On May 4, Minor League Baseball finally got underway, marking the first time that the farm teams played competitive baseball games since Fall 2019.
Obviously, this means the Jays’ affiliates have gotten things started, and while minor league rosters are in a state of constant flux, and while there often isn’t much to talk about regarding them beyond stories such as“big prospect jumps a level”, “oh my god, I thought he retired”, and “holy shit, a team named the Rocket City Trash Pandas is doing a Ninja Turtle Night, how soon can I get to wherever the fuck ‘Rocket City’ is supposed to be?”
(Madison, Alabama, apparently.)
With that said, there’s something to at least note about each of the Jays’ minor league teams’ assignments. And that’s just what we’re going to do today. Almost two weeks after the minor league season started. Because I’
Before I start us off with the Opening Day roster for the Buffalo Bisons of Jersey, humour me as I plead for engagement. If you like that JAYSLAM is here, providing fresh Jay-related #content multiple times a week, consider sharing this post with a pal who may be interested! Or one who’s not! Whatever!
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Buffalo Bisons (Triple-A East)
Updates:
In addition, Jonathan Davis has been called up to the Blue Jays after George Springer was once again placed on the IL (kill me).
Reese McGuire also had his contract purchased by the Jays. Riley Adams has been sent back down to Triple-A, where he’ll likely be the starting catcher.
With Joe Panik going on the IL, Rowdy Tellez has been called back up to the Blue Jays.
A.J. Cole’s contract has been purchased and he is now back with the Blue Jays.
With Nate Pearson being sent back down, Jeremy Beasley has been called up to the Jays in his place.
Josh Palacios will miss
Notes:
Not really roster-related, but it’s worth mentioning that the Bisons will be playing home games in Trenton, New Jersey, home of the Thunder, and Bat Dog Capital of the World. This is to accommodate the big league team, as the Jays will move into Sahlen Field in Buffalo on June 1.
The Bisons will be managed by Casey Candaele, a former utilityman who spent parts of twelve seasons with the Montreal Expos, Houston Astros, and Cleveland. He’s been a part of the organization since 2018, managing the Dunedin Blue Jays that year, and the Vancouver Canadians the next.
Candaele’s mother, Helen Callaghan from Vancouver, BC, played five seasons in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, along with her sister Marge. The 1992 movie A League of Their Own, which is co-written by Kelly Candaele, Casey’s brother.
I once asked Casey if he got his athletic ability from his mom. He said, "No, I got it from my dad. If I got it from my mom, I'd be in the Hall of Fame."Former big leaguer Casey Candaele’s mom, Helen, played in the women’s professional baseball league : A League Of Their Own. “She had a better swing than I did,” Casey said. “She’s the only mom ever banned from the parent/kids softball game because she was too good.” #bestofalltimTim Kurkjian @Kurkjian_ESPNNo word yet on the veracity of this scene:
The team’s first base coach will once again be legendary Blue Jays center fielder Devon Whyte.
The biggest story out of Trenton is that of Alek Manoah. If I can be permitted to be self-indulgent, I said the following about Manoah in my Spring Training pieces from back before series previews began dominating my every waking moment.
Manoah has pitched a grand total of 17 innings in the minors in Short-Season A ball with the Vancouver Canadians, so he’s probably even further off than Woods Richardson. That said, he’s gotten rave reviews so far and could find himself on the fast track, even if it’s probably not realistic to expect him up this year.
The reviews out of Spring Training and the Alternate Site must’ve been especially raving because despite only having those 17 innings on his minor league resume, the Jays have seen fit to send Manoah directly to Triple-A.
More so than any other Jays prospect this year, Manoah has gotten “FREE HIM” treatments of various intensities from fans and pundits, which only snowballed in intensity after his electric Spring Training performances and his thus far stellar performances in Triple-A (12 scoreless innings in two starts, 0.99 FIP/1.70 xFIP, 54.5 K%, 9.1 BB%) have strengthened his case that much further.
While I had clearly been among those pumping the brakes on expecting Manoah in the Majors this season, it seems that someone in the front office doesn’t agree with me. In fact, I would bet money at this point that we see the 23-year old with the Blue Jays in some capacity before the year is over.
Fuck it, man. Let him eat.
