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Our next five in our Top 40 Prospect list roll out. If you've missed one, the 26-30 is here, 31-35 here and 36-40 here.
25. Adonys Cardona: Number #14 on last year's list, a second year in a row of an ERA north of 6 will drop you a bunch of spots. Adonys pitched in Bluefield last year, with a 6.75 ERA in 8 games, 5 starts, 25.1 innings, 35 hits, 13 walks and 27 strikeouts. The Jays paid him $2.8 million to join the organization out of Venezuela, back in 2010. Since then he's recorded a lot of strikeouts but also a lot of walks, way too many walks. He still throws hard, mid-90's, still has a good curve and still has tons of potential. He turned 20 in January, so there is still time for him to learn how to hit the strike zone, but it would be nice to see some sign of it. Keith Law still had him as the Jays' 5th best prospect, so there is that.
24. Matt Boyd: Matt was our 6th round pick in 2013, out of Oregon State. He's a big lefty, 215, but doesn't throw all that hard. low 90's at best, but has 4 pitches, fastball, curve, slider and change. Boyd got into a few games at Lansing and Dunedin, putting up a 2.62 ERA, in 8 games, 5 starts, 24 innings, 14 hits, 3 walks and 23 strikeouts. He turned 23 earlier this month, he should be able to move through the system quick and could be a middle of the rotation, innings eater kind of guy. John Sickels has him as our 19th best prospect.
23. Ryan Goins: It seems kind of funny to have a guy that is a lock to make the team, this year, barring a last minute move, sitting as low as 23rd on the list. It really isn't fair. Last year he was 23rd on the list too, having just been added him to the 40-man roster that off-season. Anyway, Ryan spent most of the season in Buffalo, where he hit .257/.311/.369, with 6 home runs in 111 games. It doesn't really seem like the numbers of a guy that would get called up to the majors, but the Jays had used everyone else who owned a second baseman's glove (except for Jim Negrych, and if you are Jim, If you couldn't get your shot last year, I guess now you know you'll never get your shot at the majors), so it was Ryan's turn.
Ryan got called up in the middle of August and hit .252/.264/.345 with 2 home runs, 2 walks and 28 strikeouts. His first 8 games went much better, .400/.419/.467, but it went downhill quickly after that. He is going to have to learn to take the odd walk.
Of course the reason he reason he was called up wasn't his bat, he was his glove. After watching Emilio Bonifacio and Maicer Izturis, finding someone that could actually make a play was worth putting up with his bat. Fangraphs credits him with a 33.1 UZR/150. Course some of that was a small sample size problem, the best UZR of any 2B that played a reasonable number of games was Darwin Barney, for the Cubs, at 15.5 UZR/150. He isn't twice as good as anyone else.
Anyway, odds are that he's going to get the lion's share of the playing time at second this year, we might as well enjoy the defense and go for a beer when he comes up to bat. Or beg Alex to sign Stephan Drew.
22. Santiago Nessy : Santiago dropped from the 13th spot on our list from last year. He had a tough first look at full season ball, hitting .241/.293/.375, with 5 home runs, 13 walks and 59 strikeouts. He also had more trouble throwing out base stealers, nailing 25% of them, after throwing out 35% in 2012. He's a big guy, 6'2" and 230 and there are worries that his knees won't be able to handle the stress of being a catcher as he ages but there are some big guys that have made it as a catcher in the majors. With that size there should be some power in there, hopefully it will show itself soon
Santiago was an international free agent signing, back in 2009. He turned 21 in December, so he's going to have to show some improvement in his eye at the plate soon
21. Dalton Pompey: Pompey was number 19 on last year's list, he loses a couple of spots without his biggest supporter, Woodman663, helping with the list. He had a pretty good 2013 season, hitting .261/.358/.394 with 9 triples, 6 home runs, 63 walks, 106 strikeouts, 38 steals in 115 games at Lansing, but you still have to like a guy that walks 12.3% of the time. He is going to have to cut down the strikeout rate. He just turned 21 in December, so there is time for that.. Late round draft picks have to have good stats to stay on the prospect lists. Dalton was a 16th round pick in 2010,
MiLB.com picked Pompey as a Blue Jays Organizational All-Star and he won a Minor League Gold Glove. He was also a Midwest League All-Star (and was the game's MVP). And he is Canadian, which is an award all of its own.
