Blue Jays MiLB System Season Preview!

Single-A – Midwest League – Lansing Lugnuts

The offense for the Lugnuts this season is going to have a new look from the top tier prospects that kicked off the 2017 season. Last season the Bo and Vlad show set the league on fire with a potent offensive attack. This season it looks like a balanced team all around will make things very interesting for the Lugnuts.

The lineup is going to have some very athletic players with plenty of tools to cause trouble. The Jays Journal Top Prospects list has Ryan Noda and Kevin Smith highlighting the talented collective. Ryan Noda is a powerful first baseman/outfielder. The 21-year-old masher uncorked seven homers with the Bluefield Blue Jays in the Appalachian League. He had a video game like batting average at .364 with 18 doubles, three triples, and a mere 39 RBI in 66 games. Noda also walked as many times as he struck out with 59 BB and 60 strikeouts. He has a plus approach at the plate that allows him to see good pitches.

Kevin Smith was a teammate of Noda’s in Bluefield and will also look to build on a great debut in the Jays system. Smith helped the Bluefield team to a first-place finish. He had an astonishing 25 doubles in his 61 games, a respectable .271 batting average, and eight homers. He proved to be very productive at the plate by scoring 43 runs and driving in 43. Smith did not take to many walks, which is typical of young players trying to make an impression. In the talented Midwest League, he will need to find a way to see good pitches while keeping the production he showed this past season.

Kacy Clemens, Kevin Vicuna, and Reggie Pruit are a few other standouts on the offensive side of the ball. Pruit played with the Vancouver Canadians this past season and stole 28 bases. Kevin Vicuna made it all the way up to Dunedin this past season and played well across three different levels. He finished with a .269/.322/.303 slash line with 25 RBIs and 17 stolen bases in inconsistent playing time. Kacy Clemens also had a solid debut for the champion Canadians. Clemens had 45 RBI in 62 games.

With the offense looking up, the Lugnuts biggest issue last season was getting quality starts from their pitchers. Yennsy Diaz is the big stand out and he will get the ball for the first game. He has electric stuff but can get wild. This past season with the Lugnuts he struck out 82 batters in 77 innings of work. He has the potential to be something special and continues to grow in every start.

Andy Ravel is also returning to Lansing where he will look to find consistency. After a very varied season, Ravel has the tools to baffle hitters but needs to find a way to miss the barrel of the bat. Ravel pounds the strike zone and only walked 38 batters in 114 innings last season. If he could find a way to trick a few more hitters that ERA will drop from the sky-high number he had in 2017.

The Lugnuts are going to score plenty of runs with this offense once again but they need to find a way to get solid outings from their starting pitchers. They have a decent bullpen but they can not patch a season together relying on their pen to eat up innings. This was the issue last season and it just wears everyone out.

Single-A+ – Florida State League – Dunedin Blue Jays

The Dunedin Blue Jays were co-Champions of the 2017 season, as the playoffs were cut short due to hurricanes. The D-Jays had a very solid second half in which they were one of the best teams in the league. This secured them a playoff spot even though their first half was pretty rough. The second half push was due to an influx of amazing talent on the roster. Big names like Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. helped bolster an already solid attack on offense.

Heading into the 2018 season the D-Jays are looking like they have a chance to repeat as champions of the FSL. This year it will be built on pitching with enough offense to get the team the W’s. Top pitching prospect Nate Pearson is skipping Lansing and jumping right into the deep end of the pool after an incredible first showing with the Canadians last season. Pearson has a whole 20 innings of professional baseball under his belt, but what a performance it was. He allowed just seven hits and two earned runs in those 20 innings while striking out 26 batters.

Joining him in the rotation will be fellow top prospect TJ Zeuch who is fresh off an impressive showing in the Arizona Fall League. After helping the D-Jays win the Championship, he continued to roll in the AFL with a 3.44 ERA and a 0.982 WHIP through 18 innings of work. This was the cherry on top for his 2017 campaign in which he threw 58.2 innings. He only had three wins, but had a solid 3.38 ERA with 46 k’s and just 17 walks. Pearson and Zuech are going to form one heck of a one-two punch for the D-Jays, but Zuech will get the Opening Day start.

The rest of the pitching rotation is rounded out by Patrick Murphy, Tayler Saucedo, and Josh DeGraaf. They are then anchored in the bullpen with Jackson McClelland on the back end. Nick Hartman, Kirby Snead, Connor Eller, William Ouellette, Travis Bergen, and Juliandry Higuera completes the pitching staff. They will also hope to get Justin Maese at some point.

The offense is going to hit but will not have the same punch it did this past season. Consistent hitters that hit the gaps are going to take center stage in this offense. Top Prospects Riley Adams and Logan Warmoth highlight a deep lineup. The pair of Vancouver Canadians champions will look to pick up where they left off and lead the attack.

Other threats in the lineup include Bradley Jones who got off to a crazy start last season with the Lugnuts and was promoted to the D-Jays. Nash Knight and Josh Palacios will live off of line drives and drive in plenty of runs to support this solid pitching staff. D.J. Davis is going to show off his speed on the base paths and hopefully, continue to develop into a solid hitter.

The D-Jays are going to keep opposing batters in a steady conga line back to the bench with all of their talented hurlers. They are going to need to string together hits to be able to sustain wins though. It will be interesting to see how this team performs this season but their young arms are going to be trying to one-up each other all season.

Double-A – Eastern League – New Hampshire Fisher Cats

Last season the Fisher Cats could not get all of their talents to click together. They went 59-80 which was the worst record in the Eastern League last season. They boasted plenty of prospects, but unexpected rough years from players like Jon Harris and Sean Reid-Foley really slowed the Cats down. Anthony Alford was the team MVP but was sent up to the Majors where he got hurt and then missed a bulk of playing time.

