Blue Jays MiLB Notebook

A look back at the 2018 draft, Toronto in the Little World Series, Buffalo’s roster, and MiLB players see a vast improvement in their working conditions.

The 2018 Draft

Five years seems to be the industry standard for judging a draft’s effectiveness. And while it’s not the only way to evaluate a team’s scouting prowess and player acquisition, taking a half-decade look back on a team’s picks provides some insight. When it comes to the 2018 lottery, the Blue Jays - to this point - have come up short.

The first overall pick, Texas HS SS Jordan Groshans, certainly fit the bill for the type of player the Blue Jays coveted from the amateur ranks: an up-the-middle guy with quick-twitch athleticism and an ability to hit elite pitching. The 12th overall pick did not disappoint in his first season, slashing .331/.390/.500 in the former Gulf Coast League, earning the 5th top prospect ranking from Baseball America.

Promoted to full season ball in 2019, Groshans continued to square up pitchers several years older - an April sample of his games from the Lansing pressbox had a spectator musing how he had been in high school just ten months earlier. Groshan’s defensive skills - particularly his footwork - were a work in progress. After watching him execute a 360 on a grounder up the middle, nearly throwing the ball in the stands in the process, he was out with a coach the next morning, working on that very type of play. But the sky seemed to be the limit for young Groshans, whose season was limited to 23 games due to a nasty bout of plantar fasciitis (personal note: I’ve suffered through that same affliction, mostly due to a love of running and killer bees in my wallet that prevented me from buying footwear that would accommodate that passion).

As it turned out, Groshans may well have peaked. When he returned to play in 2021, the power tool was the one that was missing from his toolkit. At first, the Jays were not concerned: a front office staffer told me that Groshans’ AA stats were comparable to Francisco Lindor’s (although the similarities ended there). Groshans has always hit to all fields, but his inability to drive the ball led to more of a hit over power tendency, and with a likely move to 3rd in his future, his power production just didn’t match the demands of that position. The Blue Jays dealt him to Miami last season, for whom he did make his MLB debut. He’s still young at 23, but having been optioned to AAA to start the season, the Marlins don’t feel he’s ready for prime time.

Groshans joined 2nd round pick Griffin Conine in Floridian exile from the organization. Ranked as one of the best power hitters in the draft, Duke grad Conine has holes in his swing big enough to drive a truck through: he hit 27 HRs at AA last year, and also struck out 186 times in just under 500 PAs. Offspeed stuff bedevilled him in college, and continues to do so in the pros. Conine is ranked as the Marlins’ 27th best prospect by Baseball America.

Groshans signed for $3.4 million, about 800K under slot value. With those savings, the Blue Jays went over slot in order to convince RHP Adam Kloffenstein, his high school teammate, to forego a commitment to TCU. Kloff showed early promise, ranking as the 5th top Northwest League prospect in 2019, but fastball command has eluded him for much of the time ever since. Kloffenstein can cruise along for several innings, but then lose the strike zone, driving up his pitch count, and usually leading to an early exit. He has the frame of an innings eater, but that inconsistency, coupled with a dip in velo last season has Kloffenstein well down in the prospect rankings.

The Jays 4th round pick, RHP Sean Wymer, was considered to be something of a sleeper. But after mediocre results, and Tommy John surgery, Wymer was released after 1 IP at New Hampshire last August.

C Chris Bec, a money-saving senior sign, served the Jays well in an org-guy type of role, before being released last week. He had made it as high as AAA.

6th rounder Addison Barger, a Tampa HS pick, may well turn out to be the best player selected by Toronto in this draft. After several years of perhaps falling short of the organization’s expectations, he broke out in a big way last season, was rewarded with a spot on the 40-man, and while he’ll start in Buffalo, could well make his MLB debut this year. His future appears to be as a super utility guy, and he should be given some reps in the OF this season to help add to his defensive resume.

