Thursday Bantering: Five Jays on Keith Law’s Top 100 Prospect List

I hope your Thursday is going well.

The Steven Matz trade caught us all by surprise. I hate giving up on Reid-Foley. I always hate giving up on prospects I’ve been following for years. For me, the fun of baseball has always been watching the young guys come up, develop, overcome troubles, and make it, or not. Last season I had myself convinced that Reid-Foley could become a good part of the Blue Jays bullpen.

Matz? Well, he can throw hard. That might play up in the bullpen. He gives us more depth in the rotation. And another project for Pete Walker. Who knows, something might click. The picture above reminds me of Marco Estrada. Maybe we can have that sort of magic again.

I think ignoring his 2020 numbers is likely best. It was a strange season, and, even if it wasn’t, 30 innings really isn’t much of a sample size.

Since I like to look back on these things later, let’s do the poll:

Keith Law posted his top 100 prospect list. There are five Jays on it. Here they are with a snippet of his write up.

5. Nate Pearson

He’s 6 feet 6 inches and 250 pounds, with a good delivery that he has learned to repeat since the Jays signed him, so in theory he should be durable. Still, he had several fluky injuries in 2018 that limited him to one inning, and a flexor strain sent him to the injured list in late August, after which the Jays used him for just a single relief appearance. If he can stay healthy, there are very few starting pitching prospects who can match his stuff and size, which give him the ceiling of a No. 1 starter.

14. Austin Martin

This bat at a skill position is pretty unusual and gives him some MVP upside, although we should be a little cautious since he has yet to take a pro at-bat.

79. Alek Manoah

Manoah sits 93-94 and can touch 98, with an above-average slider and above-average changeup as well as a curveball he can land for strikes. He is big, 6-6 and 260 in college, and only pitches from the stretch, but he throws strikes and attacks guys consistently with his fastball, an approach that should continue to serve him well as he moves up the ladder.

92. Alejandro Kirk

His bat-to-ball skill and swing decisions are both excellent, leading to very low strikeout rates, while he’s got explosive acceleration at the plate and showed in the majors he can hit for power the other way and turn on 97 in.

98. Orelvis Martinez

He has an enormous ceiling as a strong OBP guy with 25-30 homers and plus defense at third. We just need to see how the bat plays at higher levels.

If you are wondering, number one on his list is Wander Frano or the Rays.

Masahiro Tanaka has signed with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, which, if they outbid the MLB teams, is a sad commentary on MLB baseball.

Old friend Aaron Loup signed with the Mets (a smart signing, if he is pitching for you, he can’t hit one of your players with a pitch) and Jose Bautista’s batting practice pitcher Darren O’Day signed with the Yankees.