22-year old righty starting pitcher Henderson Alvarez has been attacking the strike zone with his solid stuff so far this year and the results have been really good. Alvarez has started 6 games for the Blue Jays so far this year and he is 2-2 with a 2.83 ERA and a 1.04 WHIP. He has only given up 33 hits and 10 walks in his first 41 1/3 innings this year, while whiffing only 12 batters. Alvarez has now pitched in 16 games (all starts) in his first two years with the Jays and he is 3-5 with a 3.26 ERA and a 1.10 WHIP. I really like Alvarez and I think he has a very nice upside.

23-year old righty swinging catcher Travis D’Arnaud came into this season as the Blue Jays’ #1 prospect according to Baseball America. He has played in 21 games for the Jays so far this year and he is 24 of 85 (.282 avg, .778 OPS) with 10 runs scored, 2 homers, 11 RBIs and 1 stolen base. D’Arnaud has now played in 437 games in his first six years in the minors and he is 454 of 1,634 (.278 avg, .788 OPS) with 240 runs scored, 52 homers, 248 RBIs and 21 stolen bases. D’Arnaud is knocking on the Blue Jays’ door, and they might answer it at some point in 2012.

31-year old righty swinging RF Jose Bautista was amazing last year for the Blue Jays. He played in 149 games for the Blue Jays last year and he was 155 of 513 (.302 avg, 1.056 OPS) with 105 runs scored, 43 homers, 103 RBIs, 9 stolen bases and he walked 132 times last year. Teams are still pitching around Bautista, but he hasn’t been quite as patient so far this year. He has played in 23 games for the Jays so far this year and he is 15 for 83 (.181 avg, .634 OPS) with 12 runs scored, 3 homers, 10 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. Bautista has also walked 16 times so far this year. I think he’s going to go on a home run tear in the very near future for the Jays.

23-year old righty swinging 3B Brett Lawrie burst onto the scene last year for the Blue Jays. He played in 60 games for the Jays last year and he was 64 for 218 (.294 avg, .890 OPS) with 35 runs scored, 11 homers, 36 RBIs and 9 stolen bases. Lawrie is building on that success so far in 2012. He has played in 17 games for the Blue Jays so far this year and he is 20 for 68 (.294 avg, .750 OPS) with 9 runs scored, 2 homers, 11 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. The Blue Jays hope that Lawrie keeps up the good work.

27-year old lefty Luis Perez and 41-year old lefty Darren Oliver are both off to solid starts in 2012 for the Blue Jays. Perez has pitched in 6 games (0 starts) for the Jays so far this year and he is 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA and a 0.70 WHIP. He has only given up 3 hits while whiffing 12 batters in his first 10 innings pitched this year. Perez has walked 4 batters so far this year, but it hasn’t hurt him yet, because he’s missing a lot of bats. Darren Oliver has pitched in 5 games (0 starts) for the Jays so far this year and he is 0-1 with a 1.80 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP. Oliver has only given up 4 hits and 1 walk in his first 5 innings with 5 whiffs, which are impressive numbers. The Jays have to feel good about getting out tough lefty hitters late in games with the way Perez and Oliver are pitching.