Blue Jays acquire pitching prospect from Pirates for Dana Eveland
Uviedo, 23, has appeared in 16 games in relief for the double-A Altoona Curve of the Eastern League this season. He is 0-2 with a 3.22 ERA after allowing 13 hits in 22 1/3 innings with 12 walks, two home runs and 28 strikeouts.
The six-foot-one, 160-pound right-hander from Venezuela has been optioned to New Hampshire of the double-A Eastern League.
His career minor league record is 18-13 with 31 saves in 158 games with a 3.10 ERA.
Jays edge Rays to cap magnificent May
The 25-year-old right-hander has spent his first two months as a Jay struggling to become a trusted and equal member of an impressive starting quartet that includes Shaun Marcum, Ricky Romero and Brett Cecil. On Monday against the AL East-leading Rays, Morrow carried a no-hit bid into the sixth inning of a 3-2 victory, showing the type of command and pitch-count efficiency the Jays were hoping for when they obtained him from the Mariners in the off-season. The Jays, who went 19-10 in May, trail the Rays by 3 1/2 games.
“His location, throwing strikes is better,” manager Cito Gaston said before the game. “So if he can continue to do that he can continue to grow and he’s going to win those ballgames once in a while that he’s losing. But if we don’t play good defence behind him or he walks guys . . .”
Jay pitching staff looking very Ray-like
“I’ve always been a big fan of Blue Jays pitching,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said. “They have some really nice young starters. They’re pretty deep. I like their bullpen, too. They’ve got the big ticket out there, Gregg, (Jason) Frasor and the whole group. And they’ve got balance on the left side, so they’re formidable. I don’t think their record is any accident. They’re definitely not going away.”
Jays pitching coach Bruce Walton can appreciate the comparison between the two teams’ staffs and expanded on how teams can compete with the right combo of young starters and veteran relievers.
“There are comparisons,” Walton agreed. “They’re all working together to get better and they’re doing it collectively as a rotation. They’re all trying to get better at the same time, so they’re learning from each other. They’re going out there trying to outdo each other a little bit, trying to let everyone know, ‘I can go seven. I can go eight. I can go nine.’ They’ve got a really good competition.”
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The Jays last season were so concerned about the inning totals for their youngsters that they shut a healthy Brett Cecil and Marc Rzepczynski down completely in September. The jury is out on whether the youngsters Cecil, Brandon Morrow and Ricky Romero can handle 180-200 innings and how the surgically repaired elbow of Shaun Marcum will feel by the end of August.
Globe and Mail
Canadian catching on
From Justin Morneau to Brett Lawrie, some of Canada’s best baseball players have taken turns behind the plate.
But Kellin Deglan, an 18-year-old from Langley, B.C., is a catcher of a different sort. He projects as a big-league receiver – the rare homegrown athlete who can handle one of the most demanding and cerebral positions on the diamond.
Scouts are predicting Deglan will be a high pick during Major League Baseball’s first-year player draft on June 7, and are calling him Canada’s best catching prospect ever.
“There’s no doubt,” says Minnesota Twins scout Doug Mathieson, Deglan’s coach with the Langley Blaze of the British Columbia Premier Baseball League. “Brett Lawrie and Justin Morneau were not catchers, they were hitters. Kellin is the real package.”
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Now 6 foot 3 and 200 pounds, he began focusing on the position exclusively at 14, having watched two older brothers go through the BCPBL as backstops.
“I observed a lot when I was younger, and when I started playing baseball, I liked being in control and seeing the whole field,” he says from the Dominican Republic, on tour with Baseball Canada’s junior national team. “I think I know a lot about the game, and can call a good game. I receive well, and I think I work well with pitchers.”
Because of the defensive demands, scouts put a premium on catchers, and they rave about Deglan’s work at the dish, including a 1.9-second “pop time” on throws to second base. While some scouts are convinced he will hit as a professional, others say his left-handed bat is not a sure bet.
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If he is unsatisfied with his draft position or available signing bonus, Deglan has committed to Florida International University. According to Mathieson, legendary FIU coach Henry (Turtle) Thomas saw Deglan at a showcase last October, and predicted he would have a long big-league career.
“I’m looking forward to seeing what happens, and where I end up,” Deglan says. “Whether I go to school or pro ball, my life is about to change. It’s pretty exciting.”
Toronto's pitching not yet in Tampa's league, but blueprint is there
President and chief executive officer Paul Beeston’s request was simple: to refrain from calling the Toronto Blue Jays the ‘Bay Street Bombers.’ Watch the home runs, but leave the nickname stuff alone – at least until after the itchy, G-20 trigger-fingers leave town.
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The Rays, who played the first of three games at the Rogers Centre Monday, hit the 50-game mark with five pitchers with at least five wins. Only three other teams have done that in the past 25 years, and all went on to the World Series, with the 1986 New York Mets winning the world title. The Rays went into action on Sunday with four pitchers sporting earned run averages under 3.00 – the first American League team to be able to boast of that on May 30 since the 1981 Oakland Athletics.
That brought a smile to the face of Rick Langford, the Blue Jays bullpen coach who was part of that 1981 Athletics squad that included the likes of Mike Norris, Steve McCatty, Matt Keough and Brian Kingman. Manager Billy Martin shredded those arms but Langford finished with 18 complete games that season – after completing 28 the season before.
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So much good, young pitching gets baseball people thinking. Texas Rangers president Nolan Ryan wants to blow up pitch-counts and make young starters go deeper into games – a move of economic as well as philosophical significance.
“Nolan’s made up his mind about it, but if you look at him, personally, that’s how he did it,” said Langford. “Me, personally? I finished 22 consecutive complete games in the majors and I rarely threw more than 100-110 pitches. I was a sinker-slider guy. Got them to put the ball in play. Two really different animals, you know?”
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Morrow has the best pure stuff on the Blue Jays, but he relied on ground balls and good defence Monday, implementing a slide-step that clearly surprised the Rays base runners and using a reworked delivery, keeping his glove at the waist out of the stretch.
Toronto Sun
Jays saw Bautista coming
The players know.
Vernon Wells said it the final week of March in Lakeland, Fla.
Aaron Hill said the same a couple of days later in Bradenton, Fla.
And Alex Gonzalez said the same in Dunedin.
The most impressive Blue Jay in camp?
Jose Bautista.
The Blue Jays are about a third of the way through the season and there is Bautista atop the AL home run lead.
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Splitting his time between right field an third base, Bautista is the very tip of the Jays’ slugging iceberg: 88 home runs, which is more than Seattle and Cleveland combined, 42 first-pitch homers, which is more than 12 major-league teams.
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“Jose is very aggressive with his swing, he has some pop,” said Gonzalez who has 11 homers, three fewer than at the 2004 all-star break when he hit 23 homers for the Cincinnati Reds.
“When you think about hitting home runs you don’t hit them,” Gonzalez said. “We’re having good at-bats.”
Random thoughts: Instead of ranting here I'll ask a favour of the mods: Could you guys ask the powers that be here to put a link to OTC here on the Jays board next to the Raps and Leafs board links? It's been absent for a long time now. I put in a request for it on the suggestions forums ages ago (last season I think) and still nothing. Far too often I find myself clicking on the Raps board link just to get to the OTC link, and I already go there far too much. Thanks y'all.
Ok, one more observation: Has the Sun ever heard of paragraphs?
Sunshine girl
RGM Girl
