October 18 Winter League Update: Ochinko Shines

Sean Ochinko
Sean Ochinko

 

I bet most of you out there were saying “Who’s Sean Ochinko” when the Arizona Fall League rosters were announced.

 

 

I hope that by now, your questions have been answered, particularly if you follow us here at Blue Jays from Away. In yesterday’s game between the Mesa Solar Sox and Surprise Saguaros, It was Sean Ochinko who provided the offense for the Solar Sox with better known prospects Dalton Pompey and Jon Berti having oh-fers. Ochinko, a two-time Webster Award winner, went 2/4 with a double and a home run, driving in all five runs for Mesa and raising his batting average to .438 for the AFL. He also threw out one of the two runners attempting to steal for a nifty 50% success rate on the day. Blake McFarland also got into the game, throwing two more scoreless innings, allowing a hit and striking out one.

 

In Mesa’s 6-2 victory on Thursday, both Dalton Pompey and Jon Berti had a hit each although Berti’s had a bit more thump behind it, going deep with a solo home run and adding a walk. Pompey stole a base in his 1/4 game and Arik Sikula threw one inning, allowing an unearned run on one walk with a strikeout.

 

Mesa had another 5-2 win against Peoria on Wednesday with just Dwight Smith, J.r. seeing action in a “taxi-squad day.” Smith went 0/4 with a run scored.

 

In other offseason leagues, the Dominican Winter League got under way and two players on the Jays’ rosters saw some action with Matt Hague going 1/3 and Radhames Liz giving up three runs in 2 2/3 innings.

 

In Venezuela, Casey Lawrence continues to shine, adding 5 1/3 innings to his total, giving up two runs on nine hits with one walk and two strikeouts. His total is now a 1.74 ERA over 10 1/3 innings through two starts. Gregory Infante allowed two runs in an inning of work on Friday, ballooning his ERA with Tiburones de La Guaira to 7.36 in 3 2/3 innings. Cory Aldridge played a couple of games since our last update, going 1/7 with an RBI and a walk while Andy Burns is 0/8 in his last two games but went 3/4 with three RBI on Wednesday and is now hitting .300 in 30 at bats.

 

In the Mexican League, Jorge Flores continues to hit well, but went 1/9 over his last three games, and is now hitting .278 (but with a .435 OBP) in six games. Ryan Schimpf had two consecutive two-hit games on Tuesday and Wednesday but was 0/4 yesterday. He’s hitting .280 with a .560 slugging percentage in his six games.

 

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!

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