While I didn’t see entire groups on all of the fields, two consisted primarily of A/A-Advanced guys  like Jake Marisnick and Marcus Knecht, while the others were made up of either recently drafted or short-season guys like Christian Lopes, Chino Vega and Shane Opitz.

I hope to have more in-depth observations with quotes after tomorrow morning, but here’s a look at what I noticed this morning. It’s important to note that these observations all came in a practice/BP setting, which can be different and not as good as live game situations.

- Christian Lopes, who was ranked No. 43 on our pre-2012 top 50 list, starts his partly open stance with a raised heel on his left (front) foot and then strides closed as the pitcher is about to release the ball.

- Christopher Hawkins‘ frame is a lot thicker than I had thought. When he was ranked No. 25 on our pre-2011 top 50 prospects list back in January 2011, he was listed as 6-foot-2 and 195 pounds. As of right now, both his MiLB.com and Baseball-Reference pages list the same figures, though it looks like he’s added some weight, specifically in his legs. Standing next to Canadian outfielder Michael Crouse, who is 6-foot-4 and roughly 215 pounds, Hawkins didn’t look that much shorter and had more lower-half girth than Crouse, and not just because he was a few inches shorter.

In the cage, Hawkins’ swing was beautiful. His back (left) foot was almost on the edge of the batter’s box and he has a nice, clean stance. A group of hitters on the diamond that he was on played an elimination power game, where the hitter had to smack a ball a certain distance in the outfield to stay alive, and Hawkins won. Even in a short time at the complex, Hawkins was one guy that really stood out to me.

- As for Crouse, who is also quite a physical specimen, he was showing exactly how he managed to hit 26 doubles and 14 home runs around an injury last season with Lansing. I was, however, somewhat shocked how busy his hands were before pitches and how wide his stance was. Marisnick and Knecht’s stances were also quite wide, but they both displayed their extra-base power with Lansing in 2011 — a testament to their upper body strength.

- It was in BP and a small sample, but Mark Sobolewski‘s swing looked really good and he had some solid knocks, drawing praise from the coach throwing BP. The 25-year-old spent all of 2011 with Double-A New Hampshire.

- Koby Clemens (yes, the son of Roger), isn’t tall, but is he ever built. The first thing I noticed was how thick his lower half was — the clear source of his power. Built on tree-trunk legs, Clemens has plenty of upper body strength and it’s easy to see now why he has hit 88 doubles and 64 home runs in his last three minor league seasons. For more information on Clemens, check out my article on him from back on February 9.

- Joe Musgrove was the only pitcher I was able to see on a mound (I saw John Stilson but didn’t see him pitch, unfortunately) and he didn’t throw a ball at all. He worked with two coaches on his mechanics, holding a towel while going through the motions repeatedly as he was critiqued.

The entire camp left to go back and do group running drills on the front/main diamond, but Musgrove stayed back for a few minutes and continued what he was working on. I couldn’t hear what the coaches were telling him, but he was working on his delivery.

I hope these nuggets helped and I’ll try to get a summary of tomorrow’s events up before my flight home — which I’d definitely be fine missing to stay another week here.

- JM

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LAS VEGAS 51s: Lost 10-1 to the Fresno Grizzlies (SF) (more…)

Stat of the Day: New Hampshire’s C Brian Jeroloman and INF Brad Emaus sit 2nd and 4th respectively at the top of the AA rankings for On Base Percentage. Jeroloman has an impressive .466 OBP, while Emaus follows with an equally impressive .463 OBP. The only player to have a higher OBP in AA than Jeroloman is none other than FLA OF Mike Stanton (.477) , a prospect some fans know something about, while little known STL LF Aaron Luna splits the 2 with a .465 OBP….a pretty good indication as to how great these two players are doing in their quests to move up to AAA.

Here is a review of the major events in the minors for the Jays on Thursday, 7th of May:

AAA Las Vegas – Lost 7-0

• Nothing to see here – the 51s managed only 3 hits, and as many errors, as Lance Broadway had another lackluster outing: 4.1 IP, 5 ER on 8 hits and 4 walks. Let’s move on, shall we?

