Dunedin Blue Jays May Report

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The Dunedin Blue Jays enter June with a 29-22 record, good for first in the North Division of the Florida State League and a 2 game lead on Brevard County. They’re playing exactly to their Pythagorean record, scoring 209 runs and allowing only 181. While the D-Jays are getting little offense, it’s a tough league for hitters and they sit in sixth place in runs per game with 4.10, 8th in home runs, 2nd in SBs, 7th in BA, 9th in OBP, 7th in SLG, and 8th in OPS. On the other side of the ledger, the Blue Jays lead the FSL in runs per game at 3.55 with the oldest average aged pitching staff in the league. While not at the top of any individual category other than hits allowed, the Dunedin Jays have the lowest WHIP in the league at 1.146.

 

Andy Burns. Photo: Jim Goins

The hitting has been the weak point for the Dunedin squad and 3B Andy Burns had a major drop in his production between April and May. In April, he was on top of the world with a .347/.439/568 line but in May, it reads .260/.302/.417.  It’s still respectable, considering his four home runs, but his doubles are way down (3 in May, 7 in April) and he doubled his strikeout total (20 in May, 10 in April) while cutting his walks in half (7 in May, 15 in April).

 

Nick Baligod. Photo: battersbox.ca

Outfielder Nick Baligod has taken up the mantle of the hottest guy on the team. Baligod, 25, is hitting a scorching .357/.416/.500 in May with 8 doubles and a triple. The third-year pro has improved his hitting at every level but has little power and can’t be considered a prospect.

 

K.C. Hobson. Photo: Jim Goins

First baseman K.C. Hobson is tantalizing Blue Jays prospect watchers with power that looks like it’s legitimate for the 22 year old. He needs to make more contact, but leads the team in HRs despite missing the first couple of weeks of the season on the DL. He hit .236/.271/.494 for May with 6 home runs and 5 doubles.

 

The Dunedin Blue Jays have two Canadian outfielders on their roster. Mike Crouse only has 49 at bats on the year due to an injury (35 in May) and has struck out a lot – 12 in about 41 May plate appearances and has almost a 30% K rate over the season. Despite the strikeout tendency, his numbers are better than last year when he was demoted to Lansing. Toronto native Marcus Knecht is putting up worse numbers than he did in 2012 but May is an improvement over April. He hit .221/.295/.372 for May but hit three of his four home runs and stole three of his four bases. He still has a long way to go before he generates the buzz he had coming out of Lansing in 2011.

 

There are no pitching prospects on this team outside of Aaron Sanchez who has landed on the DL after four May starts. In those starts he had a 3.18 ERA with 15 strikeouts and 8 walks in 17 innings giving up only 9 hits.