More Minor League Honours for Pompey and Norris

Daniel Norris
Daniel Norris

 

I know I’m coming a little bit late to the party but hey, the season’s over (mostly) and I’m firmly in “Git ‘er done!” mode for all of the other things going on in my life. But don’t worry, Blue Jays fans! I’ll have you covered with these newsy tidbits!

 

 

The MILBYs are MILB.com’s yearly awards that they give out for various achievements in minor league baseball and a couple of Blue Jays’ farmhands have won some hardware this year.

 

In the “Breakout Prospect” category, two Blue Jays took home awards with Dalton Pompey earning the fan’s award and Daniel Norris getting the nod from the MiLB.com staff. Both players had meteoric rises, reaching the major leagues after starting in High-A Dunedin. Props go to the Canadian fans who must have voted en masse for their outstanding hometown prospect, getting him 42% of the vote. Second place was Kevin Ziomek of the West Michigan Whitecaps (Detroit) with 29%, who I interviewed earlier this season.

 

Daniel Norris, who also rose from Dunedin to the Blue Jays, grabbed 6% of the vote but must have impressed the staff to earn their choice. Norris wasn’t even a top-100 prospect coming into the season but is now ranked #25 by MLB.com and was dominant at every level other than the major leagues where he held his own. He had offseason surgery to remove bone chips from his elbow and that could be why he flagged in September as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays. Norris was also voted the Best Starter in the MILBYs by the fans with 51% of the vote.

 

Garnering second place in the Best Starter category was the Blue Jays’ Kendall Graveman who came from even lower in the system (Class-A Lansing) to reach the bigs in 2014. I think that both Graveman and Norris will start 2014 in Triple-A Buffalo and will be excellent as insurance for what could be a young Toronto rotation.

 

Dalton Pompey
Dalton Pompey

 

In more minor league news, two Blue Jays were selected for the Arizona Fall League’s Fall Stars game that will be held on Saturday, November 1. Dalton Pompey, now the #88-ranked prospect by MLB.com, was chosen along with Roberto Osuna, the 19-year-old who has struggled so far this year in the Arizona Fall League. Osuna is still in his first season coming back from Tommy John surgery.

 

Who are these players? Find out in The 2014 Toronto Blue Jays Minor League Handbook, now available as an ebook at Smashwords.com for $7.99 US. It’s coming soon to Amazon, Apple iBooks, Kobo and other fine retailers. You can purchase and preview the book at our Smashwords.com page! If you like us here,“like” us on Facebook!

The All-Star Break Supplement to the Minor League Handbook is also available at Smashwords.com for only $2 US! Get an update on how your favourite players have been doing this season as well as a report on the 2014 draft!

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