Blue Jays Prospects: Did They Move Too Quickly?

The Toronto Blue Jays made some noise heading into the 2015 season. They were the Anti-Cubs, and instead of leaving some of their top prospects in the minors, they opened the season with 6 rookies on their roster. That plan of attack, however, seems to have backfired.

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The Blue Jays made some nice moves in the offseason, led by Russell Martin coming to town, and were thought to be the favorites to take the weaker American League East behind the perfect blend of veteran leadership and a new youth injection. Instead, they sit at the bottom of the AL East under .500, and two of the six rookies are already back in the minors.

The most disappointing of the bunch is Daniel Norris. The 22-year old lefty had high aspirations as the soon to be ace of the Toronto Blue Jays. His first three starts were not pretty, as he couldn’t make it out of the 6th inning in any of them, and his third start he couldn’t make it out of the third.

Norris was brilliant in his fourth start of the season, going 7 innings, allowing just one run and striking out 7 Tampa Bay Rays. It seemed that Norris had turned the corner. But then the dead arm issues began to arise.

Was it too much too quickly for the young fireballer? Was he simply not ready for the length of Major League games that dead arm would strike him so quickly? Or was it the control struggles that once plagued Norris in his early Minor League career wearing out his arm so early in the season?

The latter may be the primary cause, as he has had issues commanding the strike zone early on in 2015. He carries a 1.50 WHIP walking 12 batters in his first 23.1 innings. Opponents are hitting .267 against Norris, which isn’t terrible, but shows that when he finds the strike zone, he is being hit (23 hits allowed in 23.1 innings) which allows the free passes to cross the plate and force Norris to pitch from behind, which is never good for any young arm. Perhaps a few starts in Buffalo will work the kinks out, but the Blue Jays are left wondering if they made a mistake rushing Norris to the bigs.

Equally disappointing was the start for Dalton Pompey. The 22-year outfielder made a name for himself as a speedster who found a knack for getting on base and causing havoc. He heads back to Buffalo with a .193/.264/.337 slash line and a 22:6 strikeout to walk ratio. Pompey simply looked lost at the plate.

Adding to his struggles was the emergence of Kevin Pillar. The least likely to be as big a contributor of the six rookies the Blue Jays rolled with on Opening Day, Pillar has been a pleasant surprise. Pillar is currently amid a 6-game hitting streak in which he has gone 11-for-29 (.379 average). He has doubled in five of the six games and is really contributing well all around.

He started to see more time in centerfield which took opportunities away from Pompey. Perhaps the Jays simply want Pompey to work out his early season struggles with everyday playing time. He wasn’t going to see that in Toronto with the emergence of Pillar.

Miguel Castro, one of two 20-year old righties the Blue Jays armed their 2015 bullpen with, came out on fire to start 2015. He looked so sharp that he did what most Blue Jays’ faithful wanted him to do: supplant the unreliable Brett Cecil as the team’s closer. Castro looked sharp converting his first two save opportunities flawlessly.

Then the wheels slowly began coming off for Castro. He blew his first save opportunity, which isn’t the end of the world, but then started a streak in which he allowed a run in each of his next three outings. The results weren’t pretty. He converted a save despite allowing an “earned run” (Castro allowed a three run bomb to Manny Machado, but two of the runners were inherited). The game was 7-3 when Castro took the mound and Machado’s bomb created a save opportunity that wasn’t initially there. Castro then blew a save and in his next outing took the loss.

He has lost the closer role to Cecil, and has since looked better back in the set-up role. Again, perhaps the Blue Jays moved to quickly on Castro. His 20-year old counterpart, Roberto Osuna, has looked every bit the part of a key cog in the bullpen, but he has blown his lone save opportunity of the season.

Then there is Aaron Sanchez. I personally was one of the party that felt that Sanchez was the closer of the Blue Jays future. He looked electric last season in his debut at the back end of the Blue Jays’ bullpen. Marcus Stroman’s season ending injury, however, forced the Blue Jays hand and moved Sanchez back to the rotation, despite having signed the inconsistent Marco Estrada in the offseason.

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Simply put, Sanchez hasn’t looked good at all. He has been his own worst enemy, and looking at his last start is the perfect example. The 22-year old righty walked 6 batters over 5.2 innings. Sanchez was able to pitch in and out of trouble and take his second win of the season.

Sanchez has allowed 15 walks over his past three starts. Two of those starts (one in which he walked 7, and the other the 6 walk performance), he has somehow won. There were initially rumors that Sanchez could be heading back to the bullpen, but going 2-0 over his last three starts, despite the blatant control issues has kept him in the rotation. I am not so sure that that is the correct move, but Sanchez will get the chance to prove me wrong in his next start.

Any team that starts a rookie from day one will undergo a few going pains throughout the first month of the season. When a team starts 6 rookies out of the gate, those growing pains are magnified greatly. A strong May could erase doubts, but right now it may appear that the Blue Jays move too quickly on one of the better farm systems in baseball.