Nate Pearson was the Opening Day starter for the Bisons (wearing Trenton Thunder jerseys. Nice touch) against the Worcester Red Sox.
He was called up to the Jays afterwards for a start against the Houston Astros that went decidedly horribly by any conceivable metric. He was sent back to Triple-A soon afterwards, where he’ll try to figure himself out. I think it’s a bit odd that this is what they went with given that his issues with command and velocity don’t really pop up unless he’s pitching in the Majors, so I’m not sure what him continuing Triple-A pitching again is supposed to fix. On the other hand, I’m not exactly itching to see whatever the fuck that was on May 9 again. We’ll see how it shake out
WAR MOTH WAR MOTH WAR MOTH WAR MOTH WAR MOTH WAR MOTH WAR MOTH WAR MOTH WAR MOTH WAR MOTH WAR MOTH WAR MOTH
Guys on Fangraphs’ Top Prospects List: Nate Pearson (1, starting pitcher), Alek Manoah (8, starting pitcher), Kevin Smith (14, shortstop) Joey Murray (17, starting pitcher), Riley Adams (20, catcher) Jackson Rees (21, relief pitcher), T.J. Zeuch (30, starting pitcher), Hobie Harris (34, relief pitcher), Josh Palacios (unranked, outfielder), Logan Warmoth (unranked, super-utility)
Guys with MLB experience: Dany Jiménez (relief pitcher), Jacob Waguespack (relief pitcher), Christian Colón (utility infielder), Richard Ureña (utility infielder), Dilson Herrera (super utility), Tyler White (first base), Breyvic Valera (super utility), Juan Graterol (catcher)
New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Double-A Northeast)
The two biggest hitting prospects in Double-A are infielders Austin Martin and Jordan Groshans. Martin is in his first season as a professional while Groshans is playing in his first minor league games since 2019 when he played in 23 games for the Class-A Lansing Lugnuts before going down with a foot injury.
Both Martin and Groshans are listed as shortstops, though neither are the cleanest fits defensively. Martin has seen time in center field as well as at short so far this year, and people who are paid to think about this kind of thing usually see there or second base as his final destination. Meanwhile, Groshans has split time at shortstop and third base, where he’s earned some eyebrow-raising comps to Josh Donaldson. And, uh, tell you what, I’ll take a fucking Josh Donaldson on my team, please and thank you.
Provided Martin can adjust to better pitching and Groshans can rebound from his injury, their bats should play. Given the fact that the infield situation at the big league level is more or less in flux season-to-season, it’ll be interesting to see where they settle in.
Simeon Woods Richardson has almost been lost in the shuffle of the ever-evolving Blue Jays pitching prospect discourse. Despite being leapfrogged by Alek Manoah and overshadowed by Nate Pearson’s… Scuffles, let’s call them, the promising Woods Richardson is making his Double-A debut this year, where he’s thrown 9 solid innings in two games thus far. Pitching prospects are volatile by nature, but the fact that the Jays have three of the better ones in the upper minors waiting in the wings (and occasionally ironing out some major fucking issues, admittedly) just gives one that good tingly feeling in all the right places.
Speaking of being spoiled for choice, catcher Gabriel Moreno will also be making his Double-A debut, where he’s tearing shit up to start the season (.429/.520/.714 in 25 plate appearances). Maybe not this year, but between Danny Jansen, Alejandro Kirk, Riley Adams, and Moreno, the catcher logjam that may develop next year should be interesting, hopefully. Maybe not so much if Jansen keeps having trouble keeping his wRC+ above zero.
Former Rule 5 pick Elvis Luciano will make his minor league debut in the Blue Jays’ system after splitting 2019 with the team as a teenage rookie, and on the IL with “we don’t want to give him back to Arizona, but he’s clearly not good enough to be in the big leagues, so I guess we’ll just bury him in the IL and hope nobody asks too many questions”-itis.
Outfielder Demi Orimoloye is a fringe prospect, but he’s interesting nevertheless. Acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers in the Curtis Granderson trade, Orimoloye was born in Lagos, Nigeria, and his family moved to Orleans, Ontario (a suburb of Ottawa) when Demi was eighteen months old. If he were to make the Blue Jays, he would become the first Nigerian-born MLB player, and the third one from continental Africa, the first two being Blue Jays Legend Gift Ngoepe, and the other Tayler Scott, both of whom hail from South Africa.
