Most (all?) of the real prospects, playing for the 51's, are already on our list. But I'll point out a few guys that are having a good season down there anyway.
- Aaron Mathews: Aaron isn't a prospect at all, too old, 28 and really doesn't have a skill you can point to and say 'that would be good to have at the major league level. But he is hitting .346/.388/.547 in 43 game in Vegas. He missed sometime at the start of the season with injuries. He can play all three outfield spots, though this year he has only been playing in the corners. Like I said, not a prospect, but he could have filled the 4 outfielder spot likely as well as Jeremy Reed did, considering the amount of playing time our fourth outfielder gets or, if there were an injury, he could take Dwayne Wise' seat on the bench for a couple of weeks and/or play LF for a couple of games. couldn't be worse than having Mac out there.
- Mike McCoy: Again, not really a prospect, but a guy that could fill in a spot if there was an injury. It did look, for a moment, like they were getting him ready to play short incase Gonzalez was traded. Unfortunately for him, Seabass was traded for another shortstop. There are all sorts of little human tragedies in baseball. He got all of 50 at bats with the Jays, after Cito said good things about him during spring training. In Vegas he is hitting .333/.407/.505, which isn't bad, even there. Again, if someone got hurt, the Jays could have him on the bench and not really miss a beat.
- Jarrett Hoffpauir: Same as the two above, not a prospect, but could be a bench player with no trouble. Sort of got a chance when the team send Encarnacion out but didn't do anything offensively (.214/.267/.250) or really defensively, that made you think he should be an everyday 3B. Still hitting great in Vegas, .319/.376/.528. If he could play SS he'd be a better bench choice.
- Chris Lubanski: Getting closer to a prospect with Chris. He was a first round draft pick, 5th overall, in 2003. There is some power there, at one point he was 58th on Baseball America's top 100 prospect list. He knows how to take a walk and plays the corner outfield spots. When we signed him, I thought he was more interesting than any of the other outfielders we had in the upper minors. He hasn't hit all that well in Vegas, .308/.362/.596, with 14 home runs. It says a lot about Vegas when a guy has a .958 OPS and you can say 'he isn't hitting all that well. Let's take it back, he's hitting ok but I kind of expected more. Again I think he could have filled the 4th outfielder role ok, other than he isn't a CFer and if someone were to be injured, I'd rather see him play outfield, for a couple of weeks, over Jeremy Reed or Dwayne Wise. He'd be a good September call up, if we thought Cito would play a September call up some. Just 25, could really be at the back end of our top 30 prospect list.
- Reidier Gonzalez: RHP, I'm just mentioning him because he was part of our 'just missed out' group when we did the prospects list last winter. Last year he had a 2.90 ERA in New Hampshire. A ground ball pitcher, it looked, to us, like he could be a good fit in Vegas and then you never know. Well, it didn't work out that way. Rieder or Ray, was 6-6 with a 9.18 ERA in Vegas (how can you be 6-6 with a 9.18, it is against the laws of physics) and he got sent back to New Hampshire, where he has had roughly the same success, 1-2, 8.31 ERA over 4 starts. I am guessing he will not be on our prospects list after this year.
- Luis Perez: LHP, another one I am just listing because he was a bit of a favorite. Last year he had a 3.55 ERA and 67 walks to 112 k. Pretty decent. This year he had a 5-6 record and a 4.54 ERA in New Hampshire but 37 walks and 49 k in 73 innings. Not the sort of ratio you would like to see. They moved him up to Vegas and things got worse. 3-1, 5.34, 22 walks, 18 k in 32 innings. More walks than strikeouts is a bad thing for a pitcher.
- Rommie Lewis: LHP. Big guy, 6 foot 5, 230. Just listing him since the Jays thought enough of him to call him up earlier in the year. He did not look terrible in Toronto. In Vegas he has been starting of late, his last 7 appearances have been starts and he has not been terrible, by PCL standards. Overall he is 1-4 with a 5.54 ERA, 12 walks, 29 k in 37.1.
And that is all I got at Vegas, I guess we did a good job of picking out who the prospects were by the time they get up this high in the system. There are a few relievers that have been up and down with the Jays that are doing well then. Josh Roenicke, who is on our prospects list, is 5-0 with a 3.38 ERA. Jeremy Accardo, who must still be cursing the Jays for resigning him in the off-season, is 2-0, 2.79 with 17 saves, showing if you throw strikes and keep the ball down, you can have success, even in Vegas. And Jesse Carlson is 3-1, 4.10, with 10 walks and 37 k. He has a 1.46 ERA in his last 10 appearances. I am surprised that he has not been called up this year. Cito seemed to like him a lot.
The title is off a Joe Ely song, Streets of Sin. I ragged on Hugo, last year, for using Viva Las Vegas in a post title about the Vegas team, so I had to use a song no one had heard.