2025 Minor League/Prospects Discussion Thread

[Schad]

I could see Schneider being in line for a callup next season in case of injury. K rate's a bit high, but he draws a lot of walks, can adequately play at least a couple positions, and has a bit of power. Not dissimilar to a right-handed Biggio. Possible Rule 5 selection though I'm not sure he'd be high on anyone's list as 2B/LF platoon guys are relatively plentiful.

I struggle to see Talley as a major leaguer unfortunately. Just doesn't have a carrying tool nor any defensive value.

[dagger]

As the minor leagues wind up, a few guys have been pushed up to BUF for a few extra at bats. Addison Barger got in his first game yesterday and walked off a win in the 10th inning with a single. Now, we’ll see how well he does in the AFL.


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[Randle McMurphy]

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Barger has 2 HRs tonight in AAA. Is this guy for real?

[Schad]

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Barger has 2 HRs tonight in AAA. Is this guy for real?

I don't love his setup mechanics and the big leg kick. Results in him needing to set up early and consequently he gets vulnerable on breaking stuff, and his swing gets pretty long. He might have a rough time of it if pitchers junkballed him in the majors.

Bat speed and power are for real, though. If he could simplify his approach and go with a much simpler timing mechanism (a toe tap or Ohtani swivel) the rest of his game plays.

[DelAbbot]

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Barger has 2 HRs tonight in AAA. Is this guy for real?

I don't love his setup mechanics and the big leg kick. Results in him needing to set up early and consequently he gets vulnerable on breaking stuff, and his swing gets pretty long. He might have a rough time of it if pitchers junkballed him in the majors.

Bat speed and power are for real, though. If he could simplify his approach and go with a much simpler timing mechanism (a toe tap or Ohtani swivel) the rest of his game plays.

AAA is full of junkballers

[polo007]

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[And1Skip]

Nate Pearson going to the Winter League...good..hope he gets some good work in playing in this league.

[dagger]

One of the Jays bloggers who focusses on minor leaguers and has talked to people in the Jays' development group says the team is high on 2022 sixth round pick TJ Brock - a two pitch reliever, fastball plus wicked slider, with velocity around 96/97. Pitched a low innings count at Ohio State, but looked very impressive in Cape Code league. As a college draftee and reliever,, will move quickly through the system if he gets results.

https://www.milb.com/player/t-j-brock-697813

[polo007]

Law’s Arizona Fall League takeaways: From Jackson Merrill to Matt Mervis, everything I saw in 12 games - The Athletic

• Austin Martin showed flashes of the player I thought he’d be as an amateur, although he’s still not making the regular hard contact he should be making, instead just flashing it. The first pitch I saw him face in Arizona was a 93 mph fastball, right on right, that he drove out to left at 102.5 mph, one of three hard-hit balls I saw from him on the week. He doesn’t swing and miss much at all, and can make contact with pitches out of the zone, but it’s often weaker contact and he doesn’t get to pitches he can drive often enough because he ends some of his plate appearances early. It’s not the shape of his swing so much as how he uses his lower half, which is to say that he’s not consistently getting his legs into it and thus doesn’t always drive the ball like he should. He starts so closed, with an awkward-looking stance that has his lead leg turned in, and while the Twins have worked with him on incorporating more of a leg kick, it was muted in the AFL. He can also get out over his front side a little too soon, which a leg kick should also mitigate. I’m still optimistic here, as he showed that he has the strength to get to harder contact and he looked good in centerfield; he needs to tighten up his swing decisions and get that lower half involved. He has also had multiple hand and wrist injuries in pro ball, all of which can temporarily sap a player’s strength, so perhaps it’s just a matter of getting further away from those to get his contact quality consistently higher.

• Toronto took then-catcher Hagen Danner in the second round in 2017, but after he failed to hit at all in Low A in 2019 and the pandemic hit, he moved to the mound in 2021 and turned in a dominant relief season for High-A Vancouver. He missed almost all of 2022 with an injury, but looked back to 100 percent in Arizona, sitting 97-98 mph with a mid-80s slider and 80 mph changeup. It’s straight relief but if he’s healthy he should move quickly – and has to, as he’s already on the 40-man roster.

[dagger]

You wonder if this development might encourage the Jays to trade one of the major league catchers. They may have another young guy in the minors they can count on for emergency third catcher backup.

Zach Britton was drafted in 2020 (Round 5) and has shown some power, but also enough promise to send him to the Arizona Fall League where he has gone on a tear. Now batting .462. He also plays OF. And he's a left-handed hitter.

Blue Jays prospect Zach Britton boosted his average to .462 with a three-hit, three-RBI evening. The 24-year-old opened the scoring with a run-scoring knock and added two more RBls on a single in the seventh that gave the Rafters a 4-2 lead.

[DelAbbot]

You wonder if this development might encourage the Jays to trade one of the major league catchers. They may have another young guy in the minors they can count on for emergency third catcher backup.

Zach Britton was drafted in 2020 (Round 5) and has shown some power, but also enough promise to send him to the Arizona Fall League where he has gone on a tear. Now batting .462. He also plays OF. And he's a left-handed hitter.

Blue Jays prospect Zach Britton boosted his average to .462 with a three-hit, three-RBI evening. The 24-year-old opened the scoring with a run-scoring knock and added two more RBls on a single in the seventh that gave the Rafters a 4-2 lead.

