Archive for Toronto Blue Jays

Each weekday during the minor-league season, FanGraphs is providing a status update on multiple rookie-eligible players. Note that Age denotes the relevant prospect’s baseball age (i.e. as of July 1st of the current year); Top-15, the prospect’s place on Marc Hulet’s preseason organizational list; and Top-100, that same prospect’s rank on Hulet’s overall top-100 list.

In this piece, I look at three 18-and-under up-the-middle prospects.

Summary
This athletic, projectable glider has made moderate inroads at the plate and has plenty of time and projection to allow for additional progress.

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Marcus Stroman has all the looks of an ace in the making. The 23-year-old Toronto Blue Jays righthander has won seven of his first nine big-league decisions and has a 3.03 ERA and a 2.97 FIP. Remove six-and-a-third relief innings from the equation and his ERA is 2.12.

Drafted 22nd overall in 2012 out of Duke Universiry, Stroman thrives on power and diversity. His radar readings regularly reach 95 and his repertoire includes two- and four-seam fastballs, a cutter, a slider, a curveball and a changeup. The rookie has allowed just one run over his last 21 innings. His ability to keep hitters off balance is a big reason why.

“I have a really good mix right now,” acknowledged Stroman earlier this week. “They can’t sit on any one pitch and over the course of a game I’m using all of them.”

The Red Sox found that out recently, as the righty dominated them in back-to-back outings. Among those impressed with his repertoire was Brock Holt, who was 16 for his last 34 coming into his first meeting with Stroman.

“When I faced him in Toronto, he struck me out three times,” said Holt. “He’s got good stuff. He’s fearless and can throw everything for strikes. He’s got a good sharp slider-curveball, whatever it is. He can back-foot it to lefties, go underneath your hands. He throws a little cutter and a good two-seam he can run back. He’s got a changeup. I mean, he’s got pretty much everything.” Read the rest of this entry »

David Hale went to college. Chris Archer signed out of high school. Why the big-league pitchers chose their respective paths could serve as a template for preps selected in the just-completed draft. Everyone’s situation is unique, but many will use similar reasoning in making their choices.

“A lot of the decision is financial,” said Archer, who was drafted by the Indians and now plays for the Tampa Bay Rays. “Where your family is financially can be a big factor. If a company – baseball or non-baseball –is willing to offer you a large advance, and is willing to pay the expenses of school if it doesn’t work out… that’s something you probably want to take advantage of, especially if your family can’t necessarily cover all of your school expenses.

“I also felt going the professional route would help me develop more as a baseball player. I didn’t start pitching until I was 16, so I wasn’t very refined. The minor leagues are more about development than winning games, so I knew I was going to pitch every fifth day regardless of whether I walked 10 or struck out 10. Had I gone to college and pitched as a freshman and sophomore like I did my first two years of pro ball, I wouldn’t have pitched at all.”

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Kevin Pillar and Alex Wood had different draft experiences. Pillar, an outfielder for the Toronto Blue Jays, was a 32nd-round pick in 2011. His signing bonus was $1,000. Wood, a pitcher for the Atlanta Braves, was a 2nd-round pick in 2012. His bonus was $700,000.

They also shared something in common. Both thought they would be taken much earlier than they were.

“I was expecting to go somewhere between the 12th and 20th round,” said Pillar, who was drafted out of Division-II California State University. “I put on pretty good showing at some pre-draft workouts and area scouts told me I could expect to be drafted in that range. I was with my parents and some friends listening to the draft, and it ended up being a long, somewhat miserable day.”

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think I should go in the first round,” said Wood, who was selected out of the University of Georgia. “I’m a pretty realistic person and felt I had a legitimate shot at going that high, but draft day came around and I didn’t get any calls until after the first round ended. I thought I was probably one of the three best lefties, but I guess my mechanics scared some teams off.”

Wood was more highly regarded than Pillar, and he had another advantage when it came to bonus negotiations. Read the rest of this entry »

On July 2, 1963, the San Francisco Giants beat the Milwaukee Braves 1-0 in 16 innings. Juan Marichal and Warren Spahn both pitched complete games. Marichal threw 227 pitches, Spahn, who was 41 years old at the time, threw 201.

