Blue Jays Minor League Depth – First Base

Sep 3, 2014; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Danny Valencia (15) hits a sacrifice RBI during the seventh inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Moving right along Minor League depth coverage we finally get to position players.  We continue by going through possible breakout players, MLB ready talent, bounce backs, minor league reserves, and long shots.  Now it is time to get to our First Basemen.

After trading Adam Lind to the Brewers we still have plenty of options at first base.  Manager John Gibbons has made it pretty clear that he intends to play Edwin Encarnacion at first the majority of the time.  There are other internal options ready to compete for the job at first that could relegate Edwin to his normal DH spot.  Lets get into the list and talk talent.

Toronto Blue Jays

MLB Ready Talent

–Danny Valencia– Lefty pitching masher

I have always liked Valencia.  I saw him playing for my home town Rochester Red Wings years ago and it was fun watching him play for the Twinkies.  He is a line drive hitter that loves to hit left handed pitching.  Last seasons splits for Right vs. Left handed pitching were slightly ridiculous.  Valencia only hit.211 vs right handed and popped a .321 vs left handed.  That brought him a .240 batting average total.  If he could only figure out why right handed pitchers are his Kryptonite he could still become a solid hitter.