The Single-A New York Yankees affiliate Tampa Tarpons visited the Toronto Blue Jays’ Single-A affiliate Dunedin Blue Jays the week of August 9. I attended the games of August 10, 11 & 13. This series was significant in that a number of 2022 draft selections for both Toronto and New York made either their professional or their Single-A debuts. Headlining the series were selections Spencer Jones (Round 1, 25th overall), Josh Kasevich (Round 2, 60th overall), Cade Doughty (Round 2C, 78th overall), and Alan Roden (Round 3, 98th overall).
The highlight of the series (depending on who you ask) was on Sunday when Dunedin had a combined no-hitter with Kendry Rojas, Cooper Benson, Sam Ryan, and Ian Churchill pitching in the game.
Note: stats are for the duration of the six-game series
Tampa Tarpons (NYY) – L 2-4
The Tarpons went into this series with a season record of 49-51 and ended the week 51-55.
RHP Yon Castro (NYY)
4.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 HB
RHP Yon Castro took the bump in the first game I saw of the series, and he had one of the best starts I had seen from him. His control has improved greatly over the past few months (despite hitting Dunedin OF Dylan Rock). Castro has slowly become one of the more reliable starters that’s left on the roster that hasn’t been promoted to Hudson Valley yet, posting a 2.31 ERA in July in 11.2 IP and a 2.00 ERA in 9 IP in August after posting a 4.82 ERA in 18.2 IP in May. Castro has been exciting to follow over the past year, especially given his rapid progression this year as he’s matured through the system, and he may be a name to follow.
Castro throws 4 pitches: a 4-seamer/sinker (Savant calls it two different pitches based on the amount of break), a slider, a changeup, and a curveball. The fastball averages 93 MPH and tops out at 96 MPH, the slider averages 81 MPH, the change averages 82 MPH and the curve averages 78 MPH.
RHP Sean Hermann (NYY)
5 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 2 HR
This was my second time seeing Hermann, and first time since he had been promoted to Single-A Tampa. The local kid (Valrico, FL native) was set up to get the win despite some struggles, but that effort was unfortunately blown by the bullpen. Hermann also committed a dropped catch error in the 4th inning on a transfer from 1B Ben Rice. This is an error that happens more often than you’d think in this level, but this is still professional baseball.
Hermann doesn’t have a ton of velo, which is fine because he had good control. Per Savant, Hermann topped out at 93 MPH on a fastball/sinker and his true off-speed (a curveball) got down to 81, which is an appropriate enough difference in velo, but he didn’t throw that very much in this outing. Hermann also has a changeup that ranges from 85-88 (avg. 86 MPH), and a slider that was his most used off-speed. That sat at 81-85 MPH with an average of 83 MPH.
Hermann is the most exciting prospect of the Yankee pitchers I saw given he has the highest ceiling of the bunch, plus there’s some history given he’s an American prospect.
LHP Joel Valdez (NYY)
5 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 7 K, 1 HR
This was my first time seeing Valdez and he was easily the most impressive pitcher out of any I saw in the series for either team. Valdez was absolutely dominant, aside from a home run allowed to Toronto UDFA Devonte Brown (more on him below). I hadn’t realized it at the time, but Valdez had had a no-hitter going at the time he gave up that fourth-inning home run. Very impressive for an international pitcher that only had pitched 3.2 innings above Complex League previously.
Valdez has a very wild motion. Or well, there’s a lot going on mechanically speaking. Valdez has a tall and lanky build being listed at 6’4” and 171 pounds, and with his delivery gets his torso low to the ground. This ends up in him spiking a lot of pitches in addition to his pitches having a lot of movement as it is. Savant said in one at bat that pitches had between 42-46” of vertical break. That’s nearly 4 feet of break. Valdez has 4 pitches in his arsenal, but only throws 2: a slider and a sinker. The sinker is his heater which is thrown at 91-94 MPH (avg. 93 MPH), and the slider is thrown at 79-83 MPH (avg. 81 MPH).
