Since we have an off day, I thought I'd post a question to you all: Which of the pitcher, currently in our minor league system, will pitch us the most innings in September?
It seems to be that we have at least half a dozen minor league pitchers that would make good September call ups and we have a few starters that the team might want to limit innings. So who could come up:
Shawn Hill: A good Canadian boy that we signed this off-season coming off Tommy John surgery. He came up with the Expos and has made 40 major league starts, going 8-16, 4.95. Not great looking stats but then most of those stats were for a very poor Washington Nationals team. He is 29 now and is 4-0 in 6 minor league starts since coming off the injury list. He had a great start in New Hampshire last night, 7 innings, 3 hits, 2 walks, 4 k. I really wouldn't be surprised if he got a shot if Jesse Litsch tests Cito's patience too much. One or two more rehab starts he could be ready.
Scott Richmond: You all know about him. He's made 3 rehab starts for Dunedin, 19 innings, 13 hits, 5 walks, 12 k. He's a little behind Hill but Cito knows him and he did a nice job for us last year. If they don't want to have him start, he might make a good reliever.
Brad Mills: Mills already made an emergency start for us and only allowed 2 hits in 7 innings. He's been good in Vegas and if you can pitch there, you can pitch anywhere. Have to figure, for almost any other team, that start would have bought him a couple more starts. I think, if he was given time, he could be a pretty starter in the majors, but he is in a system that has too many good starting prospects.
Kyle Drabek: Since we got him for Roy Halladay, we'd all like to see him and the no hitter didn't cause us to want to see him any less. But he's at Double-A and I don't think the Jays would want him to skip a step just to pitch a few major league innings in September.
Zach Stewart: Also doing well in Double-A, the best piece we got for Scott Rolen. But he's already thrown 115 innings after 105 last year. I'd think the Jays will want to limit his innings, but the Jays might want to see want he could do out of the pen.
Jesse Carlson: I'm surprised we haven't seen him yet this season. He was a favorite of Cito's last year. I can't imagine he won't be called up in September. He been a favorite of mine since he came up in 2008, came into a game in Texas with the bases loaded and no outs and got through out of the inning with out a run scoring. Then, of course, standing up to the Yankees last year cemented him into my favorites list.
Jeremy Accardo: A 2.29 ERA and 22 saves in Vegas is pretty decent. He also has to get a September call up for that. But not a favorite of Cito's.
Josh Roenicke: He didn't look good at the start of the season in Toronto, but then he's been much better in Vegas. 6-0, 3.24, 43 k in 41.2 innings and just 14 walks. I can't see any reason why he wouldn't be called up.
Update: As Joey notes I forget Marc Rzepczynski. So I'm adding him in. Marc has done a good job in Vegas, he made a couple of poor starts with Toronto but he has a ton of talent. A ground ball pitcher. Lefties sometimes need a bit longer to find success in the majors. Added him to the poll.
So we'll put up a poll but us to comments to let us know who you think the Jays will call up. Yeah I know we have a bit of time before September but we've only got a couple of off days this month, we'll ask about bats coming up later in the month.