What do R.A. Dickey and Max Scherzer think about the historic duel?

“I’m speechless, really,” said Dickey. “In this day and age we’re not used to seeing totals that come anywhere close to that. It’s quite remarkable. That being said, I’ve always been a guy who likes to throw a lot of pitches.”

“It’s amazing what they did,” said Scherzer. “Many guys in the past were able to consistently throw150-160, and they did it in four-man rotations. That seems preposterous in today’s game.”

By modern-day standards, Scherzer is a workhorse. The Detroit Tigers righthander has thrown at least 100 pitches in 37 of his last 42 regular season starts. On 18 of those occasions he’s thrown 110 or more. His high-water mark is 123. Could he imagine doing what Marichal and Spahn did 51 years ago?

“Could I get conditioned for 200 pitches? Yes, I think I could,” said Scherzer. “But my per-pitch intensity would have to be less than where I’m at right now. I don’t think there’s any way [Marichal and Spahn] were throwing 95 [mph] and their effort level had to have been lower. So yes, some pitchers today could do it, but with less intensity.”

Dickey believes much the same. The 39-year-old Toronto Blue Jays righty regularly logs over 100 pitches per outing, and he feels he could throw many more.

“As a knuckleballer, I could throw 200 pitches fairly easily,” said Dickey. “I’m not exerting nearly the force Max would be. He would have to temper it back, but I’m already operating at about 70 percent capacity. It wouldn’t be that much for me to throw that many pitches. But it comes down to effectiveness. If a pitcher is throwing 150 and getting his brains beat in, then he’s throwing 150 just to throw 150.”

Dickey was a conventional pitcher early in this career. Could he have approached Marichal-Spahn territory in his pre-knuckleball days?

“I could have,” said Dickey. “I threw 183 once [at the University of Tennessee]. I did that in a regional. I started a game and went seven innings, had two days off, then threw 183 to get us to the College World Series. A few other times I threw around 160.”

Scherzer hasn’t thrown nearly that many, but he does see value in stretching the limits. He feels it’s especially beneficial as a learning tool.

“In college, I think I threw as many as 133,” said Scherzer. “The whole pitch count thing… yeah, it’s right, but the biggest thing is how many days off you get after you make one of those types of starts. I think it’s fine to pitch that deep. You learn a lot about yourself on the pitches after 100. I’ve always been a big believer in that. That’s why I think going to college is better than signing out of high school.

“In college you’re on a seven-day rotation and constantly exposed to 120 pitches. That’s not the same as 120 pitches every five days. I think it’s good for a pitcher – and good for his arm – to learn how to pitch that deep into a game. When you’re fatigued, you have to pitch. You have to execute and use your off-speed. You also have to conserve so you can still throw your best thunderbolt on pitch 125.

“I’ve been told that some of the all-time greats, like Sandy Koufax, would smell the win when they got into the ninth inning. That’s when they got nasty. They were cruising with less of an an intensity level, and at the end they really picked it up.”

Dickey doesn’t practice conservation, but he does agree on the educational value of extended outings.

“The more you’re pushed, the more you see what you’re capable of doing with deeper pitch counts,” said Dickey. “You learn 130-140 is something you can handle. There doesn’t have be that psychological barrier. You can be conditioned for it just like you can be conditioned to run a marathon.

“As for [saving thunderbolts], that’s not really something I do. Some other guys may do that within the framework of nine innings. I remember watching Bartolo Colon pitch in his prime. He would be 91-92 and then in the eighth and ninth innings he’d be 98. I’ve seen Verlander do that too. I’m different in that respect, but again, I’m not exerting the same kind of force.

“Do I tip my hat to Marichal and Spahn? Oh, man, are you kidding? Absolutely. But the dynamic of a pitching staff has changed so much. There are specialized relievers. Teams are paying much more attention to the metrics of righty-versus-righty, and this guy versus that guy, and managers are making decisions based on those metrics. It’s a big reason we’re seeing lesser and lesser pitch counts for starters.”

