Jay Blue: Lansing's best Case, Borucki, Kelly

INF Juan Kelly, the player of the year at class-A Lansing. Photos: Jay Blue.

Lansing Lugnuts 2016 Report
By Jay Blue
Lansing_Lugnuts
At long last, we arrive at the first of the Blue Jays’ four full-season minor league clubs. We’ll open with the Lansing Lugnuts, the Blue Jays’ Class-A affiliate in the Midwest League.

The Lugnuts finished the season with a 69-71 record overall and, despite the promotion of some of the Blue Jays’ top 2016 draft picks down the stretch, they fell short of finding their way to a playoff spot. The Lugnuts finished in the middle of the pack, scoring 4.09 runs per game, just over the league average of 4.05 with a slightly older-than-average offense that was 22.1 years of age. The pitching staff, on the other hand, was also slightly older than average (at 22.2 years of age, 0.4 years above the league average) and allowed 4.35 runs, the second most in the league.

Part 1: Blue Jays from Away Awards
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.” Most 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.

Juan Kelly 14.33
Angel Perdomo 10.67
Andrew Guillotte 10.58
Ryan Borucki 7
Ryan Hissey 6.58
Jon Harris, Jordan Romano 6.5
Max Pentecost 6.17
Connor Panas 5.83
Lane Thomas 5.5
Ryan BOrucki 5
Tayler Saucedo, Justin Maese 4.5
Sean Reid-Foley, Francisco Rios 4
Justin Atkinson 3.58
Gunnar Heidt 3.5
John La Prise 3.42
Carl Wise 3
Jake Thomas 2.33
Josh Almonte, J.C. Cardenas, J.B. Woodman 2
Conor Fisk, Ryan Metzler, Josh DeGraaf 1.5
Starlyn Suriel 1
Ryan Cook, Dusty Isaacs, Aaron Attaway, Patrick Murphy, Alex Maldonado, Daniel Lietz, Juan Tejada, Joshua Palacios 0.5

It’s tough for pitchers to come up with a Player of the Game Championship, particularly considering that they play one-fifth as often as an everyday player. Angel Perdomo came very close, with 10.67 Player of the Game points, but it was Juan Kelly who wound up the winner this year.

Blue Jays from Away Player of the Year
The questions involved in deciding the Player of the Year are many. Do we go with the player who racked up the most “counting stats” due to the fact that he got the most opportunity to? Do we go with a player who dominated in less time but didn’t get into as many games because of injury or promotion? Should a player who is playing very well at a younger age get more consideration that one who is older? When all the factors are taken into consideration, really, I was left with two players between whom to decide. Max Pentecost led the club in OPS but only played in 62 games thanks to his comeback from shoulder injury and a promotion to Dunedin. Pentecost was 23 but really, that number is a little misleading in his case, since he had just 109 plate appearances as a pro coming into this year. Pentecost had some solid numbers with a .314/.375/.490 slash line and seven home runs 267 plate appearances. While his OPS was sixty points higher than his nearest competitor, 22-year-old Juan Kelly is going to get the award.

Why Kelly? Well, Kelly simply was one of the club’s rocks for the whole season. He hit .274/.356/.448 with 35 doubles, six triples and 12 home runs, leading the club in RBI, doubles, triples, hits and walks and finishing second in home runs, being the only player other than Connor Panas to hit more than seven. Kelly led the club in games and plate appearances but it was really because he kept hitting and stayed healthy. It was a solid year for a player who had his first attempt at playing in a full season.

Honourable mention: Max Pentecost

Blue Jays from Away Pitcher of the Year
We are definitely not starved for choice in this category, as the Lugnuts, despite their poor pitching record compared the league, had several quality starters. Do we go with Jordan Romano who had a triumphant return from Tommy John surgery in a new role as a starter? Do we go with Jon Harris, last year’s first round pick, who dominated the Midwest League in 16 starts before moving up to Dunedin? Again, for me, durability and impact with the club make the biggest impressions and therefore the competition comes down to two players, Angel Perdomo and Ryan Borucki.

