Blue Jays Discussion: It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Kevin Pillar!

[metafour]

Presumably because the White Sox were purely scouting the stat line.

Exactly. They likely thought they were outsmarting everyone by identifying an underrated prospect who simply "knows how to pitch". Turns out they were simply buying a guy with average stuff and no standout pitch who for whatever reason was able to bully minor league hitters.

 

[zeke]

Presumably because the White Sox were purely scouting the stat line.

iirc one of their head scouts was a recent recruit from our org and pushed hard for molina. pretty sure BA ranked him near the top of both systems before and after the trade too.

 

[metafour]

iirc one of their head scouts was a recent recruit from our org and pushed hard for molina. pretty sure BA ranked him near the top of both systems before and after the trade too.

It was Marco Paddy who was our Latin American director. Molina was like a fringe top 10 guy for us but did rank higher for Chicago simply because their system was garbage at the time. The point is that it was well known that his raw stuff never matched his video game numbers, which is likely what our own guys saw when they sold high on him.

 

[Eyedea]

Not sure if this was ever mentioned, but I remember Vlad having some type of leg kick in his swing. Seems like they're going the no stride route and channelling his inner Goldy/Cruz.

 

[Diamond Joe Quimby]

Nestor Molina is the ultimate example.

9.55 K/9, 1.16 BB/9, 2.64 FIP, 2.45 xFIP in A+
13.50 K/9, 0.82 BB/9, 0.68 FIP, 1.30 xFIP in five AA starts

The scouting report that entire time was a ~90 mph fastball with little movement and a changeup with no third pitch worth anything. He had a 3.51 FIP and 3.67 xFIP the year prior as well.

Molina was of course traded for Sergio Santos and immediately flopped. I remember a lot of our fans being salty that he wasn't getting much prospect love.

Molina has a good splitter and cutter, and has boosted his velocity his spring, reportedly into the 92-94 range.

That's when he was at Dunedin. His elbow essentially gave out on him, which you'd expect from a ~6"0, 180 lbs. former 3rd baseman who didn't exactly know how to pitch.

That is a hilarious trade though, as I figure both GM's knew there were red flags in the medicals for both, and decided to give a little middle finger to each other. Kenny Williams of course being the world's best used car salesman.

 

[Diamond Joe Quimby]

Not sure if this was ever mentioned, but I remember Vlad having some type of leg kick in his swing. Seems like they're going the no stride route and channelling his inner Goldy/Cruz.

They've changed Bo's leg kick too.

 

[Eyedea]

They've changed Bo's leg kick too.

Bo's weird. I don't think I have ever seen someone alternate from no-stride to leg kick in an at bat. I like the kick though for him, very JD-esque.

 

[dredeye]

Guess who's back?

Jays signed Saltalamacchia to a minor league deal.

Best back up catcher bat on the team. Who'd believe that

 

[Suntouchable13]

Once Tulo and Donaldson get back, I'd roll with this:

Pillar
Travis (he has earned a shot to hit high in the lineup)
Donaldson
Morales
Bautista
Smoak
Tulo
Zeke
Maile

Or

Pillar
Donaldson
Morales
Bautista
Smoak
Tulo
Travis
Zeke
Maile

 

[Eyedea]

Why has Travis earned a shot to move up but Smoak is down at the 6 spot?