Valdez was a return the Yankees got in the offseason last year from Philadelphia for Nick Nelson and Donny Sands along with INF T.J. Rumfield, who has also been performing well in High-A Hudson Valley.
RHP Leam Mendez (NYY)
3 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 HR, 1 BB, 2 K
Mendez made his Single-A debut in this series, and while he appeared very nervous pitching under the bright lights of TD Ballpark for the first time in Thursday’s game, he seemed to have things under control on Saturday despite allowing a home run to Devonte Brown. Mendez earned his first Single-A win in the Saturday game. I had previously seen Mendez pitch for the FCL team which only plays during the daytime, so I can imagine how different pitching at night must be, especially having a crowd of a few hundred watching you as well.
Since July 9 through his last outing on that Saturday game on August 13, Mendez had posted a 1.50 ERA through 12 IP, only allowing 2 earned runs in that time, striking out 11. The Yankees have him set up as a closer role, so Mendez is only pitching an inning or two at a time, and he isn’t getting used every day either like a typical closer role might… but that could be a thing just to prevent extra wear-and-tear.
Mendez doesn’t have a ton of movement on his pitches as you can see in the video. In the linked video, his curveballs to Kasevich don’t float like a curve really should but his fastballs are more of a slider, though it could be the angle I was sitting at. Mendez has 4 pitches in his arsenal: a 4-seam fastball/sinker, a slider, a changeup, and a curveball. He can get the 4SFB up to 95, and averages 92-93 MPH on that pitch. The slider sits at 79-84 MPH, his change sits at 83-84 MPH, and his curve sits at about 77 MPH. What I’m impressed with is how he was able to get his changeup under 1000 RPMs, unless that was an issue with the TrackMan sensor they have at Dunedin.
OF Spencer Jones (NYY)
2-for-16, 2 R, 2 2B, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 4 K
“He wore #66 in FCL and that’s upside down 99, so obviously that’s gotta mean something, right?”
No, sorry. It’s just a number. Jones does have a few coincidences in common with the Yankees star centerfielder Aaron Judge such as having played on the same Cape Cod Baseball League team, the Brewster Whitecaps, but the commonalities are otherwise far and few between. OK, so they’re the same height and they’re both from California.
Spencer Jones made his Single-A debut in the series opener on August 9, going 0-for-4 in that game. In his next game on August 11, Jones hit a leadoff double, rounding first with a home-to-first speed of about 4.1 seconds, giving him plus-type speed (our Jackson Thomas timed him at about the same speed this past June at the Corvallis Regionals). I had joked with a fellow photographer in Jones’ pro debut earlier in August that Jones only needed 3 paces before he was at another base because of his long stride. His long stride helps him snag balls with ease in CF, and his height helps grab fly balls at the top of the outfield wall without stretching too much.
Later in that game, Jones sent a ball into the Dunedin bullpen for his first Single-A home run, a shot that went 375 feet. Those of you who have followed his career at Vanderbilt are likely plenty familiar with his power. I’m not concerned with any slump that Jones may have been in for this series given his performance at Vanderbilt.
C/1B Ben Rice (NYY)
4-for-18, 3 R, 5 BB, 4 K, 1 SB
The Yankees’ 12th rounder in last year’s draft has been learning 1st base which is primarily why I’m highlighting him in this piece. The Yankees have an abundance of catchers in the system with Ramirez, Rice, Gomez, Seigler, Narvaez, Wells and Breaux, so finding a role for all of them, especially those that have potent bats like Rice makes sense. The Yankees don’t have a ton of depth organizationally at 1st base, so the move makes a lot of sense.
Rice hit .390 in the month of July with 13 RBI, but Dunedin's pitching really quashed a lot of the Tarpons offense and Rice was no exception. Rice is a lot stronger behind the plate than what he looked like last year, but he looks like he belongs at 1st base. Rice did contribute to an error of really no fault to his own where he underhand tossed the ball to P Sean Hermann, but Hermann dropped the ball on the transfer.
