Blue Jays Minor League Report: Cristian Feliz hits two home runs, Dasan Brown is heating up, and more!

1 year ago

The Blue Jays were so close to their third organization sweep.

Still, winning five of six minor league games ain’t bad, especially since the big league Jays beat the Texass Rangers 2-1.

Let’s dive into it.

Triple-A:

The Buffalo Bisons were the only team in the Blue Jays organization to suffer a defeat, as they fell 6-0 the Syracuse Mets after just five innings. This brings their record to 30-37.

The Blue Jays Nation Player of the Game: Rafael Lantigua

There weren’t a lot of positives in this game, but the 25-year-old utility player went 1-1 with a walk. He also stole a base, his 11th, and is now 11/15 this season in stolen base attempts.

On the season, he’s slashing .295/.440/.456 with four homers in 248 plate appearances. He also has more walks (50) than strikeouts (41).

Lantigua is quickly putting himself on the map to get promoted to the big leagues.

Players worth mentioning:

Cam Eden was the only other player who had a hit in this game. Like Lantigua, he also stole a base which was his 28th of the season. The 25-year-old is now slashing .240/.357324 with two homers in 215 plate appearances. He’s also 28/29 in stolen base attempts.

Double-A:

The New Hampshire Fisher Cats defeated the Akron RubberDucks by the score of 2-0. This brings their record to 32-28, and they now sit five games behind the Somerset Patriots for the first half title.

It’s becoming increasingly unlikely that they make up the five games in the eight left remaining, but they aren’t out of it. Moreover, they’ll face the Patriots all next week, so a sweep would do wonders, but they’d still need to catch the Portland Sea Dogs.

The Blue Jays Nation Player of the Game: Riley Tirotta

The 24-year-old reached base in all four plate appearances, hitting a single, drawing two walks, and getting hit by the pitch.

With the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, the first baseman/third baseman/outfielder is slashing .283/.404/.500 in 57 plate appearances.

Good stuff from the 12th round pick in 2021.

Players worth mentioning:

Leo Jimenez hit another double on Friday evening and went 1-4 with an RBI. He’s slashing .293/.352/.435 wiith four homers in 162 plate appearances with New Hampshire. He looks good this season.

Jimmy Robbins pitched a great game Friday, finishing with a line of 5 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 4 BB, 8 K. The command was a little off, but he had no issues getting out of trouble and had one of his best games of the season. Hopefully this will continue.

Orelvis Martinez went 1-2 with a sac fly and a single. He also struck out once, but he’s now slashing .215/.311/.513 with 16 homers in 223 plate appearances. Friday’s hit went to the opposite field, another encouraging sign.

High-A:

Another day, another walk-off win for the Vancouver Canadians, as they beat the Hillsboro Hops 3-2. With this win, they remain in sole possession of first place in the Northwest League with a record of 34-26.

The Blue Jays Nation Player of the Game: Dasan Brown

The 21-year-old Oakville native is heating up. He went 2 for 3 with a walk on Friday afternoon, hitting his third home run of the season, as well as a single.

He’s now slashing .219/.286/.295, and is slowly but surely raising his numbers as the season moves along.

Brown has also stolen 17 bases in 19 attempts while excelling defensively in centre field.

Players worth mentioning:

Garrett Spain walked off the Hillsboro Hops for the second time this week. This one was a little less anti-climatic, as he was walked with the bases loaded. Still, he was patient at the plate and drew what was his second walk of the game.

Dahian Santos’ slider is absolutely disgusting The 20-year-old righty finished with a line of 4 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K. He wasn’t exactly economical with his pitches, but he’s young and the stuff is disgusting. Keep an eye on him as the season moves along.

Alex De Jesus continues to rack up extra base hits, as he went 1-4 with a double in Friday’s game. He was intentionally walked to face Garrett Spain, and he struck out twice. He really looks like he’s adjusted to the new organization.

Single-A:

The Dunedin Blue Jays smashed the Lakeland Tigers 13-2, bringing their record to 31-30.

Like with any blow out, here are a few honourable mentions. Jaden Rudd went 2-4 with a walk and an RBI. Kendry Rojas finished with a line of 5 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K. Lazaro Estrada finished with a line 3 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K.

The Blue Jays Nation Player of the Game: Jeffrey Wehler

The 24-year-old second baseman recently signed with the Blue Jays from the Staten Island Ferry Hawks, and has slashed .444/.615/.444 early in his affiliate career.

On Friday evening, he went 2 for 3 with 3 RBIs and two walks. In the Atlantic League, he slashed .282/.318/.427 with three homers in 132 plate appearance.

