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Interview with Canadians’ second-baseman, Jon Berti
28 months ago
Berti presently leads the Canadians, with a .302 batting average
Guest post by Gideon Tirk
Jon Berti is the present second baseman for the Jays Low-Aaffiliate, the Vancouver Canadians. He has had a spectacular year, being a bright spot in the Canadians’ line-up, leading the team with a .302 and an OBP of .396. He also has utilized his speed well, making great plays in the field, and stealing 21 bases, only getting caught five times. Recently, Berti sat down with JaysProspects.com and highlighted some aspects about the young 21-year-old that many fans did not know.
Jays Prospects: What was your reaction when you were drafted this season, in the 18th round, by the Toronto Blue Jays?
Jon Berti: Being drafted by the Blue Jays was amazing. Without a doubt, it was a day that I never will forget. I am so happy that I was able to spend it with my family and closest friends.
Jays Prospects: While everyone at JaysProspects is glad that things worked the way they did, what was the biggest reason you didn’t sign after being drafted by the Oakland Athletics’ in the thirty sixth round in the 2008 draft?
Jon Berti: I did not sign after 2008 because I knew I was not ready to play professional baseball. My family and I decided that it would be best to go to college for at least 3 years, work on my degree, and work on becoming a better baseball player.
While he plays second base for the Canadians, Berti was originally a shortstop.
Jays Prospects: What position(s) other than second base do you play?
Jon Berti: I grew up always playing shortstop actually. This is really my first year that I am playing second base. I also have been working on playing a little bit of third base to make myself a little more versatile.
Jays Prospects: Which Major League player did you admire most when you were growing up, and why?
Jon Berti: I had a few players who I admired growing up. The first was Chipper Jones. I really like how hard he played the game. I also admired David Eckstein. He was a smaller player who played the game hard and was successful through hard work.
Jays Prospects: Is there any former or current player you can compare your game to?
Jon Berti: The player I would compare myself to is probably Dustin Pedroia. He is a smaller guy who out works most players around the league.
Jays Prospects: Since starting to play for the Vancouver Canadians, what has been your favourite moment?
Berti states that his best skill on the field is his competitiveness
Jon Berti: I have had a couple favourite moments. The first one was Nick Baligod’s walk off grand slam. That was a fun game to play in. The second moment would have to be last Saturday night, August 27th. The crowd was electric, my parents were in the stands, the grounds crew did the dance to Party Rock Anthem and the night was finished with fireworks. A night I’ll never forget.
Jays Prospects: In your mind what is your best and worst skill when it comes to playing baseball?
Jon Berti: My best skill in baseball has to be my competitiveness. I may not always be the most talented on the field but my ability to work hard and compete everyday goes a long way. My worst skill would have to be my power. I am not the biggest guy, so I won’t be hitting too many home runs in my career.
Jays Prospects: You’ve been hit by 11 pitches this season, which one hurt the most?
Jon Berti: I didn’t realize I had been hit that much! I got one in my left shoulder last week, and it got me pretty good so I would have to say that one.
Jays Prospects: What is the reason that you have been able to be so successful so far in your young career?
Jon Berti: I credit a lot of my success to my teammates and coaches. I have been lucky to play with some older guys like Bryan Kervin who really took me under their wings and have helped me figure out how to be a professional baseball player. The coaches here have also been helpful because they are always willing to work with us players any time of the day. I also credit much of it to my parents, family, and friends. They have all been very supportive up me and when things are going well on the field, I can always turn to them for support.
Jays Prospects: JaysProspects.com would like to thank you for putting in the time to do this interview, and wishes you good luck for the rest of your season in Vancouver.
Jon Berti: Thanks, it’s been fun!
An Im-Perez-Ive debut for Luis Sinks A`s
09 months ago
by GuestPost
in News and Notes
Luis Perez pitched 6 strong innings, allowing only one hit and two walks.
Guestpost by Steven McEwen
Luis Perez made his first Major League career start today in dominant fashion, to the surprise of most. This year, with the Toronto Blue Jays, the 26-year-old lefty had appeared in 29 games, having thrown 43 and 2/3 innings, striking out 37 and walking 15. He also started all eight games in AAA Las Vegas with 45 innings pitched, recording 23 walks and 45 strikeouts.
PITCHES THROWN
Perez featured a four-seam fastball with heavy sink, a slider and a changeup. His four seam fastball was thrown 65 times, his slider 9 times, and his changeup twice. His fastball topped out at 94.6 MPH, and averaged 91.7 MPH. The slider hit 83.8 MPH, and averaged 82.1 MPH. His changeup topped out at 84.8 MPH and averaged 83.2 MPH.