It could be debated whether Rice should’ve just gone for it and made the out on his own but given Rice has only played 4 games at 1st base as far as what has been recorded in his collegiate and professional career. Speaking with his HS baseball coach, Rice did play 1B and 3B, so it’s possible his past may have a play here.
OF Tayler Aguilar (NYY)
5-for-13, 6 R, 2 2B, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 1 BB, 3 K, 1 SB
The Colorado native literally started his stint with the Tarpons with a bang, as his first at-bat in Single-A was a home run to right center. Aguilar later went back-to-back with Madison Santos hitting a home run into the Dunedin bullpen past the RF fence.
Like a lot of the other 2022 Yankees’ draft selections, with the exception of Spencer Jones, Aguilar hasn’t played in many games yet, so I haven’t had enough of an opportunity to properly analyze his performance as a whole yet, but boy were those homers fun to watch in his first Single-A game.
Dunedin Blue Jays (TOR) – W 4-2
Dunedin went into the series with a 47-54 record and ended the week 51-56.
RHP Geison Urbaez (TOR)
5 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 5 HR
Tampa completely obliterated Urbaez after losing 9-1 the previous night, taking a 7-1 lead by the time he was taken out of the game. This was my first time seeing Urbaez, and he looked a bit unconfident on the mound and appeared to not have the control he desired. Urbaez reminded me a lot of Tarpons pitcher Tyrone Yulie in that there were flashes of talent in some pitches, but this game just wasn’t his night. Looking at his past few weeks, Urbaez pitched earlier in the season for AA New Hampshire, but was sent to Single-A Dunedin in May where he’s stayed consistent with a 4.00 ERA. This game was his worst outing of the season.
Urbaez has an arsenal of a sinking fastball, changeup, cutter, and a slider. His sinker topped out at 95.7 MPH per Baseball Savant but was the pitch that was hit the most (10 BIP of 26 pitches). Of the off-speeds, the cutter seems to be his money pitch; Urbaez had 3 whiffs on 4 swings (11 pitches).
RHP Yondrei Rojas (TOR)
5 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 1 HR
The righty Rojas looked incredibly confident on the mound despite having an early 2-0 deficit due to a 2-run homerun because of a lead-off Spencer Jones double and Marcos Cabrera home run to left field. Rojas then sat down his next 10 batters in absolute dominance, making the Tarpons offense look silly. Rojas predominantly threw fastballs in this outing, which ranged from 89-95 MPH (avg. 93 MPH) but relies on a changeup as an off-speed. The change sits at 85-88 MPH with an average of 87 MPH.
RHP Jackson Rees (TOR)
2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
First off, I need to address the fact that Jackson Rees has the best flow in the game as stated in the above embedded tweet. OK, now that that’s out of the way, Rees was in Dunedin on a rehab assignment after returning from 60-day IL. The Bisons’ righty arm had the highest velo of the night out of any pitcher for either team in Saturday's game. He also keeps things simple by throwing two pitches (again, Savant thinks it’s three different pitches): a fastball/sinker and a slider. The fastball ranges from 89-96 with an average of 94 MPH, and the slider sits right around 85 MPH. Obviously having a Triple-A arm in Single-A should do well, and Rees did in both outings where he faced the Tarpons. Rees only had control issues once, walking Roberto Chirinos on 4 balls.
INF Josh Kasevich (TOR)
6-for-22, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 1 K
Toronto’s 2nd round pick made his professional debut in Tuesday night's series opener, going 3-for-5 with 2 RBI. Kasevich turns double plays with ease as you’d expect any top selection shortstop to do, so it will be his bat that over time will need to prove itself in the pros since ultimately that’s why he was signed as the 2nd round pick. Kasevich had still yet to hit anything greater than a single, but it was only his first week of pro ball, and only really got on base on little more than a bunt single on the first game I saw of the series. Kasevich went 1-for-8 in the 3 games I saw, only hitting that lucky dribbler.
Kasevich looked a bit nervous at the plate in the few times I saw him, which seemed odd given the confidence I had seen in the videos of him at bat in Oregon. I also knew of him via a friend who photographed him in the Northwoods League in Waterloo, IA where he played for the Waterloo Bucks, and I’ve been told he was a superstar of sorts there as well.
