Look - minor league ball is very much about development. Players have development plan goals to meet, and like it or not, those tend to take precedence over winning. Yes, winning is always nice in the minors, but there can be a cost to it, which front offices are seldom willing to pay.

And the fans in Buffalo, Manchester, and Dunedin can tell you all about that. The Bisons lost six in a row before beating Durham last week, while as of this writing New Hampshire has dropped eight straight games, and Dunedin has been on the short end of the scoreboard in five of their last seven. Even Vancouver, which is on the verge of clinching a playoff spot, dropped five of six to Hillsboro, the team chasing them. In the final game of the series, the C’s took an 8-3 lead into the bottom of the 9th, only to allow 6 Hops runners to score in a walk off.

There have been ups and downs in the system, but this was one helluva way to enter the final few weeks of the season. I’ll save the post mortem for a future newsletter.

Player of the Month

Vancouver OF Jace Bohrofen exploded onto the scene in his pro debut with Dunedin last year, bashing 3 Home Runs in hs first 3 Florida State League games.

The 6th round pick from Arkansas certainly is a break from the contact-first profile of so many of their high position player picks over the past several drafts. Bohrofen had a strong start with Vancouver this season, but began to see a heavy diet of spin, and his numbers tailed off, bottoming out with a .197/.319/.303 July. But he’s always been able to draw a walk (his 57 BBs are 4th in the Northwest League), and that patience paid off in August, as he began to chase less, and slugged his way to a 1.055 OPS month, easily the best mark in the system.

Pitcher of the Month

Without a doubt, Bohrofen’s teammate Kendry Rojas gets the nod.

After only two outings in April, the southpaw was put on the IL with shoulder issues. He came back in July, and had a scorching August, posting a 2.37 in 5 starts, striking out 34 in 30 innings.

Rojas pairs a 94-95 fastball with a high spin rate slider that’s rapidly becoming one of the best in the system. He pounds the strike zone (only 7 BBs last month), and NWL hitters have largely been overmatched against him.

Macko on the Way Back

LHP Adam Macko made a second rehab start for Dunedin last week. There was some rust in his first outing, but he looked much sharper in this most recent one:

So Long, Cory

I’m very sorry from a purely personal standpoint to see Minor League Pitching Development Coordinator Cory Popham leave the organization. Cory was always available to talk about pitching prospects, and gave me ample time to ask my laundry list of questions. I’ve learned a lot from people like Cory, and the hour we spent talking development in the C’s dugout at Nat Bailey last year was an experience that I’ll always remember.

It can’t have been a good year for him. Six of his pitchers went down with diagnosed or apparent UCL injuries. All organizations have to deal with injuries, but that was tough to overcome, especially given that several of them were top prospects.

I don’t know if this was a case of Cory leaving the organization of his own accord, or if this was a front office decision. It’s not uncommon for it to happen in the industry, and this is the time of year when it usually happens. I didn’t ask Cory, because I really don’t want to know - I do know that he wants to keep things positive, and with his communication and organizational skills, he will certainly find a job with another club as a result.

Is this the start of more changes in the organization? Quite possibly. The Blue Jays have not become the model of player development that Mark Shapiro had hoped for. And that could mean everyone - not just the farm department, who I think have done the best they could with what they were given to work with - could be under the microscope. One would think both the amateur and international scouting departments will be under some scrutiny.

Links

Here are some things I’ve liked over the past few days:

-Steve Ewen covers the Canadians for the Vancouver Province, and wrote about five things C’s fans should know heading into the final week of the regular season: https://theprovince.com/sports/vancouver-canadians-last-week-regular-season-what-to-know

-Dunedin play-by-play broadcaster Larry Larson was new to the organization this year, and did a great job. The guys from the Sports Avenue Twisted Podcast had him on this week to talk about the prospects he’s seen plying their trade for the D-Jays this season.

-as someone who has spent much time in baseball dugouts and clubhouses in the past, this updated look at the language of the locker room by the great Tyler Kepner of the New York Times was an entertaining read.