Baby Jays

No, this post isn’t about checking up on the progress of players in the Toronto Blue Jays’ shallow farm system.  This time I will be checking in on the sons of former Jays.

Cale Iorg

God bless America and God bless Alabama baseball. Son of former Jays’ utility infielder, Garth Iorg, Cale Iorg most recently played shortstop for the Alabama Crimson Tide where he hit .280 with 38 RBIs as a true freshman in 2005.

The youngest of Iorg’s three sons, Cale hasn’t played an official baseball game since he left for Portugal in July of 2005. He has instead spent his time helping out the locals in Portugal and hasn’t seen his family in person since he left. He can e-mail his family about once a week, but has only spoken to them over the phone on special occasions, like Christmas and Mother’s Day.

Despite the fact that Cale has been out of the game for 2 years, the Detroit Tigers picked Iorg in the 6th round, the 211th pick overall.

Old man Garth doesn’t seem concerned, however. After all, he has already seen two of his sons already make the transition.

Iorg’s oldest son, Isaac, spent two years in downtown Los Angeles, while middle son Eli spent two years in Argentina as part of their respective mission trips. Both were later drafted and played Minor League baseball.

“It only took them about two or three weeks, and then they were right back in the swing of things,” Garth said.

Garth said Cale has stayed in shape over the past two years and has thrown a baseball, but hasn’t swung a bat.

A May 31, 2007, story in The Huntsville Times said he would likely return to the Tide when he returns from Portugal on July 14. Those plans will likely change though, as no one in the Iorg family could quite figure when and if Cale would be selected.

“He didn’t know how high of a pick he would be,” Garth said.

Judging by his ’07 stats, it looks like Cale is going to need more than 2-3 weeks to get back into the swing of things.

John Mayberry Jr.

John Mayberry Jr. is the son of 15 MLB veteran and former Toronto Blue Jays’ first baseman John Mayberry.

Mayberry was selected in the first-round of the 2002 draft by the Seattle Mariners, but the Mariners were unable to sign Mayberry out of his commitment to national baseball and academic powerhouse Stanford.
Here is the scouting report on Mayberry:

Mayberry has a huge, athletic frame with great power potential. While he played a little bit of 3B in high school, and can play both corner outfield positions, his best position is first base, where his glove and size draws comparisons to Derrek Lee. Given his size, his swing can get long, and is likely going to have his fair share of strikeouts, but he does do a good job pulling his hands in and keeping them in front of the barrel of the bat on inside pitches.Anything over the middle to outer half of the plate he crushes.

In 2005, the Texas Rangers signed Mayberry (their first round pick) to a $1.525 million contract and moved him to the OF and sent him to Class A Spokane.

Today, Mayberry remains an enigma. Despite being a three year college player, in his third professional season, Mayberry still toils in low A ball. Mayberry finished up the 2007 season in the Arizona Fall League, flashing some power but hitting a measly .214.

Jeremy Barfield

 Jeremy Barfield is the son of former Jays slugger Jesse Barfield, and younger brother of Cleveland Indians second-sacker Josh Barfield.

Jeremy is an OF/1B selected in the 9th round of the 2006 draft by the New York Mets.  The 6’5″ 240 pound seventeen year old Barfield is built more like his father, scouts say, than his brother.

Barfield says that he models his game after Ken Griffey, Jr., who he said is a close family friend. Even so, Barfield quickly got a reputation among Mets fans as being arrogant after being drafted, due to an image of him flipping his bat nearly twenty feet into the air after a clutch hit.

“We were down by two, first base was open, and the guy on deck was 0-3 at the time,” Barfield says, remembering the moment. His teammates hitting before him had hit back-to-back balls off the center field wall, and there were runners on second and third with two outs in the inning. “The third baseman yelled to walk me, but (the pitcher) ignored it, and I made them pay.

“I didn’t know I tossed it, it just happened.”

The Mets never ended up signing him and Barfield currently plays JUCO baseball in Texas with San Jacinto.

Oh yeah, one more thing:

Jeremy and his father Jesse had some kind of argument that apparently took place on the stairs in his house,” said Harris County Sheriff’s Department Lt. John Martin, a spokesman. “The father was lower on the stairs than Jeremy was and … at some point during argument, Jeremy shoved him and he ended up falling down the stairs and struck his head pretty hard on the floor.”
Jeremy was arrested and charged with misdemeanor assault, and Jesse was treated and released from the hospital.

Prince Fielder

Son of Big Daddy Cecil Fielder, Prince Fielder is ripping up the National League and led the NL in home runs in 2007 with 50. He was also 3rd in MVP voting and won a Silver Slugger award. Watch the man in action: