November 12, 2019

By Jay Blue

Blue Jays from Away

It's time to take a look at the Blue Jays' organizational depth chart as it sets up heading into the offseason. We'll go position by position and hope to chart out the Blue Jays' minor leaguers to see who stands where. I've ordered the following list by projected 2020 starting level.

Here with go with starting pitchers. Starting pitchers are harder to project the lower in the minors we go and, as such, I'm not going to wade through the name of every pitcher the Blue Jays signed in the international free agent market and speculate whether he'll be a starter or a reliever. Not gonna do it. But here is a chart for tracking starters in as complete a form as I'm willing to give you right now. One asterisk (*) means the pitcher is a lefty. Two asterisks (**) means that I think he could end up a reliever, particularly in 2020.

Toronto

Chase Anderson TOR

Matt Shoemaker TOR

Ryan Borucki* TOR

Trent Thornton TOR

Anthony Kay* TOR/BUF

I've kept this list a little shorter than it might be, mainly because I think the Blue Jays aren't done adding starting pitchers this offseason. Hence, Kay could be pushed down to Buffalo, which is going to be one crowded place for starting pitchers if everyone is healthy.

Buffalo

T.J. Zeuch BUF/TOR

Sean Reid-Foley** BUF/TOR

Julian Merryweather** BUF/TOR

Nate Pearson BUF

Andrew Sopko BUF

Thomas Hatch BUF

Yennsy Diaz BUF/NH

Hector Perez** BUF/NH

Eight pitchers for five starting spots in Buffalo? And, let's not forget that the Blue Jays will almost certainly sign a starter or two to a minor league deal this offseason for some more depth. I think Reid-Foley, Merryweather and Perez could wind up in relief roles while Diaz could be back in double-A. But otherwise, in a best-case scenario, a rotation of Zeuch, Pearson, Reid-Foley, Merryweather and Hatch or Sopko would be pretty good for the Bisons.

New Hampshire

Patrick Murphy NH/BUF

Zach Logue* NH

Joey Murray NH

Justin Dillon** NH

Jon Harris** NH

Maximo Castillo NH

Nick Allgeyer* NH/DUN

Patrick Murphy is the biggest "border" name here. He's probably the first guy to move up to Buffalo if space in the rotation allows but he needs to show that he's figured out his issues with his mechanics heading into 2020. He could do that in spring training and start in Buffalo but I think he spends a couple of months back in New Hampshire. I think with a very strong full season in Dunedin last year, Maximo Castillo will start opening eyes and move up to New Hampshire. Nick Allgeyer started very well last year and had a solid first full season as a pro but I think he may be dropped down to start again in Dunedin.

Dunedin

Graham Spraker DUN/NH

Josh Winckowski DUN/NH

Simeon Woods Richardson DUN

Kyle Johnston DUN

Alek Manoah DUN

Troy Watson DUN/LAN

Troy Miller DUN/LAN

There are a couple of more pitchers who could start in New Hampshire but will likely get pushed back down to Dunedin to start the year. Of those names, Josh Winckowski is certainly the one who will be most familiar. Graham Spraker went to the Arizona Fall League last year while newly acquired Woods Richardson and Johnston will probably begin the year in Dunedin though Johnston is now 23 and should get to New Hampshire soon. I think we're going to have a strong rotation in Dunedin with Winckowski, Woods Richardson and Alek Manoah generating a lot of buzz for the D-Jays to start the year while the "Troys" - Watson and Miller - could join them at some point.

Lansing

Fitz Stadler LAN/DUN

Sean Wymer LAN/DUN

Cobi Johnson** LAN/DUN

Juan De Paula LAN

Edisson Gonzalez LAN

Eric Pardinho LAN

Adam Kloffenstein LAN

Juan Diaz* LAN

Nick Fraze LAN

Gabriel Ponce LAN/VAN

Grant Townsend LAN/VAN

I think there's going to be a lot of competition for starting spots in Lansing and Dunedin in spring training. Fitz Stadler, Sean Wymer and Cobi Johnson all spent the season in Lansing with Wymer leading the club in innings and starts. But did they do enough to crack what's going to be a very strong Dunedin rotation? Maybe one of them will. But we're also going to see Eric Pardinho probably return to Lansing (unless he's in Dunedin with better weather and under closer watch of the Jays' training staff), Adam Kloffenstein move up as well as newly acquired Edisson Gonzalez (coming over as one of the Players to be Named Later in the Eric Sogard deal) and Juan De Paula who pitched in Lansing last year, struggling with control and injuries. Nick Fraze was also very strong in Vancouver last year and should move up, as should lefty Juan Diaz. The other pitchers on my list (Ponce and Townsend) may be in no-man's land or the bullpen to start the year.

Vancouver

Sam Ryan VAN/LAN

Alex Nolan** VAN/LAN

Felipe Castaneda VAN

Jol Concepcion VAN

Lazaro Estrada VAN

Nathanael Perez VAN

Alejandro Melean VAN/BLU

Naswell Paulino* VAN/BLU

The list starts to get shorter (but not much) as we speculate who will move up from Bluefield or stick around in Vancouver. There will, of course, be 2020 draftees in the mix as well. I liked what I saw of Sam Ryan in Bluefield last year and he could, as a college guy with a well-developed offspeed pitch, move up to Lansing but I think he'll be in Vancouver, as will Canadian Alex Nolan. Felipe Castaneda got hammered in limited action in Vancouver but was okay in Bluefield while Jol Concepcion looked good in Bluefield despite some injuries. I like Nathanael Perez a lot to move up and I think Lazaro Estrada will also move up to Vancouver.

Bluefield

Jimmy Robbins BLU/VAN

Kendall Williams BLU/VAN

Michael Dominguez BLU/VAN

Rafael Monsion* BLU/VAN

Winder Garcia BLU/VAN

Roither Hernandez BLU

Elixon Caballero BLU

Sem Robberse BLU

Santos Moreno BLU

Alexis Carmona BLU/GCL

Wilgenis Alvarado* BLU/GCL

A lot of these guys are on the bubble to either pitch in Bluefield or Vancouver. 2019 High school draftees Michael Dominguez and Kendall Williams could go the same route as Kloffenstein and skip over Bluefield altogether and Winder Garcia actually made a start in Vancouver after spending most of the year in the DSL and GCL. Jimmy Robbins pitched in Bluefield and if he came back, I wouldn't entirely be surprised, but I think he might move to Vancouver. I think Roither Hernandez will also return to Bluefield.

GCL

Yaifer Perdomo* GCL

Soenni Martinez* GCL

Fernando Chacon GCL

Bejardi Meza GCL

Jonatan Bernal GCL/DSL

Juanfer Castro GCL/DSL

All of these guys had decent (or better) seasons in the DSL and are primed to move up.

DSL

There's going to be a lot of guys we haven't heard much about so I'm not going to speculate.

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