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Vol. XII No. 5
Tiedemann scuffles, Barriera gets hurt, Manoah and Swanson rehabs, and thoughts from around the Blue Jays system over Opening Weekend.
FRIDAY, APR 5
AAA Buffalo
It was a minor miracle that the grounds crew at Worcester’s Polar Park was able to even make the field playable for the Friday doubleheader after snow had forced cancellations of Wednesday and Thursday’s Bisons/Woo Sox games.
But cold weather was definitely a factor, as Ricky Tiedemann had one of his shortest outings as a pro, reaching his pitch limit after a marathon 2nd inning. Tiedemann walked four and uncorked a wild pitch, before getting the hook. It was the first start in his pro career in which he failed to strike out a batter. Buffalo made a game of it with a Nathan Lukes grand slam in the 7th, but lost game one 9-7.
Four Buffalo pitchers, led by starter Andrew Bash’s three solid innings, combined to shut out Worcester in the night cap by a score of 5-0.
AA New Hampshire
Zach Britton, whose 2023 was pretty much a write off due to injury, and Garrett Spain, in his AA debut, homered to lead the Fisher Cats to a 5-2 win. It’s interesting that Britton, who was being transitioned to the OF, was back behind the plate for New Hampshire.
Zach Britton CRUSHES the first Harvard Pligram home run of the season!
End 6 | NH 2, BNG 2
#Cats
— New Hampshire Fisher Cats (@FisherCats)
12:23 AM • Apr 6, 2024
A+ Vancouver
RHP Ryan Jennings (a name to file away for future reference) tossed 4 innings of one-hit, shutout ball, and Oakville’s Dasan Brown homered, but the C’s dropped a 4-2 decision to Spokane.
A Dunedin
RHP Francisco Perez made his Single A debut against a fairly prospect-laden Tigers Lakeland affiliate. Perez showed clean mechanics with an over-the-top delivery, and struck out the first batter he faced. The wheels came off a little bit, as he gave up a run in the 1st, two more in the 2nd, and another in the 3rd before settling down over his last 1.1 innings of work. Perez has generated some buzz in the scouting community. His FB already sits 93-94, and he’s worked hard on his slider since last season. The coaching staff raves about the just-turned-20 year old’s maturity.
This game was streamed, a memo I must have missed, but a very pleasing development just the same. Dunedin, which in the past has played before a small gathering comprised mostly of girlfriends, parents, scouts, and a handful of diehard fans, had 1800 in attendance for this home opener. Kudos to the marketing folks who appear to be promoting the D-Jays out in the community.
Saturday, April 6th
AAA Buffalo
Once again, weather was a factor. Buffalo starter Chad Dallas breezed through a 1-2-3 1st, but had trouble gripping his slider in a shaky 2nd, then the floodgates opened in a 6-run Woo Sox 3rd, a frame in which Dallas hit a pair of batters (one with the bases loaded), allowed a walk, and gave up 5 hits, only 2 of which were of the hard-hit variety.
Buffalo came back to add 7 runs over the next three innings, and the Bisons bullpen shut the door in a 10-6 W.
At 27, Will Robertson has passed the prospect stage of his career. But since about mid-season last year, all it seems the guy has done is hit, like his 2nd HR of the young season in this game:
we don't know if that ball Will ever hit the ground?
A LASER from Robertson gives the Herd the LEAD!
— Buffalo Bisons (@BuffaloBisons)
9:41 PM • Apr 6, 2024
AA New Hampshire
RHP Devereaux Harrison, who was a revelation for Vancouver after moving from the bullpen to the rotation last year, had his command issues on a cool Upstate New York evening, giving up 5 runs (all earned) and as many hits in only an inning and a third as the Fisher Cats dropped the second game of the series to Binghamton 9-3.
A+ Vancouver
For the second straight night, the C’s squandered a strong starting performance. Rafael Sanchez tossed six scoreless innings in his High A debut, scattering four hits and allowing only one walk against six strikeouts, but the Vancouver offence was cold, and a bullpen collapse in the home half of the 7th led to a 3-1 loss to Spokane.
A Dunedin
This was to be the start of LHP Brandon Barriera’s redemption tour after an injury-plagued 2023. And he looked sharp, retiring the first two Lakeland hitters, the second of which was Tigers top prospect Max Clark.
This I like….a lot.
— D.M. Fox (@DMFox705)
10:37 PM • Apr 6, 2024
Barriera then gave up a run with two outs, allowing a runner to advance to 2nd when he was called for a balk after going from his mouth directly to the ball. In the second inning, with one out and a runner on, this happened….
Blue Jays 2022 1st round selection Brandon Barriera leaves tonight's game with an apparent arm injury. He only pitched 20.1 IP in 2023 after dealing with another injury.