Both players are 22, born just 37 days apart in 1994, but there’s really only one category in which Perdomo outshone Borucki: strikeouts. Borucki found himself after a tough start with Dunedin and was able to go out and post a 2.41 ERA and 1.13 WHIP and while Perdomo struck out almost 30% of batters, Borucki wasn’t a slouch either, fanning 23.2% and walking only 5.6% while Perdomo walked 10.1% of batters. It’s Borucki, but it was not an easy decision!

Honourable mention: Angel Perdomo, Jordan Romano, Jon Harris

Blue Jays from Away Reliever of the Year
For Reliever of the Year, our choice is a Canadian who came back from a rough offseason that found him unable to return to Toronto for a drug test which got him an automatic suspension. Andrew Case, 23, came back to Lansing after an appearance in the GCL and he was in much better physical shape and pitched like it, with a 2.23 ERA, 1.10 WHIP with six walks and 19 strikeouts in 23 2/3 innings. Case saved 10 games, stabilizing the Lansing bullpen at the back end.

Honourable mention: Danny Young, Dusty Isaacs, Starlyn Suriel

Blue Jays from Away Most Improved Player
The Jays 2015 first-rounder Jon Harris had a difficult professional debut with the Vancouver Canadians last year. Hie had an ERA of 6.75 and walked almost 12% of the batters he faced. Starting 2016 in Lansing, Harris turned things around completely, throwing 84 2/3 innings with a 2.23 ERA and 1.16 WHIP, striking out 20.9% of batters and walking 6.9%. While a few others improved a marginal amount from year to year, Harris had the largest leap forward of any 2016 Lansing Lugnut.

Part 2: Starting Pitchers

The Lugnuts got through the season with a fairly compact set of starters for their 2016 season, featuring some excellent talent coming through the Jays’ organization.

Angel Perdomo led the Lansing Lugnuts in innings pitched, starts and strikeouts, spending his Age-22 season finally arriving in full-season baseball. The 6-foot-6 Dominican lefty still has some command issues but he showed the ability to both overpower Midwest League hitters and stay on the mound all season. Perdomo had a 3.19 ERA and an even better 2.89 FIP to go with his 1.22 WHIP. His 29.1% strikeout was outstanding and Perdomo led the Midwest League with his 156 Ks but his 10.1% walk rate could stand some improvement. All in all, it was an excellent season for Perdomo who kept moving forward with a positive season at a new level in 2016. Look for him to start in Dunedin in 2017.

The start of the season for lefty Ryan Borucki was disastrous. He’ll be the first to tell you that (as he told me in this interview). Borucki, 22, was last seen in Vancouver last year but injuries kept him out of all but three games in 2015. I expected Borucki, when healthy, to start 2016 in Lansing but the Blue Jays went ahead and sent him up to Dunedin where he took a beating, giving up 33 runs (32 earned) in just 20 innings, walking 12 and striking out 10. Sent back to Lansing on May 10, Borucki turned his season around, throwing 115 2/3 innings with the Lugnuts and posting a 2.41 ERA with a 1.13 WHIP, 23.2% strikeout rate and 5.6% walk rate. The Ryan Borucki I saw on the mound in August was confident and able to spot pitches effectively. Look for him to make a return to Dunedin 2017 but with far better results.

Our 2016 Most Improved Player, Jon Harris took some huge steps on the mound in 2016, starting with the Lansing Lugnuts. While Ryan Borucki came back down to Lansing after a rough start in Dunedin, Harris, 22, started in Lansing, dominated there, and then moved up to Dunedin where his results were still strong. In 84 2/3 innings with Lansing, Harris was a part of an impressive pitching staff in the first half and had a 2.23 ERA, 1.16 WHIP and 20.9% strikeout rate with a 6.9% walk rate. Those strong numbers came back to earth a little bit in his 45 innings in Dunedin where he had a 3.60 ERA, 1.13 WHIP but only a 14.3% strikeout rate and 7.7% walk rate. Considering the fact that the Shapiro regime is more conservative when promoting prospects, Harris will likely return to Dunedin where he would be expected to dominate in 2017 before another to promotion to New Hampshire materializes.

