Minor League Report: After a tough schedule last week, the four Blue Jays affiliates will have an easier week
9 hours ago
Another week, a new set of series for the Blue Jays affiliates.
Unlike this past week, all four affiliates will have a fairly easy week, with three of the four teams facing off against teams with a sub .500 record. The first team we’ll look at, the Buffalo Bisons, are playing a team with a .500 record.
Let’s set up this week’s slate of games.
Buffalo in Indianapolis
The 16-10 Buffalo Bisons will head to Indianapolis to face off against Piitsburgh’s Triple-A affiliate team. Alek Manoah will make his fourth rehab appearance, and will be followed by Paolo Espino on Wednesday, Chad Dallas on Thursday, and Andrew Bash on Friday, with Saturday and Sunday’s starters yet to be determined.
Despite losing Addison Barger to the big league club, the Bisons are still stacked to the brim with talented hitters. Spencer Horwitz is doing what he’s done throughout his minor league career and is slashing .341/.495/.476 with a 166 wRC+ in 107 plate appearances. Will Robertson has broken out into an outfielder worth monitoring, and he’s slashing .259/.420/.630 with five home runs for a 165 wRC+.
Of course, there’s also Orelvis Martinez, who’s slashing .300/.364/.622 with an organization leading seven homers in 99 plate appearances for a 147 wRC+. Steward Berroa has been great this season in a small sample size, as he’s slashing .278/.458/.361 with a home run and a 134 wRC+.
This doesn’t even mention guys like Damiano Palemgiani or Nathan Lukes, who have had slow starts to their seasons, but can turn it up at any time.
New Hampshire in Somerset
After a great start, it’s been a rough few weeks for the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, who have a 9-12 record this season. The team now sits tied for the bottom of the league, alongside the Somerset Patriots, the team they’ll be playing this week.
The starter for Tuesday’s game will be Michael Dominguez, with Deveraux Harrison on Wednesday, Adam Macko on Thursday, CJ Van Eyk or Trent Palmer on Friday, and Trenton Wallace on Saturday.
Like Buffalo, the bats in New Hampshire have been excellent. Of any batters with 20 or more plate appearances, only four of them have a wRC+ below 100: Garrett Spain (95 wRC+), Rainer Nuñez and Alex De Jesus (55 wRC+), and Miguel Hiradlo (47 wRC+).
Alan Roden leads the team, slashing .290/.388/.464 with a 144 wRC+, followed by fellow 2022 draftee Josh Kasevich, who is slashing a fantastic .342/.398/.447 with a home run and a 143 wRC+. Another 2022 draftee, Michael Turconi, is slashing .279/.436/.326 for a 134 wRC+.
Other players with 20 or more plate appearances with a wRC+ above 100 are Zach Britton, Andres Sosa, Phil Clarke, Devonte Brown, and Gabriel Martinez.
Vancouver in Tri-City
After four straight days of rainouts, I have absolutely no idea what Vancouver’s rotation will look like. Hopefully, there’ll be no rainouts in their series against the Tri-City Dust Devils.
Geison Urbaez will start Tuesday’s game, with Rafael Sánchez, Kevin Miranda, Ryan Jennings, Chris McElvain, and Pat Gallagher all getting starts at some point this week.
The Canadians have been led by four bats this season if we’re solely looking at wRC+. Once again, a 2022 draftee leads the way as Nick Goodwin’s 156 wRC+ (.218/.377/.473 in 69 plate appearances) leads the team in this department. Undrafted free agent Ryan McCarty is slashing .279/.362/.459 with two home runs.
Jace Bohrofen is slashing .273/.439/.318 with a 144 wRC+, while catcher Jackson Hornung is slashing .282/.349/.385 with a 123 wRC+. It’s worth mentioning that Jean Arnaez has four doubles in 20 plate appearances and has a 145 wRC+ as well.
Overall, the bats need to be better.
Dunedin host Tampa (Tarpons, not the Rays)
It’s been a rough go of things for the Dunedin Blue Jays, who are currently in the midst of a nine-game losing streak, going from a 9-3 record to a 9-12 record. This week, they’ll face off against the Tampa Tarpons, who they took five of six from on April 9 to April 14.
Canadian Connor O’Halloran will get the ball on Tuesday, with Juaron Watts-Brown starting Wednesday’s game, Grant Rogers Thursday’s game, Fernando Pérez in Friday’s game, potentially Lazaro Estrada in Saturday’s game, and Gage Stanifer in Sunday’s game.
After a hot start, the D-Jays bats have cooled off big time. Well, except for Victor Arias who is slashing .383/.473/.553 with a home run and a 199 wRC+ in 55 plate appearances this season. There are several other players with a wRC+ above 100, such as Bryce Arnold (113), Yhoangel Aponte (112), Edward Duran (107), and Manuel Beltre (101), with Tucker Toman’s 99 wRC+ on the brink of being average.
Top prospect Arjun Nimmala has a .181/.289/.278 slash line this season with a 76 wRC+ in 83 plate appearances, the second-most for any D-Jays hitter.
Hopefully, they can get back on track in this homestand.
As always, you can follow me on Twitter @Ryley_L_D.
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