I had a chance to speak with Blue Jays Minor League Pitching Coordinator Ricky Meinhold this week.

Meinhold joined the organization last year, and moved into his new role this year after the Blue Jays decided some changes were needed. But his connection to Toronto goes back 17 years. In between college seasons, he ventured north to play for the Intercounty Baseball League’s Toronto Maple Leafs (Blue Jays Assistant Pitching Coach Sam Greene was a teammate). When I mentioned I live near a place north of Toronto called Barrie, he responded, “I know Barrie. Love their ballpark.” During his time with the baseball Leafs, Meinhold pitched against - and beat - Canadian and former Jays hurler Paul Spoljaric.

After graduating with a degree in Kinesiology and Exercise Science from Drury College in Springfield, MO (he was born and raised in St Louis), Meinhold played some indy ball, and was set to begin a doctorate in biomechanics when baseball came calling, this time in an off-field role. Meinhold had applied for a job with the Cardinals, but didn’t expect to be hired. “My interview was strong,” he says, “but the reason why I came to the top of the list is there are not many professional baseball players as educated as I was. And because I have all the degrees and can speak eloquently about the subject, I jumped over some former players that didn’t have that.”

Initially hired as a minor league coach and pro scout by St Louis, he also spent time as an international scout, then as a pitching development analyst before joining USA Baseball a a pitching and development analyst from 2016-2021. Following that, Meinhold joined the Mets as a Major League assistant pitching coach and pitching coordinator. He’s also spent time in the KBO and a pair of US schools in similar roles. Meinhold brings a unique blend of educational, coaching, playing, scouting, and administrative skills to the role.

Here’s our conversation.

DMFox: Let’s start by talking about Jake Bloss. I’ve seen most of his starts since he came to the organization, but his last one - even though the stats might not support that - was his best one.

Ricky Meinhold: I would agree with you. I would say there’s been a little bit of a flash in the pan in other outings…..I think that was the first time that it all came together. He’s been putting in a lot of work - he’s changed a lot of things for himself mentally and physically. He’s put himself in a situation where he’s getting one percent better every day, I think the work started to show up in that last outing. He was really sharp with his stuff, his fastball command and his secondaries, and his ability to recognize what hitters were trying to do. I think he’s been making really good decisions, and the execution side was really good this time out.

DMF: Even though he cruised through the first couple of innings, what really impressed me was how he handled himself in the 5th. He’d given up some contact the previous inning, and had a guy on 3rd with no one out. But he bore down, struck out the next hitter, then got the next two to ground out, and was out of the inning.

RM: I would agree with that - well said.

The coolest thing for us is when a guy is coming to an end of an outing, and is getting to a situation he hasn't been in yet this year - he hasn't gotten to that deep of a game this year. The ability to hold his stuff and be able to execute it was really well done. Whether its punch outs or soft contact, I think the outcomes were like a staple from his process. His process was really good. He went into just focusing on the execution side of it, and getting into positions where he could put guys away and have counts that he was able to do that in. So the ability to leverage those counts late in the game when he hadn't been in that type of situation this year was really cool for us to see as well.

DMF: And I know Jays fans on social media have been a little impatient with him, but we still have to consider that even though he made it to the big leagues last year, he’s still developing - two years ago he was in college, and he’s 23, still young for that level. I know you guys are pleased - so much of what happens with ball players takes place before the gates open, and someone with the club I talked to said he had a really impressive week after a rocky outing at the beginning of it.

RM: The hard thing is that Tuesday (his previous start) wasn’t that great for him. So he had to go work, and the consistency of that work has shown up. His ability to come back on Sunday and face the same team and do what he did, with better stuff, better execution, that just speaks to what kind of athlete and person he is. To your point on the front end of that, he’s 23 years old, and you have to recognize that he’s been in professional ball for a year and a month. His ability to do what he’s done in the early part of his career is unbelievably impressive - to pitch in the big leagues in his first year, as well as hold his stuff and command, and the performance that he had. It’s really impressive stuff, and we do need to give him grace, because he hasn’t been doing it long enough, and we need to understand that and meet him where he’s at. I think that’s what we’re doing as a group - it’s being able to recognize that and be there with him, but also to hold the standard high. He’s doing the work, but maybe the performance at the beginning of the season hasn’t been where he would like it to be. The rainouts in the north haven’t helped, but now he’s had the chance to go two times in a week, and the second outing was so impressive.

