Future Blue Jays Newsletter

Lots and lots of things to write about……

We’re in the home stretch. Not of the baseball season, of course, but of the publication of my second book, Severn Sound: A Big Leaguer Comes to Port McNicoll, a recreation of future Hall of Famer Chick Hafey’s recuperative mid-season trip to a small Ontario town in 1932. I’m very excited to have been able to tell this story, and I think you’ll really enjoy it. It’s all set to publish, we’re just working on some final formatting, design, and layout details before we hit the submit button. Details on availability to come….

Gabriel Moreno

Ok, can we stop gnashing our teeth about the fact that Ross Atkins helped upgrade the Diamondbacks considerably and just enjoy watching Moreno and Lourdes Gurriel Jr play in the World Series? The series is incredibly tough to get to, and there’s no guarantee of a return trip no longer how long a career a player has.

Look, I’ve been a huge believer in Moreno since spring training of 2019. He had posted video game numbers in the former GCL and Appy Leagues the season before, and I was excited to see him as I settled in at the Phillies minor league complex that mid-March day. He was with the group of players who would make up the bulk of then Low A Lansing’s roster, but even though he was one of the youngest players out there, his leadership on the field was something, as were his cat-like reflexes behind the plate - you just don’t see that kind of athleticism back there. I’ve been pumping Moreno’s creds ever since. When he was called up to Toronto last season, I was on Blake Murphy’s show on The FAN 590 in Toronto to tell fans how much they were going to love Gaby one day.

While I was disappointed to see Moreno get dealt last offseason, I understood the trade. The Blue Jays wanted to upgrade their defence, and Daulton Varsho more than fit the bill. At the time, catching was a position of relative strength in the organization; Danny Jansen had established himself as a big league regular, and Alejandro Kirk was coming off an All Star season. Unless you’ve got Mike Trout in your system, anytime you can upgrade your MLB roster without giving someone on it to help get you over the hump, you have to at least strongly consider it. I have long felt that Kirk’s peak will be a short one, but I challenge anyone to say they predicted his drop in production would have been this large.

By the way, Blue Jays beat reporters Julia Kreuz and Keegan Matheson put together this wonderful profile of Moreno’s past a year ago; it’s very worth your time.

Some are calling this the worst trade in Blue Jays history, and….just…..wow. Those fans should avoid bridges and open windows for a bit.

Thanks for listening to my TED talk….

Ricky Tiedemann

All in all, the Blue Jays have to be pleased with Tiedemann’s performance (now apparently having come to a close) in the Arizona Fall League. He acquitted himself well against some of the top hitting prospects in the game, made up for some lost innings, and - perhaps most importantly - stayed healthy.

His time in the AFL has revealed a few things, namely that his sweeper is going to be a huge pitch for him, as will his underrated changeup. If there’s one minor concern, it’s his fastball command. In Tiedemann’s one start in Buffalo, the more advanced AAA hitters appeared to have been able to lay off the chase four-seamer he throws with two strikes, and the trend appears to have continued in Arizona, where his walk totals were up from his regular season rates.

Keith Law of the Athletic has been wary of Tiedemann’s potential high risk/high reward profile. Law has been concerned about Tiedemann’s fastball command, as well as his delivery:

As a follow up, a couple of prospect writers noted that Tiedemann is likely tipping his pitches:

Are the Blue Jays aware of this? Of course they are. There is a plethora of high definition cameras around minor league parks that you don’t get to see on MiLB.tv. Is this something they will likely be working on with him at the pitching lab this offseason? Most definitely. Stay tuned on this one - once the book launch is out of the way, I’ll to some more digging on this one.

Yosver Zulueta

After rocketing through the system last year, seemingly putting himself on the cusp of a big league job until sidelined with a shoulder issue, Zulueta had mostly taken a step backwards this year, and after walking 38 batters in 45 AAA innings, the Blue Jays sent him all the way back to the Complex League in early August.

Zulueta didn’t throw in a pitch in FCL, but he was a different pitcher when he went back to Buffalo.

He had taken a few ticks off of his fastball, identified as a sinker by Baseball Savant, and he apparently added a sweeper of his own. Zulueta’s September results pretty much spoke for themselves, as he recorded a 2.31 ERA in 11 innings over 6 appearances. The hard-throwing right handers walked only four, while fanning 7.

Is Zulueta on the fast track to the bigs once again? Maybe, but AAA domination is no guarantee of big league success. Just ask Nate Pearson. What his turnaround does do is give the Blue Jays more bullpen depth, and maybe some added trade value this offseason. The Blue Jays probably knew this past season could become a development year after they put Zulu on the 40 last fall to protect him from the Rule 5 draft - he had all of 55 IP on his minor league resume to that point. But he’ll be 26 as spring training opens, and 2024 could very well be a make or break season for him.

Damiano Palmegiani

Palemegiani has been a bit streaky in Arizona, which I think is part of his profile going forward, but there is no doubt about this guy’s bat. He’s hit a couple of long ones in the desert.

The issue will be where to play Palmegiani. He has worked hard on his defence, and at 3rd he’s at least to the point where you can call him an inconsistent defender; maybe that improves with more reps, as his hands and arm are at least average. But his range is limited - he’s a below average runner - and with Spencer Horwitz already on the 40-man, well, there really isn’t room for two players with offensive potential but fringy defensive skills. But I think this guy will hit for power in the big leaguers. He just won’t remind anyone of Matt Chapman at the hot corner, and it’s tight to see him supplanting the incumbent at 1st. He doesn’t have the skills to be a utility player. The bat will play………somewhere.