(more…) ]]> http://jaysjournal.com/2010/05/08/jays-minors-review-8-may-10/feed/ 0 http://jaysjournal.com/2010/04/27/top-jays-prospect-performances-to-26-apr-10/ http://jaysjournal.com/2010/04/27/top-jays-prospect-performances-to-26-apr-10/#comments Tue, 27 Apr 2010 12:44:04 +0000 Mat Germain http://jaysjournal.com/?p=1414 I thought it would be fun and informative to keep tabs on the top prospects performances the Jays have by way of categories. I’ll only look at 5 categories for the top 5 players in each category and give a small blurb about each outcome. This will be updated every 3 weeks or so. Top [...]

Top Jays Prospect Performances to 26-Apr-10 - Jays Journal - Jays Journal - A Toronto Blue Jays Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and More

Here is a review of the major events in the minors for the Jays on Saturday, 17th of April:

AAA Las Vegas – Postponed

AA New Hampshire – Won 13-8  vs Binghamton

• Bobby Bell had an outing to forget, lasting only 5 innings and giving up 7 ER through 8 hits and 2 walks, but he was picked up by a potent offensive display by the Fishercats hitters, as well as from 4 strong innings by Adrian Martin (1 ER over 2 IP) and Tim Collins (2 IP, no hits or walks, 4 Ks).
• Doubles and walks were the key to this game for New Hampshire, as they managed 11 walks and 6 doubles in the game. Eric Thames (.306)led the way with a 3 for 5 day including a double, while David Cooper (.270) went 2 for 3 with a double and 2 walks.
• C Brian Jeroloman (.308) also had a good day at the plate with a 2 for 3 day and a walk. Both of his hits were doubles.

HiA Dunedin – Won 10-1 vs Brevard County

• SP Henderson Alvarez impressed once again by going 7 strong innings on Saturday, allowing 5 hits, no walks, 1 ER, and striking out 3. He has definitely made the most of his promotion to HiA and may very well get another promotion before the season is through if he keeps pitching like this. Hie ERa is now a meager 0.64 through 2 starts.
• Tyler Pastronicky must be feeling the heat from the Adeiny Hechevarria signing and his pending arrival in HiA because he turned it on big time Saturday. He went 4 for 4 with 2 doubles, 2 walks, and 4 runs scored. That bodes well for his chances of getting a look in AA.
• OF Dan Perales was the other offensive star for Dunedin as he went 4 for 5 with a triple and a HR.
• Meanwhile, Travis d’Arnaud continued to hit, going 2 for 5 with a double and now holds a .425 average.

LoA Lansing – Won 7-1 vs Bowling Green

• Ryan Tepera has an outstanding outing, as he lasted 7 innings, allowed only 3 hits and 1 walk, and struck out 4 for his first win of the season. His ERA now sits at 2.61 and he is making me look good for pointing him out as a prospect to watch in 2010.
• Youngster Kenny Wilson is starting to come out of his shell, going 2 for 4 with a triple and a SB. He now has a .257 average on the season but has been getting better the more he plays.
• 3B Mark Sobolweski (.303) was great once again, as he finished the day a perfect 3 for 3 with 2 doubles and a SB.
• 23 year old OF Bradley Glenn went 2 for 3 to bring his average up to a very impressive .366.

AAA Las Vegas – Won 6-2 vs Colorado

• Brett Cecil‘s line: 6 IP, 7 hits, 2 walks, 1 ER, 3 strike outs, and he now has a 2,45 ERA on the season. It seems Brett is still the most likely call up candidate if changes are to be made in Toronto.
• Sean Henn and Rommie Lewis threw 3 shut out innings afterwards. Henn still has a 0 ERA over his 5 innings of work in 2010, while Lewis has also been great thus far, only giving up 1 run in 5 IP.
• 1B Brett Wallace (.303) hit his 4th HR the year, while 1B Brian Dopirak (.286) also went deep for his 2nd of the year.
• C JP Arencibia went 2 for 4 to bring his average up to .273 on the year.

