Minor League Roundup – August 12th

The Good

Anthony Gose – Buffalo (Triple A)

1/6 – 2 SB, 1K

*Double Header*

This is a strange appearance on the good side of the ledger, because while Gose was only 1 for 6 in both halves of a double header, there are two other very notable things that happened. 

The first is that Gose was successful stealing 2 more bases on Monday.  That means that’s he’s stolen 8 consecutive bases without being caught in his past 11 games.  Coming into that game, he had stolen 18 bases, and been caught 18 times.  I don’t know what changed at that time, but since then he’s turned back into the speed demon that’s made him such a terror to minor league catchers in his minor league career. 

It may be a coincidence, but since that time, he’s also turned things around at the plate, hitting .305/.324/.583.  The one flaw that’s remained in his game has been his propensity for striking out.  For the 14 consecutive games prior to the 2^nd game of Monday’s double header, Gose has struck out at least once, for a total of 19 strikeouts.  I was notably tracking this, if and when Gose passed the major league record for consecutive games with a strikeout (which is Jarrod Saltalamacchia, with 28 incase you’re interested).  However, miraculously Gose didn’t strike out!!!  Hallelujah!!!

Clinton Hollon – GCL (Low Rookie)

4 IP – 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K

Four starts into 2^nd round pick Clinton Hollon’s career, I can’t imagine it having gone any better.  In his first 12 professional, he’s only given up two hits, and walked just three, while striking out ten.  I still continue to have doubts about Hollon’s long term health due to the team finding damage to his UCL after drafting him, but boy is he going out of his way to prove that UCL or no UCL he can pitch.

Miguel Castro – GCL (Low Rookie)

4 IP – 5 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 5 K

A real mystery to most Blue Jays fans, Castro made his state side debut on Monday after dominating the Dominican Summer League.  He closed out his Dominican season with a stellar 1.36 ERA, 33.8 K%, just 5.7 BB%, and impressively not giving up a single home run.  He was quite able to effectively transfer those numbers in his first start. 

The hulking 6’5” right hander features a mid-90s fastball, as well a developing slider and changeup.  He’s one of the players I’ll be most anxiously looking to get reports on in the final few weeks of the minor league season. 

The Bad

Ricky Romero – Buffalo (Triple A)

7 IP – 9 H, 5 R, 2 BB, 7 K

Another start, and yet another let down for the former ace of the Jays staff.  If it wasn’t a light day for Jays affiliates, I probably wouldn’t have even bothered including Romero today.  Yes, you could look at the positive that he struck out a batter per inning, and posted a K/BB rate of over 3/1, but when you’ve given up 34 hits and 4 home runs in your past 22 innings pitched there’s just nothing to see here. 

Santiago Nessy – Lansing (Low Single A)

0/3 – 1 BB, 3 K, 3 Stolen Bases Allowed

A day after appearing on the positive side of the ledger because of his homerun of Dodgers top prospect Julio Urias, Nessy appears again, but this time for the wrong reasons.  While he was able to do damage against Urias, he didn’t have the same type of success against 2013 first round pick Chris Anderson, striking out 3 times. 

In addition to that Nessy allowed 3 more stolen bases on Monday, to go with the 2 that he gave up on Sunday night.  Perhaps just a blip, but I’m starting to hear rumblings that his defense has gone backwards this season, after it was supposed to be a calling card of his coming into the year.