8th rounder Joey Murray, like Groshans, seemed poised for bigger and better things when I made that trip to Lansing four years ago. His “invisiball,” a high spin rate fastball made more difficult for hitters to pick up because of his low arm angle, frustrated hitters at three levels in 2019. Murray K’d 167 in 139 IP, but it has been a very frustrating time for him ever since. COVID, Tommy John, and shoulder issues limited him to 1 IP in 2021, and 20 innings at AA last year, before he was shut down in June.

10th rounder Cal Stevenson, who people in the organization still regard highly, was shipped to Houston in 2019 as part of a package in the highly unnecessary deal that brought Derek Fisher to Toronto. Stevenson was later dealt to Tampa, then Oakland, for whom he made his MLB debut last season.

LHP Nick Allgeyer, the Blue Jays’ 12th round selection, made a brief MLB for the team in 2021, but was dealt this week to the Phillies. Allegeyer, who developed into a swingman, was a victim of the numbers game at AAA Buffalo. Allgeyer was a good HS hockey player, is a scratch golfer, and all-around good guy. We wish him well in his new organization.

19th rounder OF Adrian Ramos, a Miami-Dade CC selection who was labelled as the best athlete in the Jays group of draftees by BA, was released after hitting .104 in 42 games for Vancouver in 2019.

The pick after Ramos, Richmond INF Vinny Capra, certainly exceeded expectations.

29th rounder Cre Finfrock and 30th round pick Cobi Johnson both have provided bullpen help since their draft years, but the former was released last summer after having reached as high as AA, and the latter missed all of 2022 recovering from Tommy John.

Let it never be said the Blue Jays don’t always get their man. With their 35th round pick they selected a high school 1B/3B from Alabama by way of suburban Vancouver. Damiano Palmegiani opted not to sign in order to attend JuCo Southern Nevada, improving his draft stock up to the 14th round, where Toronto once again chose him in 2021. Blessed with a ton of raw power, Palmegiani put himself on the prospect radar, but he’s still something of a longshot. He did hit a memorable HR with Team Canada in an exhibition game against the Cubs prior to the World Baseball Classic.

All in all….this was not one of the Jays better drafts. In terms of WAR/player, it ranks among the bottom of all MLB organizations that year. This was Steve Sanders’ second draft as amateur scouting director, and while the class was not considered a strong one, there were far more misses than hits for the Blue Jays. Fortunately, a strong IFA class helped make up for that, to some extent.

AAA Championship!

It’s not the Junior World Series, or even the Little World Series, but baseball announced a one-game AAA championship between the winners of the International and Pacific Coast League playoffs. Both leagues have revamped and added to their own playoff formats, which is likely why this is only a one-shot deal.

It does call to mind that Toronto, in its day as an International League club, played in several Little Series, and one of the Junior Variety. Toronto topped Columbus (American Association champs) 4-1 in 1904. The series took a 13-year hiatus after that, but returned in 1917, once again featuring the Maple Leafs, who lost 4-1 to Indianapolis. Toronto won the IL pennant once more in 1918, but WWI forced a postseason postponement.

Toronto qualified for the LWS in 1926. The Leafs faced Louisville in a best-of-nine (they were popular back then) affair. Manager Dan Howley’s club had broken the stranglehold the Baltimore Orioles had on the International League pennant that year (the O’s had won every IL title since Toronto’s last pennant) by winning 37 of their last 43 games.

Maple Leaf Stadium, opened earlier that season, was to be the site of the first four games of the series.

Hopes were high that the stands would be packed for the series, especially among the players, who would share the gate receipts. But as anyone who sat in Exhibition Stadium early or late in the season could tell you, the Lake Ontario shoreline is not always the place to be when it comes to watching a ballgame. Toronto had been anticipating crowds in the neighbourhood of 10 000 for each game, but the cold early October weather apparently dissuaded many fans from attending, and the four games drew barely half that.

The 1926 season has been regarded as one of Howley’s managerial masterpieces. Having lost prized prospect Charlie Gehringer to the Tigers (Toronto had a “working agreement” with Detroit; the modern farm system was still in its infancy), Howley knew that pitching, defence, and “small ball” would be the key to his team’s success. Given that, the Leafs were slight favourites over the Colonels.

