Minor League Recap: Bluefield loses Championship, Hutchison wins

Bluefield (lost 1-4)

Bluefield's season is over, after the Jays lost by a score of four to one to Johnson City. Deivy Estrada pitched a decent game for Bluefield, giving up one earned in 5 innings, getting 5 Ks and giving up 4 hits and a walk. Jeremy Gabryszwski gave up 2 more runs, pitching 2 2/3 innings with 2 Ks, 3 hits and no walks. King Scrabble the Third's results have been pretty decent so far, but I have to imagine we'll see him in a starting role next season. The fourth run the Jays gave up was an unearned run, on an error by, who else would it be, Gustavo Pierre. Catcher Leo Hernandez got the only hit for Bluefield: a double.

Las Vegas (lost 3-10)

Chad Gaudin is obviously not on the list of players the Banterers here are excited about for a potential callup. After giving up 6 runs in 5 innings on 10 hits, 3 walks and just 1 strikeout, I don't think that will change. Adeiny Hechavarria had just one hits, but he also had a walk (and a strikeout). His K/BB rate of 8/21 still isn't good, but the .388/.432/.524 does look pretty. He would obviously not hit like that outside of the PCL, of course. David Cooper had 2 walks but no hits and his .336/.406/.407 August was by far his most unimpressive month of the season. Adam Loewen's month was worse, though: he hit just .271/.347/.355.

New Hampshire (won 7-0)

Drew Hutchison has probably had the best season of any Jays prospect. He's only just turned 21 and already is dominating Double-A. Last night: 5 innings, 1 hit, 0 runs, 0 walks, 8 strikeouts. He'll probably be starting 2012 in Double-A again, but if Henderson Alvarez can pitch in the big leagues at 21, why wouldn't Hutch be called up next year if he's doing well? The same goes for older prospects Nestor Molina and Deck McGuire of course, so he does have some pretty competent competition. Mike McDade hit a homer and was 2-for-4, but his .281/.328/.457 line is not good enough for a 1st baseman. In fact, I wouldn't be excited if a shortstop or catcher hit like that, with an ugly 28/104 BB/K rate. Speaking of ugly BB/K rates, nobody seems to mention that Travis d'Arnaud's rate is an also ugly 33/100 and that d'Arnaud has lately hit more like a certain J.P. Arencibia: no on-base skills but impressive power.

Dunedin (lost 4-5)

Matt Daly has been very, very poor this season, and yesterday it took him just 2/3 of an inning to turn a 4-2 victory into a 4-5 loss. Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, indeed. Daly had a 6.25 ERA in New Hampshire and now has a 8.59 ERA in Dunedin. Just last year he collected 31 saves for Dunedin with a 2.50 ERA. Dunedin had already made the playoffs, so it was no big deal. But what else is there to talk about when A.J. Jimenez isn't even in the lineup for Dunedin. If Jake Marisnick, Michael Crouse, Marcus Knecht and Carlos Perez move up to Dunedin next year, at least they'll have some true hitting prospects over there in Florida.

Lansing (won 5-4)

Michael Crouse, only recently back from an injury, hit a homer and walked twice. He has a 5/5 BB/K ratio since returning from the DL, but the homer was just his first hit. Now that's a three true outcomes hitter. Peter Mooney was 1-for-3 with two walks, and he's hitting .429/.520/.714 in just 21 at bats for Lansing so far. Between the GCL, Bluefield and Lansing his line is .290/.410/.509 in 108. Jake Marisnick was just 1-for-4, but his .354/.425/.558 line in August deserves a mention. Marcus Knecht was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk, but he hit just .200/.314/.450 in August.