Thursday, August 8, 2013

Minor League Roundup - August 6th Edition


Today's roundup features a Jay having a very good showing in an all-star game, a breakthrough for a key AAA guy to watch, and piling on a frequent Blue Jays punching bag.


The Good

Anthony Gose – Buffalo (Triple A)
2/5 – 1 HR, 1 SB, 2 K
Anthony Gose is really getting things going down in Buffalo.  For the 4th straight game in a row he stole a base (his 16th of the season), but even more impressively he showed off the power which made him the prospect we were all anticipating earlier in his career.  He hit just his 3rd home run of the season (and his first since May 10th).  Gose’s development over the past 2 months of the year probably matter more for the quality of the 2014 Blue Jays than anyone else in the minor leagues, and its very positive to see him get things going.

Marcus Stroman – New Hampshire (Double A)
7 IP – 8 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 7 K
The diminutive Stroman continues his dominance against AA competition.  In his past 3 starts he’s now struck out 31 and only walked 4.  While there remains doubts about Stroman’s ability to stick in the rotation long term, if he keeps pitching this well the Jays have no choice but to give him a chance.

Chase De Jong – Lansing (High Single A)
6 IP – 6 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 6 K
 DeJong is a member or the stacked Blue field rotation, and has posted the best numbers amoung the group at Bluefield (including big armed Adoyns Cardona & Alberto Tirado).  He's yet to walk more than 2 in any of his starts, and his 8/1 strikeout to walk ratio really augurs well as he continues his march thru the system.

Clinton Hollon – GCL (Low Rookie League)
3 IP – 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
When Clinton Hollon signed below slot after being drafted in the 2nd round, I was horribly concerned given the damage reported to his UCL.  However, after his first three professional appearances, I’m starting to perhaps look at Hollon even closer.  In those three appearances, he’s given up a whopping 1 hit, not walked a single batter, and struck out 7 batters.  I’m stunned he’s even on the mound in the first place, because I assumed that he’d be headed for surgery.  That being said I’m willing to ride this out, with my head buried in the sand assuming nothing is wrong with his UCL.

Jake Brentz – GCL (Low Rookie League)
1 IP – 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K
Jake Brentz is going to be a very interesting prospect to track throughout his minor league career.  As a two way player during his amateur career he is learning how to pitch as much as any prospect. 
In his first appearances he failed to record an out, balked twice, and walked 3 of the 4 batters. 
Next time around he faced 6 batters, walked two, hit one of them, and struck out two of the other
His progression continues in his 3rd appearance.  He didn’t strike anyone out this time, but he only walked one batter, and didn’t give up a hit.  Lets hope this continues as the season progresses.

L.B. Dantzler – Vancouver (Short Season A)
*Northwest League All-Star Game
2/4 – 1 HR, 1 2B
LB Dantzler probably isn't much of a prospect, since he was a senior draft pick in the 13th round of this past draft.  However, he put on a show in the Northwest League All-Star game, with multiple extra base hits.  Dantzler has really hit well since making his professional debut with the Canadians, and if he keeps hitting like this, let's hope he can prove the scouts wrong.

The Bad
Ricky Romero – Buffalo (Triple A)
3.2 IP – 8 H, 7 R, 2 BB, 2 K, 2 HR
Ricky Romero is awful. This isn't really news to any Jays fan, but its really astounding that someone who was good enough to make an all-star team as recently as 2011 has fallen to the point where he can't even get AAA batters out on a regular basis.  Its very sad frankly.

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