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David Cooper and the rest of the Blue Jays find tough times at the plate
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Wednesday and Thursday were a tough couple of days for the Blue Jays participating in the Arizona Fall League. David Cooper, Brad Emaus, Adam Loewen and AJ Jimenez combined to go 0 for 13 with one walk, five strikeouts and no runs or RBIs between the two days. Emaus, Loewen and Jimenez all sat out Wednesday's 17-4 blowout victory for manager Gary Cathcart's Desert Dogs and struggled in Thursday's 6-9 defeat. Both games came against the Peoria Javelinas and left the Desert Dogs holding onto first place in the East division by one game with a 6-3 record ahead of the 5-4 Scottsdale Scorpions.
Cooper, so far, has played every Wednesday and Saturday the only days he is active to participate for the Mesa Solar Sox. He's struggled at the plate more than any of the Blue Jays in the AFL getting just one hit in twelve at-bats through his first four games. On Wednesday, he went 0 for 5 with a pair of strikeouts seeing 4.8 P/PA. It's still early on in the league and there is plenty of time for Cooper to rebound from his poor start. Hopefully, he will get his next chance on Saturday and finish week two on a high note.
Brad Emaus was the lone member of the Blue Jays contingent to reach base via a walk or hit on Wednesday or Thursday. He drew a walk while going 0 for 3 on Thursday seeing 18 pitches in his 4 plate appearances. Besides the walk he also managed to avoid striking out yet again leaving him with just one strikeout in 21 at-bats so far. If he keeps putting the ball in play at this rate he should start to collect more hits in the near future, his struggles so far could be nothing more than some bad luck.
Adam Loewen has cooled off a bit since last week going 1 for 12 this week. He's maintained his patient approach throughout the first two weeks, although the results were disappointing Thursday with an 0 for 4 showing including a couple of strikeouts. A.J. Jimenez managed to get in one at-bat on Thursday striking out in the eight inning on four pitches. Jimenez still leads the Jays players in batting average and OPS so far, albeit with a more limited number of at-bats.
We'll be back Sunday afternoon on the league's off day to recap today and tomorrow's games, hopefully with a few less zeros in the box scores. In the meantime, check out a chat from Thursday with ESPN's Keith Law who took several questions on the Arizona Fall League.
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