Another lefty, 23-year-old Tayler Saucedo, logged the fourth-most starts for the Lansing Lugnuts but it was a mixed season for the 6-foot-5 Hawaiian. Saucedo’s 5.91 ERA and 1.60 WHIP definitely place his season in the “below average” category but he showed the ability to dominate at times, countered by a frustrating tendency to get shelled in the next outing. His best stretch lasted three starts spanning May 22 to June 1 wherein he threw 18 innings with three runs, four walks and nine strikeouts. Maddeningly, Saucedo gave up four runs in his next start and eight in the start after that. Then, on June 25, Saucedo threw a complete-game shutout at the West Michigan Whitecaps (who scoured him for eight runs on 14 hits the outing before). By the end of July, a string of starts that included six runs in four innings, four runs in six innings and four runs on nine hits in four innings had him sent to the bullpen where he finished the season. Again, Saucedo had some good outings out of the ‘pen but, there were a lot in which he gave up multiple runs (including six and seven runs in back-to-back outings against Great Lakes and South Bend). Saucedo gave up a lot of hits in 2016 with an 11.3 H/9 rate while striking out 12.9% of batters and walking 7.4%. There’s potential there for the tall lefty but he may be back in Lansing to refine some things and to work on being more consistent.

Markham, Ont. native Jordan Romano has had an up and down ride in the Blue Jays’ system since being drafted in the 10th round of 2014. After a strong debut, he tore his UCL in spring training in 2015, leaving him on the sidelines for the entire season. He returned to action in 2016, joining the Lansing Lugnuts after getting stretched out to start (having been a reliever in college and in his pro debut). Throwing 72 2/3 innings with the Lugnuts, Romano had a stellar 2.11 ERA (3.35 FIP) with a 1.05 WHIP, 24.5% strikeout rate and 9.2% walk rate. All of these numbers are better than expected for a player in his first year back from TJ surgery AND in a new role as a starter. Romano, 23, will likely move up to Dunedin in 2017 and if he can dominate there, may reach New Hampshire sometime next season.

Sean Reid-Foley, a big righty, spent his Age-20 season on familiar ground, pitching at the two levels he was at in 2015 but with completely different results. Reid-Foley looked like a new pitcher in spring training with cleaner mechanics, an added curveball and a changeup that I had never seen before. My prediction was that, after a surprising Lansing assignment to start the season, he would be in Dunedin by mid-May. While he wasn’t promoted as quickly as I’d have though, Reid-Foley split his season almost equally between Lansing and Dunedin, making 11 starts with the Lugnuts and throwing 58 innigns with a 2.95 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 25.4% strikeout rate and 9.5% walk rate. Returning to Dunedin, he proceeded to pitch even better, throwing 57 1/3 more innings, posting a 2.67 ERA (but a 2.12 FIP) along with a stellar 0.89 WHIP, an astounding 32.3% strikeout rate and an improved 7.3% walk rate. All around, Reid-Foley is proving himself to be on the fast track and could start 2017 in New Hampshire with a combination of stuff and newfound control that could be lethal to Double-A hitters.

Justin Maese, 19, is a little bit behind Reid-Foley on the development curve but finished off his second professional season in Lansing. After a stellar GCL season in his draft year in 2015, Maese was slated to start 2016 in Vancouver but forced the club’s hand by moving up to Lansing after just five starts. Maese had a 2.05 ERA in 26 1/3 innings in Vancouver to go with a 0.80 WHIP, a 19.8% strikeout rate and a filthy 1.0% walk rate. In Lansing, he threw another 56 1/3 innings with a 3.36 ERA and 1.30 WHIP and saw a corresponding rise in walk rate to 5.9% and small drop in strikeout rate to 18.6%. While his strikeout rate might be a tad low, Maese is a classic sinkerballer, getting 2.29 ground outs per air out in Lansing (and 3.29 GO/AO in Vancouver). Given his young age, the Blue Jays could have Maese start 2017 in Lansing but there’s an equal or better chance that he’ll being next season joining Harris, Perdomo, Borucki and Romano in Dunedin.

Part 3: Relief Pitchers
As a group, the Lugnuts’ bullpen didn’t top-ranked talent the way the starting rotation did but there are several excellent young arms with potential passing through on their way up.

Josh DeGraaf was the Lugnuts’ co-leader in appearances at 35 with 28 of them coming out of the bullpen. DeGraaf, a 6-foot-4, 23-year-old righty was the 31st-round pick of the Jays last year but he put together a very solid season with Lansing, racking up 94 1/3 innings including 31 as a starter. Overall, DeGraaf had a 3.43 ERA and 1.23 WHIP with a very solid 20.6% strikeout rate and a good 6.5% walk rate but his numbers were much better out of the pen with a 4.08 strikeout-to-walk ratio, a 2.98 ERA and 1.07 WHIP as a reliever. Look for DeGraaf to fill a swingman role in Dunedin next year.

The 6-foot-2 lefty Daniel Lietz had an up-and-down season in 2016. He started the season with Lansing, making 18 appearances by the middle of June with an ugly 5.46 ERA and 1.69 WHIP with 16 walks and 17 strikeouts in 29 2/3 innings. Lietz went down to Vancouver, throwing just 5 1/3 innings, striking out five and walking two, before getting the call back up to Lansing where he was a different player. Lietz concluded his season with a sterling run with the Lugnuts, throwing another 34 2/3 innings with a 3.12 ERA and 1.10 WHIP while striking out 33 and walking only 13. His overall numbers (4.20 ERA, 1.35 ERA, 17.9% K%, 10.0% BB%) show a mediocre season but his trend in the second half looks far better. He’ll probably get a chance with Dunedin at 23.

Starlyn Suriel quietly had a good season for the Lansing Lugnuts, despite the times where it felt like he wasn’t pitching all that well. Suriel was with the Lugnuts until mid-July when he was moved up to Dunedin for a three-game stint that covered 5 2/3 innings and had him allow four runs (two earned) on four hits and three walks with four strikeouts. Sent back to Lansing, he struggled with his control, walking 10 and striking out nine in 7 2/3 innings before a one-game promotion to New Hampshire (where he gave up a run on a hit and two walks with one strikeout in two innings) ended his season. For Lansing, however, Suriel totalled 61 2/3 innings with a 3.21 ERA and 1.20 WHIP, striking out 23.0% and walking 8.8%. It looks to me like Suriel hit a rough stretch towards the end of the season and struggled to find his control. He’ll probably get another chance in Dunedin in 2017.

Dusty Isaacs pitched his Age-24 season split between Lansing and Dunedin in his best year as a pro. In 31 1/3 innings with Lansing, Isaacs had a 2.87 ERA and 1.21 WHIP, striking out 26.8% of batters and walking only 4.4%, putting him in the running for the Lugnuts’ best reliever. After his promotion to Dunedin, however, he pitched just as well, lowering his ERA to 1.14 (despite a higher FIP at 3.25) and his WHIP to 0.97 with a 30.1% strikeout rate and 8.6% walk rate. Isaacs should start 2017 back in Dunedin if a promotion to New Hampshire isn’t out of the question.

Righty Ryan Cook got into games at three levels but he spent most of his season with Lansing, throwing 69 2/3 innings as a Lugnuts with a 5.30 ERA. Much of that damage can be attributed to a six-game span of outings (his final six as a starter) in which he gave up 24 earned runs in 25 2/3 innings, walking 14 and striking out 23. Cook spent the rest of the season coming out of the bullpen, usually for multiple innings. Overall, his WHIP with Lansing was 1.56 and his 21.2% strikeout rate was good and his 10.9% walk rate a little high. He got into two games (and two innings) with Dunedin, allowing four runs (three earned) on five hits with one strikeout and threw a perfect inning in New Hampshire without walking or striking out anyone. Cook, 23, will have a good shot at a Dunedin assignment and will look to leave the rough patches behind him.

Canadian Andrew Case, 23, didn’t start the year off well, serving a suspension for failing to appear for a drug test but when he got the chance to play, he was a true stabilizing force in the back end of the Lugnuts’ bullpen. Case didn’t get his season going until July, heading to the GCL for a rehab assignment and throwing two innings of perfect ball, striking out three batters before getting assigned to Lansing. Case became the club’s closer right away (picking up the job that Dusty Isaacs left when he was promoted to Dunedin) and got a save in his second outing with Lansing, earning 10 in total. Case finished the year with a 2.28 ERA and 1.10 WHIP, striking out 19.4% of batters and walking just 6.1% with improvements across the board over his 2015 stint in Lansing. Look for Case to move up to Dunedin and rumour has it that he’ll be joining the Canberra Cavalry of the Australian Baseball League this winter.

It’s going to take a big 2017 for Tom Robson to rebound from a rough past three seasons. In 2014, Robson’s season ended early as he underwent Tommy John surgery, leaving the Lansing Lugnuts with a 6.25 ERA in 31 2/3 innings. He made it back to Lansing in 2015 but showed some rough edges with a 5.06 ERA and 14 walks in 26 2/3 innings. While some command issues are expected, particularly in a player’s comeback year from TJ, Robson was primed for 2016 with a fastball that was exceeding expectations. Indeed, I saw Robson hitting 97 mph on the radar gun in spring training but he was struggling to harness his control. Robson was eased into his season, starting games in Dunedin but he walked 23.9% of his batters in 16 2/3 innings and had a 6.48 ERA and 2.34 WHIP. Sent back to Lansing (for his third stint there), Robson continued to struggle, throwing 54 innings, mostly out of the bullpen, with a 7.50 ERA and 1.98 WHIP, walking a much more tolerable 10.9% but striking out only 15.1%. It also looks that his once-heavy sinking fastball isn’t getting as many ground balls as his ratio of ground outs to air outs was only 1.32 last year. That said, when I saw Robson pitch, he wasn’t get a lot of his fastballs down in the zone and finding better command at the bottom of the strike zone could turn those numbers around. At 23, the 6-foot-4 righty has some time to turn things around and if he harnesses his heater, he should be on the rise next year.

Danny Young, a 22-year-old side-arming lefty hit Lansing this year after an underwhelming professional debut in Vancouver last year. Young was still held back from action until mid-June, likely for more work on his mechanics. Whatever the reason for his delayed start, Young turned around the poor season in 2015 to a strong campaign in 2016. The 6-foot-3 lefty threw 23 1/3 innings for the Lugnuts, with a 2.70 ERA and 1.50 WHIP, inverting his walk-to-strikeout ratio that had more walks than strikeouts in 2015. In 2016, Young struck out 17.3% of batters (way up from 6.3% last year) while walking 9.6% (ticking up 0.1% from 2015). Young is a LOOGY type arm who will need to show another year of improvement before we start talking about him as another major leaguer.

Righty Jackson Lowery spent his Age-23 season with Vancouver and Lansing (also getting a taste of the Florida State League) and had a very solid season overall. Lowery got a nice bonus while in extended spring training as he went in to pitch for the Dunedin Blue Jays on May 12, giving up a run on a hit and two walks in 2 2/3 innings with one strikeout. Coming back to extended, he broke camp with the Vancouver Canadians, pitching 10 1/3 innings with a sterling 0.87 ERA and 0.68 WHIP, striking out 12 and walking just one before moving up to Lansing to debut there on July 15. The rest of the way, Lowery threw 22 1/3 innings with the Lugnuts, with a respectable 4.03 ERA (but much lower 2.67 FIP), 1.34 WHIP, 22.8% strikeout rate and 7.6% walk rate. As a 24 year old in 2017, he’ll likely be moved up to Dunedin to try his hand against some more advanced competition.