FOUR SEAM FASTBALL
His fastball showed late heavy sink, moving 3.5 inches from release towards the left batter’s box and 10.4 inches of downward movement on average. Of the 65 four-seam fastballs he threw, 41 were for strikes, swinging, fouled, in play or called. Interestingly, two of his five swinging strikes were from four seam fastballs.
SLIDER
His slider moved 4.8 inches towards the left batter’s box and 0.6 inches of downwards movement on average. He threw nine sliders, six ending in strikes, who of which were swinging strikes.
CHANGEUP
His changeup moved 5.4 inches towards the right batter’s box and had 7.8 inches of downward movement on average. Of the 6 changeups he threw, 3 ended up in stikes, 1 of which was swinging strikes.
PITCH LOCATION
Overall, as mentioned, Perez had five swinging strikes (MLB average is 6.8 for 80 pitches), 15 called strikes, and 60 strikes via foul or ball in play. He had no called strikes that were out of the strike zone, and two called ball that was right on the edge of the strike zone.
- 45 pitches were in the strike zone or 56.3%
(MLB average is 45.7%)
Breaking the strike zone into 12ths (4×3)
- Six pitches were to the right third of the plate. Of the six, none were in the bottom six inches, three were in the bottom foot (including bottom six inches) of the strike zone and three were in the top foot.
- 14 pitches were to the center third of the plate. Of the 14, five were in the bottom six inches, eight were in the bottom foot of the zone and six were in the top foot.
- 25 pitches were in the left third of the plate. Of the 24, four were in the bottom six inches, 15 were in the bottom foot of the zone and 10 was in the top foot.
- Of the 35 pitches out of the strike zone, 28 were called balls, none were called strikes, three were fouled off, two were put in play for outs and two were a swing and miss.
HIS BALLS IN PLAY & FIELDING INDEPENDANT NUMBERS
Perez faced 20 batters total, inducing eight ground balls, three flyballs, two popups and one line drive. His fielding independent pitching or FIP was 2.68 to go with his spotless earned run average. His expected FIP (xFIP) was 3.28 (xFIP normalizes home run rate to league average home run per fly ball rate of 10.6%).
OVERALL IMPRESSIONS
Perez didn’t make batters swing and miss much, but he got a bunch of funny swings, forcing Oakland’s batters to foul off pitches awkwardly. The heavy sink on his fastball was evident as he got eight ground balls, many of them easy ground outs. He pounded the strike zone (45 of 80 pitches), and kept hitters off balance all game, throwing his fastball high and in many times to left handed hitters forcing batters to foul off pitches. He didn’t use his slider and changeup much, but both were fairly effective. His slider looks like it will get hit in the majors though given more scouting details on him. Overall, it was a great start, and he earned another, but his stuff still figures to be better coming out of the bullpen.
Alvarez’s Debut Very “Heat”ed
29 months ago
Last night, highly touted pitcher 21-year-old pitcher, Henderson Alvarez, out of Venezuela made his major league debut. Despite all the hype coming into today, it may just be the fourth most talked about event from the Blue Jays today. Despite the benches clearing, Brett Lawrie’s grand slam, and ‘Spydome,’ let’s talk about Alvarez’s debut.
PITCHES THROWN
During the game, Alvarez showed a four-seam fastball (which he threw 69 times) that averaged 94 MPH and topped out at 96.9. He also threw a two-seam fastball (thrown 7 times) that averaged 92.6 MPH and topped out at 94.5 MPH. His third pitch was a slider (thrown 7 times) averaged 82.7 MPH that topped out at 84.6 MPH. Lastly, he had an effective changeup (thrown 21 times) that averaged 85.7 MPH and topped out at 87.4 MPH.
FOUR SEAM FASTBALL & TWO SEAM FASTBALL
His fastball showed great late movement and moved on average 7.9 inches from release towards the right batter’s box and 5.3 inches of downward movement on average. Of the 69 four-seam fastballs he threw, 45 were for strikes, swinging. His two seam fastball moved 9.9 inches towards the right batter’s box and 2.7 inches of downward movement. He threw seven with only two of them being strikes.
SLIDER
Alvarez’s slider moved 4.8 inches towards the left batter’s box and 0.9 inches of downwards movement on average. This was an effective pitch as out of the seven attempts he used it, six of them were strikes. Interestingly, none of them were swinging strikes.
