October 31, 2021

By Jay Blue

Blue Jays from Away

If you're new to Blue Jays from Away, we summarize all six of the Blue Jays' minor league teams in four parts: The Blue Jays from Away Awards, Starting Pitchers, Relief Pitchers and Position Players. Players are discussed with the team that they spent the most time with (by innings pitched for pitchers and at bats for batters).

The DSL Blue Jays, under manager Dane Fujinaka had a strong season, finishing in first place in the Baseball City Division with a 38-19 record, a game and a half ahead of the DSL Padres, and two games ahead of their pythagorean record of 36-21. Of the 46 teams in the Dominican Summer League, the Blue Jays had the seventh best runs scored per game, scoring 5.70 runs per game which well above the league average of 4.77 runs per game with an offence that averaged 17.9 years old (right at the league average). The pitching finished 12th, allowing 4.25 runs per game, which was, again, above average, with a pitching staff that averaged 18.4 years old with a league average of 18.7 years.

Blue Jays from Away Player of the Game Champion

For those of you who followed the minor league reports here, you’ll know that I “awarded” Player of the Game (PotG) accolades on a game-by-game basis. It should comfort you to know that I’ve been keeping track of these daily awards and my rationale for the system is as follows.

The Player of the Game Awards were determined by a number of factors that included who I thought had the most impact on the game and who might have gone “above and beyond.” Many nights, there was just one Player of the Game. If there was, he earned one point. If I thought that either a) no one stood out enough to merit a single PotG, or b) two or more players were outstanding and deserved mention, I split the point up into two, three or four shares. If two players earned PotG mention, they each received 0.5 points and if three players earned mentions, they each received 0.33 points, etc. There were occasions that I felt that no one merited the award and therefore, I did not give out any points.

Here are the final standings for Blue Jays from Away Player of the Game for the DSL Blue Jays:

Manuel Beltre 5.33

Robert Robertis 4

Francisco Fajardo 4

Darwin Cruz 3.5

Victor Arias 3

Yeuni Munoz 3

Eliander Alcalde 2.83

Cristian Feliz 2.83

Luis Garcia 2.5

Cristopher Castro 1.5

Endri Garcia 1.5

Jean Arnaez 1.5

Martin Gimenez 1.5

Jonathan Peguero 1

Jean Lopez 0.5

Neiyerbe Obeso 0.5

Johan Simon 0.5

Angel Santana 0.5

Francis Mercedes 0.5

Congrats to the winner of the Blue Jays from Away Player of the Game Championship for 2021 in the DSL: Manuel Beltre!

Blue Jays from Away Player of the Year

While Manuel Beltre was the winner of the Player of the Game Championship, he actually finished with an OPS that was about 180 points lower than the team's best offensive player, switch hitting infielder Francisco Fajardo! Fajardo, 21, had an outstanding season, playing in 51 games (second on the team) while hitting .365/.445/.473 with seven doubles, four triples, a home run and 30 stolen bases (in 37 attempts). Fajardo's combination of offensive skill and speed, coupled with his playing three infield positions during the season make him the Player of the Year!

Honourable Mention: Endri Garcia, Cristian Feliz

Blue Jays from Away Pitcher of the Year

One of the major considerations for pitchers of the year is how many innings that they managed to log. While 18-year-old Sergio Caruci didn't lead the team, he still threw a significant 50 2/3 innings and also had the second best WHIP on the club at 1.046 with a 2.84 ERA and 61 strikeouts and 15 walks, giving him a better-than four-to-one strikeout to walk ratio. Our honourable mentions Eliander Alcalde and Darwin Cruz both had strong seasons but weren't as dominant overall.

Honourable Mention: Eliander Alcalde, Darwin Cruz

Blue Jays from Away Reliever of the Year

Very few of the really effective pitchers for the DSL Blue Jays were able to throw as many innings in relief as Keiner Leon, our Reliever of the Year. Leon, 17, tossed 34 2/3 innings with a 2.60 ERA and 1.212 WHIP, striking out 39 and walking just 11.

Honourable Mention: Johan Simon, Brahiam Jimenez

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