Minor League Roundup - August 5th

With New Hampshire, Vancouver & Bluefield having the day off, I’m having to scrape the bottom of the barrel today, which involves dipping into the Dominican Summer League. 

August 5^th

The Good

Franklin Barreto – GCL (Low Rookie Ball)

2/3 – 1 HR, 1 2B, 1 K

Barreto is by far the most exciting prospect the Jays have on the offensive side of the ball.  He’s burst onto the scene this year, after being the top international signing in last summer’s July 2^nd window.  As a 17 year old he’s more than held his own in his state side debut, posting a .274/.326/.421 line.  Monday he achieved another mile stone, which was his first career professional home run.  While over the fence power isn’t expected to be a major part of Barreto’s game, the scout’s I’ve talked to are anticipating Barreto will develop into a 10-15 HR player once he’s done maturing. 

Richard Urena – DSL (Dominican)

2/3

Its going to be quite rare that I even take a look at what’s going on in the Jays complex down in the Dominican Republic.  However since 3 of the Jays affiliates were had an off day I’m taking this opportunity to single out the “other” shortstop the Jays signed last season.  While Franklin Barreto has been garnering all the press by doing his hitting in Florida, that isn’t a reason to by pass what Richard Urena has been doing in the Dominican Republic.

When Urena was signed, the profile scouts talked about was a more modest offensive profile, but unlike Barreto it was expected that Urena had the defensive chops to stay at shortstop long term.  Thus far I’ve been more than impressed with many elements of Urena’s game.  He’s shown the ability to take a walk (an impressive 27 to 35 BB/K rate), and also hasn’t just been the slap hitter we’d been told he might be at the time of his signing (as evidenced by his 18 extra base hits, including a home run). 

With Barreto ahead of him in the system, and this year’s signing Yeltsin Gudino behind him its possible that Urena might get lost in the shuffle, but I’m going to do my best to make sure that isn’t the case.

The Bad

John Stilson – Buffalo (Triple A)

1.1 IP – 2 H, 1 R, 2 K, 1 HR

John Stilson has been absolutely dealing over the past month.  Since the 22^nd of June, he’s only given up 2 runs.  However he blew up on Monday, blowing a save, and giving up a go-ahead home run to Dan Butler (The first batter he faced in the top of the 8^th).  Its unfortunate, because as a reliever, its almost impossible that he’ll appear in this roundup on the positive side, but any time he doesn’t do his job, he’s likely to make an appearance.

Matt Smoral – GCL (Low Rookie Ball)

1 IP – 2 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 0 K

As we discussed with Zach Mortimer on the podcast today, Matt Smoral’s development is likely to be wrought with frustration.  As a 6 foot 7 inch left hander, he’ll be erratic, and frustrating.  So long as we aren’t getting reports that his stuff is depressed, I’m going to continue to be optimistic.

The Good & The Bad

Anthony Gose – Buffalo (Triple A)

1/5 – 1 2B, 1 K, 1 SB

This is a tough one for Gose, as by going 1/5 he managed to drop his already low .313 OBP evem further, however its that stolen base that has inspired optimism in me.  One of my biggest concerns with Gose’s disappointing season has been his inability to steal bases.  The past two seasons Gose has stolen 84 bases, and been caught just 27 times.  This year on the other hand, before this weekend’s games he’d stolen just 12 bases, and even more concerning, he’d been thrown out 13 times.  People had always questioned Gose’s ability to make consistent contact, but no one had ever questioned his speed.

With that being said, in his past 3 games he’s now had a stolen base in each of them.  Earlier in the season he had a similar streak of 3 straight games with a steal, but lets hope he can build on this, and get some confidence.

Now to the negative, and we go back to Gose’s inability to make contact.  In going 1 for 5 in Monday’s game, he struck out yet again (his 107^th of the season).  That’s the 7^th consecutive game he’s recorded a strikeout.  We know this will always be a part of him game, and it remains an issue he continues to struggle with.