2019 Minor Leagues/Prospect Discussion Thread

[phillipmike]

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[Skin Blues]

So they rank us 6th and that's without Bichette (called up a few days before the trade deadline) as part of the farm system? That's better than I'd have thought. Considering almost all of our prospects are pitchers at this point, it's encouraging.

[vaff87]

So they rank us 6th and that's without Bichette (called up a few days before the trade deadline) as part of the farm system? That's better than I'd have thought. Considering almost all of our prospects are pitchers at this point, it's encouraging.

I think they included Bichette, but I’m not 100% sure.

[phillipmike]

So they rank us 6th and that's without Bichette (called up a few days before the trade deadline) as part of the farm system? That's better than I'd have thought. Considering almost all of our prospects are pitchers at this point, it's encouraging.

It includes Bichette due to his lack of MLB PAs. As of Aug 2nd (from another poster) Baseball America's Jays top 30;

1. Bo Bichette
2. Nate Pearson
3. Jordan Groshans
4. Eric Pardinho
5. Alek Manoah
6. Alejandro Kirk
7. Anthony Kay
A strong-bodied lefty with arm strength and a three-pitch mix, Kay dominated Double-A competition and reached Triple-A in June. That promotion proved he still had work to do before a callup, which could come this season.
8. Simeon Woods Richardson
The 2018 second-rounder out of high school has premium stuff and mound demeanor to spare. Still just 18, he had carved up South Atlantic League competition but had fallen victim to shaky defense. Better days are ahead.
9. Gabriel Moreno
10. Sean Reid-Foley
11. Miguel Hiraldo
12. Orelvis Martinez
13. Adam Kloffenstein
14. Griffin Conine
15. Kendall Williams
16. Patrick Murphy
17. Anthony Alford
18. Leonardo Jimenez
19. Dasan Brown
20. Kevin Smith
21. Will Robertson
22. Hector Perez
23. Yennsy Diaz
24. TJ Zeuch
25. Reese McGuire
26. Alberto Rodriguez
27. Jhon Solarte
28. Javier D'Orazio
29. Joey Murray
30. Ryan Noda

To me they are around 10th without Bichette, they have Baltimore 9th and Cleveland 10th. Rutschman is a tough one to pass on but i still take the Jays farm system over the Indians, even though i think the Indians have a very good, underrated system.

Jays have top end talent in Pearson and Groshan (a breakout year away from being a serious prospect - injury prevented that from being this year). And so many high end guys on the position and pitching side in Manoah, SWR, Pardinho, Kloffenstein to go with Kirk, Moreno, Martinez and Hiraldo.

Many look at our system and think its just pitching but that 2nd wave is coming and it might be just a tier under the 1st wave. Kirk, Moreno, Martinez and Hiraldo are 20 or younger and have done everything you asked them to do in rookie ball and A ball. If everything goes well; Moreno and Kirk should be in AA next season and Martinez and Hiraldo in high A ball. Not to mention more selling trades in the off-season and at the deadline to go with another top 2020 draft pick.

I count about 13 mid-high upside guys in the system with some high floor ones in Kay, Smith, Alford, Zeuch, Murphy and McGuire.

[phillipmike]

Pearson will start tomorrow for Buffalo.

Might be a tough start to follow after tonight, Zeuch throwing a no hitter through 7 innings. 6 outs left

[phillipmike]

Zeuch is 3 outs away from a no hitter

[dagger]

Zeuch is 3 outs away from a no hitter

101 pitches for a second straight game, so he is fully stretched out. As usual, a fairly low K rate, but an amazing GO/AO.


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[Schad]

I'm a bit iffy about having a guy who missed most of the year injured throwing this many pitches, even with a no-hitter.

He did it...9 inning no-hitters are pretty rare in the minors.

[phillipmike]

Jonathan Davis with a highlight real catch to keep the no hitter alive. 1 out away

[phillipmike]

No hitter!!!

[dagger]

He did it. A no hitter


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[phillipmike]

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[phillipmike]

Jonathan Davis with a highlight real catch to keep the no hitter alive. 1 out away

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[vaff87]

That’s an impressive catch.

[dagger]

Amazing catch with two out by Jonathan Davis to keep the no no alive. This was the first no hitter by a Buffalo pitcher since Bartolo Colon in 1997, and the first time a Buffalo starter pitched into the ninth inning since 2004. Zeuch threw 113 pitches.


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[phillipmike]

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[dagger]

https://www.mlb.com/bluejays/news/blue-jays-top-prospects-of-the-week


Monday, Aug. 19: Zeuch throws no-hitter for Buffalo
T.J. Zeuch turned in the performance of a lifetime Monday, throwing a no-hitter for the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons. Zeuch, the Blue Jays’ No. 17 prospect, struck out just three batters, but forced plenty of weak contact, including 15 groundouts. The right-hander issued a walk in the third inning and then retired another 15 consecutive batters before hitting Zander Wiel with a pitch in the bottom of the eighth.

