Edwin Encarnacion’s Amazing Month Vs Troy Tulowitzki’s Amazing Season

For the most part this is a Toronto Blue Jays centric blog and a secondary focus is on the American League East.  I know the blog name is odd but I thought it would be a clever play on words.  We’ll call it a foul tip as opposed to full swing and miss.  But today I want to focus on a player who has received attention of course but nowhere near what is warranted.

Troy Tulowitzki is having one amazing start to a baseball season.

Our beloved “Edwing” Edwin Encarnacion has had a month of May that no Blue Jays fan will soon forget.  EE has slashed 284/350/789, 31 hits, 16 homeruns, 1.139 OPS and an incredible .479 wOBA.  He hit his 15th and 16th HR for the month, tying him with Mickey Mantle for the most HRs in one month.  In short he has been hotter than Rob Ford’s crack pipe.

Now prepared to be blown away.  Take a look at this comparison of Edwin’s white-hot May and Troy Tulowitzki’s total season numbers:

	PA	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	wOBA
E.Encarnacion (May-2014)	120	.284	.450	.789	1.139	.479
T.Tulowitzki (2014)	208	.369	.471	.702	1.174	.492

Now consider the fact Troy Tulowitzki is also playing well above average defense at shortstop and has been worth a league leading 4.1 fWAR already this year.  In roughly two months Troy Tulowitzki has already been exactly what Edwin Encarnacion was worth (4.1 fWAR) for ALL of 2013.

Troy Tulowitzki has produced more surplus value in 2014 than prominent Blue Jays Melky Cabrera (1.2 fWAR), Juan Francisco (1.1 fWAR), Jose Reyes (0.8 fWAR) and Brett Lawrie (0.6 fWAR) combined.  Yeah, he’s been pretty good so far and yeah the Toronto Blue Jays drafted Ricky Romero one spot ahead of him in the 2005 draft.

AL East Prospect Report – May 30, 2014

Hitters:

BAL AA Ohlman, Michael C 4 0 1 1 .212
BAL AA Walker, Christian 1B 3 0 2 1 .330
BAL HiA Davis, Glynn CF 4 0 1 2 .304 2B (14)
BAL LoA Mancini, Trey 1B 4 0 2 3 .314

BOS AA Coyle, Sean DH 4 0 1 1 .354 2B (7)
BOS AA Marrero, Deven SS 4 1 1 0 .256 SB (9)
BOS AA Swihart, Blake C 4 0 1 0 .299
BOS AAA Cecchini, Garin DH 4 0 1 3 .287 2B (7)
BOS AAA Vazquez, Christian C 4 0 1 0 .252
BOS LoA Margot, Manuel CF 4 1 2 0 .256 2 SB (16)
BOS MAJ Bogaerts, Xander SS 5 1 3 1 .296 2B (13)

NYY AA Austin, Tyler 3B-RF 4 2 1 0 .246 BB (15)
NYY AA O’Brien, Peter C 4 3 2 1 .260 BB (3)
NYY AA Refsnyder, Robert 2B 5 2 2 3 .302 2B (11), HR (5)
NYY HiA Cave, Jake CF 4 0 1 0 .318
NYY LoA Judge, Aaron RF 4 0 1 0 .308

TB AA Brett, Ryan 2B 5 1 1 2 .310 HR (4)
TB AAA Lee, Hak-Ju SS 4 0 1 0 .224 SB (6)
TB AAA Mahtook, Mikie CF 4 0 2 0 .335 2B (18)

TOR AAA Goins, Ryan 2B 4 1 1 0 .264
TOR AAA Jimenez, A.J. C 3 0 1 0 .273 BB (1)
TOR HiA Pompey, Dalton CF 4 1 1 0 .323 BB (25)
TOR HiA Smith, Dwight LF 5 2 2 0 .291
TOR LoA Davis, D.J. CF 4 0 1 0 .225 3B (3)
TOR LoA Lugo, Dawel SS 3 0 1 0 .286 BB (8)

Pitchers:

BAL AA Davies, Zach 3.1 4 3 3 2 7 3.92 L (1-2)
BAL AAA Jones, Chris 3 3 0 0 0 1 4.64
BAL AAA Stinson, Josh 4.1 8 4 4 2 6 5.23 L (0-3)

BOS AA Owens, Henry 7 3 0 0 2 5 2.52 W (6-3)
BOS LoA Ball, Trey 0.2 2 1 1 1 1 9.00

NYY AA Banuelos, Manny 2 0 0 0 1 1 4.63

TB AAA Karns, Nathan 6 2 0 0 3 5 4.45
TB AAA Riefenhauser, C.J. 1 1 1 1 3 0 1.76 L (1-1)
TB HiA Snell, Blake 4 6 5 2 1 3 4.50 L (0-1)

TOR AA Sanchez, Aaron 6 9 6 6 3 2 4.14 L (1-4)
TOR AAA Stilson, John 1.2 1 0 0 1 1 3.60

AL East Prospect Report – May 28, 2014

Hitters:

BAL HiA Davis, Glynn CF 5 1 1 0 .306 2B (12)
BAL HiA Marin, Adrian SS 4 0 2 2 .242 2 2B (8)
BAL LoA Mancini, Trey 1B 4 0 2 1 .311
BAL MAJ Schoop, Jonathan 2B 4 0 1 0 .229

BOS AAA Cecchini, Garin 3B 4 0 1 0 .288
BOS AAA Shaw, Travis 1B 4 1 1 0 .286
BOS AAA Vazquez, Christian C 3 1 1 0 .252 BB (11)
BOS LoA Margot, Manuel DH 3 0 1 0 .250
BOS MAJ Bogaerts, Xander SS 5 1 1 0 .277
BOS MAJ Bradley, Jackie CF 4 0 2 2 .201 SB (4)

NYY AA Austin, Tyler 1B 3 1 2 2 .250 HR (1), BB (14)
NYY AA Heathcott, Slade RF 4 1 1 0 .182
NYY AA Williams, Mason CF 3 1 1 0 .205 2B (8)
NYY AAA Flores, Ramon CF 6 1 1 0 .263 2B (15)
NYY HiA Cave, Jake CF 5 2 2 0 .324 BB (15)

TB AA Brett, Ryan 2B 2 1 1 1 .313 HR (3)
TB AA Shaffer, Richie 3B 2 0 1 0 .234 2B (10), BB (16)
TB AAA Mahtook, Mikie RF 4 0 2 0 .322

TOR AAA Wilson, Kenny CF 3 0 1 1 .333 BB (1), SB (1)
TOR HiA Pompey, Dalton CF 5 1 2 0 .328 CS (2)
TOR HiA Smith, Dwight LF 3 3 1 0 .290 2 BB (25)
TOR LoA Davis, D.J. CF 5 1 1 0 .228

Pitchers:

BAL AAA Gurka, Jason 2.2 4 3 2 0 1 6.75 L (0-1)
BAL AAA Wright, Mike 5.2 6 5 5 3 2 5.61 L (1-3)
BAL LoA Keller, Jon 2 1 0 0 1 2 1.93 Sv (2)

BOS AAA Barnes, Matt 4.1 6 7 6 2 6 5.35 L (1-3)
BOS LoA McGrath, Daniel 6 3 4 2 1 4 3.86 L (1-2)

TB AAA Romero, Enny 1.2 6 8 8 3 1 6.08 L (2-5)
TB HiA Ames, Jeff 5 7 2 2 3 0 6.29 L (1-6)

TOR HiA Norris, Daniel 5.1 4 0 0 1 8 0.72 W (4-0)
TOR LoA Tirado, Alberto 0.2 3 7 7 3 1 5.24

AL East Prospect Report – May 27, 2014

Hitters:

BAL AA Alvarez, Dariel CF 5 2 3 0 .342
BAL AA Ohlman, Michael C 3 2 2 2 .207 BB (20)
BAL AA Walker, Christian DH 4 2 2 4 .330 2 HR (14)
BAL HiA Davis, Glynn CF 5 1 2 0 .309 SB (10)
BAL HiA Marin, Adrian SS 3 0 2 3 .235 2 2B (6), BB (7)
BAL LoA Mancini, Trey 1B 3 1 1 0 .307
BAL LoA Sisco, Chance C 3 0 1 0 .278
BAL MAJ Schoop, Jonathan 2B 5 2 3 2 .228 2 HR (5)

BOS AA Betts, Mookie CF 4 0 1 0 .363 BB (32)
BOS AA Swihart, Blake DH 4 2 2 3 .291 HR (5)
BOS AAA Cecchini, Garin 3B 4 0 1 0 .289
BOS AAA Shaw, Travis 1B 3 0 1 0 .333
BOS AAA Vazquez, Christian C 3 1 1 0 .250
BOS LoA Lin, Tzu-Wei SS 4 1 2 0 .235 BB (26), SB (6)
BOS LoA Rijo, Wendell 2B 5 1 1 0 .259

NYY AA Austin, Tyler RF 4 0 1 2 .239 BB (13), CS (1)
NYY AA O’Brien, Peter PH-DH 2 1 1 2 .262 HR (8)
NYY AA Refsnyder, Robert 2B 4 2 2 1 .291 2B (10), BB (12)
NYY AA Sanchez, Gary C 6 1 4 2 .259 2B (10)
NYY AA Williams, Mason CF 4 2 1 1 .202 2 BB (26)
NYY AAA Flores, Ramon LF 6 4 3 2 .267 2 HR (5), BB (26)

TB AA Shaffer, Richie 3B 4 0 1 0 .236
TB AAA Lee, Hak-Ju SS 4 1 1 0 .225
TB AAA Mahtook, Mikie CF 4 0 2 0 .318 3B (5)
TB LoA Hernandez, Oscar DH 4 1 2 1 .263 BB (12)

TOR AA Burns, Andy 3B 4 1 1 1 .206 HR (3)
TOR AAA Jimenez, A.J. C 5 0 2 0 .400
TOR LoA Davis, D.J. CF 5 0 2 0 .229 CS (10)
TOR LoA Lugo, Dawel SS 4 1 2 0 .284
TOR LoA Nay, Mitch 3B 4 1 2 1 .268 3B (1)
TOR LoA Nessy, Santiago C 4 0 1 0 .277
TOR MAJ Pillar, Kevin RF 4 1 2 0 .333 2B (3)

Pitchers:

BAL AAA Yoon, Suk-Min 7 4 3 3 1 6 6.32
BAL LoA Brault, Steven 7 7 6 6 1 3 3.06 W (5-2)

BOS AAA Ranaudo, Anthony 6.2 4 0 0 4 4 2.90 W (5-3)
BOS LoA Stankiewicz, Teddy 4 5 2 2 4 2 4.20

NYY AAA Greene, Shane 5 9 6 6 2 2 5.65 W (2-2)
NYY LoA Clarkin, Ian 3 4 2 2 2 2 3.97 L (1-2)
NYY MAJ Betances, Dellin 2 0 0 0 0 2 1.48

TB AA Garvin, Grayson 2 1 0 0 0 2 2.38
TB AAA Riefenhauser, C.J. 1.1 2 1 1 0 0 1.26
TB LoA Stanek, Ryne 6 1 0 0 0 4 2.95 W (1-2)
TB MAJ Colome, Alex 4 3 2 2 3 0 4.50

TOR LoA DeJong, Chase 4.2 5 3 3 2 3 3.95 L (0-2)

AL East Prospect Report – May 26, 2014

The DAILY AL East prospect report…

Hitters:

BAL AA Alvarez, Dariel CF 4 1 2 0 .335 2B (16)
BAL HiA Davis, Glynn CF 4 0 1 0 .307 2B (11)
BAL LoA Mancini, Trey 1B 4 1 1 1 .308 2B (9)
BAL LoA Sisco, Chance DH 3 0 1 1 .265
BAL MAJ Schoop, Jonathan 2B 4 0 1 1 .215

