Posts tagged Las Vegas
Interview with Taylor Cole: Right-Hander Now on a Different ‘Mission’
53 months ago
Taylor Cole was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 29th round of the 2011 draft (photo credit: Vancouver Canadians)
While Taylor Cole was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2007 and the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2008, he joined the Blue Jays’ organization in 2011 after being selected in the 29th round.
Cole admitted that he did not sign in 2007 as he felt he would greatly benefit from playing college ball. In 2008, he also mentioned that he decided to bypass the draft and serve on a mission, which, interestingly enough, was in Toronto, Ontario.
In fact, Cole’s two-year mission was initiated thanks to advice from Baltimore Orioles’ Jeremy Guthrie. Cole told JaysProspects: “After my first year in college, at the age of 19, I served a two-year mission for my church in, of all places, Toronto Canada. I have grown to love Canada from both serving my mission in Toronto and playing my first year of pro ball in Vancouver. Serving the mission was a very difficult time, but I know that it was the right thing to do for me at that time in my life.”
After his mission, Cole returned back to the game, attending Brigham Young University, a school that combines both the importance of church and athletics. There, as a softmore, he posted a 5-5 record with a 2.99 ERA. “BYU was a great school in which I spent the first year back from my mission,” Cole stated. “It was a good transition because they were able to help me get back in baseball shape because they deal with return missionaries coming home each year. I am grateful for the time spent there and the lifelong friends that I made.” (more…)
Interview with Kevin Howard: Entering his 10th minor league season… with the Blue Jays!
65 months ago
by April Whitzman
in News and Notes
Kevin Howard just finished his 9th minor league season. He spent most of his time with both the Fisher Cats and the Las Vegas 51s.
Kevin Howard won the MVP of the Eastern League Championships with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats this past season. But his path to this place in his professional career has been a constant journey. Now thirty years old, Howard has just finished his ninth professional minor league season, having played for eight different major league organizations, including the Cincinnati Reds, the New York Yankees, the Las Angeles Dodgers, the Philadelphia Phillies, the Seattle Mariners, the San Diego Padres, the St. Louis Cardinals, and most recently, the Toronto Blue Jays. Howard sat down with JaysProspects to discuss his journey thus far and his plans for his future.
“It’s certainly been interesting!” said Howard. “It has definitely had its ups and downs, mostly ups though. I love baseball so the fact that I have had a chance to play for all these years and been able to make a living doing it has certainly made it all worth it. The best part about playing for so many teams is you get to run into so many different kinds of people. I have met some great friends that I am confident I will be close with for the rest of my life and I have learned how to interact with different people from different places and up-bringings.”
Howard also mentioned some of the highlights he has experience through his professional career. (more…)
Interview with Mike McDade: Strong defence and can hit a ball over “de-fence’”
17 months ago
Mike McDade is in his 5th season with the Blue Jays' organization.
Mike McDade has been an integral part of the Blue Jays organization throughout the past five seasons, playing a marvellous first base for the GCL Blue Jays, the Auburn Doubledays, the Lansing Lugnuts, the Dunedin Blue Jays, and this year, the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. McDade spoke with JaysProspects recently to highlight his pleasurable experience with the organization
McDade was selected by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 6th round of the 2007 MLB Draft out of out of Silverado High School in Las Vegas, Nevada. “My dream had always been to have an opportunity to play professional baseball.” McDade indicated in reference to the draft, “It was an amazing feeling to be drafted by the Blue Jays. To be honest; I wasn’t expecting to go as high as I did in the draft.”
While McDade was chosen in the 6th round of the MLB draft, his idol he had growing up was chosen 1st overall in the 1987 draft. “My favourite player growing up was Ken Griffey Jr. I absolutely love the way he played the game as he played it professional yet at the same time, had so much fun doing it.” (more…)
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.
Hechevarria called up to AAA and other notes
09 months ago
by Doug Plourd
in Las Vegas 51s
Adeiny Hechevarria is heading to Las Vegas: After finally finding his swing over the past 10 games, the 22-year-old Cuban born Adeiny is moving up to AAA. Lauded by scouts and publications alike for his slick fielding, Hechevarria’s bat had come to life for the first place Fisher Cats, hitting over .300, scoring 7 runs, and colleting 5 extra base hits in the past week and a half. Signed in April of 2010 to the largest signing bonus in team history, Hechevarria has progressed through the system relatively quickly. The move is curious to say the least, as the Cats are in the middle of an EL Title race. However, personal growth in the minors sometimes outweighs team results, and perhaps AA and the troops thought it was time to challenge him more to see his adjustments. We at JaysProspects wish him the best of luck at this next stop, and expect to see him standing to Lawrie’s left in 2012.
Other Notes:
USA Today announces it’s five finalists for MiLB player of the year: The names are impressive: Matt Moore P Rays, Julio Teheran P Braves, Paul Goldschmidt 1B Diamondbacks, Mike Trout OF Angels, Joe Wieland P San Diego. Look at it again….someone is missing……I’ll give you a hint, he hit a grand slam at the RC last night. I can make a case for Moore and MAYBE Trout as locks for this list, and maybe Brett Lawrie playing only 69 games in Vegas hurt his cause, (and MAYBE they take defense into account, but I doubt it) but it is a crime that Lawrie is not up for this award. In 69 games, he had over a 100 hits, scored about a run a game, had 24 doubles, 6 triples and 18 homers, slugging at .661 with a ridiculous 1.076 OPS. If they had extended the list to 10 finalists, I am sure he would have made that cut, but he deserves this award as much as anyone on the final list. Speaking of Lawrie…..
Do you think….. I know the MLB sample size is small, and the fielding is still (and will be for a while) an adventure, but even in the thick of a playoff race in the NL Central, I think the Brewers would trade Marcum back for Lawrie every day of the week and twice on Sunday. I watched the slam and dugout aftermath a few times today, and it was as much goosebump inducing at tenth viewing as it was the first. The dude has “IT”. For the first time in a while, no longer is the 9-hole in the lineup the time that you turn to your buddy and say “Time for another Molson” (or Labatts…it’s been a while since I have been to the Centre) The raw emotion, the way his teammates reacted, the curtain call. I said it last week, I will say it again…..this is the kind of kid that Toronto can get behind, and bring the casual fan back to the ballpark
Will the drafted prospects sign?
August 15th is right around the corner: Not only my 40 and 1/3rd birthday, but (almost) equally important, final signing day for 2011 draft picks. The top three arms that the Jays drafted are still unsigned:
Daniel Norris: A man in the know who is a former employee of the team (and whose name rhymes with Wreath Paw) puts the chances at an even 50/50. This one is going to come go down to the wire, and it will be interesting to see what the final dollar figures are. My Prediction – I hate to say it, but I don’t think he is going to sign
Kevin Comer: I have not heard a single thing about the progress in talks, which I am sure is not that big a deal. Um….I have nothing more to say here. My Prediction – He will get signed.
Tyler Beede: Again, from that former employee of the team, a “risk pick” like this is USUALLY a sign that the player has indicated he will eventually sign. And because he is going to sign WAY over slot, this one will not be announced before 11:59 on Monday. If there is any signs that he is not going to, so help me, I will take the 1 hour trip to his town in Mass, and litter his yard with Blue Jays “stuff”, and then put him in the car, bring him to the local theater, and make him watch the Glee movie over and over until he cracks like a Russian Spy under the heat lamps. Prediction – He will sign.
A plea for help: A few of us newer writers have been kicking around the idea about doing a weekly roundtable type column, but we need your help. Leave comments below, and let me know what types of questions you would want us to kick around. Thanks!
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