It’s that time of year that we begin our reports summarizing the season for the Blue Jays’ minor league affiliates. We continue our reports with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.
If you’re new to Blue Jays from Away, we summarize all eight of the Blue Jays’ minor league teams in four parts: The Blue Jays from Away Awards, Starting Pitchers, Relief Pitchers and Position Players. Players are discussed with the team that they spent the most time with (by innings pitched for pitchers and at bats for batters).
The New Hampshire Fisher Cats had a tremendous season that was only half-fueled by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Under first-year manager John Schneider, the Fisher Cats finished 76-62, good for second place in the Eastern Division, two games back of the Trenton Thunder for a playoff spot. The Fisher Cats dominated the league offensively, finishing with 5.08 runs scored per game, tops in the league and that’s with an average age of player that was 0.5 years below league average. The pitching was a little more mediocre, finishing with 4.53 runs allowed per game, a little more than the 4.42 r/g league average with a staff that was 0.1 years younger than the league average at 24.3 years old.
When the playoffs came, the Fisher Cats swept the Trenton Thunder in the postseason despite Guerrero having finished his season in Buffalo. The Fisher Cats also went on to sweep the Akron Rubberducks three games to none to win the Eastern League Championship in a sweep of the playoffs.
Blue Jays from Away Player of the Game Champion
For those of you who followed the minor league reports here, you’ll know that I “awarded” Player of the Game (PotG) accolades on a game-by-game basis. It should comfort you to know that I’ve been keeping track of these daily awards and my rationale for the system is as follows.
The Player of the Game Awards were determined by a number of factors that included who I thought had the most impact on the game and who might have gone “above and beyond.” Many nights, there was just one Player of the Game. If there was, he earned one point. If I thought that either a) no one stood out enough to merit a single PotG, or b) two or more players were outstanding and deserved mention, I split the point up into two, three or four shares. If two players earned PotG mention, they each received 0.5 points and if three players earned mentions, they each received 0.33 points, etc. There were occasions that I felt that no one merited the award and therefore, I did not give out any points.
Here are the final standings for Blue Jays from Away Player of the Game for the New Hampshire Fisher Cats:
| Harold Ramirez | 16 |
| Cavan Biggio | 15.67 |
| Bo Bichette | 14.67 |
| Vladimir Guerrero Jr. | 12.5 |
| Jon Berti | 8.83 |
| T.J. Zeuch | 8 |
| Jonathan Davis | 7.83 |
| Jordan Romano | 7 |
| Juan Kelly | 6.33 |
| Max Pentecost | 5.5 |
| Gunnar Heidt | 5 |
| Jon Harris | 4.83 |
| Connor Panas | 3.83 |
| Andrew Guillotte | 3.17 |
| Lourdes Gurriel | 3 |
| Sean Reid-Foley | 2.5 |
| Patrick Cantwell | 1.83 |
| Santiago Espinal | 1.67 |
| Josh DeGraaf | 1.5 |
| Forrest Wall | 1.5 |
| Nick Tepesch | 1 |
| Hector Perez | 1 |
| Francisco Rios | 0.5 |
| Ryan Hissey | 0.5 |
| Tayler Saucedo | 0.5 |
| Eduard Pinto | 0.5 |
| Patrick Murphy | 0.33 |
I’m sure you’d have the immediate reaction that Vlad would be the Blue Jays from Away Player of the Game Champion, but no! It was Harold Ramirez, who had a tremendous season, pulling it out at the wire with a 0.33-point victory over Cavan Biggio! Congrats Harold!
Blue Jays from Away Player of the Year
While the fact that Harold Ramirez had a strong season and played the whole year allowed him to win the Player of the Game Championship, we’ll recognize the unbelievable season that Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had with the Fisher Cats, dominating the stat sheet and the league despite playing just 61 games. His .402/.449/.671 slash line is pretty ridiculous when you think of it. Congrats Vlad!
Honourable Mention: Cavan Biggio, Harold Ramirez, Jonathan Davis
Blue Jays from Away Pitcher of the Year
Several pitchers were in the running for this award but it was T.J. Zeuch who was most consistent in his strong outings. While his strikeout numbers may not have been as high as some other pitchers on the club, his 120 innings with a 3.08 ERA and 1.26 WHIP were strong and he only walked 31 batters with the Fisher Cats. Canadian Jordan Romano was the first runner up, logging more innings (137 1/3) while going 11-8 with a 4.13 ERA and 1.19 WHIP and 125 strikeouts.
Honourable Mention: Jordan Romano, Sean Reid-Foley
Blue Jays from Away Reliever of the Year
The Fisher Cats had a plethora of strong relievers including Zach Jackson and Jose Fernandez but the clear winner of the Reliever of the Year is Travis Bergen who tossed 35 2/3 innings with a 0.50 ERA, walking nine and striking out 43 after moving up from Dunedin. Justin Shafer pitched well in 13 outings before moving up to Buffalo (and Toronto).
Honourable Mention: Zach Jackson, Jose Fernandez, Justin Shafer
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