I attended a Sunday game between the Dunedin Jays & Daytona Cubs. Here are my thoughts on various Jays prospects, including starter Chad Jenkins.

Chad Jenkins

My first time seeing Chad. I wasn’t overly impressed.

He threw primarily a 92 MPH sinker that, at least on this day, didn’t sink too much. (for the record, I went down and watched a few AB directly behind the plate).

Chad’s end of the day boxscore line of 6 IP, 2 ER, 2 BB & 4 K ended up looking better than he pitched. The Cubs ran into two outs running on first movement, bunted into a fluke DP and hit at least three linedrive or deep fly outs.

Jenkins used a slider as his primary off-speed offering. It’s tight and in the mid-low 80′s. He was able to use it to get ahead in the middle innings. He also mixed in a change-up from time to time.

His stuff is good but I just don’t see him missing many bats in the bigs. Perhaps it was an off day. Or maybe I’ve seen too many solid arms this week (Jarred Cosart & Trevor May). But right now I don’t see Jenkins as anything more than a 4th/5th type arm at the MLB level.

Scott Podsednik

Down on a rehab assignment, Pod didn’t put forth too much effort during the game. He jogged here, ran there, jogged again. He was 0 for 4 with a walk, going deep into numerous counts.

Dewyane Wise

Wise was the offensive star of the game for the Jays. He hit a homer and double. He ran well and played a very shallow CF.

Brad Glenn

The #4 hitter and team leader in RBI. He didn’t impress or disappoint. He was just there.

AJ Jimenez

Jimenez has a very impressive arm from behind the plate. He threw out a runner that had a great jump. He also started a double play off of a squib bunt.

On the flip side he threw wildly at times, almost throwing away a snap throw to first and at one point launching a ball down the 1st base line on a bunt attempt.

AJ had a tough day at the plate, striking out three times. He had some pitch recognition issues during a few AB. At no point did he look over-matched while at-bat. Chalk this up to a bad day, as he’s still hitting over .400 on the young season.

Kevin Ahrens

He didn’t stand out at all. He was just there. While still young, he doesn’t appear to generate enough power to stick at 3B. Can his defense hold up in the middle infield? From what I saw I say no. However, things can change, as Kevin will turn just 22 in a few days.

Note: It appears that Kevin has ditched switch hitting. He hit on the right side vs RHP all game long.

Wes Etheridge

I hadn’t heard of this guy until he entered the game. 26 year old righty reliever that, to the best of my knowledge, has been playing independent ball for the past two seasons. He features a 85 MPH cutter. It’s effective at this level. Will it play in AA or AAA?

Anyone not mentioned (Contreras, Goins, Nolan, Wilson) didn’t impress in the least. If you called all four minor league depth I wouldn’t argue the point.

Haters Gonna Hate

I hate to be a downer but I just wasn’t impressed with the Dunedin Jays during this game. Outside of Jiminnez I didn’t really “feel” any of the positional prospects. And Jenkins didn’t stand out as anything more than a back of the rotation type arm. Luckily for the Jays most organizational prospect rankings confirm the lack of depth outside of SP at the High-A level.