Wednesday Bantering: 4 Jays on BA top 100 prospects

Baseball American has posted its top 100 prospect list, complete with players from this year’s draft. It is a tough thing to do to get together a list when the players aren’t playing. There are 4 Blue Jays on the list:

• Nate Pearson: Number 7.

Skinny: Pearson’s workload was managed by alternating five- and two-inning starts before July 24, when the restrictions were lifted and he started going deeper into games. He tossed at least five frames in each start after that date to close out the season. Armed with a fastball that touches triple digits, Pearson works with a plus slider and a changeup that has trended positively and projects as plus as well. Pearson has the body and stuff to sit at the front of Toronto’s rotation in the near future.

• Austin Martin: 16

Now I’m not sure it is fair to count someone before we sign him, but let us take it for granted that he will sign.

Skinny: Martin was the No. 2 talent on our ranking of the best available draft prospects, so it was somewhat astonishing to see him slide all the way to No. 5, where the Blue Jays were happy to snap him up. The Blue Jays announced Martin as a shortstop, but he has a variety of potential defensive outcomes. If he has to go to third base, he could provide a defensive upgrade to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., whose bat will more than play at first base. He also could fit in the outfield as well, and he spent time in center field at Vanderbilt and with Team USA. Regardless of his defensive home, Martin instantly becomes the Jays’ best offensive prospect and gives the system a fantastic 1-2 punch with fireballing righthander Nate Pearson at the top of their system.

• Jordan Groshans: 31
• Simeon Woods Richardson: 67

Number one on the list is Wander Franco of the Rays. Number is Luis Robert of the White Sox.

And there is this:

I’m kind of ok with this. The players will be tested all the time. They will be coming into a special hanger at Pearson Airport. I’d imagine they will stay at the hotel in Rogers Centre and won’t be wandering around the city. If they are going to play, playing in Toronto seems better than playing in Dunedin. And I live in Calgary, so if it causes a problem I’m a long way away (just kidding).

There is no way I’d want them in Dunedin:

There is slightly less than a million people in Pinellas county. That would be like a thousand people a day testing positive in Toronto.