This was the first no-hitter for the Buffalo Bisons since Bartolo Colon pulled it off on June 20, 1997. Monday’s performance comes on the back of Zeuch throwing six shutout innings his last time out and lowers his ERA to 3.84. Behind the plate was Beau Taylor, who just joined the Blue Jays’ organization via waivers from the Athletics last week and was appearing in just his second game with the Bisons.

Zeuch’s defence was steady behind him all night long, but no play was bigger than Jonathan Davis’ in the bottom of the ninth. With Zeuch two outs away from making history, Ian Miller drove a low liner to centre field that had a real chance of dropping for the first hit of the game. Davis raced in and extended fully to make a diving catch and keep the no-hitter alive.

For the final out of the game, Zeuch did what he does best, forcing his 15th groundout of the day. This one was right back to Zeuch, who tossed over to first before being mobbed by his teammates. Monday's prospect stats »


Zeuch had everything working tonight:

9 IP
0 H
0 R
1 BB
3 K
114 pitches, 73 strikes

[vaff87]

I'm a bit iffy about having a guy who missed most of the year injured throwing this many pitches, even with a no-hitter.

He did it...9 inning no-hitters are pretty rare in the minors.

On the other hand, pitching with the pressure of a no-hitter on the line is probably good experience.

[dagger]

I'm a bit iffy about having a guy who missed most of the year injured throwing this many pitches, even with a no-hitter.

He did it...9 inning no-hitters are pretty rare in the minors.

On the other hand, pitching with the pressure of a no-hitter on the line is probably good experience.

And it was an important game for Buffalo. They are two games out of a playoff spot. Good for the upcoming starts of Pearson and Kay as well - keeping their team in the race when teammates and fans are counting on them. Just as winning the Eastern League title last season was good experience for Bo, Vlad and Craig Biggio. Zeuch was also pay of that team. Winning should be habit forming.

Here is the last out of the game. When Zeuch is on, he's an exceptional ground ball pitcher, but that of course suggests you'd want to have a good infield D behind him. For those who don't know him, he was the Jays first rounder in 2016, and has wended his way through the system without the numbers - or expectations - of higher K rate prospects like Pearson or Manoah, which is understandable. He projects as a bottom of the rotation pitcher, and with some lost time to injuries, hasn't been high on the prospect radar. All understandable. I mean, Sean Reid Foley who has shown no consistency whatsoever has maintained a higher prospect rating all along based on being a more traditional fastball first pitcher in a sport which puts a premium on velocity.

So Zeuch has been not so much forgotten as classified as a less likely candidate for the future rotation than several others. That said his last three starts have been excellent, he's on a 16-plus-inning scoreless streak, and he's gotten hot with Buffalo's playoff hopes on the line which always impresses me about a prospect- bringing their A game when the pressure is on.

Foe consistency alone, that puts him ahead of a lot of the wannabes and stiffs the organization has signed as placeholders for the Jays. He has to go on the 40 man roster this winter to be protected from the Rule 5 draft, so a promotion once the Bisons' season is done seems like a good bet.

He's a big kid (6'7") who throws the ball on an awesome downward plane, and when his breaking stuff is good, this is what you see a lot of

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Here is mlbpipeline's scouting report, and you can understand the uncertainty - the high GB rate, the low whiff rate. Perhaps one thing that helps Zeuch and could make a difference is a low BB rate.

Scouting grades: Fastball: 60 | Curveball: 55 | Slider: 45 | Changeup: 45 | Control: 50 | Overall: 45

A strong showing as a Pittsburgh junior in 2016 pushed Zeuch into the first round of the Draft, where the Blue Jays selected the big right-hander with the No. 21 overall pick. A back injury limited Zeuch somewhat during his first full season, but he still jumped on the big league radar by pitching well at Class A Advanced Dunedin and then boosted his stock even more against better competition in the Arizona Fall League. Returning to the Florida State League in 2018, Zeuch made just six starts at Dunedin before moving up to Double-A New Hampshire. He was an Eastern League All-Star at midseason, and continued to pitch well down the stretch while leading the Fisher Cats to an Eastern League title.

An imposing presence on the mound at 6-foot-7, Zeuch uses his height to his advantage by creating a steep angle to the plate. The downhill plane only enhances the right-hander's sinker, a plus pitch he throws with heavy late life in the low- to mid-90s. This enables him to generate ground balls at a near-elite rate (57 percent in '18). Zeuch's curveball has become his best secondary offering and plays nicely off his sinker, keeping hitters off-balance with its shape and late bite. His slider wasn't as sharp in 2018 but is still viewed as an average pitch, and he also throws a changeup that's a distant fourth pitch. Despite his size, Zeuch's long levers are consistently in-sync, and he repeats his delivery well. It allows him to pound the zone with his entire arsenal.

Zeuch assuaged concerns about his durability last season by accruing more than 156 innings, or more than double the workload from his first full season. The only drawback to Zeuch's profile is that he doesn't miss many bats and therefore doesn't rack up strikeouts. Instead, he mostly pitches to contact, consistently attacking the bottom of the zone early in the count to force weak contact. Altogether, Zeuch has the look of a future backend starter at the highest level, perhaps more if he can improve his breaking balls and start to generate more whiffs.

[SharoneWright]

That's awesome.