DMF: Last question about Bloss before I move onto the other guys - he was establishing the four-seamer in his last start, and getting ahead of the hitters. Is that the key?

RM: Putting yourself in the best counts is more advantageous that not. Whether it’s his fastball, I don’t know if I’d necessarily put it in that area - I think he did a good job of using his whole repertoire to execute the game plan. But we all know that old adage of fastball command is still very important, but I think at the end of the day his ability to execute strike one and get ahead of hitters, whether he was using the fastball or one of the other pitches was the key to his success.

DMF: Let’s talk about some guys in your backyard in Dunedin - now, I’m not listing them necessarily in order of impressiveness, but Stephen, Yesavage, and Stanifer - wow. You guys must be thrilled with what you’ve seen from them this month.

RM: I don’t want to diminish what they’ve done, but this is what we’ve expected from them given who they are and the work ethic they’ve shown. I’m not shocked at all at the outcomes we’ve been getting. I think each of them have their own story, and that’s the best part of this. Whether it’s Gage being the only guy who’s actually pitched in professional baseball before this year, or the other two - even though they pitched at a high level in college. I’m proud of them for being consistent in their process and their work - it goes without saying that they’re good athletes and pitchers, but their work is consistent, and at the end of the day, that that transcends the performance. These guys have the talent, and they’re each at different stages of their careers - I know that Trey and Khal are the same age, but they’re working on different things for different parts of their arsenals. Then you have Gage, who got drafted out of high school, and is working his way through the system, he’s working on different things than the other two. So, at the end of the day, it was a proud moment that they were able to get off to such a good start.

DMF: Just hearing you speak about how all three are working on different things makes me curious. In general terms, can you give an example of that?

RM: Every pitcher today is at a certain stage of development: that can be physical, it can be mental, that could be the execution, or stuff standpoint. Every pitcher has something that they’re working on that is kind of their own signature, whether that’s adding a pitch, or tightening up a certain pitch, or putting themselves in better counts….everybody has something.

We can talk about Trey - he came to camp wanting to bring back the curveball he had in his freshman year of college. It’s been a focus, and if you look back on his outings, he didn’t start to use it until his last one. Granted, we’re only three starts in, so we don’t we’re not trying to work on everything at once, it’s more like we’re trying to move the needle one day at a time. I think everybody has something they can hang their hat on that we can help set goals for them. It’s nice to see the work showing up for them.

DMF: I have talked to Joe Scalfani and before him Gil Kim about the rationale for starting guys at different levels, but I think you’d agree that they’re above the competition level at the moment. So, what was the decision-making process for starting them at Dunedin?

RM: That’s a good question. I think it’s definitely a combination of factors. At the same time, we want to put them in a position to be consistent throughout the entirety of the year. So, if we can stay on routines as best we can for guys that are brand new to professional baseball - and everybody’s different, personality and skill-set wise - but their plans and focuses are different, so making sure we put guys in a position to succeed is our goal at all times. And we felt to stay with consistency with routines is really controllable at Dunedin - there’s no rush to get that going. The weather in New Hampshire, Vancouver, and Buffalo these first couple of weeks has been brutal so we’re just trying to put them into the best situations so that they can get off to the best possible start.

DMFox: The thing we have to address - I won’t ask for specifics - is that last year was something of an outlier in terms of the arm injuries your pitchers suffered. Now, I will be the first to acknowledge that there are so many factors leading up to a pitcher getting hurt - so much happens before they even enter pro ball. I just saw a Twitter thread earlier today about how youth pitchers are pitching three games over the course of the weekend because their roster is limited to 13-15 kids because of demands for playing time. What steps have the Blue Jays as an organization taken since last season to try to prevent such a rash of blown UCLs?

RM: Very good question. It’s a hot topic obviously in baseball right now. We are very much stewards of the game. I worked for USA Baseball for five years, and I have a passion. I have a 7 year-old son, and I don’t want him or other 7 year-olds to to fall into the traps that are out there, because those traps potentially lead to career-ending injuries, or injuries that stunt the growth of the complete prospect of an individual.

