Monday Bantering: Four Jays on Keith Law’s Top 100 Prospects List

There is a little bit of Jays news this morning.

Scrabble is back. No not the stupid McDonald’s game. Marc Rzepcynski, former Blue Jays pitcher, has a minor league contract with the Jays. Marc pitched with the Jays from 2009 to the trade deadline in 2011. Then he was part of the Colby Rasmus trade with the Cardinals. Since then he’s been with the Cardinals, Cleveland, Padres, A’s, Nationals, Mariners and back to Cleveland.

Career he has a 3.89 ERA in 506 MLB games, pitching mostly as a LOOGY. I guess now he’ll have to be a TOOGY.

He was a favorite of ours.

Keith Law posted his top 100 prospect list this morning. There are 4 Jays in the list:

Nate Pearson is #11

Pearson throws hard, sitting 97-100 mph and occasionally bumping 101-102, with a fierce slider that’s usually 86-90 when he starts but up to 92 when he’s pitched in relief. He even has some feel for a changeup that’s especially impressive given how hard he throws, with zero platoon split in 2019. He’s a good athlete and an extremely hard worker who looks and throws like a top-of-the-rotation starter, and the injuries he suffered in 2018 were flukes rather than anything related to his delivery. It’s control over command right now, but there’s no mechanical reason he can’t get to above-average command in time.

Jordan Groshans is #73

Groshans has a pure hitter’s swing and has shown an elite ability to make adjustments to pitchers so far in his brief pro tenure. He rotates his hips early, and the power he has shown to date comes more from his hand strength than his legs — although that’s as much a timing issue as anything, and if it ever becomes an issue it’s probably fixable.

Alek Manoah is #76

He’ll sit 94-95 deep into games, touching 98, with a four-pitch mix that includes an above-average changeup at 86-88 with great arm speed. His breaking stuff is less consistent, with the slider more of a chase pitch for righties while the curveball is more effective in or near the zone.

Orelvis Martinez is #89

He’s still so young that you want to temper your enthusiasm, but he could be the Jays’ best prospect in a year.

Charlie Montoyo has told the beat writers that Ryan Borucki is no longer in the battle for the 5th starter role. That the elbow tightness has put him too far behind and they don’t want him overdoing it to catch up. Now it is Trent Thornton or Shun Yamaguchi who are the mostly suspects.

Today’s Jays lineup. The game isn’t on TV, because they would hate to show off the new ballpark.

Our friend Andrew Stoeten is not all that pleased with the Blue Jays being no longer on MLB TV (not that I’ve seen anyone who is pleased with the decision. Andrew is at him best when he’s not pleased.

Today in corporate speak:

And it appears that the Jays are going to be watching his innings:

I’d love these guys to speak English.