Another lefty with a low release point, Kirby Snead made his pro debut after being selected by the Blue Jays in the 10th round in 2016. Snead fired 25 1/3 innings with Lansing, showing excellent control, walking only 2.7% of batters while striking out 15.5%. He had an ERA of 3.91 (with a FIP of 2.84) and a WHIP of 1.34. Snead had made one appearance in Dunedin before his Lansing assignment, throwing two innings of scoreless ball, walking two and striking out one. From what I saw of Snead, he has good movement on his fastball down in the zone and could be another Chad Girodo-type of pitcher with a little more zip on his fastball. Look for him in Dunedin in 2017 too.

Gustavo Pierre had himself some injury problems in 2016 as the former infielder from the Dominican Republic. Pierre, 24, made his debut in late April and pitched for about a month before being shut down for the season. In his eight appearances, Pierre threw 10 2/3 innings and he gave up 13 runs on 13 hits and a whopping 11 walks with just three strikeouts. The injury combined with the severe control problems could put a dent in Pierre’s attempts to reach the majors as a pitcher.

Part 4: Hitters
The Lansing hitters generally had a down season with only one “Blue Chip” prospect with the club for a large part of the season. But how did they do? Who were they? Read on!

Catchers
Incredibly, only two players caught for the Lansing Lugnuts all year with Ryan Hissey leading the way. Last year’s Webster Award winner for the MVP of the Vancouver Canadians, Hissey, 22, saw some of his production drop at the higher level, hitting .246/.310/.337, slamming 19 doubles, three triples and four home runs with a solid 7.9% walk rate and a slightly-above-average 21.2% strikeout rate (which was better than his rate in Vancouver last year). Hissey was average behind the plate, throwing out 27% of base runners but also committing 12 passed balls and seven errors. While he might move up to Dunedin next year, there’s a good chance that he repeats part of the season in Lansing in his Age-23 season.

B.C. native Justin Atkinson spent his Age-22 season in Lansing again but this time, he showed some big improvement in a number of areas, primarily defensively. Gaining his manager’s trust behind the plate, Atkinson caught 47 games, throwing out 28% of runners but committed 13 passed balls with four errors. Not limited to duties behind the dish, Atkinson also played a significant amount of time at first base with five games at third. On the offensive side, Atkinson improved across the board over his time in Lansing last year, with a .094 ISO, 7.1% walk rate and 22.4% strikeout rate but his .234 BABIP led him to hitting just .190/.248/.284 on the season with 19 doubles, a triple and a career-high five home runs in 424 plate appearances. Atkinson shows solid power in batting practice sessions but has yet to be able to put it all together in games. Still, due to his record low BABIP, I can see Atkinson regressing upwards in 2017, likely with Dunedin.

Infielders
Despite not being built like your typical first baseman (listed at 5-foot-10 and 155 pounds), Dominican infielder Juan Kelly spent the season in Lansing, having a very solidly productive season and earning our Player of the Year award. Kelly came to the plate 548 times and hit .274/.356/.448 with a team-leading 35 doubles, six triples and 12 home runs, also stealing 11 bases without getting caught. Kelly posted a very good 10.4% walk rate to go along with a 20.6% strikeout rate. Kelly has nothing left to prove in Lansing and should be in Dunedin next year where he’ll have to find playing time at either first or third base.

In his Age-22 season, John La Prise made a much bigger impression than he was able to in his first professional stint last year when he was recovering from April hip surgery. La Prise joined the Lugnuts in mid-June and made an impression, hitting .300 for the month of June before tailing off in July and rebounding somewhat in August. La Prise finished with a .255/.332/.314 with 12 doubles and a triple, stealing four bases and getting caught three times. With a compact left-handed swing, La Prise will probably need to make more hard contact, indicated by his low, .059 ISO and will need to bring his 27.7% strikeout rate down, even if his 9.1% walk rate was very good. In six games with the Dunedin Blue Jays at the end of the year, La Prise hit .318/.375/.365 with a double in 25 plate appearances. La Prise probably returns to Dunedin next year to play second base and while his makeup and skill set have been praised, he’ll need to take big steps in 2017.

