Jay Blue: GCL Blue Jays from Away Awards

The Bobby Mattick Training Facilty in Dunedin, Fla.. Photo: Jay Blue

September 14, 2019

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 with the lowest level club in North America, the Gulf Coast League 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 GCL Blue Jays, under manager Dennis Holmberg, had a solid season, finishing 27-23, two games ahead of their pythagorean record of 25-25. They finished third in their division (the North division), seven games behind the GCL Phillies West who had the second best record in the league. Of the 18 teams in the Gulf Coast League, the Blue Jays had the seventh best runs scored per game, scoring 4.74 runs per game which was above the league average of 4.48 runs per game with an offense that averaged 18.3 years old (over a year under the league average of 19.4 years). The pitching finished 11th (of 18 teams), allowing 4.70 runs per game (0.22 runs above the league average of 4.48 runs per game), with a pitching staff that averaged 20.2 years old with a league average of 20.3 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:

Orelvis Martinez 5.83

Alberto Rodriguez 5.17

Jose Rivas 4

Yhon Perez 3.83

Javier D’Orazio 3

Jhon Solarte 2.33

Rafael Monsion 2

Anthony Alford 2

Erickvi Celedonio 1.5

Rainer Nunez 1.5

Dasan Brown 1.5

Alexis Carmona 1.5

Jose Zepeda 1.5

Santos Moreno 1

Dalton Pompey 1

Hugo Cardona 1

Michael Dominguez 1

Wilgenis Alvarado 1

Winder Garcia 1

Kendall Williams 1

Congrats to the winner of the Blue Jays from Away Player of the Game Championship for 2019 in the GCL: Orelvis Martinez, who squeaked in less than a point ahead of Alberto Rodriguez, our runner up!

Blue Jays from Away Player of the Year

When it came to the Player of the Year award, things lined up just the same way that they did for the Player of the Game Champion with Orelvis Martinez our winner. Martinez, who won't be 18 until November, lived up to his hype, hitting .275/.352/.549 with eight doubles, five triples and the team lead of seven home runs. He didn't really have any deficiencies that stood out and, while Alberto Rodriguez had a better batting average and more doubles, Rodriguez gets relegated to an honourable mention.

Honourable Mention: Alberto Rodriguez

Blue Jays from Away Pitcher of the Year

Venezuelan lefty Rafael Monsion, 20, had a strong season in his third year in the GCL. He started five of his 10 games and had a 1.77 ERA and 0.96 WHIP with 37 strikeouts and just nine walks in 40 2/3 innings. Second-round draftee, 18-year-old Kendall Williams, was in contention but he only threw 16 innings for the Blue Jays.

Honourable Mention: Kendall Williams

Blue Jays from Away Reliever of the Year

While he may end up being a starter going forward, 19-year-old righty Michael Dominguez was our reliever of the year. Drafted out of Jefferson High School in the 15th round this year, Dominguez tossed 24 innings in nine outings with a stellar 1.13 ERA and 0.96 WHIP, striking out 29 and walking 10. In the conversation were Miguel Olivo, Blake Sanderson and Sem Robberse, who were outstanding in much smaller sample sizes. Sanderson also had the fact that he was four years older than any of the other three hurlers in the conversation working against him.

Honourable Mention: Miguel Olivo, Blake Sanderson, Sem Robberse

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