——

Pitch counts weren’t a big deal for the Brewers in the late 1970s. Their starters threw a lot of innings, but not necessarily a lot of pitches. From 1978-1980, the Milwaukee staff allowed the fewest walks and logged the fewest strikeouts in the American League.

Buck Martinez, now a broadcaster for the Blue Jays, was one of the Brewers’ catchers in those seasons. He says the low strikeout and walk totals were by design.

“When I got to Milwaukee in 1978, George Bamberger was the manager,” said Martinez. “The first thing he said to the pitching staff was, ‘Boys, we’re going to cut the walks in half. We can’t have 800 walks in a season.’ He wanted our pitchers to limit the number of pitches batters saw. That helped turn things around in Milwaukee.”

The results speak for themselves. After winning just 67 games in 1977, the Brewers won 93 and 95 in Bamberger’s first two seasons at the helm. Offense was a big reason – Bamberger’s teams were the precursor to “Harvey’s Wallbangers” – but the pitch-to-contact approach clearly paid dividends.

“It was about pitching late into the game,” said Martinez. “Who are your best pitchers? They’re your starters, so you want them pitching most of your innings. You do that by reducing your pitch counts – not that we had pitch counts back then; the hitters told you when you were tired. We simply didn’t consider strikeouts important. It was about outs. We had a good offensive club and our pitchers realized the longer they stayed in the game, the more chances we had to score runs and give them a win.”

Mike Caldwell and Lary Sorensen were among the beneficiaries. In 1978, the duo combined to win 40 games and pitch 574 innings. Caldwell’s K/9 was 4.0. Sorenson’s was 2.5.

The 1979 season featured one of the most unique pitcher-usage games in baseball annals. On August 29, Bamberger used position players for the final five innings of an 18-8 loss to the Kansas City Royals. Third baseman Sal Bando went three innings. Second baseman Jim Gantner and Martinez each went one inning.

“We were down by a ton and didn’t want to use any more pitchers,” explained Martinez. “Bamberger handed Bando the ball and said ‘you’re pitching,’ Gantner was in the dugout lobbying to pitch. I called down from the bullpen and told [pitching coach] Cal McLish, ‘I want to pitch in this game.’ The game was in Kansas City and I had come to the Brewers from the Royals. I warmed up for about five innings, so by the time I got to the mound I was dead tired. I’d still have been out of the inning without giving up a run had Bando been able to turn a double play. He was playing second base by then. I threw fastballs, curveballs and a palm ball. I got Amos Otis to pop up on a palm ball.”

According to Martinez, Bando had a go-to pitch of his own.

“Sal came out for the second inning looking like a McDonald’s french fry pack,” said Martinez. “ He was greasy all over the place. He had Vaseline everywhere. He got all doctored up to pitch the next two innings.”

——

Rob Rasmussen has faced one batter. The Blue Jays southpaw made his big-league debut on Tuesday at Fenway Park. He retired David Ortiz on a ground ball to first base.

John Gibbons hinted the match-up might happen during his pregame media session. Asked about the 25-year-old UCLA product, the Toronto skipper said, ‘Who knows, maybe he’ll come in face Ortiz tonight.’ Word got to Rasmussen as the team prepared to take batting practice.

“People were asking, ‘What are you going to do if you have to face Ortiz?’ Rasmussen told me the following day. “That was kind of out of the blue a little bit. I didn’t know what to say, because I didn’t know Gibby had said that.”

Rumor became truth in the seventh inning.

“While we were hitting, they said ‘Hey, you’ve got Ortiz.’ They told me Dustin [McGowan] was going to face Pedroia to start the inning, then I was going to get Ortiz. After that, Delabar was coming in to get Napoli. It was my first time getting hot in a big-league pen, and to be honest, it was kind of a surreal moment.”

What did Gibbons say to the rookie when he reached the mound?

“Gibby said, ”Hey, have fun and join us in this party.’ That made me smile. It made me realize this is fun. There’s tons of money and a lot on the line in terms of wins, but at the end of the day it’s about enjoying the moment. We had a three-run lead, so I also knew the worst I could do was give up a solo home run and we’d still be up two.”

It took five pitches for him to retire Big Papi. I asked Rasmussen to describe the at bat.

