Jay Blue: Buffalo Bisons 2018 Report
By Jay Blue
Blue Jays from Away
It's that time of year that we begin our reports summarizing the season for the Blue Jays' minor league affiliates. We continue our reports with the Buffalo Bisons.
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 Buffalo Bisons played themselves to an International League worst 61-77 record under second-year manager Bobby Meacham. The Bisons had some strong players but there weren't enough of them and it was likely that youth played a big role as the club played beneath their Pythagorean Record by six games. The Bisons finished ninth out of 14 teams in the league in runs produced, scoring just around the league average with 4.15 runs per game (0.01 runs below the league average) with a lineup that was significantly younger than league average at 24.7 years of age (well below the 26.5 year average age). On the pitching side, the pitching staff was actually 0.8 years older than average at 27.0 years of age and and gave up 4.28 runs per game (0.12 over the 4.16 r/g 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 leaders for Blue Jays from Away Player of the Game for the Buffalo Bisons:
Danny Jansen 11.83
Rowdy Tellez 11.33
Anthony Alford 9.67
Dwight Smith Jr. 8.5
Tim Lopes 6.83
Jonathan Davis 6.5
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. 6
Sean Reid-Foley 5.83
Reese McGuire 5.5
Jason Leblebijian 5
While it was a close race thanks to Rowdy Tellez's hot finish, Danny Jansen was the Buffalo Bisons' Player of the Game Champion!
Blue Jays from Away Player of the Year
While Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Montreal, Que.) had the best OPS of any of the Buffalo Bisons who played more than four games, he only played 30 games, leaving the next best OPS of anyone who played a significant number of games with the Bisons at the .863 number owned by Danny Jansen so congrats to Danny, a double winner of Blue Jays from Away awards.
Honourable Mention: Dwight Smith Jr., Rowdy Tellez
Blue Jays from Away Pitcher of the Year
There was a lot of movement with the Bisons' pitching staff this year and as a result, the team lead in innings was Chris Rowley with 101. While Rowley had a very good year with Buffalo, we're going to go with Ryan Borucki as our Pitcher of the Year who not only logged 77 innings with a 3.27 ERA and 1.17 WHIP, but he also grabbed a solid toehold in the Blue Jays' major league rotation.
Honourable Mention: Chris Rowley, Sean Reid-Foley
Blue Jays from Away Reliever of the Year
Justin Shafer was the best reliever for the Bisons with a 1.41 ERA and 1.12 WHIP, saving 15 games for the Herd and also getting a taste of the big leagues. Veteran minor leaguer Conor Fisk also took some big strides this season while Murphy Smith and Jose Fernandez also had strong years with both making their major league debut. Luis Santos and Jake Petricka also had good numbers in limited opportunities.
Honourable Mention: Conor Fisk, Jose Fernandez, Murphy Smith, Luis Santos, Jake Petricka
Relief Pitchers
We move on to the relief pitchers for the Buffalo Bisons, looking at pitchers who made most of their appearances out of the bullpen.
We begin with the pitchers who made the most appearances and work our way downwards from there. If a player played for more than one team over the course of the season, he'll be grouped according to the club he played the most with.
At 26, righty Conor Fisk took big strides in 2018 getting himself closer to his big league goal. The Wisconsin native started out his season with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, throwing 15 innings without giving up an earned run and allowing just eight hits and five walks with 16 strikeouts before he was promoted to Buffalo. With the Bisons, he led the club with 34 appearances, tossing 57 2/3 innings with a 2.81 ERA and 1.28 WHIP, with a solid, 18.9% strikeout rate and a good 7.4% walk rate. Fisk was showing a fastball that was a fair bit harder than I had seen it before, siting in the mid-90s and, while he seems to have been a late bloomer, he could fit into a role at the back end of the Bisons' bullpen in 2019 with a chance to get a call up at some point in the year.
Righty Justin Shafer also started the season with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats and he made 13 appearances in double-A with a 0.52 ERA and 0.98 WHIP over 17 1/3 innings, walking just five batters and striking out 17. Shafer moved up to the Buffalo Bisons towards the end of May and he picked up right where he left off, tossing 38 1/3 innings with a 1.41 ERA and 1.12 WHIP, striking out 20.4% of batters and walking 10.2%. Shafer earned a couple of looks in the majors and wound up with 8 1/3 innings in the big leagues, giving up four runs (three earned) on six hits but he walked seven batters and struck out only two. Shafer, 26, will start 2019 in Buffalo but he could spend more time in Toronto.
31-year-old Murphy Smith became the oldest player to make his major league debut with the Toronto Blue Jays and he spent most of the year in Buffalo, posting a 3.59 ERA and 1.37 WHIP over 62 2/3 innings with a 15.5% strikeout rate and 9.2% walk rate. In his 3 1/3 innings in Toronto, he allowed three runs on five hits and a walk and didn't strike anyone out. Smith was sent outright to the minors and the elected free agency at the end of the season.
Al Alburquerque joined the Blue Jays on a minor league free agent contract and the 32 year old righty tossed 28 2/3 innings in 25 appearances with the Buffalo Bisons. With a 3.77 ERA and 1.47 WHIP, he struck out 22.0% and walked 6.5% before he was released on July 2.
25-year-old righty Taylor Guerrieri also made his major league debut for the Blue Jays in 2018. He was picked up from the Rays of waivers in the offseason and made 23 appearances with the Buffalo Bisons (including seven starts), tossing 57 1/3 innings with a 5.18 ERA and 1.57 WHIP, striking out 15.8% and walking 8.5% of batters. With the Blue Jays, Guerrieri threw 9 2/3 innings, allowing five runs on nine hits and four walks with eight strikeouts. Guerrieri was sent outright to Buffalo and he elected free agency.
38-year-old lefty Craig Breslow split his time between New Hampshire and Buffalo this season, spending a significant amount of time on the DL. He tossed eight innings in New Hampshire, posting a 5.63 ERA and 1.62 WHIP, striking out eight and walking nine in eight innings. His Buffalo numbers were worse, as he gave up 29 hits in 19 1/3 innings and walked 15 to give him a 2.28 WHIP (and 5.59 ERA) with 21 strikeouts. Breslow elected free agency following the season.
Lefty Tim Mayza spent his Age 26 season bouncing back and forth between Buffalo and Toronto, making more appearances at the big league level. In 25 2/3 innings with the Bisons, he had a 4.56 ERA and 1.44 WHIP, striking out a whopping 32.7% of batters and walking 10.0%. In Toronto, he threw 35 2/3 innings with a 1.32 WHIP and maintained a solid strikeout rate of 26.5% while walking 9.3%. With Aaron Loup traded, it looks like Mayza could be the first lefty out of the 'pen in 2019 with Toronto.
Luis Santos, 27, split his season between Toronto and Buffalo, making 20 appearances with the Bisons and posting a very strong 2.74 ERA and 1.27 WHIP, striking out 21.4% and walking 7.0%. In the major leagues, he increased his strikeout rate to 26.4% but walked 11.0% and he was hit much harder, giving up 16 runs in 20 innings with a 7.20 ERA and 1.80 WHIP. Santos elected free agency following the season.
Jake Petricka, 30, also spent a significant chunk of his season in Toronto in 2019. Petricka was outstanding in Buffalo, throwing 23 innings with just a 0.78 ERA and 1.09 WHIP, striking out 15.9% of batters and walking 5.7%. With Toronto, Petricka was used a fair bit, throwing 45 2/3 innings with a 4.53 ERA and 1.64 WHIP, increasing his strikeout rate to 19.7% but his walk rate increased to 7.7% and he also got hit much harder. Petricka became a free agent at the end of the season.
Sam Moll, 26, was sent outright to Buffalo at the end of spring training and he didn't pitch a ton for the Buffalo Bisons due to injury. In 18 2/3 innings, he had a 5.30 ERA and 1.55 WHIP, striking out 19 and walking only five. Look for him back in Buffalo in 2019.
After bouncing around the minors for several years, Zach Stewart went to New Britain of the Atlantic League and tossed 68 1/3 innings for them, posting a 3.42 ERA and 1.23 WHIP, striking out 42 and walking 23 over 11 starts. Picked up by the Blue Jays, he made 14 appearances for the Bisons, starting four games and posting a 4.98 ERA and 1.69 WHIP over 34 1/3 innings with just 19 strikeouts and 12 walks. He chose free agency.
Danny Barnes, did not have his best season in 2018, putting some time in on the DL while also pitching a little in Buffalo. That said, Barnes only made seven appearances with the Bisons, tossing 8 2/3 innings but he gave up five runs on nine hits but walked one and struck out 11. In the majors, he had a 5.71 ERA and a 1.68 WHIP in 41 innings, striking out 19.9% of batters and walking 11.5%, both were off of his 2017 totals (23.4% K% and 9.1% BB%). Look for Barnes back in Toronto to start 2019.