The 2018 season for the Fisher Cats reflects the budding future of the Toronto Blue Jays organization. The team’s roster is basically a who’s who of names. They will have eight of the Jays Journals Top Prospects and are going to be well balanced. The team will be able to dominate on the mound and rake at the plate.

The biggest standouts are the dynamic duo of Bo and Vlad. Blue Jays fans have gotten a taste of what these youngsters can do and are foaming at the mouth with anticipation. The right thing to do is to let them develop in the Minors at the proper pace. This is why their video game-like numbers from last season landed them in Double-A. Vlad and Bo combined last season for 69 doubles, six triples, 27 homers, 172 runs, and 150 RBI’s. This is a ton of production that is moving into the heart of the Fisher Cat lineup.

The rest of the offense is also very impressive when you slate Richard Urena, Max Pentecost, Lourdes Gurriel, Juan Kelly, Harold Ramirez, Jonathan Davis, Connor Panas, Cavan Biggio, and Andrew Guillotte into the lineup. These names are some of the best offensive players in the Jays system over the past few seasons. There is nowhere for pitchers to hide in this lineup, and they are going to hit the ball hard!

On the mound, they will have Jon Harris and Sean Reid-Foley returning to be the one-two punch in the rotation. They will look to get back on track after a rough season in which they allowed 161 earned runs over a combined 275.2 innings (5.27 combined ERA). They have all the talent to be aces on a staff, so they will hopefully recapture the form they each had in 2016, where they were regarded as the best arms in the Jays System.

Joining them will be Francisco Rios, Jordan Romano, and Nick Tepesch. Outside of Tepesch, these guys are all highly touted arms that are looking to impress, and progress up the ladder this season. Rios had a solid season last year and will get the ball for Opening Day. Romano is fresh off a season where he was the ace of the Dunedin Blue Jays.

The bullpen is also fully loaded as Conor Fisk, Andrew Case, Justin Shafer, Zach Jackson, Dusty Issacs, Jose Fernandez, and Danny Young look to build off of great 2017 campaigns. They will also have the company of veteran/ genius Craig Breslow in the pen. This is a formidable rally stopping group that should really close the case on opposing hitters. Sorry, Andrew Case pun intended.

The 2018 Fisher Cats are slated to be the talk of the Blue Jays’ Organization and everyone should be watching closely. This team represents both the amount of depth in the system, and the future of it. Get excited as many of these guys were champions with the Dunedin Blue Jays last season and I am sure they want more!

Triple-A – International League – Buffalo Bisons

The Fisher Cats may be holding a ton of the prospect talent but the Buffalo Bisons had a treasure chest full of MLB ready talent. Last year was a long one with the Bisons as they were pretty much picked clean by the big club, and did not have enough talent to slide in and help keep the ship afloat.

This season the team has more depth than anyone could have ever imagined as 2017 came to a close. The free agent market was good for the Blue Jays’ depth and the Bisons reaped all of the benefits. Talented vets like Al Alburquerque and Danny Espinosa joined the club, and represent the depth the Jays were looking to add this offseason as MLB ready players that could jump right into the fold with the Jays when called upon. Both Alburquerque and Espinosa had solid Springs with the club and are great additions to any roster as depth.

Joining them is a slew of top-end talent that should lead the Bisons to a nice early season charge. On the offensive side of the ball Teoscar Hernandez, Roemon Fields, and Dwight Smith Jr. roam the outfield. This group is crazy athletic and would more than likely be MLB players on other teams that do not have the amount of depth that the Jays do. Hernandez was the Blue Jays Spring Training MVP by many accounts, but was assigned to the Bisons to start off the season. Roemon Fields was the Bisons organization MVP last season where he batted near .300 and drove pitchers crazy on the bases with his legs. Dwight Smith Jr. continues to be a solid performer and is just waiting for a full-time shot.

Around the diamond, the offense is also looking pretty good as well. Danny Jansen and Reese McGuire are going to be battling for playing time at the backstop, but both have great lumber to go along with their high upside at catcher. At first, the powerful Rowdy Tellez will look to bounce back after a season of adjustments at the plate. Tim Lopes is a very underrated player that will man second base. Espinosa will man short and Jason Leblebijian will hold down the hot corner. Leblebijian had a great Spring and had got plenty of reps with the MLB regulars. He is a very versatile player that has some sneaky power. Leblebijian was also the Bisons’ only All-Star last season.

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Just when you thought the offense would be enough to carry this team, you get to see this crazy pitching staff that is going to win many ball games. Joe Biagini is going to remain a starter after a decent Spring in the role. He will look to stay stretched out and be ready for spot starts with the Jays if needed. Ryan Borucki will look to pick up where he left off last season as well. He made a rapid ascension through the system last year by showing some crazy stuff and getting better even when the challenges grew. Deck McGuire pitched in the Majors last season with the Reds and had a great MiLB season as well. He is now back with the team that drafted him and looking to prove something. The newly acquired Sam Gaviglio, and a returning Chris Rowley will round out the talented rotation.

The bullpen will be throwing some gas to start the season. Tim Mayza and Matt Dermody were in the bullpen conversation all Spring, and just missed out on a chance because of a couple late signings. Carlos Ramirez was in that same conversation until he got banged up and had to be shut down. Ramirez was incredible last season and did not allow a run throughout his entire MiLB season. He will look to continue that streak! Taylor Guerrieri, Luis Santos, Sam Moll, and Chad Girodo complete the group of talented arms.

The Buffalo Bisons have everything going for them on this roster. They have all the main tools to be successful this season. The amount of talent that is ready to play in the Majors is slightly obscene and will hopefully dominate the International League out of the gate.

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