Wednesday Bantering: MLB Draft enters third day

The MLB draft enters its third day today, with rounds 11 through 40 taking place. Yesterday, the Blue Jays selected the following players:

• Riley Adams, a right-handed catcher from the University of San Diego.
• Kevin Smith, a right-handed shortstop from Maryland.
• Cullen Large, a right-handed and switch-hitting second baseman from the College of William and Mary.
• Brock Lundquist, a left-handed hitting and right-handed throwing outfielder from Cal State Long Beach.
• Colton Laws, a right-handed pitcher from UNC Charlotte.
• Kacy Clemens, a left-handed hitting and right-handed throwing first baseman from U Texas Austin. He also happens to be the son of one Roger Clemens.
• Zach Logue, a left-handed pitcher from Kentucky.
• Justin Dillon, a right-handed pitcher from Cal St Sacramento.

For a recap of Toronto’s round 6 to 10, read Matt W’s article here. Stay tuned to Bluebird Banter for additional draft coverage of rounds 11-40 today.

Steve Pearce, nearing the end of his rehab assignment, played with the Buffalo Bisons last night, playing eight innings in the outfield. He had one single in four at bats, and struck out twice. In the bottom of the first, Pearce went from first to home on a Rowdy Tellez double, not showing any signs of his injured calf. Pearce could rejoin the Blue Jays as early as Friday.

Dalton Pompey is still recovering from tweaking his knee with the Buffalo Bisons on June 4th, Scott Mitchell of TSN reports. Pompey has been injured since spring training, when he was forced to leave a game at the World Baseball Classic with concussion-like symptoms.

More injury news: Devon Travis underwent surgery to clean up the cartilage in his knee yesterday. As of now, there is no timeline for his return, but John Gibbons told media that “it’ll be awhile.”

Aaron Sanchez threw long toss yesterday and is set to throw off of a mound in the upcoming days, Mike Wilner tweets. Sanchez will travel with the team to Texas when they play the Rangers, then he will begin his rehab assignment.

Finally, Glenn Sparkman, Toronto’s Rule 5 draft pick, has begun his rehab assignment with the double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats. In last night’s 5-0 win, Sparkman threw five innings, allowing two hits and walking one while striking out five. Sparkman broke his hand in spring training and has not seen game action since.

Kevin Barker is a good man. Last night, Jamie Campbell tweeted out a video of Barker giving a ball from Toronto’s bullpen to a kid who had fallen and scraped his knee earlier in the game.

The Blue Jays lost 8-1 to the Rays last night, falling behind early as Marco Estrada gave up four earned runs in the third inning. Despite sitting in the AL East cellar, the Blue Jays have had the second best record in the American League since April 28th (25-16), per Jon Morosi. Toronto has gained only one game in the AL East over that time span.

Toronto will play the Rays for the last game of the short two-game series at 7:07 ET tonight. Francisco Liriano is on the mound for his third start after coming off of the disabled list, and Jake Odorizzi will pitch for the Rays. You can watch the game on TVA Sports, Sportsnet and Sportsnet-1 or listen to it on Sportsnet 590.

Follow Mark on Twitter @MarkColley.