The Future is Bright: Blue Jays 2012-13 Minor League Thread 1.0

[Dol-Fan]

you should educate yourself about what he got suspended for.

http://sports.nationalpost.com/2012/...ned-substance/

Yup. A lot of people work out with it. He probably used it a lot in college and never thought twice to stop in the pros.

[bartron_44]

It is no shocker that all of our best prospects (drafted by AA) have been pitchers...Just look at when we drafted most of our hitters vs most of those top pitching prospects..
The ONLY player we drafted in the top 20 in the first round in the last 3 years is Davis, and he is now ranked very highly in our system. We have hit on more arms because that is probably what AA told his scouts to focus on finding in the draft.

Another trend that sticks out to me is AA is switching his focus from pitching to hitting:

2010- 0 of our first 5 picks were hitters
2011- 2 of our first 4 picks were hitters (picks 2 and 4)
2012- 2 of our first 4 picks were hitters (picks 1 and 4)

If you look deeper then the first 10 rounds, under the old drafting rules AA actually did a pretty decent job at finding hitters later in the draft in 2011 too:

2011 (performance in 2012):

Rd.11- Andy Burns -.248/.351/.464 with 9 HR's, 25 2B's and 4 3B's before his injury
Rd.13- Matt Dean- struggled his first year of pro ball in Bluefield at age 19
Rd.18- Jon Berti- .281/.391/.362 in Lansing before being promoted after 60 games
Rd.21- Peter Mooney- looked great in 2011..anyone know why he missed all of 2012?
Rd.25- Eric Arce- .236/.384/.480 in Bluefield
Rd.28- Jorge Vega-Rosado- .275/.355/.369 in Bluefield
Rd.30- Kevin Patterson- .244/.340/.465 with 19 HR's and 22 2B's in Lansing
Rd.32- Kevin Pillar- .323/.374/.439 with 51 SB's between Lansing and Dunedin


The new drafting rules didn't let him find too many sleepers of any kind in 2012. Hopefully Borucki turns into one in Rd 15, but after Alford in Rd 4 (who was also a major gamble of a pick) AA wasn't really going after high end talent. The 2012 draft pretty much rests in the hands of Davis, Stroman, Smoral, Nay, Gonzales and Dejong. Still too early to judge any of them.

[town123]

It is no shocker that all of our best prospects (drafted by AA) have been pitchers...Just look at when we drafted most of our hitters vs most of those top pitching prospects..
The ONLY player we drafted in the top 20 in the first round in the last 3 years is Davis, and he is now ranked very highly in our system. We have hit on more arms because that is probably what AA told his scouts to focus on finding in the draft.

Another trend that sticks out to me is AA is switching his focus from pitching to hitting:

2010- 0 of our first 5 picks were hitters
2011- 2 of our first 4 picks were hitters (picks 2 and 4)
2012- 2 of our first 4 picks were hitters (picks 1 and 4)

If you look deeper then the first 10 rounds, under the old drafting rules AA actually did a pretty decent job at finding hitters later in the draft in 2011 too:

2011 (performance in 2012):

Rd.11- Andy Burns -.248/.351/.464 with 9 HR's, 25 2B's and 4 3B's before his injury
Rd.13- Matt Dean- struggled his first year of pro ball in Bluefield at age 19
Rd.18- Jon Berti- .281/.391/.362 in Lansing before being promoted after 60 games
Rd.21- Peter Mooney- looked great in 2011..anyone know why he missed all of 2012?
Rd.25- Eric Arce- .236/.384/.480 in Bluefield
Rd.28- Jorge Vega-Rosado- .275/.355/.369 in Bluefield
Rd.30- Kevin Patterson- .244/.340/.465 with 19 HR's and 22 2B's in Lansing
Rd.32- Kevin Pillar- .323/.374/.439 with 51 SB's between Lansing and Dunedin


The new drafting rules didn't let him find too many sleepers of any kind in 2012. Hopefully Borucki turns into one in Rd 15, but after Alford in Rd 4 (who was also a major gamble of a pick) AA wasn't really going after high end talent. The 2012 draft pretty much rests in the hands of Davis, Stroman, Smoral, Nay, Gonzales and Dejong. Still too early to judge any of them.

Good question. I forgot all about little Peter. I know he started with Dunedin this year and went on the 7 day DL and never played again the whole year. Gonna have to check with the Jays.... sorry I don't know why.

[bartron_44]

If Mooney returns and hits like he did in 2011, he will be a STEAL in the 21st round. Almost as big of a steal as Pillar was in the 32nd round imo.

[bartron_44]

Should Andy Burns be rated higher in our system? He was a solid hitter in the SEC for 2 years, and was even better in Lansing last year before he got injured with 38 extra base hits in 278 AB's and 15 SB's in 17 attempts.