Carlos Ramirez broke into the big leagues in 2017 and it was thought that the Blue Jays would put him back there eventually in 2018. He pitched in seven games in Buffalo, giving up five runs on two hits and eight walks with 10 strikeouts in 8 1/3 innings and pitched twice with Toronto, walking five with three strikeouts and one run allowed in 2 1/3 innings. He was designated for assignment by the Blue Jays in May and was claimed by the Oakland A's where he bounced between Triple-A Nashville and the majors. He threw 40 2/3 innings with the Nashville Sounds, posting a 3.10 ERA and 1.11 WHIP, and his strikeout rate was 22.9% but he brought his walk rate down to a respectable 10.0%. In Oakland, he gave up two runs on two hits with four walks and two strikeouts in six innings. He elected free agency after he was sent to the minors outright.
Lefty Matt Dermody made five appearances with the Buffalo Bisons, allowing four runs on seven hits and four walks with six strikeouts in five innings after he was sent outright back to the Bisons from the major league roster towards the end of spring training. Dermody spent the rest of the season injured, going on the DL retroactive to April 29.
Another lefty, Chad Girodo, allowed five runs on seven hits, three of which were home runs, while striking out three in 3 2/3 innings before he was released by the Blue Jays on April 25. He caught on with the Dodgers and pitched a combined 19 2/3 innings at two levels without much success before he was released by the Dodgers. He finished his season pitching for Chicago's independent American Association team, posting a 4.37 ERA and 1.63 WHIP in 22 2/3 innings, walking six and striking out 19.
Preston Guilmet, 31, started off in the St. Louis organization, tossing 29 outstanding innings for Louisville with a 0.93 ERA and 0.48 WHIP, striking out 35 batters and walking only five but he wasn't good in his call up to the big leagues, allowing five runs on seven hits (including two home runs) with three strikeouts in two innings. Placed on waivers, he was claimed by the Blue Jays and he got into six games in the majors, allowing eight runs on 11 hits and four walks (with four home runs) in eight innings, striking out five. Clearing waivers, Guilmet went to the minors and only pitched twice for the Bisons thanks to injury issues. He allowed three runs on seven hits (including two home runs) with a walk and two strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings. He elected free agency at the end of the year.
Hitters
We turn to the hitters of the Buffalo Bisons to see who did what in 2018. We'll start with the catchers and go around the horn to the infield and then to the outfield.
Catchers
Reese McGuire caught 73 games for the Bisons, playing in 96 games in total, and posted a .233/.312/.339 slash line in 369 plate appearances in his first exposure to triple-A baseball hitting nine doubles, two triples and seven home runs. McGuire had an 8.9% walk rate and 20.9% strikeout rate and was fairly streaky, having his best month in June, hitting .303/.407/.409 but posting just a .206/.283/.280 slash line in April and May while slashing .221/.287/.349 (albeit with better power numbers) from July to the end of the season. That said, McGuire made an impression on the Blue Jays' fanbase by hitting .290/.333/.581 in 33 plate appearances, hitting three doubles and two home runs in his brief exposure to the major leagues. That said, in the small sample, it is somewhat concerning that McGuire struck out in 27.3% of plate appearances. McGuire also threw out 29% of potential base stealers in the minor leagues but only caught 13% (two out of 15) in the big leagues. McGuire will likely split 2019 between Buffalo and Toronto.
Danny Jansen had a big highlight to his professional baseball career, a year after breaking through to the upper levels of the minors while also getting taken seriously as a prospect, making the major leagues and doing more than holding his own there, making him the likely choice to get the bulk of the reps behind the plate in 2019. In his 88 games with the Buffalo Bisons, he hit .275/.390/.473, earning himself mid-season and post-season All-Star berths for the International League while also getting to play in the MLB Futures Game. Jansen his a career-high 12 home runs, adding 21 doubles and a triple to the ranks while walking in a stellar 12.2% of plate appearances and only walking in 13.6%. Called up to the major leagues in mid-August, Jansen never looked back, hitting .247/.347/.432 with six doubles and three home runs in 95 big league plate appearances but, most encouragingly, Jansen didn't see a huge uptick in strikeouts, going down on strikes in 17.9% of plate appearances (still below league average) while walking in 9.5% of his plate appearances. Defensively, Jansen threw out 23% of potential base stealers in Buffalo but only 15% in Toronto.
Backup catcher Michael De La Cruz got only 50 plate appearances in his Age-25 season thanks to the presence of both McGuire and Jansen. He hit just .186/.286/.349 with some significant pop, hitting five doubles and a triple. De La Cruz threw out 25% of potential base stealers and will likely be in a backup role at some level next year.
