Thursday Bantering: Prospect Notes

Happy Thursday.

I was looking forward to watching the Women’s Olympic Soccer final tonight, but they have moved it to early tomorrow morning (late night Tokoyo time) to avoid playing it in the worst of the heat. It is a good move, but I’m going to have to wake up a 6:00 AM my time to watch. I’m not a morning person. When I was young, I never understood why team sports only count as one medal in the medal standings. The women’s soccer team will get 12+ medals, that should be a dozen+ in the standings.

And while off-topic, congratulations to Damian Warner for earning the Gold in the decathlon. That is an incredible achievement.

I missed that Joakim Soria when on thee IL last night with right middle finger inflammation (which I would argue is a symptom, not a diagnosis, but that’s a digression). They didn't give any idea on how long he would be out, but since he looked very good in his one outing for us. I’m hoping he’s back soon since we don’t have much season left.

And Tayler Saucedo had a rough time last night, though some of that was just bad luck.

Good news on the prospect front. Orelvis Martinez was player of the month in the Southeast League:

Martinez was also mentioned in Jeff Passan’s ESPN column yesterday, in his list of eight minor leaguers you should know:

Orelvis Martinez, SS, Toronto Blue Jays: Everyone was asking the Blue Jays for Martinez, and the conversations started and stopped there. His 19 home runs are the most of any teenager in organized baseball, and his 68 RBIs rank second in the minor leagues. In a loaded Blue Jays system, he might be the best of the bunch, though now comes another test: Toronto just promoted the 19-year-old to high-A.

It is interesting to me that, according to Passan, Martinez was untouchable, but we traded Austin Martin (and that teams asked for Martinez over Martin).

Baseball American has redone their top 100 prospects list, post-draft, and trade deadline. There are six Blue Jays on the list:

• 11. Gabriel Moreno.
• 12. Alek Manoah. He’s graduate off the list soon.
• 53. Nate Pearson.
• 56. Orelvis Martinez.
• 79. Jordan Groshans.
• 81. Alejandro Kirk.

And Baseball American did a mid-season update of their top 30 Jays Prospects. The top ten are the six above (of course) and:

• 7. Gunnar Hoglund, Our first-round pick this year.
• 8. Otto Lopez. SS.
• 9. Miguel Hiraldo. 3B/2B.
• 10. Adam Kloffenstein.
• 11. Manuel Beltre. SS/ An international signing from January of this year.
• 12. Estiven Machado. SS. A 2019 international signing.
• 13. Victor Mesia. C. 2019 international signing.
• 14. Yhoangel Aponte. OF. 2021 international signing.
• 15. Luis Garcia. SS. 2021 international signing.
• 16. Sem Robberse. RHP. 2019 international signing.
• 17. Ricky Tiedemann. LHP. Third-round pick this year.
• 18. Irv Carter. RHP. Fourth-round pick this year.
• 19. Kevin Smith. SS/3B.
• 20. C.J. Eyk. RHP. Second-round pick in 2020.
• 21. Eric Pardinho. RHP.
• 22. Thomas Hatch. RHP.
• 23. Chad Dallas. RHP. Fourth-round pick this year.
• 24. Patrick Murphy. RHP.
• 25. Samad Taylor. Utility player.
• 26. Leonardo Jimenez. SS. 2017 international signing.
• 27. Tanner Morris. SS. Fifth-round pick in 2019.
• 28. Rikelvin De Castro. SS. 2019 international signing.
• 29. Josh Palacios. OF.
• 30. Will Robertson. OF. Fourth round 2019.

Who do you think is too low or too high? I’d like to see Kevin Smith up higher, but I understand you want him to continue to prove himself.

Nate Pearson pitched in a simulated game. It would be nice to see him in Toronto before the end of the month.

For those of us my age, this is sad news. J.R. Richard passed away at age 71. Richard was an incredible pitcher, whose career ended far too young due to a stroke. In his last full season, he had an 18-13 record, 2.71 ERA in 38 starts, 292.1 innings, with 313 strikeouts (leading the league). Career he had a 107-71 record, 3.15 ERA in 238 games, 221 starts.