Dunedin Blue Jays Prospect Review
Logan Warmoth has yet to get going offensively in Dunedin. His strikeout and walk rates of 18.8% and 8.3% are both fine, but due to a lack of power he has managed just a 85 wrc+. Most of his struggles have come against right handed pitching. He has slashed .286/.375/.429 against LHP, but a measly .205/.284/.256 against RHP. The loen bright spot in his April offensive performance was a .341 OBP. Even that has abandoned him and in the first 11 games of May he has just a .271 OBP.
Riley Adams had a rough April, but is starting to show signs of life in May. After slashing .194/.229/.299 in April, he is at .212/.357/.303 in May. Those May numbers are still bad, but he is showing improvement in his strikeout and walk numbers. After a brutal 34.3 K% and 4.3 BB% in April, he has improved those numbers to 21.4% and 16.7%. His power is still missing and that was his calling card previously, so it is definitely something worth monitoring. Without his power he's unlikely to be a great hitter. The improved K/BB numbers suggest he's putting together better plate appearances and it should only be a matter of time before he starts tapping into his natural power again.
Players who make a lot of contact are always worth keeping an eye on. As if often the case with unheralded prospects who make a lot of contact, their flaw is that they don't hit for enough power when they make contact. This usually leads to a high, albeit empty batting average. Still, these players are worth keeping an eye on just in case they are able to make an adjustment that leads to more power. Jose Altuve is a prime example of this. Eduard Pinto is interesting for this very reason. So far in 2018 he has struck out in just 5.6% of his 107 plate appearances. Across 1845 career minor league plate appearances he has struck out just 7.2% of the time. This has led to a .304 AVG in the minors, but the .384 SLG shows that it comes with very little power. There is very little information about him on the internet so his tools obviously aren't flashy. He is limited defensively to the outfield corners which makes it very unlikely he'll make an impact in the majors unless he figures out a way to generate more power. Still, stranger things have happened and he does have an elite ability to make contact. At this point he's more of a super deep sleeper prospect based on his excellent strikeout rate.
Angel Perdomo has put up intriguing numbers since joining thr Blue Jays organization as an 18 year old in 2012. In 373 professional innings he has a 3.14 ERA and 10.1 K/9. In 4 starts for Dunedin this year he has a 2.65 ERA and 9.5 K/9. The most promising stat is his 2.1 BB/9. He has struggled with control throughout his career, but is now limiting walks. He is nearly a year older than the average player in the Florida State League so perhaps it's time the Blue Jays challenged him with an assignment to AA. In 2016 he represented the Blue Jays in the Futures Game so he's not an under the radar prospect, but he still doesn't seem to get the same kind of praise heaped on other Blue Jays pitching prospects. He didn't make Baseball America's top 30 Blue Jays prospects list this season. He has a powerful fastball and a wipe-out slider that could suit him well in a bullpen role should he be unable to refine his changeup.
Patrick Murphy had a good April results-wise, with a 3.68 ERA, but in May the results haven't been there and he has posted a 5.71 ERA. Interestingly enough, he has actually improved his peripheral numbers. His K/9 went from 6.5 in April to 7.8 in May and his walk rate went from 3.68 BB/9 to 1.56 in May. A .368 BABIP in May has played a big role in his high ERA. His FIP for the season is still a sparkling 3.24 and he has generated 56.8% groundballs. With the ability to generate so many groundballs the improved walk rate is very exciting to see. He isn't likely to give up many extra base hits so limiting the walks will make him a hard guy to score against. By throwing lots of strikes he's forcing opposing teams to string together a lot of hits if they want to score runs against him. This kind of profile puts him at the mercy of BABIP at times. Murphy is showing promise as a back-of-the-rotation prospect.
