Osuna delivers a pitch for the Vancouver Canadians (Image courtesy Battersbox.ca)

As recently as June, few within the Blue Jays fan base were particularly familiar with the name Roberto Osuna. The Blue Jays acquired the Mexican right handed pitcher in August of 2011, signing the 16 year old for 1.5 million dollars. Not all of that went into Osuna’s back pocket, however, as the pitcher was under contract with the Diablos Rojos del Mexico of the Mexican League. In such situations, the team receives a vast majority of the bonus –- in the neighborhood of 75% –- leaving Osuna with roughly 400 hundred thousand dollars, a pittance for a player of his caliber.

While the deal made headlines last summer, many quickly forgot about Osuna. Sixteen year olds can only sign future contracts, that is, their contract is for the next year, not the current season being played out. Additionally, as teenagers are almost exclusively assigned to short season teams, high profile international free agents can literally be sitting on the sidelines for a full calendar year before finally getting into game action. Furthermore, their lack of experience and exposure keeps them in the back end of prospect lists -– if they’re present at all.

That was precisely the case with Osuna. Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus left him off his top 20 over the winter, while the writers at Baseball America snuck him in at the end, ranking him 30th in the system. Osuna was one of the final cuts on my personal top 30, but Jared and Mat were clever enough to place him 27th on the Jays Journal top 50 prospect list. Needless to say, we were all guilty of some serious oversight, as over the past two months Osuna has established himself in the upper levels of short season ball and should find himself in the top 10 of most Blue Jays prospect rankings this winter.

He’s made a total of seven starts and three relief appearances between Bluefield and Vancouver, and has been nothing short of dominant. In his 35.2 innings, Osuna has allowed only 26 hits and 12 walks, good for a .198 opponent’s batting average and 3.03 BB/9. His ERA and WHIP have been equally impressive, sitting at 1.77 and 1.07 respectively, entering action on Saturday. The most impressive amongst Osuna’s glorious statistics is his strikeout rate, which currently sits at 10.85 K/9. The strength of the number lies in his July 28th start against the Everett Aqua Sox.

The game was Osuna’s debut for Vancouver, and he was matched up against another high profile prospect from the 2011 international free agent crop in Victor Sanchez of Seattle. The eyes of the scouting world were on him, and Osuna delivered. He started the game with seven consecutive strikeouts, and ended up striking out 13 of the 19 total batters he faced, a Vancouver record. He threw 75 pitches (with 58 strikes) in the outing, and according to Michael Schwartze of MLBDirt.com who attended the game, an incredible 45 of the 58 strikes were swinging.

The repertoire was as advertised and then some, as Osuna kept his fastball in the 91-94 mph range the entire evening, touching as high as 96 mph. Not only is the shear velocity excellent, but he displayed impressive fastball command. Osuna has also already shown the ability to add and subtract from the fastball, a trait typically found in much older and more experienced pitchers. His dominant secondary offering is his split change, which he throws in the 77-82 mph range with both deception and break. His breaking ball was suggested to be a curveball or slurve, but according to those in attendance, the pitch looked much more like a slider. It’s possible that after working with Osuna in extended spring training, the Blue Jays minor league evaluators felt a slider was a more suitable pitch given his 3/4 arm slot.

Below is Schwartze’s video from the Vancouver game, which originally appeared in his scouting report on MLBDirt.com. The article itself is an excellent read, and I highly suggest you give it a look. At the bottom of the page I’ll include another video of Osuna’s start, this time from Bullpen Banter, who have an HD option as well as a slightly different angle from the first video.

The biggest drawback with Osuna is the lack of physical projection. He stands 6-foot-2, and while listed weights are often just a rough estimate, the 230 pounds he’s given on MiLB.com appears to be a more than fair number. While he’ll evolve and develop as a pitcher, you can’t expect much in terms of added velocity despite his youthful age of 17. Moving forward, Osuna’s focus should be on developing consistency with his delivery and offspeed pitches and maintaining his conditioning, as the pure stuff is already there.

