Interview With LHP Daniel Norris

Much virtual ink has been spilled over the name Daniel Norris these past few days, a second round high school pick who happens to throw a baseball with his left hand. But if you recall, it hasn’t always been that way. When he was taken 74th overall in 2011, the so-called draft experts were saying how it was a steal to get him there and that he was the best high school lefty talent available in the entire draft. Then he goes to rookie ball and hangs up a 7.97 ERA in 10 starts with a 1.629 WHIP. Not exactly world beater stuff right there.

As an organization, if you are going to get in the habit of taking a lot of high school players in your draft classes then you must be willing to wait for them to develop. This isn’t always easy to do, and the Blue Jays deserve some praise in this specific case. Patience is only half of the equation, really—you also need some great coaches at the lower minor leagues levels who have the right approach. Seems to have worked out pretty swell as he is now being mentioned as a potential trade chip for guys like David Price, Cliff Lee and Jeff Samardzija.

Daniel Norris was recently named to the Futures Game roster, representing the American side. This is a premium showcase for young, developing talent and it is quite an honour to be involved in this game.

From the most recent Baseball America Podcast:

I am very interested in seeing Daniel Norris because Daniel Norris, I give him massive loads of credit. There are not many guys who’ve pulled off what he did. Daniel Norris for the first, I don't know seven pro months of his career, was terrible. I don't mean bad, I mean getting his brains beat in pretty much every time out, what's wrong with him, for a guy who got a whole lot of money how is he as bad as this, you know, what's the problem? And he didn't go into a funk, he worked with his coaches, he got better and then it was like the light switch turned on. And the funny thing is he always had stuff even when he was giving up two hits an inning, even though he was walking a lot of guys. The light switch got on and he's gotten better and better and better, and now he's very much the Daniel Norris that everyone thought he was gonna be coming out of the draft. I give him a lot of credit, a lot of guys when it goes bad like that gets really hard to pull out of it. Daniel Norris pulled out of it.

If you are wondering when exactly the light switch turned on, we’ve got that for you. Who better to ask than the gentleman who watched him pitch every game last year: Our boy Jesse, the radio broadcaster with the Lansing Lugnuts.

Q: Can you pinpoint the exact time in which Daniel Norris turned the corner last year?

A: Absolutely. May 13th, and up another level on August 4th.

The game logs for the 2013 season can be found here.

Our lead minor league reporter Jay Floyd was able to catch up with Daniel Norris last weekend in Trenton and spoke to the 6’2, 180 lbs pitcher. In a wide-ranging interview, they discuss:

FSL all-star experience
AA debut
Learning to pitch to the ballpark
Draft experience
Pitch repertoire
Pregame meals
Attention to hydration on the days before he pitches and on game day
Favourite baseball movie
Trade rumours
Faith in God




Follow Daniel Norris @DanielNorris18
Follow Jay Floyd @PhoulBallz
Follow Jesse Goldberg-Strassler @jgoldstrass
Follow us @1BJW

Make me a sandwich. Bitch

 

All Star John Buck signed a monster deal with the Marlins almost two weeks ago.

The news on Kevin Gregg came in with a full day to spare before the midnight deadline for free agents to accept or decline the offer of salary arbitration.

It was reported that Scott Downs no doubt easily made his decision early on today. He will have zero problem getting a multi year deal for somebody. 

Jason Frasor tipped his hand around dinner time and ultimately choose to stay with us for one more year provided he isn't traded. I got him for a buck in my AL only keeper league and am secretly hoping he is our next closer.

And what about Miguel Olivo? You know the guy who was officially a Blue Jay for an hour and a half? Well it went right down to the wire but he decided against accepting the offer.

Conclusion:

We just scored 4 sandwich picks between the first and second rounds of the really deep 2011 Amateur Draft as long as Downs, Gregg and Olivo sign a Major League contract with another team.

Deadline Bonanza

Boy Wonder does it AGAIN

A little before 10pm it was reported your Toronto Blue Jays declined the option(s) on closer Kevin Gregg, much to the dismay of the voters in our latest poll. Of the 18 votes cast 56% of them were in favor of keeping 3G around for another year. He had a buy out attached to his option for $750,000.

Then, even more unexpectedly.....

At 10:20pm the Jays make this press release:

The TORONTO BLUE JAYS have acquired C MIGUEL OLIVO from the Colorado Rockies in exchange for a player to be named or cash considerations.

At 11:50pm they release this:

The TORONTO BLUE JAYS have declined the 2011 option on C MIGUEL OLIVO, making him a free agent.

Olivo was a Blue Jay for an hour and a half at the cost of his buy out, which was $500,000. That is quite the hourly rate of pay! And it could go up if it was cash considerations going back the other way to the Rockies to complete the trade.

So we just paid $1.25 million - maybe more - for 2 players to NOT play for us in 2011.

What we know right now:

We have 2 Type A free agents in relievers Jason Frasor and Scott Downs.

We have 3 Type B free agents in catchers John Buck, Miguel Olivo and reliever Kevin Gregg.

If you don`t know what the difference is click here.

Assuming we offer everyone of our free agents with compensation attached to them arbitration, they decline it and all sign a Major League contract with another team. Then we are looking at 5 sandwich picks between the first and the second round of next years draft as well as 2 extra 1st round picks. For now.

There are 33 picks in the first round and 18 of them are protected, meaning they cannot be lost if the team that owns them signs a Type A free agent. In that case they would surrender their 2nd round pick instead.

It is also worth noting that if a team (the fucking Yankees) signs more than one Type A, then their first round pick in the draft goes to the team losing the highest ranked Type A free agent. Currently Downs has a rating of 76.352 and Frasor comes in at 73.383. 

All of this is really speculation until the next deadline which is November 23rd at midnight. That is when clubs have to decide whether or not to offer arbitration to their free agents.

Some other important deadlines are November 30 which is when players have to decide whether or not to accept arbitration and December 2nd which is the last day teams can tender a player a contract.

It's not until after this date do we get a true list of who is available this offseason and what their compensation will be.

Conclusion:

It is probable that your Toronto Blue Jays will have 10 picks in the first 3 rounds of the 2011 Amateur Draft and possible that we get 8 of the top 50.

Keep building through the draft.

In Alex we trust.