I think Dunedin could be the best offensive minor league team we have in 2013. There is a chance they break camp with Kenny Wilson, Kevin Pillar, Kevin Patterson, A.J Jimenez, K.C Hobson, Andy Burns and Chris Hawkins...

Not sure if they all will be in Dunedin, but if they are, that team should put up a **** load of runs

[The_Jet11]

You're definitely right about AA's focus Bartron. He has definitely landed a lot of great arms because of going after them early, and picked up a few decent bats later on. And he has started going for the highly touted bats early on in the past two drafts. I expect this trend to continue this year, as I feel he will target blue-chip hitters heavily.

When it comes to hitters, we have less high-upside guys currently in the system than we have pitchers.

[13Lawrie13]

Should Andy Burns be rated higher in our system? He was a solid hitter in the SEC for 2 years, and was even better in Lansing last year before he got injured with 38 extra base hits in 278 AB's and 15 SB's in 17 attempts.

I think Dunedin could be the best offensive minor league team we have in 2013. There is a chance they break camp with Kenny Wilson, Kevin Pillar, Kevin Patterson, A.J Jimenez, K.C Hobson, Andy Burns and Chris Hawkins...

Not sure if they all will be in Dunedin, but if they are, that team should put up a **** load of runs

No chance. He'll be with the Fisher Cats to start the season.

[Bombtista]

No chance. He'll be with the Fisher Cats to start the season.

Was thinking the same thing. Hes gunna be our only chance if JPA starts to frustrate us all again.

Hes on the 40 man, in case of an injury to JPA it could very well be him who gets the call.

Nickeas is only an insurance option for Thole I imagine.

[bartron_44]

No chance. He'll be with the Fisher Cats to start the season.

Yeah, he was my biggest ?. However, I still think it is a possibility he starts off there considering he missed pretty much the entire season last year. He may not stay very long, but I could see them letting him go back to where he had a lot of success to get comfortable again to start out. He wasn't exactly tearing up the EL last year before he got hurt. I don't think he will last all season in the FSL, but he may start there...It may not be likely, but I wouldn't say there is "no chance".

[bartron_44]

Was thinking the same thing. Hes gunna be our only chance if JPA starts to frustrate us all again.

Hes on the 40 man, in case of an injury to JPA it could very well be him who gets the call.

Nickeas is only an insurance option for Thole I imagine.

I think there is "no chance" we see Jimenez in MLB in 2013. Not even as a September call up. He missed almost all of last year, and we actually have a AAA team that is a step above AA if he performs well.

Thole was a starting catcher in MLB in 2012, I am sure they will simply play him as the starter if JPA goes down for an extended period next season.

[Ace Drivers]

with the AAA team in Buffalo, I'm interested to see how they manage our minor leaguers...

although my bet is Jimenez will be in AA as that is where our premier pitching prospects that can be called up are...my guess is that once Hutch and Drabek come back he will be where ever the jays put them...assuming they are not with the big club due to other injuries

[bartron_44]

I don't think we need to rush Jimenez now because D'arnaud is gone. Bring him along at his own pace. When he can hit around .300 in NH like he has in Lansing and Dunedin, then you promote him to Buffalo. No sense promoting him up to AA to catch Drabek and Hutch if he is going to hit a buck fifty and/or put up an OBP under .300. He is too bright of a prospect to destroy by rushing him before he is ready.

He will be a very attractive prospect next off season if he puts up numbers in AA like he did in Lansing and Dunedin. Not ready enough to bring out the trade JPA rumors again, but he could be ready in 2014.

[Sanyo]

I still think AJ Jimenez has a ton of value. Defensively far superior than JPA, a better hitter and can also steal you 10-15 bases a year. Only flaw is his lack of power, however if he can bring the other two strengths, it really doesnt matter. But he is still about a good two years away...

[Spiderdan22]

I don't think we need to rush Jimenez now because D'arnaud is gone. Bring him along at his own pace. When he can hit around .300 in NH like he has in Lansing and Dunedin, then you promote him to Buffalo. No sense promoting him up to AA to catch Drabek and Hutch if he is going to hit a buck fifty and/or put up an OBP under .300. He is too bright of a prospect to destroy by rushing him before he is ready.

He will be a very attractive prospect next off season if he puts up numbers in AA like he did in Lansing and Dunedin. Not ready enough to bring out the trade JPA rumors again, but he could be ready in 2014.

Don't the Jays have a criteria each player much demonstrate before being promoted? Anyone know what those criteria are?

[Sanyo]

Don't the Jays have a criteria each player much demonstrate before being promoted? Anyone know what those criteria are?

There really is none -- it's when they feel that a guy has what it takes to play the next level and that's different with each guy.