It’s not unusual for prospects to make tremendous climbs up prospects rankings in a short period of time, and Osuna could be one of baseball’s greatest risers. As previously mentioned, few had him in Toronto’s top 30 last winter, yet there are already whispers that Osuna could be in consideration for the top 100 in all of baseball. He may not have the upside of Aaron Sanchez, Noah Syndergaard, or Daniel Norris, but his advanced stuff and high floor could push him to the front of the group of pitchers in the system just behind them. I can say, with absolute confidence, Roberto Osuna will be the biggest jumper on my offseason prospect list.

From Bullpen Banter:

David Rollins should be an important part of the Lansing Lugnuts' rotation this season.

A 24th-round pick by the Blue Jays in last year’s draft and ranked No. 50 on our top 50 prospects list, Rollins signed quickly and put up good numbers in stints with rookie-level Bluefield and short season-A Vancouver in 2011. He was considered one of Toronto’s biggest steals in the 2011 draft, and after watching him pitch last night, it’s easy to see why.

After issuing a four-pitch walk to open the game, Rollins settled down and dominated the South Bend Silver Hawks for 4 and 1/3 innings. Throwing pitches similar in location to his first four, the 22-year-old induced a groundout and flyout in the first inning before getting a swinging strikeout on a high, low-90′s fastball.

Needing just eight pitches to retire the side in the top of the second inning, Rollins benefited from a double play ball that erased a leadoff single before striking out South Bend first baseman Bobby Stone on four pitches. After taking the first pitch for strike one, Stone, a left-handed batter, whiffed on a nasty changeup and took a high fastball for ball one before swinging right over the top of another changeup low and inside for strike three.

If he’s ever behind in the count, Rollins becomes more aggressive and goes right after the hitter, which is something I noticed after he missed high for ball one against Silver Hawks leadoff man Fidel Pena in the top of the third. After getting a swinging strike and three foul balls, not to mention firing a tough-to-lay-off slider low and inside for a ball, Rollins went back to his changeup for his third swinging strikeout of the night. After fouling off pitches to stay alive in a 1-2 count, South Bend shortstop Nick Gallego legged out an infield single in the next at-bat, which gave me the opportunity to pay closer attention to how Rollins pitches out of the stretch and how he works with a runner on base.

After throwing to first to check Gallego with the count 1-1, Rollins seemed to ignore him after that and focused solely on retiring Ender Inciarte at the plate. His delivery also seemed to imply that, as it was no different or quicker with a runner on than when the bases were empty — easy for baserunners to time. After Inciarte fouled off two pitches, Rollins used his changeup once again to register another swinging strikeout and strand the runner.

Rollins fell behind 3-0 to the next batter, Silver Hawks left fielder Tom Belza, and battled back to a full count with a pair of strikes low and inside, but Belza managed to rope a single to left field to put runners on first and second, prompting a mound visit from Lugnuts pitching coach Vince Horsman. Rollins escaped the inning unscathed, though, after fielding a comebacker to the mound and throwing to first for the final out.

Facing Helm once again in the top of the fourth, Rollins got ahead 1-2 on two swinging strikes, and after running the count full, he got Helm to ground out. Facing Canadian Marc Bourgeois next, Rollins threw strikes on the outside corner before getting him to chase a high fastball for the swinging strikeout. After retiring Bourgeois, a left-handed hitter, Rollins retired Roidany Aguila, a right-handed hitter, after that with yet another swinging strikeout.

Leading off the top of the fifth, Rollins worked himself into a full count on Bobby Stone before retiring him on a low and inside changeup for the second time. The next batter, Fidel Pena, also worked a full count, but managed to crank a single to center field. With a right-handed hitter on deck, Lugnuts manager John Tamargo headed to the mound, marking the end of Rollins’ night. Rollins finished with a line of 4.1 IP/4H/0R/1BB/7K.

