FanPost

The Ghosts of Prospects Past

Contrary to most other professional sports we're taught as baseball fans that sometimes the most intriguing part of the organization isn't what you see on television or at the park in Toronto. Sometimes it is the players you don't see, the ones hidden in some small, 5'000 seat capacity ballpark in corn country that are the ones you should really be paying attention to.

These players are otherwise known as "Prospects".

And while watching the current Toronto Blue Jays roster battle it out on the field is usually top priority for my baseball viewing needs, it is the players on the farm that catch our imagination.

The "could-be" and "might-be" of it all.

I don't know about any of you, though I suspect I won't be alone in this, but I find that as we endure the grind that is the 162 game Major League Baseball season I become... increasingly nostalgic, let's say.

Sometimes these prospects whose potential we dream about don't stay in the organization. Sometimes they get traded. Traded for ageing knuckleballers or defensively questionable shortstops. Pitchers who never quite reach their potential or troubled, athletically gifted utility players. Sometimes they get traded for back-of-the-rotation starters or inning eating pitchers whose "fastball" would get ticketed for going too slow in the fast-lane on any major highway.

And so they become, you've guessed it, the Ghost of Prospects Past.

A player whose success we both hope for and dread simultaneously and in equal measure. Because we want these young men whose careers we've followed for many seasons to be successful... But, now that they aren't in our organization. The team has sent them away and so we also worry they'll become stars and our team will be the clear and decided 'loser' of the deal.

Now, to answer the obvious first question; Yes... I did choose this username in order to write this article. That was fully intended and now that I have the lay of the land here in SB Nation I thought it was time to kick off what I hope will be a fan post series in BlueBird Banter.

In this fanpost series, which I'd like to do weekly though will probably do every other week (thinking Sunday or Monday), I'm going to (hopefully) be your one-stop-shop for all the goings on of select former Blue Jay prospects as well as other talents we've moved out over the last few seasons.

Some have gone on to be productive players in the bigs, others haven't done much of anything in North American professional baseball. Some the Jays have moved out as recently as this passed season and I'll be watching to see what kind of players they become.

If anyone who comes across this can think of any other former Jays who are in the MLB and might be worth keeping an eye on let me know but these are the names I intend to watch:

Anthony Gose, OF (Detroit Tigers)
Colby Rasmus, OF (Houston Astros)
Brett Lawrie, 3B (Oakland A's)
Eric Thames, INF (NC Dinos)
Travis Snider, OF (Baltimore Orioles)
Travis d'Arnaud, C (New York Mets)
Adeiny Hechavarria, SS (Miami Marlins)
Jake Marisnick, OF (Houston Astros)

Now, I know technically Rasmus isn't one of our prospects but I'm sure there are many that are wondering what exactly will happen to one of the most maligned Blue Jays from last year. He never reached his top potential with the team and while there were many of us who desperately wished he would return (as a Left Fielder, ironically the position he appears to be in in Houston) he was allowed to walk when the team brought in Michael Saunders.

In the spirit of the first article I'm going to quickly post all of their stats as of (I believe) pre-game on April 14th to give you all a baseline and we'll get the series kicking into full bloom next time. (I'm also not entirely sure how I'm going to format this so bear with me).

ANTHONY GOSE - 5 GP
9 for 23
.391/.391/.685 to go along with 1 HR, two doubles, a triple, and a stolen base. His OPS is 1.087 and he's shown some flashes of brilliant defense. If there has been any drawback to his early season performance it has to be 0 walks in 23 plate appearances compared to nine strikeouts.

COLBY RASMUS - 6 GP
5 for 18
.278/.316/.611 with 1 HR, a double and a triple. To be honest, I don't understand defensive metrics very much but I've seen him make a few really nice plays in Left. Doesn't appear to be out of place but he did get credited for a throwing error in a game against the Rangers. Watching the replay it wasn't a bad throw, but it short hopped the catcher and he was charged with an error.

BRETT LAWRIE - 8 GP
9 for 32
.281/.324/.438 with a HR, two doubles, and has displayed his normal strong defense in Oakland. His issue has always been health so I look forward to seeing how his body holds up away from the turf.

ERIC THAMES - 12 GP
18 for 41
.439/.556/1.073 with 7 HR, three doubles, a triple, two stolen bases and has basically been destroying the ball in the KOB... Which is a Korean Professional league... I won't lie, I've only really put his name in here so that I remember to check up his numbers every now and again. Though a defensive liability in Left I was always very fond of this prospect and hope big things for him. Even if they happen a world away.

TRAVIS SNIDER - 7 GP
7 for 21
.333/.481/.524 adding a homer and a double to his total. It appears as though he has finally won himself an everyday gig so we're finally going to see what this not-so-young man has to offer. We've already had a chance to see him when the Jays went to Baltimore. I don't remember much but I'll remember his home run and his error, so that's something.

TRAVIS D'ARNAUD - 6 GP
6 for 21
.286/.304/.381 with a triple to his credit. I haven't done much looking into his defensive metrics this season so far. All I know is he's caught one of the three runners who have tried to steal on him, and, if I'm reading this correctly (and there is a good chance I am not), he's been among the better pitch framing catchers this season getting an average of 1.29 extra calls per game (in comparison it appears Russell Martin loses about 1.95 and I think that has to do with the umps hating Toronto... just sayin').

ADEINY HECHAVARRIA - 7 GP
3 for 25
.120/.185/.160 with a double. Let's be honest, this guy is never going to be a particularly strong bat in any lineup but his glove is what is going to keep him in the lineup. Now, as I've pointed out, I'm not strong with defensive metrics but thus far this season it hasn't appeared as though Adeiny has been spectacular defensively, either. Of course, at 7 games and less than 100 innings this is a very small sample size. We'll see how this plays out.

JAKE MARISNICK - 6 GP
6 for 18
.333/.350/.556 adding a homer, a double, two stolen bases, and has played mostly centerfield in Houston's outfield. He's had a very strong start to his season. He's showing some solid defense, his homer was a booming shot to left field, and if he can continue stealing bases he's going to be a big part of the Astros this season and beyond.


Is it just me or is it doubly painful that two former Jays players are in the outfield for the Astros... What kind of world do we live in where I am going to be envious of the Astro fans who get to watch these guys every day?


That was just a quick overview of the first week and a bit of the players I'll be following. Again, I'm not sure how I'm going to format it but I'm going to be watching an absolute ton of baseball this season and keeping you all apprised of how these former players from the organization fair this season.

Future articles shouldn't be as long when I don't have to write introductions and mission statements so I apologize for the long read.

Thank you for reading, I hope this can be useful for some people or, at very least, cause conversation between Jays fans about players that were once in the organization.

Editor's Note: This is a FanPost written by a reader and member of Bluebird Banter. It was not commissioned by the editors and is not necessarily reflective of the opinions of Bluebird Banter or SB Nation.