Aug 16, 2017
Future Watch: Vladdy Jr. continues to shine
TSN baseball reporter Scott Mitchell takes a look at how the consensus top 10 prospects in the Blue Jays’ minor-league system have fared over the past seven days.
Each week, baseball reporter Scott Mitchell takes a look at how the consensus top 10 prospects in the Blue Jays’ minor-league system have fared over the past seven days.
With Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus and MLB Pipeline all releasing mid-season rankings recently, we’ve shuffled up the list to reflect the changes for the second half of the season.
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1. 3B Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
Affiliate: High-A Dunedin Blue Jays
Age: 18 (3/16/1999)
Mid-season top 100 prospect rankings: Baseball America (2); MLB Pipeline (6); Baseball Prospectus (13)
Projected MLB ETA: 2020
Season stats: .316/.409/.480 with 7 HR, 45 RBI, 6 SB in 269 AB at Low-A; .309/.435/.400 with 1 HR, 15 RBI, 2 SB in 110 AB at High-A
It’s hard to find nice things to say about Guerrero Jr. that haven’t already been said a million times over. He has an advanced feel for hitting, which is amazing at such a young age, and there’s a whole lot of power there, even if that has yet to manifest in a large number of over-the-fence shots. The 2018 season will be tremendously interesting for Vladdy Jr., in terms of how he’ll adjust to Double-A when he arrives and how careful the Blue Jays front office will be in promoting their prized prospect.
2. SS Bo Bichette
Affiliate: High-A Dunedin Blue Jays
Age: 19 (3/5/1998)
Mid-season top 100 prospect rankings: Baseball Prospectus (29); MLB Pipeline (30); Baseball America (44)
Projected MLB ETA: 2020
Season stats: .384/.448/.623 with 10 HR, 51 RBI, 12 SB in 284 AB at Low-A; .344/.399/.448 with 2 HR, 16 RBI, 8 SB in 125 AB at High-A
After watching Troy Tulowitzki, their major-league shortstop, get carried off the field with a season-ending ankle injury, the Blue Jays got another scare Sunday when Bichette rolled an ankle in similar fashion on a play at first base. The organization doesn’t think the injury is overly serious, but he sat out Monday and Tuesday and they’ll obviously play it safe to make sure there aren’t any long-term issues. The ankle problem temporarily halted another ho-hum six-game hitting streak for Bichette.
3. OF Anthony Alford
Affiliate: Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats
Age: 23 (7/20/1994)
Mid-season top 100 prospect rankings: Baseball America (38); MLB Pipeline (49)
Projected MLB ETA: Arrived May 19
Season stats: .125/.125/.250 in 8 MLB AB; .143/.182/.143 with 0 HR, 2 RBI, 1 SB in 21 AB at High-A; .313/.401/.432 with 4 HR, 17 RBI, 10 SB in 192 AB at Double-A
Some prospect evaluators believe Alford is the second-best prospect in the organization, ahead of Bichette. While that seems like a pick-your-poison scenario, there’s no doubt 2017 has been a stock-upping year for Alford, even if it was interrupted for six weeks due to a broken hamate bone. Alford has been heating up in August since returning to Double-A off the injury, slashing .350/.409/.400 over the past week thanks to a seven-game hitting streak.
4. 2B/SS Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
Affiliate: Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats
Age: 23 (10/19/1993)
Mid-season top 100 prospect rankings: Baseball America (90)
Projected MLB ETA: 2018
Season stats: .197/.217/.258 with 1 HR, 8 RBI, 1 SB in 66 AB at High-A; .235/.266/.363 with 2 HR, 15 RBI, 1 SB in 102 AB at Double-A
Gurriel Jr. still has just 128 professional at-bats under his belt, so the stat line has to be taken with a grain of salt at this point. The time off and subsequent adjustment from Cuba has taken players close to a year in some instances, and while the wiry right-handed hitter has shown flashes, it’s clear there’s still some rust. He’s already on the 40-man roster, making for an interesting September call-up scenario for the Blue Jays front office once the Fisher Cats’ season comes to a close in a few weeks.
