Turning over Leafs: The March (post deadline) Leafs Player Power Rankings

I’m back for the second last trip through the roster of the season. Next up will be the playoff preview player power rankings. Can you feel the excitement? No. I get it. You’re sitting around reading a blog. Let’s keep things in perspective.
Anyways, here are last month’s rankings for a bit of perspective and with that out of the way, let’s dive into some power rankings that feature some new Leafs but a very familiar top three.
1. William Nylander (steady at #1)
Welcome back to the number one spot, Bill from ‘berta. It really says a lot that not only has Nylander been the best Leaf for much of this season, he’s consistently been one of the best. He’s also done it while doing a lot of the heavylifting, either centering lines, playing on lines centered by Pontus Holmberg or Sam Lafferty, and generally doing a bit of everything. Over the past month Nylander again has been the Leafs top scorer, but if we are going to find some criticism of him it’s that he’s so much more dominant at home than on the road. I wonder if we’ll see Nylander playing with Matthews at home in the playoffs and see Marner replace him on the road.
2. Mitch Marner (steady at #2)
This really …

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Author: Jon Steitzer / The Leafs Nation

Cavan Biggio hits a home run, Drew Hutchison has a good outing, and more as the Blue Jays split the split squad games (again)

For the second time in spring training, the Blue Jays split the split squad games.

In the televised game, they beat the team from Atlanta 3-1, while they lost 6-1 to the Tampa Bay Rays in the untelevised game.
Let’s start with the win.
The Blue Jays’ 3-1 win against Atlanta:
It was nice to get off the schneid with a win on National TV. There were quite a few players that deserved the player of the game, but I went with…
Blue Jays Nation’s player of the game: Nathan Lukes
There were two homers in this game (which we’ll get to), but today we’re going to go with the 28-year-old Nathan Lukes as the player of the game.
His impact on the game was immediate, as he registered the first out of the game on an outstanding catch in centre field.

Nathan Lukes (@nathan_lukes) with an incredible catch to start the game and get the first out.
Very good defender.#BlueJays pic.twitter.com/HTBPb7hXTL
— Brennan Delaney (@Brennan_L_D) March 9, 2023

Lukes also went 2-3, with all three of the batted balls registering an exit velocity of over 95 mph (hard hit). Furthermore, his ground out had an exit velocity of 110.1 mph a game-high. Moreover, he could have easily been his third hit of the game had the first baseman not been positioned perfectly.

Nathan Lukes (@nathan_lukes) may mess around and win the Blue Jays Nation player of the game award.
2-2 today, along with an outstanding catch in centre field.
95.9 mph exit velocity here.#BlueJays pic.twitter.com/kZpqJvyQgH
— Brennan Delaney (@Brennan_L_D) March 9, 2023

Added to the 40-man roster in November, Lukes is looking for his first MLB plate appearance, and there’s a good chance he gets that this season.
Things worth mentioning:
Kevin Gausman looked more comfortable in his start this afternoon. He pitched 3.2 innings, allowing two hits, but struck out two. He has yet to allow an earned run this spring training, and hi …

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Author: Brennan Delaney / Blue Jays Nation

Toronto scores runs for Drew Hutchison (2023 edition), the prospects shine, and more as the Blue Jays pummel the Tigers 18-5

For a quick second there, I thought we were teleported back to late July when the Jays thrashed the Boston Red Sox 28-5.

While the score only finished 18-5 and there was only one home run from our player of the game, the Jays decimated the Tigers. This included a thirteen-run fourth inning.
Due to it only being a radio broadcast, there were no highlights I was able to clip from this afternoon’s game. I did, however, have time to make a sick meme, which you can see in the header. Let’s look at the player of the game.
Blue Jays Nation’s player of the game: Vinny Capra
There were a few position players that could have gotten the player of the game award (and they’ll be explored in “Things worth mentioning”, but today, it belongs to Vinny Capra.
Capra hit the only Blue Jays run of the game but also drove in seven runs, going 2-4. Coming into this game, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had the most Blue Jays RBIs with five, but Capra overtook that within just a game.
Last season with the Buffalo Bisons, he slashed .283/.378/.403 with five homers, and an even 13.1 BB% and K% in 222 plate appearances. Interestingly, his homer numbers actually declined from the 2021 season, when he hit 10 homers in just 282 plate appearances.
The 26-year-old super-utility player also appe …