“I fell behind with two fastballs, which wasn’t ideal,” said Rasmussen. “The first one I yanked down and away. The second one was a little up and off the plate. On the first one I was just trying to get that first strike in there, but there was such an adrenaline rush that I missed. I had to step back and take a deep breath. The second pitch wasn’t a strike, but it was more of a quality pitch. It was, ‘OK, that was better. Here we go.’ Then I got a fastball in that he took to make it 2-1. Then I threw a slider that kind of cement mixed – it backed up – but fortunately he fouled it off. On 2-2, I threw a curveball and he rolled it over to Edwin [Encarnacion].”

Adrenaline aside, Rasmussen claims to have been calm and focused on the mound. Once it was over, he reflected on the experience.

“When I came out of the game is when it really hit me,” said Rasmussen. “It was like, ‘Oh, man.’ It was then that I kind of realized the magnitude of what I did. I had just realized a dream.”

——

Everyone loves a good quote, and Steve Delabar is no exception. The Toronto reliever gladly accepted my invitation to participate in “the quote game,” an offbeat interview approach I’ve had fun with over the years. In short, I recited half a dozen notable baseball quotes, and Delabar gave me his interpretation of them.

Good pitching will always stop good hitting, and vice versa. – Casey Stengel

“That’s true in a sense. The way I see it is good pitches beat good hitters. Good pitchers can make bad pitches.”

I exploit the greed of all hitters. – Lew Burdette

“He was exploiting the gray. I’m a power guy so that doesn’t really apply to me. I’m just trying to throw it around the strike zone and let it eat.”

A baseball game is a nervous breakdown divided into nine innings. – Earl Wilson

“Every inning, something crazy can happen. If you sat in a dugout during a game, you’d understand why. There are so many ebbs and flows. You can be as high as the moon in one inning and then the other team starts chipping away and you hit the panic button and freak out. You’re up and down the whole game, so you just try to chill.”

Baseball is like a church. Many attend but few understand. – Leo Durocher

“The further you get away from the field, the easier the game is. Even the guys in the dugout will say ‘Why did he do that?’ On the field, decisions have to be made at the speed of the game. When you’re questioning what somebody did, well, go out there on the field and make that decision.”

A ballplayer has two reputations, one with the other players and one with the fans. The first is based on ability and the second the newspapers give him. – Johnny Evers

“Now, with the social media, you can kind of show everybody what kind of person you are. Still, you could be the greatest guy and the best teammate, but if you’re not getting the job done, the media might blow you up.”

You have to be a man to play baseball, but you have to a lot of little boy in you – Roy Campanella

“You need to have fun. You can’t let it become too serious. You work hard on the side to play the game, but they don’t say ‘We’re going to work baseball.’ They say, ‘We’re going to play baseball.’ It’s a job, but we play our job. You don’t tell a kid, ‘Go to your room and work with your toys.’”

Mitch Nay is one of the top prospects in the Toronto Blue Jays organization. A supplemental first-round pick in 2012, the 20-year-old third baseman combines raw power and an advanced approach. His grandfather deserves a lot of the credit.

Nay grew up learning the game from Lou Klimchock. A journeyman infielder who spent parts of 12 seasons in the big leagues, Klimchock played for five teams and counts multiple Hall of Famers among his former teammates. He’s passed along much of what he knows to his grandson.

“He’s been a big influence on me,” said Nay, who is playing with the low-A Lansing Lugnuts. “He’s helped with instructional stuff, like hitting and throwing. He’s pretty much been my teacher since a young age.

“My grandpa is also the president of the Arizona Major League alumni, so I’ve been able to hang out with a lot of big names – historical figures in baseball – like Brooks Robinson and Bob Feller. I’ve been around the game my whole life, which makes being in pro ball almost second-nature.”

Nay is already older than his grandfather was when he debuted with the Kansas City Athletics at the end of the 1958 season.

“He played his first game at age 18,” explained Nay. “Last year when Jurickson Profar came up and hit a lead-off home run they were talking about the youngest guys ever to do that. My grandpa was on the list.”

Can he imagine what it would be like to play in the big leagues at such a young age?

