Live Rehab Report:

BJ Ryan, Armando Benitez & Gus Chacin

Down in Dunedin I lucked into catching rehab assignments for BJ Ryan, Gustavo Chacin & Armando Benitez. Exclusive notes & photos within.

I wasn’t privy to a gun reading but my estimatition would be the middle to high 80’s. The problem with Chacin’s start was that his fastball had no movement. And while he did get hammered, the majority of his swing and misses along with outs were via his breaking ball. Typically hitters at this level are working on hitting the breaking pitch, so if that’s all you can use to get 20ish year old kids out, well then you are going to get hammered in the MLB. Chacin allowed 4 runs on 7 hits in just over 2 IP. With what I have seen this night along with Chacin’s stats from the past year and a half I think the Jays are pretty much going to have to A) give him at most mop-up duty! or B) eat his contract and keep him in AAA Syracuse.

BJ Ryan was bringing the heat in his appearence. Primarily fastballs around the 92 level according to a scout. In one IP he struck out one and gained two outs from “I’m just going to put the bat on the ball” weak ass contact.

After that came Benetiz. Benetiz dominated his three hitters, with a 95ish fastball and his nasty mid-80’s slider. The question with Benetiz has never been his stuff, it all comes down to his endurance in maintaining his stuff during the season and his overall durability to just stay off of the DL. If he can address these issues (big if here) he should slot nicely into the backend of the Jays pen.

I’ll be back soon with a few more exclusive photos of the top prospects in this game along with a few “scouting style” YouTube at-bats.