I think to talk about what the Blue Jays are doing, we are being extremely thoughtful in every decision we make. We’re utilizing the objective and the subjective to make better decisions moving forward, and I think that with Justin (Lehr, listed as Blue Jays Director, Pitching) and our experiential wisdom, you could say, and on top of all the resources we have, from the people to the processes we have with data that helps us make better decisions, you’re getting a more thoughtful, more curious - and we’re never making the decisions in this unfounded, if I don’t know the answer I’m not making a decision without consulting people in this group. With that, having the best people in baseball working in this organization, it’s not a perfect science, it’s not black and white, there’s a lot that goes into making better decisions to put player health at the front end, and it takes a village on that.

I think with the changes that we’re making, it’s more of a consistency of philosophy and process that we’re putting into place, and how we think about training. At the end of the day, we’re putting the health of the athlete in the forefront of everything we do, and the biggest asset to the organization is when our players are healthy and able to perform. At the end of the day, it’s like what you said with youth pitching, but we’re fortunate enough to have the ability to have a certain number of players on the roster, so we’re putting a focus on our training mechanisms, we’re also building starting pitching. I think with that process, you’re not putting guys in a situation that’s taxing from a workload standpoint, and it’s also putting guys in a situation where they can succeed every time they touch the pitching rubber. We’re trying to make the best decisions every day for every athlete for their health and their performance.

DMFox: Keeping in mind that you can’t get into specifics, I know that the timeline for guys recovering from elbow varies from player to player, but are we getting some guys who are inching closer ? You have a stable of those guys right now.

RM: Unfortunately, there is a stable, but fortunately we’re getting closer to getting guys back one by one. As you now, with these types of injuries, everyone has their own timeline. We’re getting closer, had some good conversations this morning about some of the guys who are closer than others. The culture in our rehab group is awesome, the players are itching to get back, it’s a lot of positives at the moment.

DMFox: In a way, is it helpful that there are so many guys in there, because I’ve talked to guys who have told meTommy John recovery can be a lonely process?

RM: I think that’s well said, if you think about it, would you rather recover by yourself or as part of a group? It’s obvious you would want to be around like-minded people who help push you. That’s how people get better. I think our rehab group created the environment for the players….the players want to be great individually, but they also want to be great together, because in the future, if we clear some of these hurdles, we could be putting our organization in a really good spot in the future. It would be cool to have a story that they did it together and held a World Series trophy. The vibes are high right now.

Other Stuff

Batting averages across the system have not been impressive to date, but some bats are starting to heat up.

Namely:

And….

Also:

Jake Bloss’ chart from his last start:

As impressive as Trey Yesavage and Khal Stephen have been, you could make an argument that Gage Stanifer has been the best pitcher in the system this year. The 19th round pick in 2023 from an Indiana HS had his struggles with his command (50 walks in 55 innings) with Dunedin, but he has been lights out in his return to the Florida State League.

Having said that, Trey Yesavage has been dominant himself:

Some Canadian content…..Hammer native Bryce Arnold, repeating Dunedin, is tied for second in HRs in the young Florida State League season.

Draft Update

In an earlier newsletter, we looked at Oklahoma prep SS Eli Willits, who, as a 17 year old/up-the-middle-guy/-son-of-a-big-leaguer checks many Blue Jays boxes. His stock seemed to dip last month, but he’s come on like gangbusters like then; some suggest he’s among a handful of players at the top of a draft that doesn’t seem to have a consensus top pick yet.

Evaluator Kiley McDaniel saw Willits (as well as Ethan Holldiay) in action recently, and filed a video report.

Certainly, there a lot of things you can’t see in the Willits video (the level of competition chief among them), but a lot of things stand out, most noticeably his hands. At the plate, he quickly gets his barrel out, and produces a lot of line drive content. In the field, his actions are smooth. This is a player who most likely will stay in an up the middle position. Will he develop more power? At 17.5 years of age (Willits declared a year early), there certainly is tons of room for added growth and projection. You have to think the Blue Jays would be thrilled to see his name still on the board when it comes to their turn (8th) in the first round.