Speaking of milestones, I’ve already talked about how great he is, but if Chavez Young were to make the Blue Jays at some point, he would become the first Bahamian to play for the team.
Guys on Fangraphs’ Top Prospects List: Austin Martin (2, infielder/outfielder), Simeon Woods Richardson (3, starting pitcher), Jordan Groshans (5, infielder), Gabriel Moreno (7, catcher), Otto López (23, super-utility), Chavez Young (31, outfielder), Curtis Taylor (35, relief pitcher), Samad Taylor (unranked, second base/center field)
Guys with MLB experience: Elvis Luciano (starting pitcher)
Vancouver Canadians (High-A West)
Update:
With cross-border travel still a no-go, the Canadians will operate out of Ron Tonkin Park in Hillsboro, Oregon, which they’ll share with the excellently named Hillsboro Hops, the Arizona Diamondbacks’ High Class-A affiliate.
Sure, Adam Kloffenstein is great, and we’re all excited to see what he can do (though that 20% walk rate in the early going could stand to take a couple hits). More importantly though, C.J. Van Eyk. I don’t care if he got rocked in my first start, this is who I’m spotlighting.
C.J., please, I beg of you. I will do awful, awful things in your service if you would just do me the gracious favour of going by your full name, Cornelius Johannes Van Eyk. Please, Cornelius Johannes Van Eyk. Consider my plea.
In Fangraphs’ 2019 Blue Jays Prospect list, Eric Longenhagen and Kiley McDaniel said the following about catching prospect Hagen Danner, who had been a two-way player in high school.
“He has above average to plus arm strength and raw power projection, and we think he can stick behind the plate, but the hit tool may take a little time, which is the main concern going forward.”
Something must have changed either the Jays or Danner’s mind, and while I obviously don’t know what happened behind the scenes, but Danner’s .170/.254/.369 slash line at Class-A Lansing may have something to do with it.
Danner’s listed as a pitcher here, shifting to a relief pitcher role, where he’s had some solid outings to start the year. It’ll be interesting to see how the Jays’ “Kenley Jansen, but from Orange County” experiment goes.
Guys on Fangraphs’ Top Prospects List: C.J. Van Eyk (10, starting pitcher), Adam Kloffenstein (13, starting pitcher), Will Robertson (25, outfielder), Tanner Morris (36, left field), Phil Clarke (unranked, catcher)
Dunedin Blue Jays (Low-A Southeast)
Update: Dutch pitcher Jiorgeny Casimiri has been assigned to Dunedin, as has infielder Leonardo Jiménez.
Some really shitty developments out of Dunedin have occurred, where flame-throwing Cuban pitcher Yosver Zulueta hurt his knee covering first base and will require season-ending knee surgery. Just the worst possible news to hear about a guy who seemingly came out of nowhere to dazzle surprised onlookers in Spring Training.
Eric Pardinho is still making his way back from Tommy John surgery, so if you need your fix for teenage Brazilian pitching prospects taken care of, Rafael Ohashi has you covered.
Speaking of international pitching prospects that I’ve decided to fixate on, Dutch Sem Robberse is making his Class-A debut. Longenhagen says the following about Robberse:
When Toronto signed Robberse he was throwing about 84, but in the Fall of 2020 he was sitting 90-91 much of the time and touching some 93s. He is a big-framed teenager with a pretty graceful delivery and he creates vertical action on his curveball, so that also has a chance to be an impact pitch.
All grand, but more importantly, did you know that the Dutch baseball league is called the Honkbal Hoofdklasse? It means Dutch Major League, I kid you not!
Also worth noting are infielders Miguel Hiraldo and especially Orelvis Martínez, the latter being a borderline Top 100 prospect in baseball.
Guys on Fangraphs’ Top Prospects List: Orelvis Martínez (6, shortstop), Miguel Hiraldo (9, infielder), Leonardo Jiménez (18, shortstop), Yosver Zulueta (27, starting pitcher), Sem Robberse (28, starting pitcher), Roither Hernández (38, relief pitcher), Naswell Paulino (39, relief pitcher), Jol Concepción (unranked, starting pitcher), Zach Britton (unranked, catcher)
No, not this Zack Britton: