Scout St. Julien (Loup) he gone
* LHP Aaron Loup, the hardest-working arm in the Blue Jays bullpen the past two years, was signed by Rob St. Julien. Now, St. Julien has resigned as the Jays southeast cross checker. .... 2014 Canadians in the Minors … Canadians in College 2015 Canadian draft list Letters of Intent
By Bob Elliott
The Blue Jays are looking for a scout with saintly qualities.
Rob St. Julien, Blue Jays southeast cross checker, has resigned.
You might not know the name St. Julien, but he scouted and signed Aaron Loup, Evan Crawford and Dan Farquhar.
Loup, a ninth-round selection in 2009 from the Tulane University Green Wave, led the Jays in appearances in 2013 working 64 games. The Duck Dynasty fan was 4-6, with two saves and a 2.47 ERA in 69 1/3 innings, as he walked 13 and struck out 53.
And he led again this season making 71 appearances with a 4-4 record, a 3.15 ERA and saving four games. Loup walked 30 and struck out 56 in 68 2/3 innings.
How does one measure a scout’s success?
It’s his evaluation skills, how many players he signed make the majors and how many games do they play in the majors?
Getting 10 to the majors is considered an outstanding career. Former Jays scout Jim Hughes had a Hall of Fame career signing 10 Jays, including Mike Timlin, Woody Williams, Bred Cornett, Xavier Hernandez and Darren Hall and 10 future New York Mets.
With Loup (168 games), Farquhar, a 10th rounder from the Louisiana at Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns in 2008 amateur draft (115) Crawford, an eight rounder from the Auburn Tigers in the same year (10) have combined to pitch in 293 games.
St. Julien is off to a good start.
Youth movement: The Jays’ starting rotation gets younger and younger with Marcus Stroman in for the final 20 starts and Aaron Sanchez lurking next spring.
With the departure of St. Julien the only Jays scouts currently on the amateur side from the 35 amateur scouts in 2010 the only remaining scouts are area scouts Coulson Barbiche, Ryan Fox, Randy Kramer, Wes Penick, plus cross checkers Mike Mangan, Tim Rooney and Blake Crosby.
Jays scouting director Brian Parker has one of the more inexperienced amateur staffs in the game, according to other organizations.
Toronto is scheduled to pick 18th next June, although that can change when few agents land.
Under the knife: Jays prospect Daniel Norris had arthroscopic surgery performed to remove bone spurs and loose bodies in his left elbow.
The procedure was performed by Dr. David Altchek in New York City.
Norris is expected to be ready for the start of spring as recovery time from the surgery is normally six weeks.
So Norris was not at 100% when he made his Sept. 25 start ... which begs the question why start and risk injury.
He gone: Jon Nunnally, hitting coach at double-A New Hampshire this year, did not have his contract renewed. Nunally was at double-A in 2012 and spent the 2013 season at triple-A Buffalo.
RIP: Jose Martinez, an Atlanta Braves minor league instructor, passed away at Lake Buena Vista, Fla. last week during instructional league.
I first met Martinez in either 1982-83 when the Kansas City Royals came to West Palm Beach. He asked if the man in the dugout was Claude Raymond.
Minutes later Raymond approached and said to Martinez “you probably don’t remember me but I used to ....”
Replied Martinez: “Of course I remember you, I hit one home run in my career ... off you.”
Kelowna strong: We wrote the other day what an impact Ron Tostenson, a former Montreal Expos minor leaguer and Jays scout, had scouting for the Seattle Mariners when they drafted centre fielder Adam Jones and right-hander Chris Tillman. And how growing up in Kelowna, B.C. he’d sit in his father Hank Tostenson’s blue pick-up listening to San Francisco Giants games.
Canadian Baseball Hall of Famer Allan Simpson, who founded Baseball America and now works at Perfect Game scouting service writes:
“Hits close to home for me as Hank Tostenson was my coach on 3-to-4 occasions growing up and also was at my wedding. I distinctly remember going to Grand Forks as a 15-year-old and playing in a Babe Ruth League regional tournament. I rode with Hank and Ron (then just a baby) to the tournament.
“I can also relate to Hank hopping in his truck on regular occasions back in the 60s to listen to Giants games on clear channel KFBK from Sacramento. I did the same, and it was often our only real opportunity to listen to big league games on radio, though it was generally only on Tuesday and Friday nights when the Giants were at home, or playing night games in Los Angeles.
“You could never get out-of-town stations until it was dark, so that ruled out Giants games played on the east coast and the abundance of day games they played at Candlestick Park. The days of Russ Hodges and Lon Simmons.”
Incoming: Bo Schultz has been down and he’s been on his way up.
Now he hopes to head north.
The Blue Jays claimed Schultz, a side winding reliever from the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday, as one of the first building blocks as they try to rebuild for next season.
Undrafted out of Northwestern University in 2008 and released by the Oakland A’s three years later, Schultz finished 2011 pitching for the Grand Prairie AirHogs in the independent league American Association.
He progressed to the point where Baseball America ranked him the Diamondbacks 13th best prospect heading into 2014. Schults was 10-8 with a 6.18 ERA in 28 games (23 starts) at triple-A Reno, walking 46 and striking out 82 in 135 1/3 innings.
In four games with Arizona he was 0-1 with a 7.88 ERA in eight innings.