BOS AA Betts, Mookie CF 3 0 1 0 .366 BB (31), SB (21)
BOS AA Coyle, Sean DH 4 0 2 0 .352
BOS AAA Butler, Dan C 4 2 2 1 .214 2 2B (8)
BOS AAA Cecchini, Garin 3B 5 0 1 1 .290
BOS LoA Margot, Manuel CF 3 1 1 0 .253 BB (16), SB (14)
BOS MAJ Bogaerts, Xander SS 4 0 2 2 .284 2B (11)

NYY AA O’Brien, Peter C 4 0 2 1 .254 2B (3)
NYY AAA Ford, Mike DH 5 4 4 5 .318 4 HR (8)
NYY AAA Flores, Ramon CF 4 0 1 0 .259
NYY HiA Bird, Greg 1B 4 0 2 1 .302 BB (12)
NYY HiA Cave, Jake CF 4 1 2 0 .322 BB (14)
NYY LoA Judge, Aaron RF 5 2 3 2 .327 HR (5)

TB AA Brett, Ryan 2B 4 0 1 0 .314
TB AA Hager, Jake SS 4 0 1 0 .301
TB AAA Casali, Curt C 3 0 1 0 .302 BB (7)
TB AAA Lee, Hak-Ju SS 4 0 2 0 .224 SB (5)
TB AAA Mahtook, Mikie CF 5 2 3 3 .313 2B (15), HR (2)
TB HiA O’Conner, Justin C 3 1 1 0 .265 2B (15), BB (7)

TOR AA Burns, Andy 3B 3 0 1 0 .205 2B (8), CS (5)
TOR AA Wilson, Kenny CF 3 0 1 1 .201 CS (5)
TOR AAA Goins, Ryan 2B 5 1 1 0 .287 2B (2)
TOR HiA Smith, Dwight CF 4 0 1 0 .290
TOR LoA Davis, D.J. CF 5 1 1 0 .224
TOR LoA Lugo, Dawel SS 4 0 1 0 .279
TOR LoA Nay, Mitch 3B 4 0 1 1 .263
TOR MAJ Pillar, Kevin CF 2 1 1 0 .304

Pitchers:

BAL AA Berry, Tim 5 7 6 5 2 3 4.15 L (3-2)
BAL AAA Gausman, Kevin 6.1 4 0 0 0 3 2.41 W (1-2)
BAL AAA Jones, Chris 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 5.10
BAL HiA Bridwell, Parker 5 5 1 1 3 5 5.13
BAL HiA Givens, Mychal 2 1 0 0 0 1 3.86
BAL LoA Harvey, Hunter 4 3 1 1 1 7 1.89

BOS AA Johnson, Brian 7 4 1 1 1 2 1.84 L (3-1)
BOS AAA Britton, Drake 1.2 2 1 1 2 0 4.13
BOS AAA Webster, Allen 5 8 6 5 2 4 3.02
BOS HiA Kukuk, Cody 4.2 9 7 6 2 6 4.43 L (1-3)
BOS LoA Callahan, Jamie 5 8 6 3 1 5 6.64 L (2-4)
BOS MAJ Wilson, Alex 1 0 0 0 1 0 0.00
BOS MAJ Workman, Brandon 5 5 3 3 3 3 3.18

NYY AA Mitchell, Bryan 3 5 4 4 0 0 4.23 L (1-3)
NYY HiA De Paula, Rafael 2 8 7 6 0 2 4.04 L (1-2)
NYY LoA Severino, Luis 3.1 8 7 7 1 4 3.05
NYY MAJ Tanaka, Masahiro 6.2 5 1 1 2 6 2.29 W (7-1)

TB MAJ Odorizzi, Jake 6 4 1 1 1 5 4.56

TOR AAA Stilson, John 2 1 0 0 1 3 3.27
TOR AAA Stroman, Marcus 4 5 4 4 1 4 3.03 L (2-4)