In what was easily the most impressive start of his professional career, Rollins racked up a career-high seven strikeouts. Four were against left-handers and three against righties, and all seven came with the batter swinging. This was largely because he established his 92 mph fastball early and threw his changeup better than he ever has before. He worked inside and outside, high and low, regardless of a batter’s handedness, and mixed in a few sliders as well after not throwing a single one in his previous start.

What’s special and unique about Rollins, though, is the fast pace at which he operates on the mound. Keeping hitters guessing and on their toes, there were multiple times where I’d finish writing a quick note about one of his pitches and look up to see him already in his windup on the next. Consider him the anti-Josh Beckett.

I discussed Rollins’ fast pace with him after the game, where he also talked about his nasty changeup, researching the opposing lineup and pitching in a star-studded rotation. I’ve embedded the audio below:

-JM

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No. 50: David Dwane Rollins

Image courtesy of The Province

Starting Pitcher / 22 years old / 6′1″ 195 lbs

Born: December 21, 1989 in Carthage, Texas

Bats: Left    Throws: Left

High School: Carthage H.S.

College: San Jacinto College

Drafted By: The Toronto Blue Jays in the 24th round (739th overall) of the 2011 Amateur Draft

Jersey Number: 27 for the Bluefield Blue Jays

Pre-2011 Rank: N/A

Quick Facts:

• Went to the same high school as Chicago White Sox right-hander Phil Humber
• Went 8-3 with a 4.61 ERA and 69 strikeouts in his freshman year at San Jacinto
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That left Vancouver and Dunedin, and the Canadians hung on for the win to advance to the Northwest League Championship, while Dunedin lost a close one and will play a deciding game 3 tonight.

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Highlights include Brett Lawrie returning to form in Vegas, Anthony Gose tying New Hampshire’s single-season stolen base record, Nestor Molina & Deck McGuire pitching like they want out of Dunedin, Vancouver pulling out some key wins over a division leader, and Noah Syndergaard & Chris Hawkins looking as advertised in Bluefield.

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Highlights include starts by rehabbing Jays right-handers Jesse Litsch and Dustin McGowan, Henderson Alvarez and Travis d’Arnaud dazzling in New Hampshire, Nestor Molina continuing to make his case for a promotion from Dunedin, two strong wins in Lansing, and Aaron Sanchez (among others) in Bluefield showing a glimpse of the dominant pitcher he could become.

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Highlights include Drew Hutchison’s (dominant) first start with Hi-A Dunedin since being promoted from Lansing, a dramatic walk-off win for the Lugnuts, two wins that helped New Hampshire complete a sweep, and appearances by two prospects from our pre-2011 top 50 Prospects list, Noah Syndergaard and Deivy Estrada.

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Highlights include a wild walk-off win in New Hampshire, a dominant bullpen in Dunedin, and all-around pitching dominance in Vancouver!

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Vancouver, Bluefield, and the GCL Jays have all been added (team previews/introductions on all of those teams will be coming in the next few days), clicking any team’s logo will now open their official site in a new tab, and clicking a team’s division beneath their logo will take you right to that team’s standings page. Information of the winning/losing pitcher and who got the save (if applicable) has been added to the already existing team records, win/loss streaks, and division places as well.

Six affiliates (excluding the Dominican Summer League) were in action yesterday, going 3-3 overall. Highlights include a start by Brett Cecil in Vegas, a brutal walk-off loss for Bluefield, and unbelievable pitching with a strong offensively display for Lansing.

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Image courtesy of Mop Up Duty

With half of our Top 50 Prospects list now in the books, a high school infielder leads off our second half at #25…

#25: Christopher Dominic Hawkins

Third Baseman / 19 years old / 6′2″ 195 lbs

Born: August 17th, 1991 in Sugar Hill, Georgia

Bats: Left    Throws: Right

High School: North Gwinnett H.S.

College: N/A

Drafted By: The Toronto Blue Jays in the 3rd round (93rd overall) of the 2010 First-Year Player Draft for $350,000

Jersey Number: #16 for the GCL Blue Jays

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