JAYS’ PURGE CONTINUES
Fasano latest to be let go
Minor league pitching co-ordinator Sal Fasano became the fourth scouting and player development casualty of the past few days when he was dismissed by the Blue Jays on Monday.
Scouting director Brian Parker, national crosschecker Blake Davis and minor league field co-ordinator Doug Davis had previously been shown the door as the new administrative team starts to build its own identity.
Fasano joined the Blue Jays system as manager of single-A Lansing in 2010 after a 16-year pro catching career that included 16 games with Toronto in 2007.
He was the double-A Eastern League’s manager of the year in 2011 and he later served as the system’s roving catching instructor before taking over as pitching coordinator before the 2015 season.
“When we came into the fold, our goal was to work with all the pieces that were here. We only added initially in the baseball operations side ... and then high performance,” said Jays GM Ross Atkins in Cleveland on the weekend “At some point, we had to make adjustments to properly align and fill our vision for those roles the best way that we can.”
Atkins indicated there are no more scouting and development firings planned, although he said that it doesn’t mean there won’t be some of the usual changes in personnel and roles after the season is over when staff might be looking to move on under their own volition.
There are some nervous people in other non-baseball departments, waiting to see how new CEO Mark Shapiro wants to put his stamp on the rest of the operation.
PILLAR PLUNKED
After tearing it up on his weekend rehab assignment with the Dunedin Blue Jays at Lakeland, Kevin Pillar is expected back in the Blue Jays lineup Tuesday, the torn ligament in his thumb clearly no longer a factor.
Pillar went 6-for-7 in two games for the Class A Jays, scored three runs and had nine total bases.
All that production came at a cost.
Pillar was hit by pitches in both the fifth and sixth innings of Sunday’s game, but survived those plunkings uninjured.
In the fifth, Endrys Briceno drilled Pillar in the back and in the sixth inning, Austin Kubitza clipped him on the elbow, earning a prolonged glare from the bigleaguer.
Pillar was wearing a protective cuff on his injured thumb throughout the games.
HIGH PERFORMANCE
One of the compelling reasons for the Jays to send Aaron Sanchez to Dunedin for his 10-day hiatus before making his next start against Baltimore on Aug. 31 was the presence of members of the team’s high-performance fitness team at the Florida site.
High-performance personnel, like physiotherapist Nikki Huffman, who was a key player in the rehab programs of both Marcus Stroman and Devon Travis last year, are based in Dunedin.
Huffman was formerly a member of Duke University’s high-performance centre and that’s where Stroman and Sanchez spent the winter working on their strength and fitness programs that have made both men more durable this season.