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Author: Brennan Delaney / Blue Jays Nation

Blue Jays-Red Sox 7/22/2022: A Comedy

Now THAT is how you start the second half of the season. The Blue Jays came back from the All-Star break and welcomed the Red Sox with a 28-5 beatdown at Fenway Park. It’s safe to say that this game was worthy of a mercy rule, and everyone in the ballpark would’ve been okay with it. Red Sox fans were booing in literally every single inning, even to cover up some “Let’s go Blue Jays!” chants.

It would be hard to mention every run scored by the Blue Jays tonight because it would simply have as many words as the United States Constitution. Tough night for those who took the under!
The best and most comical of the 28 runs came from Raimel Tapia, who hit an inside-the-park grand slam. Randal Grichuk could never! On a 0-0 offering from Red Sox reliever Austin Davis, Tapia skied a ball into deep center field, and judging on his body language, Tapia assumed that he would be out. On what should have been a routine fly ball, Red Sox CF Jaren Duran never saw the ball, and instead, stood completely still as the ball landed in front of the center field wall. Tapia went from “Damn, I’m out” to 355 mph in no time, and he cleared …

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Author: Evan Stack / Blue Jays Nation

MLB Draft Day 2, live article – Blue Jays selections, analysis, and more!

Hey y’all, welcome to the second day of the draft, where teams will be selecting round 3 through round 10.

If you missed the articles last night, you can click on these four links to learn about each of the picks:
The Toronto Blue Jays select Brandon Barriera with the 23rd overall pick
The Toronto Blue Jays select Josh Kasevich with the 60th overall pick
The Toronto Blue Jays select Tucker Toman with the 77th overall pick
The Toronto Blue Jays select Cade Doughty with the 78th overall pick
The Jays first pick of the day comes with the 98th overall, 18 picks into the day. After that, they will pick every 30 picks.
Some names still on the board include Trey Dombroski, Ben Joyce, Nazier Mule, Cameron Smith and quite a few others.
It’s likely that they Jays won’t pick big names, as they’ll have to under slot quite a few players due to Tucker Toman picked 77th overall.
If I had top give a grade for their Day 1 drafting, it would have to be at the very least and A. The lowest ranked prospect they drafted yesterday according to MLB Pipeline was the 67th ranked prospect, so definitely expect a lot of “small” named players (who the Jays do well with.
 
 
 
 
POINTSBET IS LIVE IN ONTARIO
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Author: Brennan Delaney / Blue Jays Nation

The Mark Shapiro Era Draft Retrospective: 2017

This year was the second draft with Mark Shapiro at the helm of the Blue Jays

Interestingly, 2022 will be the first draft since 2017 that the team had more than three draft picks in the first 100 picks. The Jays did a good job of acquiring two flamethrowing relievers, as well as a utility player and a catcher.
Logan Warmoth:
The Jays selected the versatile position player with the 22nd pick.
Unlike Zeuch, Warmoth is still in the Blue Jays organization, although he hasn’t been a top prospect for awhile. He was selected from the University of North Carolina as a junior, and has put up alright numbers in the minors.
In 1586 plate appearances, Warmoth has a .246/.337/.353 slash line with 20 homers. Before the pandemic, he had just 6 homers in 947 plate appearances. Since his move to Triple A in 2021, he has hit 14 homers in 639 plate appearances.
In 2021, his K% increased to a career high 33.2%, likely due to him trying to increase his power. He finished slashing .228/.350/.357 with nine homers and a wRC+ of 97 in 413 plate appearances.
He’s refined his power approach this season, as he’s hit five homers in 226 plate appearances. Notably, Warmoth’s K% has dropped to 26.5%.
While the 26-year-old can’t quite be considered a prospect anymore, his versatility and potential pop could help an MLB team in the future.
Nate Pearson:
Much like Bo Bichette, you know Nate Pearson. He was drafted with th …

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Author: Brennan Delaney / Blue Jays Nation