The Philadelphia Phillies and Houston Astros are battling it out in the World Series. However, the Blue Jays have some of their promising young prospects who will be finishing their 2022 seasons in different Fall or Winter Leagues. Here is a look at how some of the clubs’ prospects have done.
Nate Pearson
Once upon a time Nate Pearson was one of baseball’s top prospects reaching as high as the seventh best prospect across all of Major League Baseball by Baseball America back in early 2020. Pearson was a former first round pick and has suffered many injuries over the past two seasons. This past season, Pearson threw only 15.1 innings.
To catch up on some work, Pearson has gone to play in the Dominican Winter League for the Tigres del Licey and has pitched in a relief role appearing in five of the team’s first ten games. He has been unhittable at the age of 25, allowing only one walk and allowing five hits in five innings. Pearson will hopefully continue building his confidence to jump on the 26-man roster for 2023.
Addison Barger
Five years have passed since the Blue Jays selected Addison Barger as their sixth-round pick in the 2018 June Amateur Draft. The 22-year-old had an offensive season that was undoubtedly the best of any Blue Jays prospect. He played at three levels and hit 26 home runs, 91 RBI and a combined slash line.308/.378/.555.
Now ranked 13th on the club’s top prospect list by Major League Baseball, Barger has gone down to play in the Arizona Fall League for the Salt River Rafters. Although he is only 10 for 49 (.204) in his first season, he has had a difficult time collecting hits. However, he has displayed a keen eye at the plate and has collected eight walks in 59 plate appearances. He has also struck out seven times. He has split his time between second base and short stop, and while he hasn’t made an error at second base, he has made three errors in 33 opportunities at shortstop.
Addison Barger was a key offensive player for the Blue Jays in 2022. He is currently a great catcher in the Arizona Fall League.
Tanner Morris
Tanner Morris, who was a New Hampshire native, made it to Buffalo after posting a slashline of.312/.430/.468 during 43 games with Fisher Cats. He struggled with the Bisons’.174 batting average over 126 plate appearances. Morris is now with Barger in Salt River. He has been given 13 free passes, and seven strikeouts, over the 13 games. He has posted a slash line.306/.490/.417, despite not having much power (two extra-base hits). Morris splits his time between left field, second base, and third base so far.
Zach Britton
Zach Britton is a close friend of Morris and Barger, one of the most sought-after closers during the 2010s. Britton is second on the Rafters team, with a.686 Slugging percentage and 1.210 OPS. He has gone 16 for 35 (.457) through eleven games with five extra-base hits. Britton is still learning as a catcher in the Blue Jays farm program. He has only been able to play at the two corner positions with Salt River so far, but has not made an error. I would like to see the Blue Jays continue with this approach next year with Britton as an outfielder as he is older than both Gabriel Moreno and Alejandro Kirk so it is unlikely he’ll every pass them and the team is weak in outfield prospects.
Adrian Hernandez
Adrian Hernandez was signed by the Blue Jays as an international free agent at 17 years old in 2017. He had a stellar start to 2022, until an injury forced him to withdraw near the end. Hernandez was a Triple-A pitcher for 18 games. His ERA was 1.80. But Hernandez let in runs in three of his final four outings in June, and he was on the injured reserve until early August. He allowed 14 earned runs in 12.2 innings when he returned home to Buffalo. His season ERA rose to 4.96.
Hernandez will be playing in Mexico’s Winter League for the Caneros de Los Mochis to build on his success. Through 16 games, he has appeared in four of them and has not allowed a run for more than 4.1 innings. He struck out five and allowed just four base runners (two walks and two hits)
Alejandro Melean
The 6’0, 22-year old Alejandro Melean is ranked as the club’s 30th best prospect and looked good through the first part of his 2022 campaign as he had a 1.69 ERA over 32 innings with Vancouver, however, he struggled when he moved up to New Hampshire. Melean’s ERA tripled and his WHIP almost doubled with the Fisher Cats, and despite throwing more than 60 innings this year he went back home to Venezuela to pitch in their Winter League.
Melean pitches for Aguilas Del Zulia. He has made only one start in their six first games. This did not go according to plan. After surrendering four hits (including a homerun) and five runs, he couldn’t get out of the 2nd inning.
