Blue Jays send eight players to the Arizona Fall League

The Toronto Blue Jays will have eight players representing the Peoria Javelinas when the Arizona Fall League schedule kicks off on Tuesday. The Javelinas will have the combined forces of Blue Jays, Braves, Red Sox, Padres and Mariners players all vying for the Fall League title together.

The Jays sent four pitchers, two catchers, one infielder and one outfielder to Peoria for some additional fall ball. Pitchers Andrew Case, Jackson McClelland, Daniel Young and T.J. Zeuch will all earn some extra innings on the bump.

Case made great strides in 2017 pitching at three different levels before ending the season with the herd in Buffalo. The Canadian rebounded nicely after a disappointing 2016 campaign where Case missed a mandatory drug test during the offseason and was suspended for 50 games. The 24-year old ended the season with a respectable 2.86 earned run average in 50 games out of the bullpen.

McClelland had a fantastic season between Lansing and Dunedin closing games out of the bullpen. The former 15th round pick had a combined 1.34 earned run average with 15 saves in 45 games in relief.

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Young spent time between Dunedin and New Hampshire last season also pitching out of the bullpen. Young had a 3.00 earned run average with 4 saves while fanning 50 in 47 appearances. Young was taken in the 8th round of the 2015 amateur draft by the Blue Jays.

The final hurler rounding out the Jays pitching compliment is former 1st rounder T.J. Zeuch. The highly touted starter began the season in the Gulf Coast League before earning a promotion to Dunedin. Zeuch earned a 3.56 earned run average with 51 strikeouts in 15 appearances that included 14 starts.

The Jays opted to send two backstops to Arizona as both Max Pentecost and Javier Hernandez take their tools of ignorance to the Fall League.

Pentecost is a heralded prospect who has struggled with injuries the past couple seasons setting the catcher back in his development. This season in 72 games Pentecost slashed .274/.330/.431 with 9 homers and 54 runs batted in playing all but one game with Dunedin.

Javier Hernandez is only 21 but has been in the Jays system since he was 16 making his professional debut in 2013. Hernandez spent the season between Lansing and Vancouver hitting .235  with 2 home runs in 40 games on the farm.

Lourdes Gurriel will also make the trek to Arizona for some further marinating after missing considerable time this past season with a nagging hamstring injury. Gurriel played 64 games slashing .229/.268/.339 with 5 home runs. The Jays are hopeful Gurriel can live up to the hype after ponying up $22 million over a 7-year commitment to Gurriel last offseason.

The speedy Jonathan Davis is the only outfielder the Jays sent to the Fall League. The 25-year old Davis spent the entire season with New Hampshire last year batting .249 with 10 home runs and 20 stolen bases in 34 attempts in 128 contests for the Fisher Cats.

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Some other interesting names on the Peoria roster from other ball clubs include Ronald Acuna, Touki Toussaint and Canadian Josh Naylor.