“There’s so much I need to learn before that time comes,” admitted Nay. “It would definitely be a challenge, but my grandpa has talked to me about what it’s like. He’s told me to visualize it, to think of myself in some of these guys’ shoes. He says stuff like, ‘Imagine yourself getting on a plane in the middle of the night, going to a new city and waking up there to play a game.’”

Surprisingly, Klimchock practiced visualization in the 1960s. Less surprising is that his grandson does so now.

“When he played, he used to be on deck visualizing himself hitting a line drive over the shortstop’s head,” said Nay. “He says your mind doesn’t know the difference from what your body does. I do that sometimes too. If I’m facing a sinkerballer, I’ll visualize him getting it up and me hitting it in the gap.”

Nay describes his hitting approach as looking for a pitch that’s middle to middle-away, focusing on the right-center field gap, and having a good two-strike approach. You can probably guess where that comes from.

“My grandfather’s approach was pretty simple,” said Nay. “It was basically to stay up the middle and have a good two-strike approach. Growing up, he’d always talk to me about the importance of not giving away at bats. Don’t strike out; put the ball in play. I’ve come to realize you can sometimes hit the ball farther with two strikes, because your approach is better. You can still have power with two strikes.”

Klimchock has taught his grandson more than approach. He’s taught him about the past.

“He’s talked about facing pitchers like Don Drysdale,” said Nay “He’s told me about guys he played with, like Roger Maris and Hank Aaron. I’ve learned a lot about baseball history from him. He even played for a few teams that don’t exist anymore.”

——

Here is a description of the home run Klimchock hit as an 18-year-old, excerpted with permission from the SABR BioProject. It was written by Chuck Johnson.

“When he stepped to the plate as the leadoff hitter for the Kansas City Athletics on the final day of the 1958 season, 18-year-old second baseman Lou Klimchock was looking for his first major-league hit, not to make modern major-league history. Playing in just his second major-league game, Klimchock achieved both. On the mound that day for the homestanding Chicago White Sox was 19-year-old Stover McIlwain. A tall, lanky right-hander, McIlwain was also making his second major-league appearance, and, as fate would have it, his last. Klimchock picked out a McIlwain offering he liked and drove the pitch into the Comiskey Park right-field stands for his first major-league hit and home run. It was the first time in modern major-league history that a teenager had homered off a teenager.”

For those of you unfamiliar with the Baseball Biography Project, it is an invaluable and rapidly-growing resource. The Society for American Baseball Research [SABR] champions the game’s rich history, and the BioProject committee, headed by Mark Armour, is an ambitious part of those efforts. A primary goal is to publish a full-life biography of every major league player in history. Klimchock’s is one of 2,770 that have been completed as of this date.

According to Armour, it took close to six years to reach 1,000 bios, and another 3.5 years to get to 2,000. At its current pace the third 1,000 will take just over two years. The committee is currently producing 400-450 biographies annually, which is roughly twice the rate that new major league players are debuting. If you’re interested in becoming involved, please contact  bioassign@sabr.org.

——

Harry Chiti is still awaiting his biography. It needs to be written. A catcher for four teams from 1950-1962, Chiti broke into the big leagues with the Cubs as a 17-year-old bonus baby. His biggest claim to fame is that he was the first player ever traded for himself.

His son, Dom Chiti, was a minor league pitcher for six seasons before becoming a coach, scout and special assistant. He now serves as the Orioles bullpen coach. I asked Dom about his late father.

“My father was a huge influence on my baseball life,” said Dom. “I was probably more advanced mentally because of him. I learned to change speeds at an earlier age than most guys. He would talk about the game inside the game, like the cat-and-mouse that happens between pitchers and hitters.

“He’d relate stories about players and how to pitch to them. Ted Williams was one. He said Ted Williams used to walk to home plate and say ‘If you can throw three balls on the outside corner you can have my strikeout, but don’t miss.’ He also told me how he’d be going to catch a ball – it was right there – and Ted would take it right out of his glove. His bat speed was that ridiculous.”

In April 1962, the fledgling New York Mets acquired Chiti from the Indians. Two months later he was sent back to Cleveland.

