Coming into the 2007 season, the Blue Jays top 10 prospects (according to Baseball America) were as follows:
1. LF Adam Lind
2. RF Travis Snider
3. LHP Ricky Romero
4. CF Ryan Patterson
5. C Curtis Thigpen
6. RHP Francisco Rosario
7. RHP Brandon Magee
8. RHP Jesse Litsch
9. LHP David Purcey
10. 3B/SS Balbino Fuenmayor
Here's how all of them did in the 2007 season:
LF Adam Lind:
Syracuse (AAA): 174 AB, .299/.353/.471 (.824 OPS), 8 doubles, 6 HR, 28 RBI
Toronto (MLB): 239 AB, .230/.274/.389 (.663 OPS), 12 doubles, 9 HR, 33 RBI
RF Travis Snider:
Lansing (A): 457 AB, .313/.377/.525 (.902 OPS), 35 doubles, 7 triples, 16 HR, 93 RBI
LHP Ricky Romero:
Dunedin (A): 1 start, 0-0, 3.86 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 2.00 K/BB, .250 opp. avg
New Hampshire (AA): 18 starts, 3-6, 4.89 ERA, 1.69 WHIP, 1.57 K/BB, .279 opp. avg
CF Ryan Patterson:
Dunedin (A): 21 AB, .190/.261/.286 (.547 OPS), 2 doubles, 0 HR, 1 RBI
New Hampshire (AA): 446 AB, .267/.302/.448 (.750 OPS), 27 doubles, 18 HR, 68 RBI
C Curtis Thigpen:
Syracuse (AAA): 179 AB, .285/.348/.391 (.739 OPS), 10 doubles, 3 HR, 20 RBI
Toronto (MLB): 71 AB, .211/.273/.239 (.512 OPS), 2 doubles, 0 HR, 5 RBI
RHP Francisco Rosario:
Traded to Phillies
RHP Brandon Magee:
Dunedin (A): 27 starts, 9-8, 3.91 ERA, 1.37 WHIP, 1.41 K/BB, .267 opp. avg
RHP Jesse Litsch:
New Hampshire (AA): 10 starts, 7-2, 2.35 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, 3.29 K/BB, .219 opp. avg
Syracuse (AAA): 2 starts, 1-0, 1.80 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 3.33 K/BB, .226 opp. avg
Toronto (MLB): 17 starts, 5-9, 4.37 ERA, 1.47 WHIP, 1.92 K/BB, .293 opp. avg
LHP David Purcey:
New Hampshire (AA): 11 starts, 3-5, 5.37 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 3.44 K/BB, .277 opp. avg
3B/SS Balbino Fuenmayor:
Gulf Coast ®: 178 AB, .174/.244/.242, 5 doubles, 1 HR, 12 RBI
Basically, everyone except Snider, Litsch, and to some extent Lind/Thigpen were huge disappointments this year. That being said, let's look at our top draft picks from the 2007 draft and see how they did in their short season:
SS Kevin Ahrens (1st round)
C Jonathan Arencibia (1st round)
LHP Brett Cecil (compensation round)
SS Justin Jackson (compensation round)
RHP Trystan Magnuson (compensation round)
2B John Tolisano (2nd round)
CF Eric Eiland (2nd round)
RHP Alan Farina (3rd round)
SS Kevin Ahrens:
Gulf Coast ®: 165 AB, .230/.339/.321 (.660 OPS), 6 doubles, 3 HR, 21 RBI
C Jonathan Arencibia:
Auburn (A): 228 AB, .254/.309/.377 (.686 OPS), 17 doubles, 3 HR, 25 RBI
LHP Brett Cecil:
Auburn (A): 13 starts, 1-0, 1.27 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 5.09 K/BB, .197 opp. avg
SS Justin Jackson:
Gulf Coast ®: 166 AB, .187/.274/.241 (.515 OPS), 1 doubles, 1 triple, 2 HR, 13 RBI, 7 SB
RHP Trystan Magnuson:
Signed, but did not play
2B John Tolisano:
Gulf Coast ®: 183 AB, .246/.336/.437 (.774 OPS), 5 doubles, 10 HR, 33 RBI, 7 SB
CF Eric Eiland:
Gulf Coast ®: 176 AB, .216/.315/.284 (.599 OPS), 7 doubles, 1 triple, 1 HR, 14 RBI, 16 SB
RHP Alan Farina:
Auburn (A): 6 games, 0-2, 4.91 ERA, 1.82 WHIP, 1.40 K/BB, .233 opp. avg
The only real stand out from our first 3 rounds was Brett Cecil who absolutely dominated low-A ball. While the hitters have some pretty ugly numbers, I can take some optimism out of it. While for the most part they had very low batting averages, they all showed great plate discipline, with most of their OBP-BA falling around .090. Hopefully some of these guys can make positive steps forward over the offseason and put up better numbers in 2008.
Other guys who aren't in our "Top 10" but did well in 2007:
C Robinson Diaz:
New Hampshire (AA): 301 AB, .316/.344/.409 (.752 OPS), 17 doubles, 3 HR, 30 RBI, 5 SB
Syracuse (AAA): 65 AB, .338/.358/.431 (.789 OPS), 3 doubles, 1 HR, 10 RBI
OF Wayne Lydon:
New Hampshire (AA): 31 AB, .323/.400/.548 (.948 OPS), 1 doubles, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 3 SB
Syracuse (AAA): 493 AB, .254/.322/.347 (.669 OPS), 21 doubles, 5 triples, 5 HR, 39 RBI, 26 SB
OF Aaron Matthews:
New Hampshire (AA): 471 AB, .293/.334/.433 (.767 OPS), 34 doubles, 4 triples, 8 HR, 48 RBI, 5 SB
OF David Smith:
New Hampshire (AA): 463 AB, .276/.359/.512 (.871 OPS), 35 doubles, 24 HR, 70 RBI
SS Sergio Santos:
New Hampshire (AA): 432 AB, .250/.325/.477 (.802 OPS), 34 doubles, 20 HR, 62 RBI
Syracuse (AAA): 47 AB, .191/.204/.234 (.438 OPS), 2 doubles, 0 HR, 4 RBI
1B Josh Kreuzer:
Dunedin (A): 404 AB, .309/.431/.542 (.973 OPS), 34 doubles, 20 HR, 71 RBI
OF Jacob Butler:
Dunedin (A): 428 AB, .273/.368/.498 (.866 OPS), 27 doubles, 23 HR, 85 RBI
C Jonathan Jaspe:
Lansing (A): 317 AB, .281/.368/.388 (.756 OPS), 23 doubles, 3 HR, 52 RBI
2B Scott Campbell:
Lansing (A): 390 AB, .279/.390/.397 (.787 OPS), 17 doubles, 4 triples, 7 HR, 43 RBI
LHP Bradley Mills:
Auburn (A): 6 games, 2-0, 2.00 ERA, 0.83 WHIP, 3.50 K/BB, .143 opp. avg
LHP Marc Rzepczynski:
Auburn (A): 7 starts, 5-0, 2.76 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 2.88 K/BB, .201 opp. avg
OF Yohermyn Chavez:
Gulf Coast ®: 176 AB, .301/.389/.494 (.883 OPS), 12 doubles, 2 triples, 6 HR, 21 RBI, 7 SB
Overall, there isn't a whole lot in our minor league system when it comes to impact players. The few that are there (Snider, Cecil, Chavez, Ahrens) are all in the low minors and atleast 2 years away from the majors. Basically, AAA and AA are a joke.