AL East Prospect Report – May 25, 2014

Hitters:

BAL AA Ohlman, Michael C 4 0 1 2 .197 3B (1)
BAL AA Walker, Christian 1B 3 1 1 2 .332 HR (12), BB (18)
BAL HiA Davis, Glynn CF 4 0 1 2 .308 3B (4), BB (18)
BAL HiA Marin, Adrian SS 4 1 2 0 .231 2B (4)
BAL LoA Hart, Josh CF 5 1 2 1 .281
BAL LoA Mancini, Trey 1B 5 0 2 1 .309
BAL LoA Sisco, Chance C 4 1 1 1 .263 HR (2), BB (7)
BAL MAJ Schoop, Jonathan 2B-3B 4 0 1 0 .214

BOS AA Betts, Mookie CF 3 2 2 1 .366 2B (17), 3 BB (30), SB (20)
BOS AA Coyle, Sean DH 5 3 3 3 .343 2B (5), HR (3), SB (7)
BOS AA Marrero, Deven SS 3 1 1 2 .279 3 BB (20)
BOS AA Shaw, Travis 3B 5 2 2 2 .312 HR (11), BB (29)
BOS AA Swihart, Blake C 4 2 1 1 .285 2 BB (8)
BOS AAA Cecchini, Garin 3B 4 0 1 0 .293
BOS LoA Margot, Manuel CF 3 0 2 0 .252 SB (13)
BOS MAJ Bogaerts, Xander SS 5 1 2 0 .279

NYY AA Refsnyder, Robert 2B 4 2 2 0 .292 3B (4)
NYY AA Sanchez, Gary C 4 1 1 0 .244 2B (9)
NYY HiA Bird, Greg 1B 3 0 1 0 .288
NYY HiA Cave, Jake CF 3 0 1 0 .318 2B (11)
NYY LoA Andujar, Miguel 3B 4 1 2 0 .235
NYY LoA Judge, Aaron DH 4 1 2 2 .319 HR (4)
NYY MAJ Murphy, J.R. C 3 0 1 0 .378

TB AA Brett, Ryan 2B 4 0 1 0 .316
TB AA Shaffer, Richie DH 3 0 1 0 .242 BB (15), SB (1)
TB AAA Mahtook, Mikie CF 1 0 1 0 .304 2B (14), SB (8)
TB HiA Toles, Andrew CF 4 1 1 1 .263 HR (1)

TOR AA Jimenez, A.J. C 4 0 1 0 .223 2B (8)
TOR HiA Pompey, Dalton CF 4 0 1 1 .326 SB (19)
TOR HiA Smith, Dwight LF 3 1 1 1 .291 2B (11), BB (23)
TOR LoA Lugo, Dawel SS 5 1 4 0 .280 3B (1)
TOR LoA Nay, Mitch 3B 4 0 1 1 .264 BB (18)

Pitchers:

BAL AA Gurka, Jason 3 2 2 0 1 5 3.03
BAL AAA Stinson, Josh 4 3 3 3 4 4 4.41 L (0-2)

BOS AA Owens, Henry 7 4 0 0 1 6 2.83 W (5-3)
BOS LoA Ball, Trey 5 5 3 3 2 4 8.84 L (1-4)

NYY AAA Ramirez, Jose 1 2 0 0 1 1 1.59 Sv (1)
NYY MAJ Betances, Dellin 1 0 0 0 0 2 1.59 W (3-0)
NYY MAJ Nuno, Vidal 7 9 3 3 1 5 5.49

TB AAA Karns, Nathan 6.1 3 2 2 2 7 4.96 W (3-2)
TB AAA Riefenhauser, C.J. 1.2 1 0 0 0 3 0.69

TOR AA Sanchez, Aaron 0 0 6 3 4 0 3.54 L (1-3)

Jeff Samardzija Would Help Blue Jays, But Deal Cannot Include Drew Hutchison

With the Toronto Blue Jays playing some of their best baseball in years and currently leading the wide open AL East division speculation will once again heat up that the Jays are seeking help for their starting rotation.  The current rotation features RA Dickey, Mark Buehrle, Drew Hutchison, JA Happ and the recently called up Liam Hendricks who has taken the place of Dustin McGowan.