Infield
Rowdy Tellez dealt with some rough times in his personal life, making it through the season to a stellar major league debut shortly after the passing of his mother from cancer. Rowdy, 23, finished the season with a solid, .270/.340/.425 slash line, hitting 22 doubles and 13 home runs with the Buffalo Bisons, walking in 9.0% of his plate appearances and striking out in only 16.7%. Rowdy improved his numbers dramatically as the season went on, hitting just .229/.315/.271 in April while improving steadily and peaking in July with a .309/.338/.574 slash line, hitting six doubles and four home runs. Called up to Toronto in September, Rowdy hit .314/.329/.614 in Toronto, popping a whopping nine doubles and four home runs in just 73 plate appearances but he was aided by a very high .391 BABIP and struck out in 28.8% of his plate appearances while walking in 2.7%. Look for Rowdy to start 2019 back in Buffalo to see if he can duplicate his last half of the season.
Tim Lopes was the Bisons' everyday second baseman, playing 104 games and hitting .277/.325/.364 with 19 doubles, three triples and two home runs over 385 plate appearances. The younger brother to former Blue Jays' minor leaguer Christian Lopes, Tim, 24, had a 6.8% walk rate and a 15.1% strikeout rate. Lopes elected free agency at the end of the season.
Jason Leblebijian, 27, spent his second season in Buffalo, seeing some regression across the board. He played in 84 games, seeing time at first, second, third and shortstop while also playing three games in left field. Leb hit .220/.315/./362 with eight doubles, a triple and 10 home runs, giving him a double-digit home run total in three consecutive seasons. While his walk rate rose to 11.1% in 2018, Leb saw his strikeout rate climb to 30.2%. He filed for free agency following the end of the season.
It's hard to remember that Richard Urena is still just 22. The young Dominican shortstop missed time at the beginning of the year due to an injury and spent significant time in Toronto over the course of the season over three different stints. Getting his season started in late April with the Dunedin Blue Jays, Urena hit .148/.172/.148 in seven games with Dunedin before joining the Buffalo Bisons where he went 1/8 before making his season debut with Toronto on May 9. In Toronto, he had solid numbers, hitting .278/.278/.444 with a home run in 19 plate appearances before moving back down to Buffalo. In 65 total games with the Buffalo Bisons, Urena hit .216/.250/.344 with 11 doubles, three triples and five home runs but in the big leagues, where he spent some of August and all of September, he hit a very solid .293/.340/.364 with four doubles and a home run in 108 plate appearances. While he didn't take a walk in his first stint in the majors, Urena figured something out, with his walk rate of 6.5% in the bigs while it was only 4.5% in Triple-A. Unfortunately, his 17.9% strikeout rate in Buffalo did not improve in the majors as he went down on strikes in 29.6% of his big league plate appearances. Look for Urena to ride the bus between Toronto and Buffalo in 2019, getting more playing time if either Troy Tulowitzki doesn't play and/or Lourdes Gurriel and Devon Travis don't produce.
The Blue Jays traded for Gio Urshela from Cleveland in May, sending a player to be named later or cash, getting into 24 games with the Buffalo Bisons and 19 with the Toronto Blue Jays. He didn't hit much, with a .244/.275/.279 slash line in Buffalo, hitting three doubles in 91 plate appearances and .233/.283/.326 with Toronto, hitting a double and a home run in 46 plate appearances. Urshela was then traded to the Yankees for cash in August and he finished out the season in triple-A.
Darnell Sweeney got into 88 games for the Buffalo Bisons, playing second, third and short in addition to some outfield and hitting .236/.311/.411 with 13 doubles, four triples and 10 home runs in 332 plate appearances. In two games with Toronto, he was 0/2 but walked twice, giving him a .500 OBP. Sweeney also faced four batters as a pitcher without giving up a hit, striking out one and hitting a batter. Sweeney elected free agency.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. blossomed in 2018, finding his niche with the Blue Jays despite being held back by some injuries. Starting in New Hampshire, he hit .322/.354/.508 with three doubles, a triple and two home runs in 65 plate appearances and moved up to Buffalo where he hit .293/.321/.449 with eight doubles and five home runs in 156 plate appearances. With Toronto, Gurriel still found himself allergic to the walk, walking in only 3.4% of his plate appearances and striking out in a reasonable 22.4% (just 0.6% more than in Buffalo), hitting .281/.309/.446 with eight doubles and 11 home runs in 263 plate appearances. Look for Gurriel back in Toronto in 2019, probably starting at shortstop and/or second base.
Shortstop Gift Ngoepe gets a lot of positive press as the first South African-born player to make the major leagues. But he didn't hit in his time with the Jays' organization, posting a .168/.304/.252 slash line in 48 games with Buffalo and a .056/.105/.056 slash line in Toronto, striking out in 12 of his 19 plate appearances. Ngoepe was released in August.