Louisville wanted to augment their roster with a few players from other American Association teams. Howley demurred, thinking that would make a “joke” of the Series. At the same time, rumours were floated of the winner facing the PCL (then considered to be a superior league) in California. Howley said he would consider it, but only “if” all of his players could make the trip.

Howley sent his ace, soft-tossing Jess Doyle, to the mound for the first game. Doyle kept the Colonels hitters’ off-balance, tossing a four-hit shutout as the Leafs took the opening game 2-0. Louisville had a lead of the same score heading into the bottom of the 9th of game two, but Toronto loaded the bases and rallied to tie the score before plating the winning run in the home half of the 11th.

Game three was another low-scoring close affair, with Toronto coming out on top 2-1 in 10 innings. The fourth game was yet another nail-biter, with the Leafs edging Louisville 4-3. The game had been moved up half an hour so that the two teams could catch a train to Kentucky following the game. Unfortunately for the Colonels’ fans, the fifth game game was a laugher, Toronto scoring early and often in a 7-0 win, and a series sweep.

The rumoured championship between Toronto and the PCL-winning Los Angeles Angels (yes, that was their name) didn’t take place. But Howley did use his team’s success as a springboard to a big league job, and was named manager of the St Louis Browns shortly after his team’s triumph over Louisville.

The Series’ name was changed to the Junior World Series in 1932. Louisville exacted some revenge on Toronto in the 1960 Series, defeating the IL champs 4-1. The playoff continued as an annual event until 1971, but with farm directors not wanting to risk injury to their prized prospects at the end of a long minor league season, it was mothballed in 1975.

Let’s hope there’s a Series in line for this year’s edition of a Toronto ball club.

For more about the Leafs’ incredible run to close out the ‘26 season, be sure to pick up a copy of my next book, Severn Sound, coming this summer.

Bisons Migrate North

With the AAA schedule and playoffs expanded, the Buffalo boys made their exit from sunny Florida to…..the decidedly less balmy Niagara Frontier in preparation for their season opener - sorry, Season Opener - with Scranton Wilkes-Barre next week.

The Bisons roster doesn’t feature a huge turnover from the end of last year, which speaks somewhat to the depth filtering its way up to the upper levels of the organization. Pitching and infield depth should be strengths for the team, although an outfield currently consisting of Wynton Bernard, Cam Eden, Vinny Capra (!) and Rafael Lantigua (!!) will not strike fear into many IL pitching staffs. Look for Barger, Spencer Horwitz, and Otto Lopez to take some turns in the old jardinero this season. I thought there was an outside chance that Orelvis Martinez might make the trip to New York with the club, but apparently he’s going to be repeating AA. In all truth, Martinez probably should have repeated High A to start last season, but with SS Leo Jimenez added to the 40 in the fall of 2021, Martinez was given the aggressive assignment last season.

Adrian Hernandez, the organization’s MiLB Closer of the Year in 2021, had shoulder issues in the middle of the Bisons’ 2022 season. He and his devilishly good changeup remained in Florida; I hope to have an update next week.

MiLB Players Get Paid*

(* or start to)

Finally, MLB is beginning to invest in their assets.

The Blue Jays have largely been out on front of this issue, raising the salaries of their minor league players by 50% in 2019. They’ve invested in accommodations for players during the season, and are working on off-season digs for players who elect to spent the off-season near the training complex.

The historic agreement between MLB and the Minor League Baseball Players Association - the first in about a century and a quarter - has yet to be ratified, but according to J.J. Cooper of BA, salaries will be doubled:

In addition, new housing standards and six year free agency for players who sign at 19 or older (from the previous seven) will be in the new deal. MLB settled a court case last year that saw players get retro pay for spring training, extended, and instructional league. Certainly, the wage bumps are hardly what one would call liveable in these inflationary times, but with previous improvements like the elimination of clubhouse deals and significantly better food and nutrition options, things have become a little better for minor league players.

That the Bisons came north and had time to work out as a club and get used to their new accommodations in Buffalo before heading out on a road trip to start the season next week was a welcome development.

It’s about time.