Finishing up our little review of how the guys on our prospects list with the ones 31-40 on our list. The title is from a Paul Simon song, I Know What I Know.
31. Adam Loewen: I'm of two minds on the guy. He's 27 now and I tend not to think of 27 year olds as prospects. Of course the flip of that is that he is that it is only his 3rd year as a batter. He is hitting great at Vegas .311/.377/.549 with 13 homers and 61 RBI in 84 games. He is stealing bases at a success rate that makes you want him to stop, 7 steals in 13 tries and he strikes out more than you would like, 88 times in 367 at bats. Adam had a slow start to the year, hitting .237/.286/.368 but he's had an OPS above .900 every month since. The Jays are really in a bad spot with him, since all his option years were used up as a pitcher, if/when they put him on the 40-man roster, he has to stay with Toronto from then on or be exposed to waivers. I'd imagine they will bring him up for September, but then he is on the team to stay. I think, if they don't bring him up in September, he leaves anyway, I'm sure he'd try his luck with some other team as a free agent after the season.
32. K.C. Hobson: Our 6th round pick in 2009. Playing in Lansing, he is hitting .266/.371/.352. So he has learned to take a walk, but isn't showing the power that he should have, he has 14 doubles and 3 home runs. He had a pretty good June, .282/.436/.359 but still needs power. He's also making too many errors at first base, 16 so far. It is just his 2nd season of pro ball and he's only 20, so there is time.
33. Griffin Murphy: A second round pick from last year. He's in the GCL at the moment, and their season isn't far along. He's had just 4 starts, 18 innings, 5.00 ERA, 4 walks and 19 k. Have to like that strikeout to walk rate. 20 year old 6'3", 200 lb lefty that throws low 90s and has a good curve. He has a lot of stops ahead before Toronto.
34. Michael Crouse: our 16th round draft choice in 2008, he's doing much better than most 16th round picks. He is hitting .261/.344/.467 with 9 homers, 5 triples and 20 doubles, with 26 steals in Lansing. He's a big guy at 6'4", 215. Just 20, it will be interesting to see how far he goes.
35. Joel Carreno: He's having a good year at New Hampshire, 7-6, 3.32, 97.2 innings, just 65 hits, 49 walks and 115 strikeouts. Joel's walking way too many, which hasn't been a problem for him before. I'm all for sending him up to Vegas and seeing what he can do there. You really have to like guys that strikeout more than a batter an inning. Presuming he can bring the walk rate back down, he's have to me looked at as having a shot at a job in Toronto next year.
36. Sean Ochinko: Sean isn't having the best of years at Dunedin, hitting .240/.310/.427 with 11 home runs and 48 RBI. He has been splitting time between C, 3B, 1B and DH. He is having a up and down year, by month his OPS have been .453, .720, 1.008 and .568. At 23 I'd expect a little better at A ball, but we'll see how the rest of his season goes.
37. Egan Smith: Having another good season. 4-3, 3.54 ERA in 14 starts at Lansing. In 62 innings, he's given up 80 hits, walked 16 and has 53 k. Another lefty that it is hard to find much wrong with. He's a ground ball pitcher, he should continue to move up the system.
38. Ryan Goins: Our Dunedin shortstop is having a good year, hitting .302/.358/.456. He had a slow start to year (OPS of .633 for April) a better May (.884 OPS) then missed all of June with an injury. He's been back for 7 games in July, and is doing great (1.143 OPS). He's 23 and you'd like to see him move up a bit. He doesn't have much for power or speed, but if he hits like he has this year, you have to like him.
39. Yan Gomes: One of a dozen or so catching prospects in our system, he isn't hitting much at New Hampshire, .238/.290/.437, backing up Travis d'Arnuad. He's likely to fall off our list after this year.
40. Alan Farina: Farina got added to the Jay's 40-man roster before the start of this season. He pitched great as always to start the season, 2-1, 1.56, 6 saves in 17 appearances. 7 walks, 16 strikeouts in 17.1 innings. He's been on the DL since the end of May and it isn't good news, he had Tommy John surgery yesterday.