Danny Espinosa, 31, was another minor league free agent signing who put some time in with Buffalo before being released to find opportunities elsewhere. He hit .232/.271/.286 with the Bisons in 60 plate appearances before going to the Dodgers in May and then the Phillies in June. After he was released in early August, he signed with Monclava in the Mexican league, hitting .349/.453/.508 in 17 games there to finish his season.
The Blue Jays signed infielder Tyler Ladendorf to a minor league deal at the beginning of April and he joined the Bisons in May, playing just two games (and going 0/6) before he was traded to Arizona where he hit well in 13 triple-A games (but not so well in 30 Double-A games). He became a free agent following the season.
Outfield
Dwight Smith Jr. bounced between Buffalo and Toronto, putting up solid numbers at both levels in 2018. He played 85 games for the Bisons, hitting .268/.358/.413 with 25 doubles, a triple and six home runs with nine stolen bases in 12 attempts, walking in 12.2% of his plate appearances and striking out in just 14.7%. In the major leagues, he hit a very solid .262/.347/.477 with eight doubles and two home runs, walking in a healthy 9.3% of plate appearances while striking out in 17.3%, cutting that down from 34.5% in his first exposure to the big leagues in 2017. I'd expect Smith to be a swingman again between Buffalo and Toronto but all he does is hit and he certainly deserves a chance to play despite the Blue Jays' acquiring more outfield talent who are probably ahead of him on the depth chart.
Roemon Fields, 27, played the whole season for Buffalo, hitting .238/.307/.305 with 10 doubles, three triples and two home runs, stealing 25 bases but getting caught 16 times. Fields's numbers regressed thanks to a league-average BABIP (.305) after having a .357 BABIP in 2017. He walked in 7.9% of his 367 plate appearances and struck out in 21.8%, the second number jumping 5.0% from 2017. Look for Fields back in Buffalo in 2019.
Ian Parmley, 28, made his major league debut in 2017 but didn't get back to The Show in 2018. Parmley got into 40 games for the Bisons, hitting .263/.293/.339 with three doubles and three triples before he was ultimately released on June 25.
Anthony Alford, 23, struggled with issues of underperformance and injury (again), souring his 2018 season. In 105 games with the Buffalo Bisons, he hit .240/.312/.344 with 22 doubles, a triple and five home runs, adding 17 stolen bases in 24 attempts. Alford struck out 26.9% of the time in BUffalo, walking in 7.2% of his plate appearances but his numbers in Toronto were somewhat worrying as he struck out in 42.9% of his plate appearances, walking in 9.5% and hitting .105/.190/.105 and he didn't get called back up until the middle of September, so thick were the ranks of Blue Jays outfielders. Look for Alford to start back in Buffalo in 2019.
Mississauga, Ont., native Dalton Pompey, 25, was bitten once again by the injury bug and had his season marred by run-ins with his manager in Buffalo. Pompey hit .255/.325/.393 in 41 games, hitting eight doubles and four home runs while stealing eight bases in 10 attempts and he also hit well in brief stays in the GCL and Dunedin but struggled in four games in New Hampshire. In five games in Toronto, Pompey hit .200/.273/.200. Still on the 40-man roster, Pompey wasn't recalled to the major leagues in September and his future with the Blue Jays could be in question as the Jays may want to use his roster spot for someone else to protect him in the Rule 5 draft.
When the Blue Jays acquired Billy McKinney, 23, from the New York Yankees in the J.A. Happ deal, they thought they were getting a player with some pop and good defense in the outfield. McKinney had gotten injured against Toronto in the first series of the season and only hit .226/.299/.495 with 13 home runs, eight doubles and five triples in 56 games with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in the Triple-A International League. After the trade, McKinney hit .203/.292/.453 with three doubles, two triples and three home runs in 20 games with Buffalo but made a big impact with Toronto, hitting .252/.320/.470 with seven doubles and six home runs in 36 games with the Blue Jays. Look for McKinney to challenge for a big-league roster spot in 2019.
Teoscar Hernandez played four games in Buffalo before settling in with the Blue Jays in his Age-25 season. He hit two home runs and a double in just four games before his promotion and hit .239/.302/.468 with the Blue Jays, launching 29 doubles, seven triples and 22 home runs but had issues getting on base and defensively to total just 0.2 rWAR (on Baseball Reference, or 0.3 fWAR on Fangraphs). Hernandez continues to struggle getting on base but had a solid 7.8% walk rate in Toronto but struck out in 31.2% of his plate appearances.
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The 2018 Toronto Blue Jays Minor League Handbook is now available!