Thursday night’s sweeping away of the Minnesota Twins provided a glimpse into the bright future of the Blue Jays.
"Aw, shucks" right-hander Jesse Litsch gave the bullpen the night off by throwing perhaps the best game of his young career, a four-hit, complete game shutout in which he was never in danger. Travis Snider, the best looking hitter to emerge from J.P. Ricciardi’s seven June drafts and the best looking hitter to arrive in these parts since Carlos Delgado in 1994, chipped in three hits – including an absolute bomb to straight away centre for his first of what will be many Major League home runs.
Make it five straight wins for the Jays, 14 out of their past 21, and a 38-27 record since Cito Gaston took control of this team and helped remove their myopic and flawed offensive approach.
Let’s face facts folks: after the rampant steroid use that caused teams to overpay for veterans whose stats and performances were chemically-enhanced, the current era in baseball is seeing a new breed of players step into the spotlight with very little training at the minor league level.
All one has to do is take a glance around the game in 2008 and see a group of players in their early to mid-20s that represent all that was once good in this game. Tampa Bay’s Evan Longoria, still a month shy of his 23rd birthday, and although currently convalescing with a fractured right wrist, has put up projected 30+ HR, 100+ RBI numbers this season for the upstart Rays. Rays’ catcher Dioner Navarro is just 24 and played in his first All-Star Game in July. Three-fifths of Tampa’s rotation – Scott Kazmir, Matt Garza and Edwin Jackson – are also 24. The same holds true in Boston, where left-handed starter Jon Lester, infielder Jed Lowrie and outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury are all just 24, while offensive trigger Dustin Pedroia is 25.
Baltimore’s Nick Markakis is also 24 and on the verge of superstardom. And even in New York, where collecting old players has become a hobby, fire-balling right-hander Joba Chamberlain is only 22. And these young players are only from the A.L. East.
My point here is that baseball, despite its aging fan base, has become a young man’s game, and this fits perfectly with what the Blue Jays are trying to do in Toronto. Sure, they haven’t made the playoffs since many off you were in grade school. But they have been stockpiling young talent through the draft and the farm system is finally bearing Major League-ready fruit. Twenty-year-old Snider, who rocketed through the system at three levels this summer, is the tip of the talent iceberg. Twenty-two-year-old catcher J.P. Arencibia put up the kind of numbers -- .298, 27 HR, 105 RBI between A & AA – that should have the front office salivating. The Jays have not developed a home-grown catcher in many moons and Arencibia appears to fit the bill. New Zealand-born second baseman Scott Campbell, 23, had a full season at AA and was among the circuit’s top hitters with a .302 batting average. Left-handed starter Brett Cecil, 22, has played at three levels this season like Snider and finished with combined numbers of 8-5, 2.88 ERA, .225 opponents average and 9.8 strikeouts per innings pitched. Another left-hander, Brad Mills, 23, played at three levels and went 13-5, 1.95 ERA and 159 strikeouts in 147.1 innings. Heck, you may as well throw in the forgotten one, 2004 first rounder, left-hander Ricky Romero, 23, into the mix. He finally made it AAA this season and in seven starts went 3-3, with a respectable 3.38 ERA. And this past June’s first-round pick (16th overall), 21-year-old first baseman David Cooper, played at three levels during his first half-season as a pro, and combined to hit .338 with 29 doubles, five HR and 53 RBI in just 69 games.
So, as frustrating it has been to watch the Blue Jays at times this season, the promise of a brighter future is just on the horizon. And with the core of this team unlikely to change – save for the departure of A.J. Burnett – building from within, with a degree of cost certainty, is the way teams are built and the Blue Jays are no exception.
Thanks to performances by Litsch and Snider, the glass certainly appears to be hall full in Toronto.
We haven’t been able to say that – with a straight face – for a while, have we?
