2010 Minor Leagues/Prospect Discussion Thread

[Avenger]

elliottbaseball

Baseball America Prospect Handbook in Jan will rank Blue Jays as the 4th best farm system in MLB. They were 28th 13 months ago.

[mini]

elliottbaseball

Baseball America Prospect Handbook in Jan will rank Blue Jays as the 4th best farm system in MLB. They were 28th 13 months ago.

pfffft. What have you done for me lately?

[hyper316]

elliottbaseball

Baseball America Prospect Handbook in Jan will rank Blue Jays as the 4th best farm system in MLB. They were 28th 13 months ago.

pfffft. What have you done for me lately?

the AA-effect

[Kurtz]

elliottbaseball

Baseball America Prospect Handbook in Jan will rank Blue Jays as the 4th best farm system in MLB. They were 28th 13 months ago.

pfffft. What have you done for me lately?

the AA-effect

Probably more an effect of trading the best pitcher in baseball in addition to another front of the rotation pitcher purely for prospects.

[rtcaino]

So does this ranking reflect the Marcum trade?

[LittleOzzy]

Florida State League tabs Dunedin Blue Jays exec Ken Carson as Vice President

At their Winter Meetings in Orlando, the Florida State League have announced that Ken Carson was named the circuit’s Executive Vice President. In addition, the Directors also approved the appointment of Ben Hayes, President, New York-Penn League, as Special Advisor.

According to a release, the appointment of Carson and Hayes as provides the Florida State League with a broader range of leadership levels and capabilities.

Carson is well known around the Tampa Bay area for his long service with the Dunedin-based ball club having served in a variety of roles including general manager and recently as a senior consultant. In addition, he is the former Director of Florida Operations for the Toronto Blue Jays, named to the position in 1987.

A Canadian by birth, Carson became a United States citizen in September 2006. The Barrie, Ontario native was a trainer for both the Blue Jays and Pittsburgh Penguins and became the first member of two different all-star teams in different sports (MLB and NHL) in that position.

Carson has been with the Blue Jays organization since they joined the American League as an expansion team in 1976.

http://www.examiner.com/sports-in-tampa ... -president

[rtcaino]

Top 11 Jays Prospects from Baseball Prospectus

Five-Star Prospects
1. Kyle Drabek, RHP
2. J.P. Arencibia, C

Four-Star Prospects
3. Brett Lawrie, 2B

Three-Star Prospects
4. Travis d'Arnaud, C
5. Deck McGuire, RHP
6. Carlos Perez, C
7. Adeiny Hechavarria, SS
8. Zach Stewart, RHP
9. Anthony Gose, CF
10. Aaron Sanchez, RHP
11. Asher Wojciechowski, RHP

[rtcaino]

Jays Journal have been doing a good job profiling the Jays top 50 prospects. The write ups are pretty in depth, frequently with new information I hadn't seen elsewhere. Kellen Sweeny came in a number 24. I'm pretty pumped for the rest of the countdown.

Infielder / 19 years old / 6’1″ 190 lbs

Born: September 14th 1991, in Cedar Rapids Iowa

Bats Left Throws Right

Drafted: in the 2nd rd of the ’10 draft, 69th overall

Signed: for $600,000 (represented by Larry Reynolds of Reynolds Sports)

While he spent some time at 3B in the GCL in 2010, along with Christopher Hawkins, he has the tools and ability to play the OF or 2B. The latter is my favorite position for him (only if his arm strength doesn’t return all the way from TJ surgery which was required after he pitched in a HS game), because it would allow him to profile as a potential 2B with above-average power if he develops as expected. I’ve listed him as an infielder for now, but he also would profile well in the OF.

http://jaysjournal.com/2011/01/20/top-5 ... n-sweeney/

[LittleOzzy]

Las Vegas 51s Looking For New Owners

The owners of the Las Vegas 51s baseball team are looking to sell the team, three years after purchasing the Triple-A franchise, a farm club for Major League Baseball's Toronto Blue Jays.

The team on Monday named Chuck Johnson the new general manager while elevating Don Logan to a new position as executive director of the franchise, currently owned by Stevens Baseball Group.

SBG Manager Drew Dondero called the decision to sell the 51s “bittersweet.” In addition to the search for a new owner, Logan’s role will have him focusing on the team’s efforts to find a stadium in southern Nevada.

Logan had served as general manager since 1991. Johnson, who was first hired as an account executive with the team in 1995, becomes the third GM in the history of the 51s.

The team begins its 29th season at Cashman Field on April 15.

http://www.fox5vegas.com/sports/26599944/detail.html

[rtcaino]

Shane Opitz comes in at number 23 for Jays Journal Top 50 Prospects.

Pretty high ranking, based predominately on potential. He was not mentioned in the Batter's Box top 30.

http://jaysjournal.com/2011/01/24/top-5 ... ane-opitz/

[Avenger]

Keith Law organizational Rankings

4. Toronto Blue Jays
A year ago, I wrote that the Jays might have ranked last without the talent infusion from the Scott Rolen and Roy Halladay trades. In the past 12 months, they saw a few in-house guys take steps forward, traded for another impact prospect in Brett Lawrie and had another solid draft, to the point that I left some likely big leaguers off their Top 10 for lack of room. The organizational turnaround in the year-plus since Alex Anthopoulos took over as GM has been impressive.

his top 100(with Aaron Sanchez, the 17 year old comp round pick on it) is coming out soon

[rtcaino]

BA's top 10 Jays prospects. Not sure if this has been posted?