Dickey, Buehrle and Hutch have all performed admirably and perhaps above expectations thus far this season.  Happ has been strong recently but it is hard to envision and contending team showing complete faith in him given the rather weak track record in terms of major league success.  Hendricks was only recently called up and the fifth starter spot has been a sore spot all season.

This leads me to the point of this piece.  The Blue Jays will be looking for external help and all indications are they have at the very least kicked tires on acquiring Jeff Samardzija from the Chicago Cubs.  The man they call ‘Shark’ is having a career season in terms of ERA (1.46), WHIP (1.09) and ground ball rate (51.6%).

Samardzija, currently 29 years old is a very solid starting pitcher but if the rumored price of at least two of Drew Hutchison, Aaron Sanchez and Marcus Stroman I think Alex Anthopoulos should tread carefully.  First off trading one of our best current starting pitchers just to add another makes zero sense and perhaps the Cubs are trying to set an early high price to see if a team blinks first.

Second this would be buying a pitcher at likely the peak of his value.  Thru 68 innings in 2014 Shark has seen his K-rate dip to a career low 7.15 K/9 and his BABIP is at a career low .264 (career .294 mark) which has certainly helped his overall stat line.  His current HR/FB rate is 3.9% – which is not sustainable compared to his 10.5% career rate.  His strand rate is also at a career high 82% compared to his career rate of 72%.

This has all added up to a career best ERA and WHIP.  Now he has taken a bit of a different approach this season as witness by his pitch selection.  In 2013 he utilized his four-seam (straight) fastball 25.1% while in 2014 that has dropped to 17.1%.  This season he has tried to use his two-seam (sinking) fastball much more (39.6%) more than last year (27.7%).  This has helped lead to a higher overall groundball rate but overall he has not missed as many bats at in years past.

His current swinging strike rate is 8.2% (10.1% for his career) as batters are making higher overall contact.  Yes some of that is likely by design but it is never a good thing for a pitcher to suddenly start missing less bats.  According to Pitch FX data his fastball has seen about a one mile per hour dip – nothing huge but at age 29 his velocity will continue to decline going forward.

Finally bring any pitcher into the AL East and there is bound to be a bit of a learning curve.  Yes it is not the division it once was but that is more due to the injury prone starting rotations and not the overall level of offense.  There is no guarantee Samardzija comes over to the AL East and the Rogers Centre and pitches like an ace – which is the type of production needed to justify the current asking price.

I hope the price comes down but with so many teams still gunning for the playoffs that seems doubtful.  Shark would be a great addition to our rotation and could go a long way to solidifying our starting rotation but that addition cannot come at any cost.  If the price for Jeff Samardzija (3.46 xFIP, 1.5 WAR in 68 IPs) begins with Drew Hutchison (3.56 xFIP, 1.5 WAR in 60 IPs) the price is already much too steep and the answer must be no.

AL East Prospect Report – May 21, 2014

Hitters:

BAL AA Alvarez, Dariel CF 5 1 1 1 .345 HR (8)
BAL AA Walker, Christian 1B 4 1 2 4 .324 2B (7), HR (10), BB (15)
BAL LoA Hart, Josh CF 4 1 1 0 .287
BAL LoA Sisco, Chance DH 4 0 1 0 .270
BAL MAJ Schoop, Jonathan 2B 4 0 1 0 .222

BOS AA Shaw, Travis 1B 4 0 1 0 .299
BOS AA Swihart, Blake C 4 1 2 1 .289 HR (4)
BOS AAA Butler, Dan C 3 0 1 0 .200 BB (13)
BOS LoA Lin, Tzu-Wei DH-SS 5 1 2 3 .241 2B (11), BB (22)
BOS MAJ Bogaerts, Xander SS 3 0 1 0 .270 BB (20)
BOS MAJ Bradley, Jackie CF 4 1 1 1 .206 2B (11)