“When he got traded for himself it was actually a cash deal,” said Dom. “I don’t know how many people know this, but the money went to pay for the Chief Wahoo that went up in right field at the old ballpark. That’s what the money was used for. My dad wasn’t so much traded for himself as he was traded for a sign.”

——

Many players excelled in multiple sports before settling on baseball. Orioles outfielder David Lough played two in college and could have played a third. His primary youth sport is the one he gave up first.

“I loved soccer,” said Lough, who came of age in Akron, Ohio. “I played my whole life. It was my No. 1 go-to sport in high school, and I received a lot of D-I offers, but I kind of grew out of it. I never grew out of baseball. I’ve loved being on the diamond from the time I was a little kid playing tee ball. I knew in college it was what I wanted to keep playing.”

Football replaced soccer as Lough’s second sport, despite him having played it only one year in high school.

“My senior year, I grew a real liking for football,” said the speedy 5-foot-10, 175-pound fly-chaser. “I ended up going to college to play both football and baseball. I went to Mercyhurst, a Division-II school in Erie PA, and was a receiver and kick returner. We were in the [Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference] when I played, with schools like Grand Valley State. It was good quality football.

“I started putting it together my junior year — I had a couple of touchdowns – but my first few years of college football were a real growing period. In high school, I’d go to the huddle and our quarterback would tell me what to run. I didn’t know the plays. I would go from football practice to soccer practice, and would have soccer games on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. On Friday I’d have a football game. I was a busy guy and missed a ton of practice time, mostly because of soccer.”

——

Tommy Hunter excelled in a less-traditional sport. The Indianapolis native was a two-time judo champion.

“I was young when I did judo, only 10-12 years old,” said Hunter “I didn’t have any special moves, or anything like that, but I was pretty good. I won the Junior Olympics in judo. It’s basically a national tournament, so while it’s not something you’d call prestigious, it was pretty big for me.”

The Orioles closer is 6-foot-3, 260 pounds. I asked how big he was as a preteen judo champion.

“I wasn’t big when I was 12,” said Hunter. “I wasn’t big until I was a sophomore in high school. I was a normal kid. I wasn’t abnormal.”

My response was, “Unlike now?”

“You think I’m abnormal?” answered the affable-but-large hurler. “Wow. That’s pretty [bleeped] up. But that’s alright. You’re entitled to your opinion. I think I’m pretty [bleeping] normal.”

His home state of Indiana is a hoops hotbed. What about basketball?

“I played in high school, but I wasn’t very good,” said Hunter, who wryly added “I was a white kid and played the token minutes. I kept the GPA up for the team.”

——

Matt Bowman will elevate the GPA on most teams he plays for. The New York Mets pitching prospect majored in economics at Princeton University. Pro ball hasn’t been a steep learning curve for the 2012 draft pick. Last year he went 10-4 with a 3.05 ERA between low-A Savannah and high-A St. Lucie. This season he’s allowed just one run in 12 innings at Double-A Binghamton.

Bowman has a future in a big league front office when his playing days are over. The 22-year-old right-hander’s senior thesis had general manager written all over it.

“It looked into how much a win is worth in free agency,” said Bowman. “I looked into projected wins and what a team thinks they’re paying for a win as opposed to what they end up paying for a win. Why is there a discrepancy between the two? I looked at players and evaluated them basically as stocks paying off dividends in the form of WAR. What is their variance season to season, and based on that, what value do they hold?”

I asked him if any other players in the Mets’ organization speak the same saber-economic language.

“Jeff Reynolds, who is in St. Lucie right now, graduated from Harvard,” said Bowman. “I spoke to him a little bit about it. There are certainly players who like to play GM and will talk about who’d they’d want to acquire in free agency, but I think the numbers aspect might make me a little unique.”

Bowman’s approach to his own stats is more mainstream.

“When it comes to my personal experience, I’m the complete opposite,” admitted Bowman. “As a starter, I think the most important stat is innings pitched. It’s the old-school opinion that starting pitchers should be workhorses and eat up a lot of innings. I’m aware if certain other stats are good or bad, like my strikeouts-to-walks ratio, but I mostly try to avoid them. Getting caught up in stats can lead to complacency, or getting a little too involved if things are going poorly.”

