Minor League Roster Updates

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When I posted my piece on the Dunedin Blue Jays’ roster a couple of days ago, I also noted some omissions from the full-season rosters. I’ve gotten a little more information so I thought I’d update you all on who is now accounted for.

 

 

1B Mike McDade and RHP Dustin Antolin were placed on the DL and assigned to the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. IF Andy Fermin was also placed on the Fisher Cats’ DL.

 

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For the Dunedin Blue Jays, C Chris Schaeffer was assigned to the D-Jays while RHP Ajay Meyer, C Pierce Rankin and OF Nick Baligod were placed on the 7-day DL. SS Shane Opitz is also on the DL for Dunedin.

 

This still leaves most of the players unaccounted for. I overlooked (at least) one player in the previous list of notable omissions. Tucker Donahue has not been assigned to a full-season roster and has not been placed on a DL as far as I can tell.

 

UPDATE: Thanks to Matt Eddy at Baseball America, we now know that OF Chris Hawkins and RHP Scott Shuman were released by the club.

 

I never met Shuman; he was a minor league Rule 5 draft pick from this winter and I’m not even sure if he got into games. When I saw one of his bullpen sessions, he was doing some rudimentary work on mechanics with the staff.

 

Hawkins is a different story and he’s a great example of how tough the baseball business is. One of the nicest people I’ve met, Hawkins struggled through a couple of season in Lansing and, ultimately, after four seasons of pro ball, the Blue Jays didn’t have any room for him.

 

Hawkins had a great 2011 with Bluefield but was never able to continue the success he had, particularly with the power numbers he showed. With 26 extra-base hits in 269 plate appearances, Hawkins looked like he was en route to being a very solid prospect. In 2012, however, he had a .332 slugging percentage (with just a .063 ISO) in his first full season in Lansing and, while his ISO went up in 2013, he posted just a .600 OPS repeating the level.

 

We wish Chris Hawkins and Scott Shuman the best of luck wherever they go next.

 

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!