BlueRocky

It’s hard to gauge Cullen Large when he missed 80% of last season with injuries. But when he has played, the dude has smashed baseballs. Before he went down last year he was putting up wRC+ of 177 in Lansing. I was actually eyeing him as a breakout candidate along with Kevin Smith. (Smith of course broke out onto top 100 scene) Stock is definitely rising with Cullen Large but I hope those K numbers come down (28.6 K% / 16.1 BB%), wRC+ 216 in Dunedin. Seems like another three outcomes guy, without necessarily the homerun power of a Ryan Noda but perhaps a better hit tool. He’s another switch hitter like Chavez Young, currently smashing from both sides with an OPS over 1.000 vs lefties and righties **small sample**. Likely playing 3B.

Hasn’t played a home game for Buffalo since the callup, gotta cash in those tickets. Unfortunate that most of their games in April are on the road, perhaps weather related reasons. https://www.milb.com/buffalo/schedule/2019-04

Well we also took Kevin Smith that draft so I’m not as bummed out. Dunedin and Lansing having a field day Ryan Gold with 4 hits, 7 RBI and a grand slam & hit for the cycle Ryan Noda with 4 hits Cullen Large with 2 doubles Riley Adams another dinger Otto Lopez 3 hits, a walk, 2 runs, 1 RBI Kirk had a hit Groshans didn’t play (boo!) Life is good

Rotations Bisons: SRF, Waguespack, Paulino, Morimando, Merryweather (DL), Zeuch (DL) Other arms: Barnes, Romano, Dermody, Jackson, Copping, Isaacs, Fisk Half the rotation is either DLed or called up (Thronton/Borucki/Pannone). But yes it’s not exactly a group that inspires confidence. SRF and Paulino are looking like future relievers. There’s some upside in the bullpen but who really knows. Barnes and Dermody have been called up before. Romano is a converted starter, they still might stretch him out. Fisher Cats: Murphy, Diaz, Logue, Perez, Sopko Other arms: McClelland, Snead, Tyce, Case, Fishman, Baker, Rios There’s some prospect arms at this level with potential, it’s actually a pretty stacked rotation for AA. Some flaws and upside with the names here. Perez’s control issues suggest reliever, it’s basically the SRF experiment all over again. There’s two flamethrowers in Murphy and McClelland. Diaz, Logue, Sopko are potential back end rotation arms. We’ll have a better idea at the end of the year, some pitching prospects don’t succeed their first try in AA. It’s difficult to put a schedule when they’ll come up. Dunedin: Pearson, Allgeyer, Castillo, Larkins, Buffo (DL) Other arms: Dillon, Maese Pearson needs no introduction. Castillo is really young. Larkins and Allgeyer have been solid to start the season. Buffo is on the DL. There’s some promise here, but these guys are at least 2+ years away. I’ve mentioned before that we’re thin at pitching prospects. To be more specific, we’re thin in high-end pitching talent. We’ve got a bunch of the backend rotation / possibly convert into reliever variety.. which is still nice to have considering we paid 5-10M for fifth starter material in 2017-2018. The only elite guys incubating in the farm system are Nate Pearson (A+) and maybe Eric Pardinho (A-DL). Adam Kloffenstein I have no idea, we will see. As of now, if Stroman and Sanchez leaves in free agency.. the rotation is pretty unpleasant going forward. It’s quite mandatory for the Jays to acquire some high-end pitching talent via trade deadline, or draft, during this rebuild. Unless of course they are finally willing to toss out 20M-30M contracts to premium pitchers in free agency, which Shatkins are unlikely to do. And if they’re willing to go that far, why not just sign Stroman and Sanchez?

I have nothing against Taylor, and I understand he’s been young for his level. I’m just excited that the Jays seem to have found themselves another gem. Looking through MLB Pipeline’s top 30 prospects, there’s legitimate upside from top to bottom and some of the guys we’re excited about are in the back end of that list or not even on it. (e.g. Winckowzki, Logue, Lopez, Mcclelland). The prospect depth is pretty crazy, the same can’t be said about most MLB farm systems.

wRC+ 216, 194, 187 for those three studs. Captain Kirk's 7.5% K% / 15% BB% is pretty ridiculous for a guy slugging .667 and ISO .303. Probably not sustainable (unless your name is Vlad and ends with jr.) but he's setting himself up to shoot up the prospect rankings. I'm hoping he can stay at catcher. Lopez is looking like Samad Taylor with a way better hit tool--much better contact and less strikeouts. Both listed 20 years old, 5'10 160lbs R/R that plays 2B (Though Lopez plays around the diamond). Both are aggressive stealing bases. Their offensive production is night and day though, especially the strikeout and walk numbers: (A- Vancouver) Samad Taylor: .294/.342/.426 wRC+ 116, 23.1 K%, 6.4 BB% Otto Lopez: .297/.390/.434 wRC+ 134, 10.2 K%,12.6 BB% (A Lansing) Samad Taylor: .228/.319/.387 wRC+ 102, 18.7 K%, 10.8 BB% Otto Lopez: .344/.488/.500 wRC+ 194, 9.8 K%, 22 BB% *41 PA*

Fat? Put some respek on his name. That’s Alejandro “Absolute Unit” Captain Kirk. On a side note, Josh Winckowzki is dealing

David Paulino looked lost on the mound. His stuff doesn’t seem that elite and his command, to put it kindly.. needs a lot of work. His stuff either goes straight down the middle or misses by a mile. His curve has decent break but no control. I’m not sure who is worst at this point between him and Hector Perez. Both prospect fetches from the Osuna trade look like tire fires. I don’t know if this Paulino as a starter experiment should continue for too much longer, I’ll be happy if he’s a half decent middle relief.