NYY AA Austin, Tyler 1B 3 1 1 1 .258 2B (4), BB (12)
NYY AA Heathcott, Slade RF 4 2 1 0 .167
NYY AA O’Brien, Peter DH 4 2 2 1 .310 HR (7)
NYY AA Refsnyder, Robert 2B 4 0 2 3 .284 2B (8)
NYY AAA Flores, Ramon RF 4 0 1 1 .255 BB (25)
NYY HiA Bird, Greg 1B 3 1 1 0 .302 BB (8)
NYY HiA Cave, Jake CF 4 1 1 0 .319
NYY HiA Gumbs, Angelo 2B 4 0 2 0 .244 3B (2)
NYY HiA Jagielo, Eric 3B 2 1 2 3 .256 2B (8), HR (10)
NYY LoA Andujar, Miguel 3B 4 0 1 1 .228
NYY LoA Judge, Aaron RF 4 0 2 0 .306

TB AAA Lee, Hak-Ju SS 4 2 2 2 .206 HR (1)
TB AAA Mahtook, Mikie CF 5 0 1 1 .303
TB HiA Goeddel, Tyler 3B 5 1 2 3 .292 2B (9), SB (11)
TB HiA O’Conner, Justin DH 5 0 1 0 .265
TB HiA Toles, Andrew CF 3 1 1 1 .264 BB (11)
TB MAJ Kiermaier, Kevin PH-CF 1 0 1 0 .250

TOR AA Burns, Andy 3B 3 0 2 0 .215 2B (7), BB (17)
TOR AA Jimenez, A.J. C 6 0 1 0 .247
TOR AA Wilson, Kenny CF 4 0 1 0 .209
TOR HiA Pompey, Dalton CF 4 1 1 1 .318 HR (4)
TOR LoA Lugo, Dawel SS 4 2 3 0 .264
TOR LoA Nay, Mitch 3B 3 1 1 1 .279 BB (17)

Pitchers:

BAL AA Drake, Oliver 0.1 4 5 5 1 0 4.50
BAL AA Gurka, Jason 5 6 0 0 1 3 3.31
BAL AAA Gausman, Kevin 5 6 4 4 1 6 2.90 L (0-2)
BAL HiA Bridwell, Parker 6 6 3 3 2 8 5.47 L (1-6)

BOS AA Johnson, Brian 6 4 1 1 1 6 2.01 W (3-0)
BOS AAA Ranaudo, Anthony 5.2 4 1 1 4 7 3.27 L (4-3)
BOS AAA Wilson, Alex 2 1 0 0 1 1 1.42
BOS HiA Kukuk, Cody 6 5 2 1 1 5 2.55 L (1-2)
BOS LoA McGrath, Daniel 6 1 1 1 0 5 4.50 W (1-1)

NYY AA Mitchell, Bryan 3 3 0 0 0 5 3.28
NYY AAA Greene, Shane 6 4 0 0 2 5 4.56 W (1-2)
NYY AAA Ramirez, Jose 1.1 2 0 0 2 1 1.93
NYY HiA De Paula, Rafael 5 5 3 1 1 6 2.90
NYY MAJ Tanaka, Masahiro 6 8 4 3 1 7 2.39 L (6-1)

TB LoA Stanek, Ryne 5.1 9 6 6 1 4 4.11 L (0-2)
TB MAJ Odorizzi, Jake 4.2 4 3 3 5 8 4.98 L (2-4)

TOR AAA Stroman, Marcus 5 5 3 3 1 5 2.27 L (2-3)
TOR LoA DeJong, Chase 5 6 2 2 0 3 3.72

Marcus Stroman Gets the Call – To Bullpen?