We’ll see if he gets an opportunity with the Vancouver Canadians around the all-star break, as he’s 2.8 years older than the average position player.

Players worth mentioning:

Jean Arnaez went 2 for 5 Friday with an RBI. Despite Dunedin’s 13 hits, Arnaez was the only batter with an extra base hit. He’s slashing .271/.302/.313 in 53 plate appearances with the Dunedin Blue Jays this season.

Glenn Santiago also had a good game Friday, going 2-3 with two walks and a RBI. He also scored three runs, a game-high. The 22-year-old is slashing .233/.345/.329 for the season, and could be on his way to Vancouver sooner than later.

Tucker Toman had a mixed game on Friday. He had a game high three hits in six plate appearances, but he also struck out the other three times. The 19-year-old also had three RBIs, tied with Wehler for most on the night.

Florida Complex League:

There’s beating a team, and then there’s whatever the FCL Jays did to the FCL Tigers on Friday afternoon. They beat the crap out of them 19-3, bringing their record to 3-6.

With so many hits, not everyone will have their own section. Honourable mentions to Abiezel Ramirez (3-5, one walk, one homer), Kendry Chirinos (1-4, two walks, one homer), and Yeuni Munoz (2-5, one walk, a double).

The Blue Jays Nation Player of the Game: Cristian Feliz

Rookie ball is nine games deep, but Cristian Feliz has been incredibly impressive so far.

On Friday, he hit two home runs, brining his season total to four in just 30 plate appearance. That matches his career-high, as he also hit four homers in 2021 in 178 plate appearances, and four in 2022 in 141 plate appearances. He’s also slashing .370/.433/.889 with six strikeouts and no walks.

It appears he’s filled in his 6’4” frame, so keep an eye on him!

Players worth mentioning:

Sammy Hernandez had a rough first game in the FCL on Tuesday, going 0-6 with five strikeouts. He flipped the script on Friday, finishing the game 5 for 6, with two doubles, a triple, and two singles. He also drove in three runs, and touched home plate three times. It was a great game for the 19-year-old catcher.

Yhoangel Aponte hit two doubles on Friday, going 3-6 with an RBI and a strikeout. He’s now batting .281/.378/.438 with a homer in 37 plate appearances with the FCL Jays.

Fernando Perez had a great game on Friday, finishing with a line of 5 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7, bringing his season ERA to just 1. Last season in the Dominican Summer League, he had a 4.53 ERA and a 3.42 FIP in 43.2 innings pitched. More impressive was his incredibly low 2.6%.

Dominican Summer League:

The DSL Blue Jays beat the the DSL Orioles Black 2-0, brining their season record to 4-5.

The Blue Jays Nation Player of the Game: Eminen Flores

I’m not afraid, to make a corny joke, everybody, please don’t stop reading.

The 20-year-old right-handed pitcher who signed in the 2022 international free agency period had a great game, finishing with a line of 6 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K.

Flores’ ERA now sits at 1.80 in 10 innings pitched, and he has a 25.6 K% and a 2.6 BB%.

Players worth mentioning:

Daniel Pérez seems to make these reports often, which makes sense as he’s a 21-year-old in the DSL. On Friday afternoon, he went 2-3 with two doubles and a walk. He has a 22.7 BB% on the season, and should be in the FCL in no time.

Enmanuel Bonilla registered his second extra base hit of his professional career, this time a triple. He finished the game 1-4 and is now slashing .167/.342/.267. He has hits in five of his last six games as well.

Juanmi Vasquez still hasn’t given up an earned run as a professional. The 19-year-old finished with a line of 2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K. He has a 50 K% and hasn’t walked a batter all season. Good stuff.

Setting up for Sunday’s Minor League Report:

There are six games on tap for Saturday.

Buffalo’s game starts at 6:05 PM EST, and Zach Thompson is the expected starter. I know I said that in yesterday’s report, but Luis Quiñones was called up and pushed Thompson back a game.

New Hampshire’s game starts at 7:05 PM EST, and the ever-steady Adam Kloffenstein is on the mound for the Water Kitties.

For the Vancouver Canadians, Devereaux Harrison toes the rubber at 4:05 PM EST. Last time out, he threw six no-hit innings for a 7-inning, combined no-hitter.

If we’re tracking Dunedin’s rotation, Eliander Alcade is the starter that should be up next, but you never know with rehab games. Dunedin plays at 6:30 PM EST.

I was right with the starters for the rookie league teams in yesterday’s report, but I have absolutely no idea who will start in the early games. The FCL Jays get underway at 10:00 AM EST, while the DSL Jays start an hour later.

As always, you can follow me on Twitter and Instagram @Brennan_L_D.