DUNEDIN, Fla.—Blue Jays third baseman Balbino Fuenmayor is currently on the hot corner with the rest of the players ticketed for low Class A Lansing this spring, but he isn’t likely to break camp with a full-season club.

“We really like what we’ve seen and sometimes you’d like to be aggressive, but in this case he needs more experience,” Blue Jays farm director Dick Scott said. “He’s a pretty young guy for his age, but he’s not just a young guy that’s here learning the game.

“He’s got a pretty good foundation right now and offensively he’s got to learn a lot about the game . . . but he just turned 17.”

The Blue Jays signed Fuenmayor as a 16-year-old last August for $750,000 out of Venezuela beating at least six other clubs to the punch.

“He’s a project . . . he’s raw, but the skills are there,” an international scouting director from a National League club said. “And on top of the tools, there are intangibles—he’s just a great makeup guy.”

That can easily be seen watching an extremely vocal Fuenmayor on the field with his teammates. He communicates nearly every pitch around the diamond in hopes of just improving—not so much impressing.

“I’m here to do my job,” Fuenmayor said. “Sometimes I can’t believe I’m here, but I’m here to learn—always a lot of learning . . . I just play every day and that’s all.”

Fuenmayor has exceptional skills defensively, showing plus range, arm strength and reactions at third, but his offense hasn’t shown up in his pre-professional debut at Toronto’s minor league complex.

He struggles mightily with breaking balls, which is to be expected. After all, this is the first time he’s faced pitchers in the States—many of whom have been three, most times four or five years older.

“He’s got some size, he’s got some power in his swing and he’s a hard worker—a really determined kid,” Scott said. “He hasn’t seen those (kinds of breaking balls) where he’s come from, so all it comes down to is repetition.

“He just needs more at-bats, more at-bats, more ground balls. He’ll be fine. He’ll be more than fine, I think.”

LEARNING PROCESS: Jays lefthander Ricky Romero was the first pitcher chosen in the 2005 draft, but based on his Double-A numbers the 22-year-old took a step backward last season.

After missing the first month of 2006 with minor elbow stiffness, Romero went 2-1, 2.47 with a 61-14 strikeout-walk ratio in 58 innings at high Class A Dunedin last year. Toronto quickly promoted him to Double-A New Hampshire where he wasn’t even close to the same pitcher: In 67 innings, Romero went 2-7, 5.08. He allowed 67 hits over that span, and struck out 41.

But the Blue Jays insist there was no dropoff in the quality of their 2005 first-rounder’s stuff.

“He was very good when he was here (in Dunedin),” high Class A Dunedin pitching coach Darold Knowles said. “Everything had bite. I mean everything.”

Instead, Scott points to the missed time early last year, and the fact that the learning curve in Double-A is sometimes much earlier than anticipated.

“In this day and age, players are moved so fast,” Scott said. “The urgency to get to the big leagues from your own system is much greater than it used to be. Part of that is they’re cheaper players and you want to have your own guys there because it’s still (the major league minimum of $380,000), but it’s better than paying that same starter or reliever three million, five million, seven million or whatever it is.

“He got bumped along—we had a lot of guys—(Dustin) McGowan went through it, Josh Banks went through it . . . David Purcey . . . when you’re in A ball, they chase a lot of the pitches and the numbers are inflated. And then you go to Double-A and it’s kind of a little wake-up call. We can tell them they need to keep the ball down, but until they run into that it’s difficult sometimes to get them to look past their successes.”

SLEEPER: As a 40th-round pick last June, Ted Serro could easily be an afterthought in the system. But several of the Blue Jays’ brass like what they’ve seen out of the righthander from Franklin & Marshall (Pa.) College so far this spring.

“He’s got a real hard sinker with a good split,” Dunedin pitching coach Darold Knowles said. “He’s trying to learn a breaking ball right now, but he’s been in the low 90s and keeps the ball down pretty good.”

“He’s struggled with command a little bit, but his splitter’s very good. He doesn’t know what his ball is just yet, but it’s mediocre at best right now. He calls it a slider, but it’s more slurvy than anything else at this point. His stuff really reminds me a lot of (2006 16th-rounder) Chase Lirette.”

Serro went 0-2, 3.14 in 27 innings combined between Rookie-level Pulaski, short-season Auburn and low Class A Lansing. He’s ticketed to begin the season at Lansing, though Dunedin might not be out of the realm of possibility.

PICK TO CLICK: Aside from the usual sleeper, the Blue Jays are also quick to throw that tag on shortstop Jonathan Diaz. A 12th-round pick out of North Carolina State last year, Diaz hit just .200/.245/.326 in his first 220 at-bats as a pro in Auburn last year.

“He can really catch the ball at shortstop,” Scott said. “And his bat’s come along. He’s improved a lot since last instructional league. Just from the draft to instructional league (last September). He’s gotten a little bit stronger and he can really, really play shortstop. We’re looking for him to have a nice year. He’s one of my picks to click.”

ON THE MEND: Outfielder Travis Snider put up large numbers in his pro debut last season, hitting .325/.412/.567 with 11 homers in 194 at-bats at Rookie-level Pulaski, winning Appalachian League MVP honors.

But this spring, the 2006 first-rounder has yet to build on that success, slowed by nagging oblique and lower back issues.

“He needs to get on the field,” Scott said. “We’re two weeks in and it doesn’t sound like much, but we’d really like to get him out there working on his defense and working on his swing—really just have him completely healthy because he needs the work.”