According to Jeff Blair of the Globe and Mail, AAA righthander Casey Janssen will pitch in place of A.J. Burnett for during his time on the DL. Casey Janssen is the Jays fourth round pick in the 2004 amateur draft. Janssen rocketed through the Jays system last year and was arguably the best pitcher in the minors for the Jays. He made a total of 26 starts between three levels last year - A Lansing, High-A Dunedin, and AA New Hampshire - and posted impressive numbers in all three levels. After struggling initially at AAA this year, he has settled down and held his opponents scoreless in his past two starts.
Casey Janssen was ranked as the Blue Jay's
#6 prospect by Baseball America
#5 prospect by John Sickels
#3 prospect by Batter's Box
For those of you too lazy to click on Casey Janssen's link, here are his minor league stats:
Janssen may not have as high of a ceiling as other starting prospects like David Purcey or Ricky Romero, but he is the most polished and ready to pitch in the majors. Even during his early struggles this season, he has still maintained excellent peripherals (K/BB, WHIP, K/9, BB/9) indicating that he will be able to sustain his level of performance at a higher level. From all indications, he has the potential to be a solid mid-rotation starter (think Josh Towers with better stuff, or Dave Bush with better control).
I am as always excited when legitimate prospects (i.e. not Corey Thurman) are called up to see some game action. It probably wouldn't hurt to leave Janssen in AAA for another half a season to hone his skills, but Janssen should be able to hold his own against the Orioles this thursday.
Update [2006-4-24 19:49:0 by Alpheus Chan]:
According to a report on mlb.com, Burnett's injury is just a recurring case of scar tissue breaking off, nothing serious to worry about. So we can now breath a sigh of relief knowing that we will have A.J. Burnett back shortly.