AA New Hampshire – Lost 9-5 to Binghamton

• Marty McLeary had a night to forget, lasting only 0.1 innings while allowing 5 ER. His relief, Buzzie Buzachero was a little better, which isn’t saying much. He lasted 2.2 innings and allowed 7 hits and 4 ER. You can’t blame the guy though as he was probably shocked to be in the game that early!
• Randy Boone was strong in relief, stemming the tide by going 5 strong after the first 2 and only allowed 1 hit and 2 walks, giving NH a chance to get back in the game.
• The offensive side the of the game was alright for NH, as 5 hitters were able to knock out 2 hits in the game – 1B David Cooper, SS Jonathan Diaz, 3B Manuel Mayorson, RF Adam Loewen, and LF Eric Thames. Loewen had the best day of all, however, as his hits were both for extra bases, a double and a HR – his 1st of the season.

HiA Dunedin – Lost 4-1 to Brevard County

• Joel Carreno had a decent outing, nothing spectacular, as he went 5 innings while allowing 9 hits and 3 ER.
• C Travis d’Arnaud joined fellow Doc trade member Brett Wallace in adding to his power totals by smacking his 3rd HR of the season. He went 3 for 5 in the game, raising his season’s average to .429, impressive to say the least.
• SS Tyler Pastornicky (.189) went 3 for 5 in the game and was caught stealing once, while 3B John Tolisano went 2 for 4 to raise his average to .226.
• 1B Michael McDade is not having a great start to the season, as his average dipped to .176 after going 0 for 4 in the game.

LoA Lansing – Lost 6-3 to Lake County

• First rounder Chad Jenkins did enough to earn a win but lacked the support to get there. He threw a mediocre but effective 6 innings, allowing 8 hits, 3 ER, 1 walk, and getting 4 Ks in the start.
• Dustin Antolin continued the outstanding performance of the Lansing pen by throwing 2 shut out innings in relief, striking out 3 in the process. He now has 7 shut out innings, allowing only 2 hits, 1 walk, and getting 8 Ks on the season. What a great start for the 20 year old from Hawaii.
• C Sean Ochinko finally got going offensively with a 2 for 4 day, including 1 double. 3B Mark Sobolweski was the only other bright spot for Lansing as he went 2 for 5 with 2 RBI.

5 IP, 6 HA, 3 ER, 4 Ks, no walks, and 1 HR allowed.

Not bad for the 22 year old’s first start, but I’m almost positive the second will be better as the adrenaline slows down. Even though he allowed 2 ER over 2 IP, Nestor Molina got the win. He benefited from a Lansing outburst in offensive force that accounted for 10 runs on 14 hits and 2 walks.

The leaders for the hitters were 3B Mark Sobolewski who hit his 1st HR of the year, going 2 for 4 on the day. He got some help from 2B Ryan Schimpf, SS Kevin Nolan, and OF Eric Eiland who who all went 2 for 5 with a double each. Meanwhile, 1B Jonathan Talley and C Karim Turkamani both went 2 for 4.

Other notes for the game, Oliver Dominguez stole 1 base, Mark Sobolewski had 1 error on a throw (his 3rd of the season already), and the Schimpf – Nolan combination turned 1 double play.

That makes Lansing 1 – 3 on the year so far, and they take on Great Lakes (3-1) again Monday with Ryan Tepera leading the way.

Ryan Shopshire had some issues in his first start of the season, allowing 4 walks, 7 hits, and 4 ER while striking out 2. However, the relief was great in this game, as both Dustin Antolin and Nestor Molina went through 2 squeaky clean innings a piece striking out 3 each with no hits or walks allowed. Evan Crawford came out after that and the game went to extra innings. He allowed the winning run to score, but not without a fight. The run was scored after he allowed a lead off single, then 2 straight groundouts pushed that runner to 3B. The runner was driven in by Didi Gregorious (what a baseball name) with a single and resulted in Crawford taking the loss for the game.