They’re only 1 game behind the worst team in the tankathon. Currently would draft 3rd in 2020. Still I have a hard time believing we will only win 50 games this year with Vladdy and possibly Biggio on his way up. Even if we sell our entire rotation in July we might win 60 games. Being the Baltimore Orioles is actually a very hard thing to do. Perhaps. But where do you see him playing in 2020-2021? I don’t see how he beats out Vlad, Bichette, Smith, Biggio, Groshans, Tellez, or even Galvis right now for any infield playing time. Unless you feel like he’s a first basemen and platoon him with Rowdy. He might eventually have to go try some outfield in Buffalo.

I also really like the podcast and wish you guys great success. Here is are a few minor suggestions: - Honestly I have listened to half the available episodes, still have no idea who is who. I can’t really put a name to a voice other than John and Alan. There weren’t really a property introduction or I just completely missed it. - One guy in the podcast keeps getting cut in and out due to possibly poor connection. I don't know if you guys are using skype or discord but that needs to be fixed. Maybe use a different voice chat program? It’s a bit irritating, its tolerable. But I really wanna hear what he wants to say but he keeps getting cut out. He really seems to know what he’s talking about.. too bad we can’t hear him half the time. - Sometimes things get off topic but I find it not that bad, sometimes even funny like the time someone’s spoon noises entered a topic about whether butter chicken is considered indian food. - Can tell there’s a highly intelligent group of guys that knows their baseball. Sometimes you guys don’t agree on a topic and will end up arguing or debating about a point. Those are very interesting discussions and they sometimes happen spontaneously. Perhaps there could be more structure and have some debating points included in future episodes. Cheers

Same reason why we care about Pompey

I’m warming up to a Bryson Stott or Kameron Misner pick

Groshans is no. 87 on Baseball America. They’re pretty much ahead of any other list when it comes to prospect updates. NH’s lineup isn’t quite as exciting but they have more legit pitching prospects than the other rosters.

I think you guys are reading way too much into Keith Law’s thoughtless comment that maybe took 2 seconds to think about and probably mistaken Thornton for Reid-Foley because he literally has watched 5 minutes of Blue Jays baseball all season.

Pretty sure it went over all the billboards

If he’s not rusty or injured he should be up here in a week. He looked very good today against Scranton, much better than his outings in Dunedin. You could’ve put a pitching machine on the mound and his line would’ve been the same. He didn’t swing at anything out of the plate, and absolutely crushed anything near a strike. Scranton even changed pitchers to one of their elite relievers that threw 95 heaters before he crushed the 3 run homer. Baseball just looks easy for Vlad I picked the Angels series but I think he’s coming up way sooner than that.

Me likey

Jesse Goldberg-Strassler says planned day off. On a side note, my sleeper Otto Lopez is looking like a stud in SSS. 2/4, R, RBI, BB, SB, another solid day. Batting .409, OPS 1.110

He doesn't even watch the Blue Jays. Why do we give half a crap about his opinion?

BA updated their mock draft again, this time having the Jays take OF J.J. Bleday at 11th. L/L 6’3 205 lbs “Toronto could be choosing between a number of college hitters here depending on how the top 10 plays out, but Bleday has been steadily rising all spring with improved power numbers and a fantastic track record of hitting in the SEC. Around this range seems to be the floor for Carroll as well.” Based on their mock, other names @ our pick range: Infielders: 3B Josh Jung, SS Logan Davidson, SS Will Wilson, SS Bryson Stott Outfielders: OF Kameron Misner, OF Hunter Bishop Pitchers: LHP Zach Thompson, RHP Jackson Rutledge, RHP Alek Manoah, RHP Brennan Malone, RHP Daniel Espino, RHP George Kirby, RHP J.J. Goss I personally wouldn’t mind going for best talent available and grab either an elite athlete that can hit like Logan Davidson or swing for the fences by going highest upside prep/juco arms like Daniel Espino and Jackson Rutledge. Don’t think guys like OF Hunter Bishop or OF Corbin Carroll will fall to us as their stocks have risen considerably. Some early mocks also have us picking LHP Nick Lodolo but his stock is rising too, might still be in our pick range.

I haven’t written him off completely but there’s no way he should be batting 3rd today or 2nd yesterday infront of Vlad jr., Warmoth hasn’t hit at all since arriving in Dunedin a year ago. I rather give more plate appearances to Cullen Large, Riley Adams, Chavez Young, Ryan Noda, or even Demi Orimoloye.

lol they took out Nate after two innings, load management. 2.0 IP 0 H 0 BB 0 R 2 K 27 pitches, 16 strikes

He was down 3-0 count, then went 98 down the middle, another fastball fouled off, then popout to Vicuna 2nd inning Lewin Diaz almost took him deep but Demi Orimoloye caught it at the RF wall. Still scoreless

He’s been great so far