5. RHP Sean Reid-Foley
Affiliate: Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats
Age: 21 (8/30/1995)
Pre-season team prospect rankings: Baseball Prospectus (1); Baseball America (3); MLB Pipeline (2); FanGraphs (3)
Projected MLB ETA: 2019
Season stats: 8-10, 4.94 ERA, 1.47 WHIP, 95 Ks, 45 BB in 109.1 innings
It’s been a solid developmental year for the organization’s top position prospects, but the arms have been all over the place. After stringing together a pair of solid outings, Reid-Foley crashed Saturday against the Erie SeaWolves (Detroit Tigers), giving up seven hits and seven earned runs in just two innings. Reid-Foley still has the highest upside of any pitcher in the Jays’ upper minors stable, but 2017 has been too inconsistent to fully count on him factoring into the major-league mix next year.
6. SS Richard Urena
Affiliate: Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats
Age: 21 (2/26/1996)
Pre-season team prospect rankings: Baseball Prospectus (6); Baseball America (5); MLB Pipeline (4); FanGraphs (4)
Projected MLB ETA: 2019
Season stats: .247/.291/.365 with 5 HR, 53 RBI, 0 SB in 441 AB
He’s still spending the majority of his time at shortstop, but Urena has been flipped to second base about once a week to allow Gurriel Jr. to develop his up-the-middle versatility. Urena’s bat has come around a bit in August as he’s slashing .295/.311/.432 in 45 plate appearances over 11 games.
7. RHP Conner Greene
Affiliate: Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats
Age: 22 (4/4/1995)
Pre-season team prospect rankings: Baseball Prospectus (4); Baseball America (4); MLB Pipeline (6); FanGraphs (9)
Projected MLB ETA: 2019
Season stats: 4-9, 5.51 ERA, 1.71 WHIP, 82 Ks, 74 BB in 114.1 innings
Yikes. That’s the only way to describe Greene’s blowup against the SeaWolves Sunday when he allowed 12 hits, 10 earned runs, and issued five free passes in four innings of work. There’s no use in having a 100-mph fastball if you can’t harness it, and command continues to be Greene’s undoing.
8. 1B Rowdy Tellez
Affiliate: Triple-A Buffalo Bisons
Age: 22 (3/16/1995)
Pre-season team prospect rankings: Baseball Prospectus (8); Baseball America (6); MLB Pipeline (5); FanGraphs (8)
Projected MLB ETA: Late 2018
Season stats: .220/.291/.336 with 6 HR, 51 RBI, 4 SB in 381 AB
Tellez had his season-high 12-game hitting streak snapped Tuesday night, ending a run that saw him hit .391 with nine RBI and six walks. Despite the solid stretch, it’s concerning that Tellez, after hitting 23 homers last year, hasn’t gone deep since June 27, a span of 40 games and 172 plate appearances.
9. RHP T.J. Zeuch
Affiliate: High-A Dunedin Blue Jays
Age: 22 (8/1/1995)
Pre-season team prospect rankings: Baseball Prospectus (7); Baseball America (7); MLB Pipeline (7); FanGraphs (6)
Projected MLB ETA: 2019
Season stats: 3-4, 3.62 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 43 Ks, 16 BB in 54.2 innings at High-A
The 2016 first-round pick lost all of June and July to a back injury, but returned to High-A Dunedin on Saturday, only to give up four hits and seven runs — only three were earned — and land right back on the MiLB seven-day disabled list with an undisclosed problem. Zeuch was solid in the early going, but the injuries are going to make it tough to look at his 2017 season in a positive light.
10. C/1B Max Pentecost
Affiliate: High-A Dunedin Blue Jays
Age: 24 (3/10/1993)
Pre-season team prospect rankings: Baseball Prospectus (9); MLB Pipeline (12); FanGraphs (15)
Projected MLB ETA: Late 2018
Season stats: .276/.332/.434 with 9 HR, 54 RBI, 0 SB in 286 AB
Similar to Zeuch, a back injury sidelined Pentecost the month of June, but he slashed just .250/.291/.327 in 110 plate appearances across 25 games in his return. After struggling through a 2-for-20 stretch to begin the month of August, Pentecost landed on the DL once again with an undisclosed ailment and hasn’t played since Aug. 7.