Jays have high hopes for young trio
10/26/2005TORONTO -- You know about Vernon Wells and Corey Koskie. What about the rest?
Despite the club's youth-dotted roster, most of Toronto's regulars are established players -- established for what they can or can't do over the length of a regular season. The Jays hope to sign or trade for a few more veterans of that stripe during the offseason, but their forward momentum may hinge on further strides from Russ Adams, Aaron Hill and Alex Rios.
All three of those players are recent first-round draft picks, and all three have shown glimpses of their potential. Nobody knows what kind of big leaguers they'll be over the long haul, but Toronto should start to find out in 2006. Rios took a step back in his second full season, and the Jays are hoping for opposite reactions from both Hill and Adams.
"I thought Hill did a great job coming up," said Toronto's general manager, J.P. Ricciardi, at his season-ending press conference. "[Especially] when you think that two years ago, this guy was playing in the College World Series, and [now] he's in the big leagues holding his own. I think he went through a little bit of a dead period, but he bounced back and had a good last month. He went over and played second base -- a position he hadn't really played at -- and did a good job.
"If he's going to be on our club, he has to play every day. I don't think it would do him any good to be a reserve."
In other words, Hill played well enough to move past the part-time role. Ricciardi doesn't want to see one of his top prospects flitting between three positions -- he wants him to find one, conquer it and remove that spot from consideration for the next few seasons. Despite making 26 errors as a rookie, Adams has managed to master the shortstop role.
"I think he played better as the year went on, defensively," said Ricciardi. "I think he's only going to get better there. Sixty-three RBIs out of your shortstop is a pretty good offensive year."
Toronto doesn't know whether Hill will make more sense at second base or third base, and that will likely depend on offseason trade developments with respective incumbents Orlando Hudson and Corey Koskie. Brian Butterfield, the team's infield coach, thinks Adams and Hill will be able to adjust to whatever the situation dictates.
"It makes the job that much more fun when you have players that are hungry, that want to get better and are willing to pay the price," he said in the last week of the season. "They've improved at preparing as a Major League player, and they've improved through repetition in game situations -- both of them -- and it's the same thing as Orlando Hudson.
"When [Hudson] first came in as a starting second baseman, he struggled at first and showed steady improvement. I think that's what we're hoping for with the young guys."
Rios' situation is completely different. The youngster got the job in right field with little or no competition the last two seasons, and he seemed to stall out a bit in his development. He could be on the verge of breaking through or breaking down, and the Jays have to be prepared for either alternative.
Toronto will likely bring in an experienced outfielder this winter, which means that Rios will be left to fight with Reed Johnson, Frank Catalanotto and company for spare at-bats. His situation will be watched extremely carefully. After all, Rios was the MVP of two leagues (the Double-A Eastern League and the Puerto Rican Winter League) just three seasons ago.
"I wouldn't say its a disappointment. It's a typical young kid up-and-down year," said Ricciardi of the outfielder's season. "He had a real period there when he was really going great guns, driving the ball. People made adjustments on him. He's got to learn to make adjustments back. He's still a young player that's learning at the Major League level."
Rios might be part of a dying trend, in that respect. The Jays don't want to wait for their prospects to learn at the big-league level anymore -- they have to make a seamless transition or wait for an injury and play their way into the lineup.
Ricciardi wants to win now and has the means to augment his roster. Consequently, that means that some young players will get shorter leashes next year. Will they thrive or collapse under the pressure? The answer to that question may go a long way toward deciding the ultimate success of the team next season.
"He's learning on the job, basically like a lot of our young guys are," said Wells, speaking about Ricciardi and the team's position. "He's got some money to work with, which will obviously help his decision-making. I know we're all looking forward to it. I know he is. It's a big year for all of us."
Source: http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/
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