Third baseman Carl Wise, 22, spent his second professional season in Lansing, getting into 84 games thanks to a stint on the DL. With 330 plate appearances, Wise hit .240/.291/.329 with 15 doubles and four home runs. His strikeout rate of 21.8% was generally ok (if a tad high), but his walk rate, while an improvement over his Vancouver numbers from last year, is a bit low at 6.4%. I didn’t see much of his play this year, so I don’t really have a good idea of what his approach and swing are like but he may need some more time in Lansing in 2017.

Another 22-year-old, Cuban-born J.C. Cardenas, manned shortstop for much of the 2016 season. Cardenas played 78 games with a .206/.279/.294 slash line in 291 plate appearances and hit 14 doubles and three home runs. Cardenas also struck out a bit too much at 24.4% while walking a healthy 9.3% rate. Cardenas has some pop but it’s been a struggle to show it consistently in games. He could also benefit from some more time in Lansing but could reach Dunedin next year if he starts strongly.

Gunnar Heidt made sure that his return to Lansing was brief, but he still played more there than in Dunedin. Heidt came into the season determined to move up and was one of the club’s leading hitters in the first half of the season. Heidt hit .270/.351/.427 with 15 doubles, three triples and four home runs over 241 plate appearances for the Lugnuts, more than doubling his power output (with a .156 ISO) while increasing his walk rate to 9.1% and striking out 1.1% more than his time in Lansing in 2015 (at 23.2%). After his promotion to Dunedin, he kept hitting, despite an almost 40-point drop in BABIP. He hit .256/.337/.411 with a 10.2% walk rate, 21.8% strikeout rate with five more home runs (and 13 doubles) in 206 plate appearances. While the strikeouts are a bit high, this is the Gunnar Heidt I’ve been waiting to see. He’s a player who works the count, grinds at bats and has some pop thanks to a quick, compact swing. He should start out in Dunedin but with success could be tested in New Hampshire by the end of 2017.

Ryan Metzler spent most of the second half of 2016 with the Lansing Lugnuts after a brief three-game stint in Dunedin in April (with far better weather than it was in Lansing at the time). Going 2/11 with Dunedin and adding two walks, Metzler joined the Lugnuts in June and hit .163/.257/.250 in 212 plate appearances, hitting seven doubles, three triples and a home run, stealing 10 bases in 12 attempts. Metzler is a classic utility man, playing second, third and short, but particularly playing shortstop for Lansing in 43 games. As with most backup/utility types, he could land anywhere from Lansing to New Hampshire next year, depending on where his glove is needed.

Infielder Alex Maldonado spent his first year as a coach in the Blue Jays’ organization, working with players and coaching first base for the Lansing Lugnuts. He did get into three games as a player and the 25-year-old was 1/8 with two walks, one strikeout and a double.

Outfielders
We’ll start in left field where Toronto-born Connor Panas got into the most games. With 44 games in left field, another 26 in right, seven at first, the Lugnuts were trying to get Panas’s bat into the lineup however they could. In 98 games and 383 plate appearances, Panas hit .231/.343/.430 with 10 doubles, three triples and a club-leading 16 home runs while driving in 50 runs. Not bad for a player who spent most of his time on the bench at the beginning of the season. Panas’s healthy 11.7% walk rate was somewhat canceled out by a high 25.3% strikeout rate but that was still an improvement on his K% with Vancouver in 2015. Panas has a quirky swing that generates a lot of loft and power but may be exploited as he faces better pitching. It’s hard to tell until he’s tested and he’ll likely be tested in Dunedin next year.

Despite missing time due to another injury, Lane Thomas, 21, had a mixed season after a very rough 2015. Thomas hit .216/.330/.348 with 14 doubles, a triple and seven home runs in just 332 plate appearances with Lansing (and additional five doubles and a home run in 23 dominant plate appearances on a rehab stint in the GCL). Thomas also swiped 17 bases in 22 attempts for the Lugnuts. Back to playing the outfield, Thomas improved his walk rate immensely to 13.6% but was still striking out far too much at 32.2%. Thomas is still young enough that he can show the upside that exhibited in his draft year in 2014 but might have to spend the beginning of 2017 back in Lansing.

