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Lind isn't the only 51s player that has caught the attention of Mottola. Two of Toronto's Top 20 prospects -- Travis d'Arnaud and Anthony Gose -- have made tremendous strides and are enjoying strong 2012 campaigns.

d'Arnaud

d'Arnaud got off to a slow start at Vegas, but Mottola was never overly concerned about it.

Mottola said the 51s were experimenting with d'Arnaud at the plate earlier in the year and were letting him test different batting stances. They felt d'Arnaud was so advanced as a hitter that it wouldn't hinder his development.

"He's a freak, he could stand one way and a completely other way the next time up," Mottola said. "There's nothing that holds him back. It comes so easy for him."

d'Arnaud has put that slow start behind him and is enjoying an exceptional year at Vegas. Through 57 games, the backstop is batting at a .346 clip to accompany 15 home runs, 46 RBIs and a 1.014 OPS.

Mottola doesn't believe those numbers are simply a product of the PCL.

"These days, it's rare to see anyone hit .300 with power," Mottola said. "The fact that he can do it as a catcher is the icing on the cake."

As far as the defensive side of the game, d'Arnaud's throws from home to second base have been clocked as low as 1.84 seconds, and he has recently started taking grounders at first. d'Arnaud is not changing positions, but he's athletic enough and would be ready to do so if an opening was created at the Major League level, according to Mottola.

Gose

The speedster, who led the Eastern League with 70 stolen bases in 2011 and is the league leader in the PCL this year with 24 thus far, got off to a slow start that prompted a change in his batting stance. Mottola got him to spread out more at the plate, and says he has seen a major difference since.

Gose was hitting .216 after the first month but has raised his average to .295. What impresses Mottola the most, though, is Gose's defense.

"As a center fielder, he has thrown a couple guys out at home that I want to tell him to not even make the throw," Mottola said. "It's definitely a plus-plus arm. The thing that makes it good is that he gets rid of it so fast and he's so accurate."

Mottola said Gose has the ability to take over a series with his skill set.

"He disrupts the whole game," Mottola said. "He creates errors. There should be a stat called errors created, because he does that with his game-changing speed."

Hechavarria

The 51s team is stellar up the middle of the diamond, and shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria is no exception to that.

"It's kind of crazy to sit back and watch those guys defensively," Mottola said. "The Blue Jays got something special coming up."

The biggest question surrounding Hechavarria's ability has been his bat, but Mottola said he's silencing a lot of the skeptics.

Hechavarria has been going up the middle and pulling the ball with more power and consistency. The biggest thing he still needs to work on, according to Mottola, is his ability to recognize and hit breaking balls. Mottola has seen improvements in those areas, however, and believes Hechavarria's bat -- which has driven in 42 runs -- is almost Major League ready.

hyper316 wrote:CF Gose

Holmes wrote:Can't wait to see Gose and Hech hit .230 in the majors.

Holmes wrote:Can't wait to see Gose and Hech hit .230 in the majors.

Avenger wrote:The only guy we should be excited about is d'Arnaud and that's because of his high floor, its easy to see him becoming a Kurt Suzuki type player without even reachign his potential but people who are expecting him to put up MVP numbers in his rookie year like Buster Posey are also setting themselves up for severe dissapointment

JoeyBats wrote:I just have a small question. Some people are worried about TDA catching on the major league level right ? But didn't he catch Drabek, Alvarez and Hutch in AA last year ? He can also split the job with Mathis for the first couple weeks aswell !

JoeyBats wrote:Oh, i thought people were hesitate to trade JPA this season because TDA wouldn't have been familiar with the starting rotation.

torontoaces04 wrote:

Avenger wrote:The only guy we should be excited about is d'Arnaud and that's because of his high floor, its easy to see him becoming a Kurt Suzuki type player without even reachign his potential but people who are expecting him to put up MVP numbers in his rookie year like Buster Posey are also setting themselves up for severe dissapointment

If you think D'Arnaud is going to put up 7 and 42 as our starting C, you're going to be VERY pleasantly surprised. TDA could put those numbers up batting left-handed.

As for assuming Gose and Hech are going to come up and hit .210...it's one thing to temper excitement, it's another to just assume they're going to fail. Gose could likely hit .210 based on infield and bloop singles alone.

Hech is also far more advanced with the bat than those of you who haven't watched the 51's would like to give him credit for. I understand a lot of you are going off scouting reports for previous seasons, but that's the great thing about prospects...some of them actually improve!

torontoaces04 wrote:Hech is also far more advanced with the bat than those of you who haven't watched the 51's would like to give him credit for.

Lateral Quicks wrote:Gose and Hech bring so much to the table defensively that they don't need to be otherworldly with the bat to be valuable major league players.