October 9, 2019

By Jay Blue

Blue Jays from Away

It's that time of year that we bring you our reports summarizing the season for the Blue Jays' minor league affiliates. We continue with the the Jays' Advanced-A club playing in the Florida State League, the Dunedin Blue Jays.

If you're new to Blue Jays from Away, we summarize all eight 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 Dunedin Blue Jays had a dominant season under manager Cesar Martin who celebrated an outstanding first season with the D-Jays, a year after managing the Lansing Lugnuts. Indeed, it was particularly interesting as the Blue Jays' home ballpark was undergoing renovation and the club was playing out of Jack Russell Stadium, a former home of the Clearwater Threshers, while also playing some "home" games on the road. The Blue Jays finished 80-55, the second best record in the 12-team league, just one game behind their Pythagorean Record of 81-54. The Blue Jays won the North Division in the first half, going 41-24 with the best record in the league and were 5 1/2 games up on the Clearwater Threshers. The Blue Jays won the North Division again in the second half, finishing 39-31 with a 2 1/2-game lead over the Tampa Tarpons. That said, the Blue Jays were unable to test their club in the playoffs as the fears of Hurricane Dorian had the league cancel the final weekend of the season as well as the playoffs.

The Dunedin Blue Jays had the best offence in the league, scoring 4.51 runs per game, finishing well above the league average of 3.84 r/g with a group of hitters who were 22 years of age, slightly below the league's average of 22.3 years of age. On the pitching side, the Jays were still strong, allowing 3.59 runs per game with a group that was 23 years of age, just 0.1 years older than the league average.

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 Dunedin Blue Jays:

Ryan Noda 10

Cal Stevenson 9.75

Maximo Castillo 9

Nick Allgeyer 8.83

Chavez Young 8.58

Cullen Large 8.33

Demi Orimoloye 8.33

Alejandro Kirk 7.41

Graham Spraker 6.17

Kevin Vicuna 5.33

Joey Murray 4.67

Josh Winckowski 4.58

Turner Larkins 4

Logan Warmoth 3.5

Norberto Obeso 3.33

Christian Williams 3.33

Justin Dillon 3

Kacy Clemens 3

Congrats to Ryan Noda who edged out Cal Stevenson to earn the Player of the Game Championship!

Blue Jays from Away Player of the Year

While Ryan Noda picked up the hardware in the Player of the Game Championship, it was catcher Alejandro Kirk, a 20-year-old Mexican, who took the title. Despite his young age, Kirk continued to be a powerhouse hitter for the Blue Jays, hitting a whopping 25 doubles and four home runs in just 276 plate appearances and he posted an .841 OPS. Noda, on the other hand, had 469 plate appearances with a .790 OPS, hitting 27 doubles, a triple and 13 home runs as our runner up. Cal Stevenson really turned around a slow start to earn some consideration before he was traded at the deadline to the Astros.

Honourable Mention: Ryan Noda, Cal Stevenson

Blue Jays from Away Pitcher of the Year

Unlike the race for Pitcher of the Year for the Lansing Lugnuts, the Dunedin Blue Jays had a clear winner with Maximo Castillo coming out on top despite a couple of strong contenders. Castillo led the club with 130 1/3 innings at the age of just 20 years old, posting a 2.69 ERA and 1.10 WHIP, striking out 114 and walking only 28. That beat out Nick Allgeyer who started off strongly, going 10-6 with a 3.95 ERA over 118 1/3 innings, Joey Murray, who started in Lansing and finished in New Hampshire so his 1.71 ERA over 63 innings doesn't carry as much weight as the work that Castillo shouldered. Additionally, Graham Spraker had a strong year with a 2.90 ERA and 1.17 WHIP over 108 2/3 innings.

Honourable Mention: Nick Allgeyer, Joey Murray, Graham Spraker

Blue Jays from Away Reliever of the Year

Jackson Rees could have been our Reliever of the Year, which would have marked the first time a player has won the same award and more than one level in the same year. With a 0.99 ERA and 1.05 WHIP over 36 1/3 innings, striking out 44 and walking 11 (for a 30.6% strikeout rate and 7.6% walk rate), it could have been a very easy decision to just give the award to Rees. But Brad Wilson proved to be just as dominant, allowing fewer hits, fewer walks and striking out five more batters despite pitching just 1 2/3 innings more. Wilson had a 1.42 ERA and 0.84 WHIP over 38 innings, striking out 49 and walking only 10 batters (for a 32.2% strikeout rate and 6.6% walk rate) before he moved up to New Hampshire for the rest of the year.

Honourable Mention: Jackson Rees

If you like us here, like us on Facebook!

The 2019 Toronto Blue Jays Minor League Handbook is available now! Visit the Handbook page for more information!