Future Blue Jays Newsletter

Buffalo dodging raindrops, Trey Yesavage makes his debut, and more in this week’s newsletter, but first……

Dunedin drew a FSL record 22 walks in their game against Jupiter this week. Toss in 3 hit batters, and you can understand the frustration of the poor kid in the broadcast booth. This was Jupiter’s first streaming broadcast to boot. I think he kept his job.

This game also happened to be the pro debut of Trey Yesavage, last year’s first round pick. Yesavage had some first-inning yips, nibbling a bit too much with his four-seamer instead of going after hitters. He also showed some difficulty holding runners on. But all in all, the Jays had to be pleased with his performance.

Yesavage made his second start on Sunday, and he was much more dominant. After walking six hitters in 4 IP in his first start, he issued no walks in another 4 innings in his second. Yesavage was much more in command of his four seamer, and his change was a legitimate pairing with it. His front shoulder flew open a few times, causing his fastball to run up arm-side, but when it’s anywhere near the strike zone, it’s already looking like a decent pitch.

When Yesavage consistently lands his fastball (which hit 96 in this outing), he’ll be on his way up the ladder.

Overlooked in each of Yesavage’s starts was the performance of his piggyback starter, Gage Stanifer. Stanifer was a 19th round pick in 2022 from and Indiana high school who made a verbal commitment to Cincinnati. The Jays convinced him to turn pro, and he’s been brought along slowly.

Stanifer made it to Single A last year, but struggled with his command (50 walks in 55 innings). Sent back to the Florida State League to start this season, he’s been arguably more impressive than Yesavage, allowing only a pair of runs in 12 innings. Stanifer is one to watch.

2024 2nd round pick Khal Stephen has also been impressive. He pitched six innings in his second start with Dunedin, giving up just one hit (a second inning HR), walking only one, and fanning 9. Vancouver fans should get ready to see him soon. Single A hitters are completely overmatched against him.

Toronto’s 11th ranked (according to MLB Pipeline) prospect, RHP Fernando Perez, made his Northwest League debut for Vancouver. Perez acquitted himself well, other than some back luck and shoddy defence behind him that led to three unearned runs in the 3rd inning. Perez didn’t miss a ton of bats, recording only one strikeout, and had his own issues with holding runners on, but there was a lot to build on for the young righty, who just turned 21.

Jay Harry has been the heart and soul of Vancouver’s offence so far this season. Harry came over from the Twins in the Trevor Richards deal (he hit a HR on the first pitch he saw as a Canadian), and finished 2024 with the C’s. His 1.273 OPS leads the organization by a considerable margin. Arjun Nimmala, Toronto’s top prospect, is not far off with a .983 OPS. He knocked out his second round tripper of the year in Spokane over the weekend.

After opening the season with nine straight games on the road as some off-season Nat Bailey upgrades were completed, Vancouver returns home this week.

Manuel Beltre has gotten off to a strong start with Dunedin. Regarded as one of the top International Free Agents in the class of 2021, Beltre’s development had stalled a bit over the past several seasons, and he returned to the D-Jays for a third season this month.

But he’s slashing .367/.467/.500, has walked almost as often as he struck out, and has anchored the D-Jays up-the-middle defence. He had been ranked as high (by Baseball America) as 8th in the organization’s ranking, but has steadily slid down to the 20s. But Beltre is still young (he won’t turn 21 until June), has shown leadership, and is projected to stay in the infield. He does have several players ahead of him on the depth charts, though. He can play some D, by the way….

Jonatan Clase has quietly been one of Buffalo’s most effective players on both sides of the ball since the season began. He’s getting on base at a 52% clip, has stolen a half dozen bases, and has played world-class defence:

Some final notes….

-I’ll be talking to Blue Jays minor league pitching development coordinator Ricky Meinhold this week. I’m really looking forward to talking about the guys I’ve written about, as well as what steps the organization has taken to protect their young arms. Look for our conversation in next week’s newsletter.

-I’m beyond thrilled to let you know that I have joined the Around the Nest Podcast this season. Vancouver play-by-play voice Tyler Zickel (a new Dad: congrats, Tyler) talks to the announcers of the other three affiliates every other week about the best and latest stories with their teams. This truly is Blue Jays prospect content you can’t find anywhere else, and I’m very happy to helping with this podcast. Look for us on Spotify, the first episode will drop the last weekend of this month.