Blessed with physical tools galore, Josh Almonte has struggled to make the most of them. After finishing strongly with the Lansing Lugnuts in 2015, he regressed in 2016, hitting just .221/.266/.308 in 211 plate appearances this year before a promotion to Dunedin. Almonte’s low walk rate rose a bit to 4.3% and he cut his strikeout rate four percent to 25.1% but his power fell off as fewer balls in play were falling in. In Dunedin, his progression regressed as his BABIP dropped to .234 over 121 plate appearances. He walked in ony 3.3% of plate appearances and struck out in 28.9% with an ISO of .054 and a slash line of .162/.210/.216. Look for Almonte, now 22, to be under more pressure to produce in his sixth professional season in 2017.

Andrew Guillotte, 23, didn’t play the most at any position for the Lansing Lugnuts in 2016 but he was one of the club’s leaders with 508 plate appearances, hitting .253/.322/.352 and was one of the Lugnuts’ key players all season. Guillotte had hustle to spare, stealing 20 bases but was caught 10 times and hit 27 doubles, three triples and four home runs, a solid number of extra-base hits for someone listed at 5-foot-8. Guillotte didn’t strike out much, going down on strikes 15.2% of the time and walking 7.7%. In a 14-game promotion to Dunedin, Guillotte wasn’t quite as successful, hitting .152/.250/.196 with a 9.6% walk rate and 17.3% strikeout rate. Guillotte could very well return to Dunedin for 2017 but, depending on where he sits on the depth chart, his playing time might increase on another club.

In his Age-22 season, 5-foot-10 Jake Thomas got into 57 games for the Lansing Lugnuts as a scrappy utliity player. He hit .244/.325/.315 with seven doubles and four triples, walking in 10.0% of his 241 plate appearances and striking out in 20.3%. It was a solid season for Thomas who was showing a reduced amount of power (his ISO was down to .070 after his .103 showing in the GCL last year). Thomas can play all three outfield positions and will be a good utility player next year whether it be back in Lansing or in Dunedin.

Juan Tejada, 22, struggled to find playing time this season between Vancouver and Lansing. Starting his season in Vancouver, Tejada had four hits in five games before getting moved up to Lansing where he hit .154/.202/.231 in 25 games and 84 plate appearances with a 27.4% strikeout rate and 4.8% walk rate before being sent back to Canada where he got into seven more games before the season closed. He was better in those seven games, hitting .259/.333/.593 with four doubles, three triples and a home run in 31 plate appearances but it was, for Tejada, just a tease at the end of a rough season. With plenty of raw power, he’ll get another chance to show what he can do in 2017, likely back in Lansing, in his sixth season in the Blue Jays’ system.

Designated Hitter
Usually in the minor leagues, the designated hitters have a defensive position. For much of the Lansing Lugnuts’ season, however, that position was filled by Max Pentecost, the Jays’ first-round pick (11th overall) in the 2014 draft. Pentecost, a catcher by trade, has been slowly rehabbing his (twice) surgically repaired right shoulder and has been held out of defensive action in games. That said, he had a fantastic time with the bat in 62 games with the Lansing Lugnuts, hitting .314/.375/.490 and using his tremendous line-drive stroke to hit 15 doubles, three triples and seven home runs in just 267 plate appearances. Pentecost had a decent eye, walking in 7.9% of plate appearances and struck out in an average, 19.1% of them. After his promotion to Dunedin, however, those numbers took a bit of a dive, despite the fact that he increased his power production. In 52 plate appearances, Pentecost hit .245/.288/.469 with two doubles and three home runs but struck out in 32.7% of his PAs and walking in 5.8%. It’s probably safe to say that, knock on wood, Pentecost will have recovered enough to catch next season and will start the year in Dunedin at the age of 24, trying to get his career on track after finally racking up some at bats in 2016.

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Minor leaguesJay BlueOctober 5, 2016