CHANGEUP
His changeup moved 6.4 inches towards the right batter’s box and had 2.6 inches of downward movement on average. Of the 21 changeups he threw, 11 ended up in strikes, three of which were swinging strikes.
PITCH LOCATION
Overall he had five swinging strikes (MLB average is 8.8 for 104 pitches), 18 called strikes, and 41 strikes via foul or ball-in-play. He had three called strikes that were out of the strike zone to the left batter’s box, and two called balls that were actually in the strike zone.
- 56 pitches were in the strike zone. This equals 53.9%. MLB average is 45.7%.
- 25 pitches were to the left third of the plate. Of the 25, 4 were in the bottom 6 inches, 14 were in the bottom foot of the strike zone and 11 were in the top foot.
- 24 pitches were to the center third of the plate. Of the 24, 8 were in the bottom 6 inches, 20 were in the bottom foot of the zone and 4 were in the top foot.
- 7 pitches were in the right third of the plate. Of the 7, 1 was in the bottom 6 inches, 6 were in the bottom foot of the zone and 1 was in the top foot.
- Of the 48 pitches out of the strike zone, 38 were called balls, 3 were called strikes, 4 were fouled off, 2 were put in play for outs and 1 was a swing and miss.
BACK TO BACK STRIKEOUTS
JEMILE WEEKS STRIKE OUT. THIRD INNING
- Pitch 1: 93.8 MPH Two Seam Fastball – Foul
- Pitch 2: 86.1 MPH Changeup – Called Strike
- Pitch 3: 86.2 MPH Changeup – Ball
- Pitch 4: 94.6 MPH Four Seam Fastball – Foul
- Pitch 5: 87.4 MPH Changeup – Foul
- Pitch 6: 85.7 MPH Changeup – Called Strike
CLIFF PENNINGTON STRIKE OUT. THIRD INNING
- Pitch 1: 94.5 MPH Four Seam Fastball – Swinging Strike
- Pitch 2: 94.4 MPH Four Seam Fastball – Called Strike
- Pitch 3: 86.8 MPH Changeup – Ball
- Pitch 4: 86.9 MPH Changeup – Ball
- Pitch 5: 94.9 MPH Four Seam Fastball – Foul Tip
HIS BALLS IN PLAY & FIELDING INDEPENDANT NUMBERS
Alvarez faced 27 batters total, inducing nine ground balls, three fly balls, one popup, and three line drives. His fielding independent pitching (FIP) was 4.95 to go with his 4.74 ERA. His expected FIP (xFIP) was 3.71. (xFIP normalizes home run rate to league average home run per fly ball rate of 10.6%).
OVERALL IMPRESSIONS
Overall, despite not getting many swings and misses, Alvarez was extremely impressive. He pounded the lower strike zone (40 of 56 in zone pitches) and induced weak contact. He had only four hard hit balls all game and kept the ball on the ground. His fastball was nasty, hard with lots of movement, and his curveball was better than advertized, showing good command and using it at appropriate times in the count. His slider wasn’t used much, but it was tight, with not much that much movement though and a bit loopy, making it easier to hit. Based on of these factors, his pitch sequencing, and the way he adjusted to what hitters were doing, Alvarez has immense front of the rotation potential and can only get better as he gets more experience.
Deck McGuire: A Recap what the Blue Jays have on ‘Deck’ thus far
19 months ago
Guest post by Steven McEwen
On June 7th, 2010, Blue Jays fans waited with bated breath for their new-found saviour, Alex Anthopoulos, to make his first draft selection as the Toronto Blue Jays General Manager. Blue Jays fans had become frustrated with former GM J.P. Richardi, and his safe picks and failed High School draftees that merely littered the lower minors all the way to the big leagues. They wanted change. They wanted a new direction. They wanted hope.
Alex Anthopoulos’ first selection in the MLB First Year Player Draft gave them just that. With the 11th pick overall, the Blue Jays selected Deck McGuire out of Georgia Tech and never looked back. Here is how he has performed so far with his drafted team:
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After signing at the deadline on August 16th last year, Deck made his debut in the spring with High-A Ball Dunedin Blue Jays.
Normal Numbers: Deck pitched in 19 Games, recording 104.2 innings pitched, which allowing 89 hits, 38 runs, 32 earned runs, 38 walks, and 102 strikeouts.
Advanced Numbers: In his 19 games, he had a 2.75 ERA, 3.63 FIP, 38.2% of BIP for GB, 39.6% BIP for FB, 11.3% BIP for LD, 7.8% of BIP for PU, 68 K’s Swinging, and 7.8% FB For HR’s.
Just a few notes;
-FIP is Fielding Independent Pitching, it assigns a set value to homeruns, walks, and strikeouts otherwise known as true outcomes, and predicts how a pitcher does without factoring in defensive play behind him (Since as we know ERA only accounts for errors).
-BIP is Balls In Play, or the number of plate appearances where defense comes into play. Homeruns, walks and strikeouts are all taken out for Balls In Play.
-FB is flyballs, GB is groundballs, LD is linedrives and PU is popups.
What makes him even better is that his numbers showed pretty decent control (3.26 BB/9) and solid fielding independent pitching numbers. He was able to keep balls from making solid contact (shown by his 11.3% LD Rate) and had 46% of his balls in play either via grounders or pop ups. His flyball per homerun rate was right around average.
Because of his stellar performance, he was promoted to the New Hampshire Fisher Cats on July 25, 2011. Where he continued to impress
Note: Article was written prior to games on 08-07-11.
Normal Numbers: In two games with his new team, he recorded 13 innings, while allowing 14 hits, 6 earned runs, 3 walks, and 11 strikeouts.
Advanced Numbers: That being said in those two games, he posted an ERA of 4.15, had a 5.20 FIP, as well as a 52.5% GB, 25.0% FB, 17.5% LD, 5.0 PU, 7 K’s swinging, and 30% of flyballs were hit for homeruns, well above league average.
As can be seen, his control has certainly transferred to AA and has induced more groundballs. While he has also gotten more linedrives’s, it should be expected with the change in levels as he is presently facing better hitters. His FIP is inflated because of a ridiculous 30% of flyballs going for homeruns – but do not worry – that will not keep up. While it is too early to make judgments from his AA numbers, one this is certain. Deck McGuire has great stuff, and the potential to be a phenomenal pitcher. We shouldn‘t be surprised if he‘s pitching in the majors by the end of 2012.
Anthony Gose: A Future 5-Tool Player?
29 months ago
Guest post by Gideon Turk
Last year, when the Toronto Blue Jays traded first-baseman, Brett Wallace, to the Houston Astros for outfielder, Anthony Gose, many wondered what the Blue Jays received. While Gose was described as a solid outfielder with a high-quality arm, excellent range, and ridiculous speed, many questioned if he could hit for average and if he could hit for power.
In his first full season in Toronto’s system he has answered the power question, by increasing his home run total for the third straight year; in fact, this season he has already hit 11 home runs, the latest coming last night. To go along with his 11 homers he has also hit 17 doubles and 6 triples for the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. Unfortunately, his average, however, has remained around the .250 mark, comparable to the rest of his career in the minor leagues.
While his bat has been hot, so has his defense, as in 2011, he has since committed only two errors!
Making up for his inconsistency at the plate, is his consistency in the field. His fielding has been phenomenal in 2011, committing only 2 errors in 258 chances, giving him a .992 fielding percentage. 9-time gold glove award winner Torii Hunter has a .993 career fielding percentage, only one thousandth of a percent better than the 20 year old prospect.
While Anthony Gose takes a lot of walks (55 so far), he strikes out more than double that amount by doing so 113 times, which is almost 25% of his plate appearances. When Gose doesn’t strike out and he puts the ball in play, he is batting .335, nearly 80 points higher than his regular average. This average is much higher due to his incredible speed, as he is able to beat out plenty of grounders, and reach base via infield hits.
Another stat that makes him such a useful player is his on base percentage which currently stands at .355. What makes him an even bigger threat is that when he does get on base, his speed becomes one of his greatest assets. Gose has already surpassed all expectations by stealing 50 bases in 65 attempts this season. To make this even more impressive, he has stolen 50 bases, yet has only had the opportunity to steal152 times, thus indicating that he is stealing a base almost a third of the time.
While his speed is a huge advantage for Gose, the young player still needs to focus on when to run and when not to. Members from the Blue Jays’ organization have announced that if he does not improve his base running IQ, he will not be in the majors anytime soon. That being said, if he does improve in that category then there is no doubt that he will be able to lead the league in the future in stolen bases. In fact, he is currently on pace to lead his league in stolen bases for the third straight year.
If Gose does improve his wild swinging ways, and continues his growth in power numbers, and works on learning the right opportunity to steal, then there is no question that by the time he makes it to the Majors, people will be mentioning 5-tools next to Anthony Gose’s name.