Where are the Blue Jays top 50 prospects and how have they started the season?

0 Shares

The minor league season has been on now for a couple weeks. Weather has wreaked havoc with the schedule for the AAA Buffalo Bisons as they have had 8 of their 13 games postponed. AA New Hampshire is off to the best start in franchise history at 9-3 and leading the league with a .273 team batting average. High-A Dunedin Blue Jays are 6-7 and finding their way while the Low-A Lansing Lugnuts are 7-5.

We take a look at where the Blue Jays Top 50 prospects landed to begin the season and how they are doing so far.

AAA Buffalo Bisons

#3 – Anthony Alford, OF – Injured hamstring in Spring Training, has just been activated to Buffalo after spending 6 games rehabbing in Dunedin. The outfield logjam in Toronto may keep him in AAA for some time.

#8 – Danny Jansen, C – strong start and among the league leaders slashing .389/.522/.667 in the first 5 games

#9 – Richard Urena, SS – on 7-day disabled list, has now fallen behind Gurriel as the first infielder to be called to Toronto

#11 – Rowdy Tellez, 1B – slow start hitting .105

#12 – Ryan Borucki, SP – Biagini got the first call, Borucki should be next starter called up. 6 hits, 2 ER in 5 IP in his first start

#19 – Taylor Guerrieri, SP – was expected to be in Buffalo rotation but has started season in bullpen

#21 – Reese McGuire, C – will alternate between catcher and DH along with Danny Jansen, .167/.231/.167 in 3 games

#29 – Dwight Smith, OF – power looks to be improving with 2 HR in first 5 games

#42 – Roemon Fields, OF – doing his thing with 2 stolen bases in first 4 games. Will be 27 this season so time is running out as a prospect

#49 – Tim Lopes, 2B – small sample size but leading the league with .500 AVG on 7 hits in 14 AB

#51 – Jason Leblebijian, 3B – off to a hot start .389/.450/.722 with 2 HR, 5 RBI. Should get a call up at some point this season

AA New Hampshire Fisher-cats

#1 – Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 3B – Young stud is off to a torrid start and thriving with the move to AA slashing .362/.411/.596 with league leading 13 RBI. Was named Eastern League player of the week for April 5-15

#2 – Bo Bichette, SS – strong start hitting .306, had a 9 game hit streak with 5 multi-hit games

#4 – Sean Reid-Foley, SP – After not living up to expectations in 2017 he has had 2 excellent starts to open this season. 6 IP, 1H in opener and 5 perfect innings to begin his last start

#7 – Lourdes Gurriel, 2B – hitting .347 with 11 RBI while reaching base in 12 straight games to open the season. With Gift Ngoepe struggling as the extra infielder in Toronto received an unexpected quick promotion to the majors on April 20.

#13 – Max Pentecost, C – The 11^th overall pick in 2014 is finally healthy and ready to be noticed. He is alternating starts with journeyman Pat Cantwell but has already started 6 games at catcher, well on his way to surpassing his high of 20 starts last season

#17 – Jon Harris, SP – More of the same inconsistency as last year for Harris. Opened with a good start, 5 IP/4H/1BB followed up by giving up 2 HR in 5 IP in his second start

#22 – Harold Ramirez, OF – .229/.308/.229 in 9 games

#33 – Francisco Rios, SP – one rough start sandwiched between two good starts to open the season Was cruising in last start through 5 innings when he was removed with an apparent injury.

#34 – Zach Jackson, RP – 9K in 6 IP over 4 appearances with 1 save as closer

#35 – Jordan Romano, SP – has been outstanding in his move up to AA, 1.42 ERA with 17K in 19 IP over his first 3 starts

#36 – Connor Panas, OF – .231/.268/.256 in 9 games

#37 – Jonathan Davis, OF – .244/.380/.293 with 6 SB in 10 games batting leadoff in front of Bo & Vlady

#46 – Juan Kelly, 1B – .263/.417/.368 in 6 games

#52 – Cavan Biggio, 2B – .273/.359/.576 in 9 games

High-A Dunedin Blue Jays

#6 – Logan Warmoth, SS – .186/.300/.256 with 1 HR in 12 games in move up to High-A

#10 – T.J. Zeuch, SP – He has looked good in his first three starts striking out 17 in 18.2 IP with a 2.89 ERA

#16 – Justin Maese, SP – on 7-day disabled list

#23 – Riley Adams, C – .231/.250/.385 in 10 games

#30 – Joshua Palacios, OF – among the league leaders hitting .333/.380/.378 with 3 SB in 12 games in his first stop in High-A

#31 – D.J. Davis, OF – ..278/278/.444 in 7 games as he starts his third year at High-A

#41 – Patrick Murphy, SP – has been solid in his first 3 starts, 16 IP, 18H, 6BB, 14 K, 3.89 ERA

#45 – Ivan Castillo, 3B – .222/.250/.370 in 8 games

#47 – Eduard Pinto, OF – .258/.281/.258 in 10 games

#48 – Bradley Jones, 2B – .192/.208/.288 with 1 HR in 13 games splitting time between first and third base

#50 – Yeltsin Gudino, SS – .158/.240/.158 in 7 games playing second base

Others to watch

Nash Knight, 1B – Non-drafted free agent from 2015 has started strong slashing .370/.431/.565

Josh DeGraaf, SP – selected in the 31^st round is 2015, has had 3 solid starts with an 3.50 ERA and 1.17 WHIP

Low- A Lansing Lugnuts

#25 – Kevin Smith, SS – Has reached base in 11 straight games hitting .295/.367/.432 and a league leading 12 RBI. He has also looked good moving over to third base this season

#26 – Ryan Noda, 1B – .233/.500/.333 in 10 games

#28 – Kevin Vicuna, SS – among the early league leaders in hitting .354/.367/.417 in 10 games

#32 – Maverik Buffo, SP – got roughed up for 9 hits and 6 ER in 2.1 IP in his second start after a good first start

#38 – Yennsy Diaz, SP – Has a 0.51 ERA with 3 consecutive strong starts only giving up 4 hits along with 19 K in 17.2 IP

#39 – Reggie Pruitt, OF – .179/.294/.179 in 9 games

#40 – Samad Taylor, OF – has reached base in all 9 games hitting .265/.405/.412 with 4 SB

Others to watch

Kacy Clemens, 1B – 8^th round pick in 2017 draft is slashing .324/.540/.500 with 9 RBI in 11 games

Donnie Sellers, RHP – 11^th round pick in 2017 draft has 0.91 WHIP in 3 appearances, 1 start

Awesome featured image of Lourdes Gurriel – photo credit Jason Woodell (@JasonAtTheGame)

Greg Bracken

Greg covers the Toronto Blue Jays organization for Prospects1500. Born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, a long-suffering fan of both the Blue Jays and the Toronto Maple Leafs. For more than 15 years now a participant/commish in many dynasty baseball leagues, all with extremely deep minor league rosters. Follow on X @gregbracken07.