Kyle Drabek
Brett Lawrie
Deck McGuire
Anthony Gose
Travis D'Arnaud
Zach Stewart
Asher Wojciechowski
JP Arencibia
Carlos Perez
Aaron Sanchez


Glad to see Deck and Gose ranked higher than they typically have been this off season by the other pundits.

[luvtheteam]

from yesterdays Q&A at BA: (looks like a great year to have all those picks stacked up!)

I've been hearing that the upcoming draft is especially deep. Is this because of talent? Or is it because with a new Collective Bargaining Agreement coming for 2012 and the belief that signing bonuses will be limited in the future, high school prospects who ordinarily would go to college will be more likely to turn pro? Or some combination of both?

William Hunter
Toronto


The 2011 indeed is deeper than usual, and that perception comes solely from the ability and not the signability of the players involved. The college pitching crop is exceptional, starting with potential No. 1overall picks UCLA's Gerrit Cole and Texas Christian's Matt Purke and top-10-caliber talents in Texas' Taylor Jungmann, Connecticut's Matt Barnes, Vanderbilt's Sonny Gray, Georgia Tech's Jed Bradley, Virginia's Danny Hultzen, UCLA's Trevor Bauer and Texas A&M's John Stilson. The college hitters are better than usual, headlined by the draft's best prospect in Rice third baseman Anthony Rendon and outfielders George Springer (Connecticut) and Jackie Bradley (South Carolina).

There are plenty of attractive high school prospects as well. As with the collegians, the prepsters stand out most for their pitching: Archie Bradley (Broken Arrow, Okla., HS), Daniel Norris (Science Hill HS, Johnson City, Tenn.), Dylan Bundy (Owasso, Okla., HS), Henry Owens (Edison HS, Huntington Beach, Calif.), Dillon Howard (Searcy, Ark., HS) and Jose Fernandez (Alonso HS, Tampa). The high school hitting class is also solid, led by outfielder Bubba Starling (Gardner-Edgerton HS, Gardner, Kan.), shortstop Francisco Lindor (Montverde, Fla., Academy), outfielder Josh Bell (Jesuit College Prep, Dallas) and catcher Blake Swihart (Cleveland HS, Rio Rancho, N.M.).

High school players do figure to be more likely to sign this year, not so much because they fear mandated draft slotting but because the teams do. Clubs figure this will be their last chance to spend whatever they want on the draft, which also could make it their last chance to sign talented high school players who slide past the first or second round. Teams spent a record $194.8 million on draft bonuses last year, including $75.1 million on 76 above-slot deals for high schoolers, and those numbers are only going to go up in 2011.

[J.Kim]

Maybe this is the reason why AA is going after so many Type A and Type B eligible players. Stock up on a deep draft and let it pay dividends over the years.

[luvtheteam]

Blue Jays hope Sierra is healthy in 2011

By Larry Millson
February 7, 2011


TORONTO — Moises Sierra had a breakout season in 2009. But in 2010 it was more like a breakdown.

Two injuries limited him to 20 games last season between the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League and high Class A Dunedin. If healthy, he likely would have been back at Double-A New Hampshire.

The good news for Sierra and the Blue Jays is that he is still only 22.

And this year he gets a chance to build on 2009, when he hit .292/.360/.399 between Dunedin and New Hampshire.

Despite the setback of last season and an improved minor league system that has increased the depth of talent, the Blue Jays believe enough in him that he was added to the 40-man roster in November.

"Sierra should be 100 percent in spring training," assistant general manager Tony LaCava said. "He will be given the chance to make the Double-A club."

The injuries that wiped out Sierra's 2010 season were a microfracture in his shin and a broken hamate bone in his wrist.

Toronto signed Sierra in 2005 out of the Dominican Republic partly because of his size and strength—he is listed at 6-foot-1, 225 pounds.

The organization is hoping that the power potential they see in him begins to show because there is a feeling he could one day hit 15-20 home runs.

[LittleOzzy]

Do you have a link luvtheteam?

We need to give credit to the people who write these articles.

[luvtheteam]

Oz...i left his name on the article. He's from BA.

[LittleOzzy]

Jays prospects to watch for in 2011

That brings up a secondary top prospect list, one that includes the high-ceiling rookies who have already put in time in the minors coupled with the less talented types who, by dint of circumstance, could be called on to show what they have.

With pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training over the weekend and full camp set to open soon, here then are 10 players, almost all of them rookies, who conceivably have a chance to show up in Toronto this year.

J.P. Arencibia, C Technically still a rookie, the 25-year-old former first-round pick will be given every chance to succeed. He is almost guaranteed to be the Opening Day starter. Where it goes from there is up to him.

Kyle Drabek, RHP Given the organizational obsession over limiting innings and pitch counts, combined with very real incentive to limit service time, Drabek is not the rotation shoo-in most assume. But like with Arencibia, the key piece of Roy Halladay trade haul will get multiple opportunities to show he belongs.

Brian Jeroloman, C Many already believe his glove is big league-ready, and the simple grind of a major league season almost guarantees every team needs a third catcher at some point. Right now, he’s No. 3 on the depth chart.

http://sports.nationalpost.com/2011/02/ ... r-in-2011/

I'll have the 2011 Minor Leagues/Prospect Discussion Thread up as soon as Spring Training is over.

[SargentBargs101]

Eric Thames should be on that list