Minor League Roundup – August 23rd

The Good

A.J. Jimenez – Buffalo (Triple A)

2/4 – 1/3 throwing out runners

Jimenez has impressed early into his AAA debut.  He’s carried over his hitting streak from AA into a modest 6 gamer, and has also thrown out 3 of the 9 stolen base attempts, which isn’t a great rate for someone with an arm the caliber of his, but still shows some promise.

John Stilson – Buffalo (Triple A)

1 IP – 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K

Stilson has really turned his season around the past month.  While his ERA and K% have stayed relatively consistent, his BB% has dropped from 11.2 all the way down to 3.3.  If he has corrected his shaky command, that’s the last hurdle he’ll need to get over before earning a promotion to the big leagues.  With news that Brad Lincoln was demoted after today’s game, I could easily see Stilson being the one promoted to fill that gap.(Editors Note: This didn't happen. It might soon, though.)

Dwight Smith Jr. – Lansing (Low Single A)

3/5 – 1 2B

Yet another strong game from Dwight Smith.  His 7^th multi-hit game in the month of August, which has powered him to a .302/.375/.430 slash line during that period.  Hopefully Smith can salvage what looks to be a very weak draft class in 2011.

Chase DeJong – Bluefield (High Rookie)

4 IP – 3 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 9 K

Chase DeJong had the best start of his professional career Friday night, striking out 2 more than his previous career high.  In his past 7 starts, he’s struck out 42 batters, and walked only 5, a very impressive achievement for a pitcher who was drafted out of high school only one year ago.

Miguel Castro – GCL (Low Rookie)

7 IP – 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K

Amazingly, DeJong’s 9 strikeout performance wasn’t the best by a Jays prospect last night.  In just his 3^rd start on American soil, Castro went 7 full innings, and didn’t walk a single batter.  Even though he did have excellent control, his command was fairly shaky, which led to him being up in the zone.  Based on a live report from Jared McDonald (@Jared_McDonald on Twitter) he got lucky with a bunch of his 9 fly ball outs, since they were very deep.  While that is mildly concerning, its still a hugely positive early start for a young Dominican starter.

The Bad

Santiago Nessy – Lansing (Low Single A)

0/5 – 2 K, 0/1 throwing out runners

Nessy’s season has largely been derailed after sustaining a concussion in the month of April.  However, in the month of August that has turned things around.  During that month he’s hit .315/.345/.407.  Friday wasn’t a good example of that though. 

Franklin Barreto – Bluefield (High Rookie)

0/4 – 2 K

Barreto started his career in Bluefield going 5 for 11, but since then he’s not had quite the same success going 1 for 18.  This is just a 5 game blip, and considering that he’s just 17 years old its definitely not something to get worried about.