Bowman had eye-popping numbers in this last start. Pitching against New Hampshire, he allowed four hits over seven scoreless innings with one walk and 11 strikeouts. Preparation played a big role in his overpowering outing.

“I got to scout them in the stands a few days before,” explained Bowman. “I talked to Kevin Plawecki, my catcher, and we came up with a game plan. I basically told him what I wanted to do with each hitter and asked him to remember it. Once I’m on the mound, I don’t like thinking about that. Whatever he put down, I threw. My fastball and slider were working and I sprinkled in my other pitches as well.”

The Princeton product keeps notes on batters he faces, but not on himself.

“I feel that breaking down your personal performance too much can be detrimental,” opined Bowman. “There’s a feel to pitching and the simplest numbers are the most important. How deep did you go into the game and did you put up a zero? If you’re trying to do more than that, I think you’re trying to be a pitcher you’re not.”

With the 22nd pick in the 2012 Rule 4 draft the Jays selected Duke University right-handed pitcher Marcus Stroman. Listed at only 5-foot-9 Stroman would be one of the shortest starting pitchers in the majors in recent memory. Is he a starting pitcher, though? He was a starter in college and made 20 starts for Double-A New Hampshire in 2013. Yet, questions remain about whether his future lies in the rotation or the bullpen.

Read the rest of this entry »

Andy Burns is used to moving around. On the field, he has played all over the infield since being selected by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 11th round of the 2011 draft. His route to prospect status has been equally circuitous.

Originally drafted in 2008, the former two-time Colorado Baseball Player of the Year bypassed an opportunity to sign with his home-state Rockies, and opted instead to play collegiately at the University of Kentucky. Two years later, he transferred to the University of Arizona, but eligibility issues prevented him from seeing game action. Since signing a professional contract, he has hopscotched between minor-league outposts in British Columbia, Michigan, Florida and New Hampshire.

But this year he emerged as legitimate prospect. Splitting the season between High-A Dunedin — where he was voted the best defensive third baseman in the Florida State League — and Double-A New Hampshire, the 23-year-old hit .288/.346/.470. His right-handed stroke produced 56 extra-base hits, including 15 home runs. He also swiped 33 bases.

Burns continued his hot hitting in the Arizona Fall League, batting .312 for the Salt River Rafters. He talked about his path to prospect prosperity — including an adjustment to his hitting approach — during the final week of the AFL season. Read the rest of this entry »

Coming into the 2013 season, Neil Wagner was a 29-year-old right-handed reliever with all of five big-league innings under his belt. Prior to signing with Toronto last November, he had bounced from the Indians to the A’s to the Padres. A former 21st-round pick out of North Dakota State, he was a minor-league journeyman.

With the help of his trusty notebook, Wagner became a bona fide Blue Jay. After beginning the campaign in Triple-A Buffalo, where he logged a 0.76 ERA and 16 saves, he ended up being one of the most-reliable arms in the Toronto bullpen. Called up in late May, he went 2-4, 3.79 as one of the few pleasant surprises on a underachieving team.

Wagner talked about his stat-influenced road to success when the Blue Jays visited Fenway Park in September. Read the rest of this entry »

Daniel Norris seemed intrigued when I suggested he might be the next Drake Britton. It is an apples-to-orange comparison — the latter underwent Tommy John surgery and Norris‘s worst malady has been a forearm strain — but the southpaws share notable things in common. For one, they saw their professional careers get off to slow starts.

Norris, one of the top prospects in the Toronto Blue Jays system, has gone 3-11, 6.19 since being taken in the second round of the 2011 draft. Two years ago, in high-A, Britton went 1-13, 6.91. He is now in the big leagues with the Red Sox.

The 20-year-old Norris is showing indications he may be ready to turn a similar corner. In his last two starts for the low-A Lansing Lugnuts, he has thrown nine scoreless innings with 13 strikeouts. More importantly, he has begun pitching with more poise and confidence. Norris talked about his development — including what he has learned from his struggles — late last week. Read the rest of this entry »