INF Cade Doughty (TOR)
7-for-18, 4 R, 2 2B, 1 HR, 6 RBI, 3 BB, 4 K, 1 SB
Toronto’s 2nd round conditional pick made his professional debut in Tuesday night's series opener, going 2-for-3 with an RBI and a BB. Doughty has been seriously impressive this week against Tampa. Doughty had a BABIP of .462 which was the best of the Toronto draftees that I saw this week, and as of the end of the series also had the greatest OPS of the bunch of 1.167.
It seems like every time Doughty made contact with the ball, it was with quite an impact. And indeed, in the 5 ABs I saw him in, he averaged an exit velo of 93.4 MPH. That includes an exit velo of 98.2 MPH on his first pro home run in Saturday’s game off of Leam Mendez in a late effort rally that barely got over the short porch in left (a home run’s a home run though).
RF Alan Roden (TOR)
6-for-21, 5 R, 2 2B, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 2 K, 1 SB
Toronto’s 3rd round pick from Creighton is starting to look like one of their best overall gets of the draft. Roden got his first pro hit on Wednesday night’s game, a line drive single in the 5th inning, but where he’s really shown off his talents is with his defense. Roden has made some incredible plays that should have landed on the Sportscenter Top 10 highlight reel, had Dunedin had MiLB.TV coverage, including one time where he landed in the Dunedin bullpen because their door wasn’t locked.
INF Peyton Williams (TOR)
2-for-19, 2 R, 2 H, 1 RBI, 3 BB, 7 K
My first impressions of Williams were, “wow, that’s a big dude”, and indeed, Williams is a large fellow. Williams, Toronto’s 7th round 2022 draft pick, is intimidating at the plate standing at 6’5”, 255 pounds, but his height is needed as a first baseman. Our Joe Lowry mentioned that his strikeouts were a concern in college and that’s trickled over to his pro career. By the end of the series with Tampa on August 13, Williams’ batting average had dwindled to .095, and had a .364 OPS.
Williams had no issues making plays at first base so defense wasn’t of concern, but the Jays have a lot of work ahead getting those strikeouts down and getting plate discipline up.
INF Ryan McCarty (TOR)
5-for-15, 1 2B, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 5 K
Toronto’s two-way UDFA from Penn State-Abington may fly under-the-radar for a little while during his time in Dunedin, but once he gets some exposure in Vancouver on MiLB.TV, that cat’s out of the bag. I’m curious if down the road Toronto uses McCarty as a pitcher and infielder to the likes of a Shohei Ohtani as a true two-way player since we don’t see a lot of those in pro ball, but just as he is now, McCarty has a lot of talent as seen in his first week of pro ball. McCarty had a BABIP that falls just behind Doughty at .444 as of the end of the series against Tampa.
OF Devonte Brown (TOR)
4-for-13, 1 HR, 2 BB, 3 K, 1 CS
UDFA Devonte Brown was signed out of NC State after putting up solid numbers and has done just that this series against Tampa. Brown has been impressive at the plate, showing off his power with a 395 ft home run, 108 MPH off the bat (!) on Friday night off Joel Valdez to left center field. Brown moves well in center field, though Tampa made things easy for him given the relative lack of offense for most of the series.
INF Estiven Machado (TOR)
5-for-15, 1 2B, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 5 BB, 4 K, 2 SB
I profiled “La Salsa” when I was last in Dunedin in May when I saw Ricky Tiedemann (as an aside, I can’t believe he’s in AA already!). A lot of what I said then still holds true, and I’m surprised he’s still in Dunedin given how aggressive Toronto has been in promoting their prospects this year.
Machado is still doing very well in Dunedin and I’m struggling to understand what Toronto’s plans for him are given he’s being held back, especially with the draft selections knocking the door down right behind him. Machado had a .819 OPS in July and had an OPS of .942 in August at the end of the series with Tampa.