value, he led his team to their thrid straight title.  Manager Clayton McCullough, on the C's website, observed:
    "He was prepared to play every day and made the players around him that much better because of the way he handled himself both on and off the field. He is just a quality human being and I couldn't be happier for him."
   Minorleagueball.com's Chris Slade, who saw a lot of Dantzler in college as a Gamecocks' season ticket holder, had this to say about Dantzler:
    "Even if he does have some contact issues (Slade described him as having holes in his swing prior to the draft) as he moves up the ladder, I still think Dantzler can maintain an above average power output and reach base often via the walk. From what I've seen, I think he has everything else you look for in a hitter (a quick, compact stroke, above average barrel to the ball ability, major league pop, discerning batting eye, willingness to take walks). I believe his Senior season at S.C. was a legitimate breakthrough."   
   Slade describes Dantzler as one to watch for next season, which will likely see him at Lansing.

The Dave Stieb Meteoric Rise Award:   Kevin Pillar
   Pillar continued his rapid rise through the system in a year that saw him start at AA, and culminated in a late-August promotion to the majors. It took him less than 3 minor league seasons to get there.  The Midwest League was so impressed with Pillar last season that he was voted league MVP, even though he was promoted to Dunedin after 86 games with Lansing.
   Pillar hit .313/.341/.494 in a half season at New Hampshire, and .299/.341/.493 at AAA Buffalo.  Pillar got off to a slow start in the bigs, starting his career with 0-13.  Pillar was overmatched in his first few weeks with the Jays, and didn't see as much playing time as some thought he would get with the injuries to Colby Rasmus and Jose Bautista.  Pillar's slow start, along with the strong showings of fellow Bison outfielders Moises Sierra and Anthony Gose limited his playing time, but Pillar did manage to climb above the Mendoza line with a strong finish, hitting .206/.250/.333, with 3 HR and 13 RBI.
   It has been well documented that the scouting consensus about Pillar has been overachieving fourth outfielder.  With the reasonably strong showings by Gose and Sierra during their September stints, as well as Pillar's outstanding minor league resume, the outfield situation with the big club has become a little more crowded than it was at the start of the year.  Pillar has hit at every minor league stop, and depsite his slow start in the bigs, it's hard to believe that he won't continue to do so if he's given a chance to adjust to major league pitching.

Toronto Star Photo

Manager of the Year  Clayton McCullough
   Some would say picking the manager of a team which wins its league title is an easy thing, but McCullough must have worked some serious magic in his second season at the helm of Vancouver to lead the Canadians to that third straight NWL crown.
   Vancouver got off to a strong start, but faded badly in August, due to injuries and inconsistency.  They rallied to make the playoffs on the final day of the season, having taken a four game losing streak into the season's next-to-last weekend. With callups Lugo, Dean, and Nay, McCullough nursed the team into the playoffs, and through the semis and finals.  Taking this team of 19 to 22 year olds must have taken infinite amounts of patience as they struggled down the stretch.
   McCullough has managed in the system for 7 years, even though he's only 33.  McCullough will be managing several Jays prospects in the Australian Winter League this offseason.

 Nastiest Stuff Award   Aaron Sanchez
   Some might say Sanchez took a slight step back in his development this year.  They would point to the progress former teammates Justin Nicolino and Noah Syndergaard made. They might also mention the month Sanchez missed due to shoulder issues. Sanchez also apparently had some blister issues this summer (although Keith Law suggests that he was blown out in one July start not because of blisters, but because the Jays for unknown - to Law - reasons were trying to get him to throw a sinker, which apparently didn't sink in that particular start) that may have limited his effectiveness.
   Sanchez also struggled a bit with his command, as he has throughout his minor league career.  At the same time, his stuff can just be downright filthy sometimes.  Sanchez can  reach 98 with his fastball, and has a change-up that many scouts have deemed major league-ready.

Best Toolkit    DJ Davis
   Going by stats alone, Davis didn't have the greatest year.  He spent the whole season at Bluefield, and wasn't called up to Vancouver in late August to help the Canadians with their playoff drive as some of his teammates were, which was something of a surprise.
   At the same time, scouts and media covering the Appy League see plenty of room for projection for Davis.  Baseball America tabbed him as the 2nd best prospect in the rookie level loop.  They weren't concerned by his numbers, which did suffer from a late season slump.  Davis flashed signs of power and speed that prompted Carl Crawford comparisons.  That's good enough for us.


Power Arm     Tyler Ybarra
   The 43rd round pick in the 2008 draft has missed a lot of bats since being moved to the bullpen in his 2nd year of pro ball.
  In 154 innings in the last 3 seasons, the lefthander has struck out 176 batters.  At High A Dunedin this year,  in 55 innings Ybarra struck out 66 FSL batters, who hit .156 against him. The 33 walks are a bit of a concern, but it's an improvement over last year, and maybe partially comes with a 95 mph fastball with movement.
   Ybarra made a number of mechanical adjustments in 2012 with Lansing, and was able to translate that into increased velocity this year.
  Ybarra was originally named as one of the AFL Seven in late August, but the Jays opted later not to send him to the Southwest, likely to protect his arm after a relatively heavy workload with the D-Jays.
   He hasn't garnered the notice that the higher-profile prospects in the system have, but at 23, he seems poised to climb the ladder quickly.


Most Dangerous Bat   Rowdy Tellez
   Labelled as the top High School power bat in this year's draft, Tellez' bonus demands and his supposed committment ot USC saw his stock plummet to the 30th round, where the Jays scooped up perhaps the steal of the draft for an $850 000 bonus.
   Tellez didn't make his pro debut until late July, and predictably struggled through his first weeks in the Gulf Coast League.  He hit .107/.286/.143 for the month, and by mid-August, still had an unsightly .189/.284/.247 line.  And then he began to figure things out.  Tellez went on an end of the season tear, going 9-16 over his last 4 games, hitting his first two pro home runs.  Tellez drove in 5 runs in his last game of the season, and the raves started. Chris King of Baseball Prospectus was among the many to tweet Tellez' praises, stating the Tellez has "huge power," that was "starting to show up in game action."

   While information out of fall instructional league in Florida was limited, the glowing reports of Tellez' power continued. King, a trusted source of Jays in Florida info, was laid up for much of September by illness and recovery from a car accident, but he did see Tellez in action once more, and marvelled at how much better his swing looked, with a much more direct path to the ball.
   Tellez won't be 19 until March, and will likely start next season in Bluefield, which means we may have to wait on this potential impact bat for a while.