As per MLBTR:

The Blue Jays will call up right-handed pitching prospect Marcus Stroman, the team told reporters (including Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca) after tonight’s loss to the Pirates.  Stroman will pitch out of the bullpen for the Jays, at least at first, though he has pitched exclusively as a starter for the last two minor league seasons and there had been rumors that he was on pace to join the rotation.  A corresponding move will come tomorrow, as Stroman isn’t on Toronto’s 40-man roster.

Stroman, who just turned 23 years old on Thursday, was taken by the Jays with the 22nd overall pick of the 2012 amateur draft.  He began his pro career in ignominious fashion by serving a 50-game suspension for a PED violation, but returned to post a 3.30 ERA, 10.4 K/9 and 4.78 K/BB rate over 20 Double-A starts in 2013 and has been even better in five Triple-A starts this season — a 1.69 ERA, 12.2 K/9 and 5.14 K/BB rate over 26 2/3 IP.

QUICK TAKE: I am not surprised that Stroman gets the nod as the next pitcher heading to the big leagues but I guess I am a bit perplexed as to why he won’t be in the rotation.  I would much rather see Dustin McGowan head back to the pen where he is probably going to end up anyway and just add JA Happ and Marcus Stroman to the rotation.

There are pitchers who have begun as relievers in the big leagues and still transitioned to the rotation successfully but given the Blue Jays track record of struggling to develop solid starting pitchers I wouldn’t take that chance with one of our best prospects at this juncture in his career.

Does the bullpen need help?  Absolutely.  But I just don’t think this is the smartest move for the franchise.

Has Kevin Seitzer Improved Blue Jays Plate Discipline?

Well after another blown save and lackluster bullpen performance by the Toronto Blue Jays there record fell to 13-16 and are now three full games behind the first place Baltimore Orioles.  During the JP Ricciardi era it seemed that one year the Blue Jays bats would be unstoppable but the pitching didn’t keep up, or vice versa.

Perhaps a team on a shoestring budget (at that point) just has to put up with such things.  Last year it felt like we had wasted one of the best bullpens the team has ever had as the offense and starting pitching was just ok.  This season I wanted to have a look at the offense.  I hadn’t actually looked until writing this piece today but it felt like the Blue Jays under Kevin Seitzer had become a more patient team at the plate.

Let’s take a look shall we?

On the season the Blue Jays have scored an impressive 134 runs – ranking 7^th in all of baseball.  They have hit 35 homeruns (4^th) and .330 wOBA (6^th).  As a team the Blue Jays swung at 45.4% of all pitches thrown and so far this year only 43.1% (the fourth lowest in the majors FYI).

Let’s take a look at individual batter numbers:

Swing%	2013	2014	Diff
Jose Reyes	43.8%	47.4%	3.6
Melky Cabrera	47.6%	45.0%	2.6
Jose Bautista	39.2%	34.0%	-5.2
Edwin Encarnacion	41.9%	43.5%	1.6
Dioner Navarro	46.3%	43.5%	-2.8
Adam Lind	41.7%	34.6%	-7.1
Colby Rasmus	45.0%	48.2%	3.2
Brett Lawrie	47.5%	51.5%	4.0
Ryan Goins	43.8%	41.1%	-2.7

Sort of a mixed bag when looking player by player and you can plainly see that a majority of the overall lower swing rate comes from Jose Bautista and Adam Lind.  Saying that those are three of the more important cogs in the lineup and of course they will make up a good deal of overall plate appearances.

The Blue Jays have a few free swingers that aren’t likely to start changing now.  Brett Lawrie swinging as often as Melky Cabrera given the differences in contact skills might explain some of his early season batting average struggles.

While not conclusive down the entire lineup card as a team the Blue Jays are trying to work the count a little deeper and have swung at less pitches overall.  Ranking 4^th overall in swing percentage is a good thing.  Ranking 1-3 are the Twins, Rays and Red Sox and all three are in the top ten in runs scored early on in 2014.

Getting the starting pitcher out of the game and facing pitchers like Todd Redmond in key run scoring opportunities can only help the team in the long run.  I hope this new approach continues as it makes the Blue Jays a tougher team to play against.