He has avg of 0.225, 0.239 and 0.234 for his 3 years in the minors, which for he was always too old for the league. He is org fodder

[dagger]

You wonder if this development might encourage the Jays to trade one of the major league catchers. They may have another young guy in the minors they can count on for emergency third catcher backup.

Zach Britton was drafted in 2020 (Round 5) and has shown some power, but also enough promise to send him to the Arizona Fall League where he has gone on a tear. Now batting .462. He also plays OF. And he's a left-handed hitter.

Blue Jays prospect Zach Britton boosted his average to .462 with a three-hit, three-RBI evening. The 24-year-old opened the scoring with a run-scoring knock and added two more RBls on a single in the seventh that gave the Rafters a 4-2 lead.

He has avg of 0.225, 0.239 and 0.234 for his 3 years in the minors, which for he was always too old for the league. He is org fodder

If the organization was as sure of this as you, I doubt they would have sent him to the AFL. They have to have some reason, whether it's to confirm that status despite some lingering hope. or decide if he could at least help out as an injury call-up some day.

Meanwhile, he's upped his average to .500 (19 for 38)

[DelAbbot]

You wonder if this development might encourage the Jays to trade one of the major league catchers. They may have another young guy in the minors they can count on for emergency third catcher backup.

Zach Britton was drafted in 2020 (Round 5) and has shown some power, but also enough promise to send him to the Arizona Fall League where he has gone on a tear. Now batting .462. He also plays OF. And he's a left-handed hitter.

He has avg of 0.225, 0.239 and 0.234 for his 3 years in the minors, which for he was always too old for the league. He is org fodder

If the organization was as sure of this as you, I doubt they would have sent him to the AFL. They have to have some reason, whether it's to confirm that status despite some lingering hope. or decide if he could at least help out as an injury call-up some day.

Meanwhile, he's upped his average to .500 (19 for 38)

The FO sending him to the AFL doesn't mean they are confident enough in him to trade one of our major league catchers because of him.

Anything can happen, but to trade one of our major league catchers on account of Zach Britton is far fetched

[polo007]

Blue Jays prospects to watch in 2023 - MLB.com

[Schad]

He has avg of 0.225, 0.239 and 0.234 for his 3 years in the minors, which for he was always too old for the league. He is org fodder

If the organization was as sure of this as you, I doubt they would have sent him to the AFL. They have to have some reason, whether it's to confirm that status despite some lingering hope. or decide if he could at least help out as an injury call-up some day.

Meanwhile, he's upped his average to .500 (19 for 38)

The FO sending him to the AFL doesn't mean they are confident enough in him to trade one of our major league catchers because of him.

Anything can happen, but to trade one of our major league catchers on account of Zach Britton is far fetched

The bigger issue with Britton is that he simply isn't going to be a catcher at the major league level. He is, by all accounts, awful defensively. He has thrown out just 8% of base stealers in his minor league career, which is extraordinarily bad, and he doesn't appear to be a standout receiver or game-caller, either.

Which means that he's a corner OF with middling power, a good walk rate and limited athleticism. Difficult combination to make work unfortunately. Similar to another Zac(k) we had recently, though that one had more power.

[JTT]

If the organization was as sure of this as you, I doubt they would have sent him to the AFL. They have to have some reason, whether it's to confirm that status despite some lingering hope. or decide if he could at least help out as an injury call-up some day.

Meanwhile, he's upped his average to .500 (19 for 38)

The FO sending him to the AFL doesn't mean they are confident enough in him to trade one of our major league catchers because of him.

Anything can happen, but to trade one of our major league catchers on account of Zach Britton is far fetched

The bigger issue with Britton is that he simply isn't going to be a catcher at the major league level. He is, by all accounts, awful defensively. He has thrown out just 8% of base stealers in his minor league career, which is extraordinarily bad, and he doesn't appear to be a standout receiver or game-caller, either.

Which means that he's a corner OF with middling power, a good walk rate and limited athleticism. Difficult combination to make work unfortunately. Similar to another Zac(k) we had recently, though that one had more power.

I don't think he's actually played any of the AFL games as a catcher either. It looks like his path to the Jays may be as a platoon outfielder/ 3rd catcher if and when he arrives. I suppose that it's possible having someone like him as a third catching possibility would allow the Jays more easily to use one of the top two as a DH. In that way that could ease the pressure for them moving one of Jano/Kirk/Moreno, but thats seems like trying to hard to look for something thats probably not there.

[Schad]

I don't think he's actually played any of the AFL games as a catcher either. It looks like his path to the Jays may be as a platoon outfielder/ 3rd catcher if and when he arrives. I suppose that it's possible having someone like him as a third catching possibility would allow the Jays more easily to use one of the top two as a DH. In that way that could ease the pressure for them moving one of Jano/Kirk/Moreno, but thats seems like trying to hard to look for something thats probably not there.

Insofar as he has a path, I'd imagine that's it. It's a tough road though...you need to be a very good minor league hitter to be an acceptable one as a major league corner OF, and while Britton has made some progress, he either needs to vastly increase his power production, or vastly decrease his strikeout rate. Without one or ideally both of those things, he doesn't really have a chance even as a bench player.

[polo007]

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