Jay Blue: Who's hot and who's not on the Dunedin Blue Jays?
Left-hander Nick Allgeyer owns a 1.25 ERA in 21 2/3 innings for the class-A Advanced Dunedin Blue Jays this season. Photo: Jay Blue
April 26, 2019
By Jay Blue
Blue Jays from Away
It's time for our third installment of our "Who's Hot and Who's Not," and we'll look at the class-A Advanced Dunedin Blue Jays. If you saw the minor league report for April 25, you'd probably think every one is hot after the game they had on Thursday night!
Who's Hot
Riley Adams - A former fourth-round pick, catcher Riley Adams struggled in 2018 when he was skipped over low-A Lansing to start his first full season in Dunedin. He's since started the 2019 season repeating the level and he leads the club with a 1.115 OPS, hitting his third home run of the season Thursday night (a grand slam) while having a stellar .515 OBP and 12 walks and 12 strikeouts.
Cullen Large - Largely unheralded, Large got off to a great start with Lansing last year only to miss most of the season with an injury. He's off to another great start, hitting .328/.438/.563 slash line with eight doubles in 64 at bats, adding a couple of triples and a home run.
Ryan Noda - Noda isn't doing the Ryan Noda things that we've become accustomed to: his OBP is still under .400 but he's putting up a solid line of .299/.373/.463 so far in 67 at bats but his 24 strikeouts are on the high side, so it's something to watch.
Nate Pearson - Pearson added five scoreless innings to his 2019 resume, striking out 10 and now has 30 strikeouts and just two walks and two earned runs against him in 19 innings. That's a 0.95 ERA and a 0.63 WHIP. Fun fact: The only two runs against Pearson have come on solo home runs. He's not going to be in Dunedin much longer.
Nick Allgeyer - In 21 2/3 innings (a team high), Allgeyer has a 1.25 ERA and 0.74 WHIP, striking out 21 with just one walk. He had a rough first inning as a Dunedin Blue Jay but has settled down nicely and has shown that he's not missing anything when he skipped Lansing.
William Ouellette hasn't walked anyone this year . . . in 10 2/3 innings to go with 13 strikeouts.
Who's Not
Cal Stevenson - Stevenson took the biggest jump in all of the Jay's organization from 2018 to 2019, going from Bluefield to Dunedin and he's struggled with the better pitching he's seeing in Advanced-A ball, hitting .188/.264/.266. He's hitting the ball on the ground a lot (54.0%) and, combined with a low .220 BABIP, could indicate that he's not making the hardest contact, but he's also got a decent line drive rate at 20.0%. With Stevenson, who dominated Rookie Ball last year, it may take him a couple of months to find his stride against a new level of competition.
Samad Taylor - Taylor is still young (20) but after a full year in Lansing last year, he's struggled in his first exposure to Advanced-A. He's got a .149/.310/.255 slash line with two doubles and a home run in 47 at bats.
Emerson Jimenez - A fireballing former shortstop, Jimenez has struggled, giving up six earned runs in eight innings for a 6.75 ERA and 1.88 WHIP, walking five and striking out six.
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