Future Blue Jays MiLB Notebook

Some fine pitching performances, rain and more rain in Vancouver, and some other stuff in what turned out to be just a handful of games in the system this past week.

Zulueta Electric

A wet field made unplayable when katabatic Niagara Frontier winds shredded the Sahlen Field tarp and some added rain pushed Yosef Zulueta’s 2023 debut back a week, but it was well worth the wait:

Building Zulueta back up after he pitched exclusively in relief from late July on last season, and struggled with shoulder issues, is understandable for a guy who hadn’t pitched in three seasons. His fastball was consistently in the mid-90s, and his slider looked noticeably sharper than it did last season. He threw more sliders than fastballs, which was interesting, and perhaps reflective of a changing philosophy in the organization. On the day, Zulueta struck out 6 in 3 innings, allowing a hit and one walk.

Jimmy Robbins

He doesn’t light up the radar gun, but everything Robbins throws is around the strike zone. And he hasn’t given up a run since early September, 2022.

Jimmy Robbins pitched at three levels last season, finishing the year with a pair of shutout starts (totalling 11 innings) at New Hampshire. He picked up right where he left off in his first start of 2023, tossing another five scoreless innings for the Fisher Cats, his third shutout outing in a row dating back to 2022.

Topping out at about 92-93, Robbins uses a four-pitch mix from a low arm slot to keep hitters off balance. He pitches on the black, and sequences well. Hitters know that they’re not going to see much in the way of pitches to get their barrels on when Robbins is on the mound.

Sem Robberse

Similar to Robbins, Robberse continued his dominance of AA hitters from last September when he opened New Hampshire’s season on April 6th.

Robberse fanned 8 over 4.2 innings, the only blemish on his line a 2nd inning Home Run. Robberse works quickly, commands his pitches well, and appears to have added a tick or two of velocity, touching 94 with his fastball - this was a goal the farm department had for him this offseason.

While Robberse works quickly and tends to pitch to contact, he missed a number of bats on the evening. His is a more conventional arm slot than Robbins; similar to Robbins, he gets hitters out by being around the plate so much, and mixing/commanding his pitches.

Pearson Rebounds

After three scoreless innings in as many outings to start the season (with 7Ks), Pearson scuffled on Friday night against the Red Sox Worcester affiliate.

WooSox SS David Hamilton (who was a thorn in the side of the New Hampshire Fisher Cats last year) led off the top of the 7th inning in game one of a doubleheader with the scored tied at 1 with a bunt single. Hamilton promptly stole 2nd, then Bobby Dalbec looped a flare into right field to put the runners on the corners with no outs. Pearson uncorked a wild pitch to allow Hamilton to score, then he walked the next hitter, his composure clearly fading. A ground out, another run-scoring wild pitch, followed by a strikeout and a walk put an end to Pearson’s outing with two out and a pair of runners aboard.

Pearson redeemed himself on Sunday, with another 1.1 innings of scoreless ball, making the Friday outing something of a blip. Pearson has been holding his velo into the high 90s for most of his appearances, something the big club is certainly taking notice of.

Top Prospect Hitters for the Week

Damiano Palmegiani 1.087 OPS

Otto Lopez .964

Spencer Horwitz .910

Tucker Toman .879

Addison Barger .833

Toss in four walks for Palmegiani in his first three games (along with several quality ABs), and you have your hitter of the week.

Cry Me an Atmospheric River

Vancouver was slated to open their home schedule on Thursday night, but torrential rains washed the whole weekend out, which probably means a slew of doubleheaders later on this season.

But not to worry, the C’s will be home again this week for a homestand starting on Tuesday. Yours truly will be in attendance starting on Thursday night, and I’ll file reports.

Baggett Injured

RHP Ben Baggett, who I wrote about a few weeks ago, is out for 6-9 months after undergoing a shoulder procedure. This is the latest setback for Baggett, who was signed last winter after Blue Jays VP Joe Sheehan saw videos of him throwing on Twitter. Baggett was a mainstay in the back of Dunedin’s bullpen in the second half of last season, and appeared primed for an aggressive promotion to start the season, but it was not to be. Ben has already thrown himself, as he always has, into his rehab, and vows to come back stronger than ever. Don’t bet against it.