— John Brophy (@jbrophybaseball)
11:05 PM • Apr 6, 2024
We won’t know for a bit the extent of the apparent injury, but…..it sure didn’t look good. If there was a saving grace, it was the 7.2 innings of shutout ball the D-Jays bullpen threw as the team stormed back for a 7-2 win. RHP Irv Carter, who has been moved to relief after struggling as a starter to this point in career, looked particularly effective in his three scoreless frames:
About last night.. Irv Carter!🔥🔥
— Dunedin Blue Jays (@DunedinBlueJays)
2:36 PM • Apr 7, 2024
Sunday, April 7th
A Dunedin
Obviously, the story of the Blue Jays system has to start with Alek Manoah’s rehab start for Dunedin. It did not go……well.
alek manoah's rehab start today
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball)
4:54 PM • Apr 7, 2024
First things first - I had to do a double take when I saw Manoah take the mound, the first time I had seen him since last year. Credit where it’s due - the dude has dropped a lot of weight. He’s downright svelte compared to his former physique. And that can only help in the long run.
So, let’s start with the good news. Manoah touched a tick under 96 with his four seamer, and a click over that with his slider. His release point seemed fine, as did his mechanics - this view, granted, was from a considerable distance. But he struggled mightily to find the strike zone, walking the first four hitters he faced, and starting out behind in the count to most of the rest. He spent much of his outing missing glove side, not by a lot at first, but the command really faded.
Baseball Savant
In the first inning, Manoah was missing, but not by a lot. In the second, his frustration was showing, as a couple of get me over pitches in hitter’s counts were pounded by a Tigers affiliate hungry to prove themselves against a big leaguer (twice they successfully challenged strike calls which seemed a bit….cruel).
Look, if you were expecting 2022 Alek Manoah to come in and dominate a bunch of lower level minor leaguers, well…..that’s a bit much. He’s basically starting spring training over again. The Blue Jays didn’t just toss him in there to see what would happen, nor did Manoah likely pressure the club to do so. He pitched a simulated game earlier in the week and all went well, and he obviously hit all the benchmarks that would allow for a return to action. But there’s a huge difference between that and the real thing, and Manoah looked understandably uncomfortable out there.
But the true test will come over the next few days in how he recovers physically (and perhaps mentally) from this outing, and how he prepares for the next. Some Blue Jays fans are ready to move on from Manoah. As for me, I wasn’t thrilled with the organization and Sportsnet built their marketing efforts around him a year ago. There just wasn’t a big enough body of work, in my mind. But now, given the physical progress he’s made, I find myself pulling for the guy.
And it wasn’t all bad news coming out of Dunedin yesterday:
The first pro home run of Arjun Nimmala's career for the @DunedinBlueJays!
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays)
4:38 PM • Apr 7, 2024
Nimmala looked a litte wobbly in the field this weekend to my eyes, but I’m sure that will come. But that bat…….
Also, a guy who has gotten rave reviews from backfield watchers made his successful pro debut:
Landen Maroudis with 4 perfect IP with 5 K.
That curveball is fun. Lots of downward movement and sweep sitting near 80 mph.
FB sat 94.5 t96.5 mph w/ some tail.
Slider sits mid-80s and missed bats.
Needed just 38 pitches for 4 innings with 74% strikes/38% whiff/39% CSW— Chris Clegg (@RotoClegg)
6:55 PM • Apr 7, 2024
And even Manuel Beltre, a former highly-ranked IFA who has struggled with the bat came through:
Manuel Beltre calls game with his first homer of the season!
@DunedinBlueJays | @BlueJays
— Minor League Baseball (@MiLB)
8:46 PM • Apr 7, 2024
Beltre is repeating Single A, but is reportedly already a leader on the D-Jays. Fully bilingual, he helps both the English and Spanish speaking guys on the team, and his work ethic is second to none.
Dunedin makes the trip across the causeway to take on the Yankees Tampa affiliate this week.
AAA Buffalo
After a sizzling start in his stateside debut, Yariel Rodriguez was pulled in the third inning at 47 pitches. His pitch count was a bit compressed due to a pair of walks and 4 Ks (no runs, only 1 hit allowed), so the Bisons erred on the side of caution, but Rodriguez’ body language as he headed to the dugout suggested he was less than thrilled with the move.
Spencer Horwitz had a pair of hits to raise his early average to .360, Orelvis went 3-5 and is clearly heating up, while Addison Barger hit his first Barger Bomb of the season, and Mason Fluharty tossed two more scoreless innings as Buffalo handed the back of the bullpen a nine run lead heading into the Worcester half of the 7th. The pen scuffled a bit, but hung on to preserve a 10-5 W as the club heads home to take on Rochester this week.
AA New Hampshire
LHP Adam Macko struggled in the first inning of his AA debut, uncorking a pair of wild pitches in the bottom of the 1st and allowing three runs, but he righted the ship the rest of the way, striking out 6 and retiring 11 in a row at one point as the Fisher Cats rode a pair of big innings to top Binghamton 8-4.
The Cats will host Somerset this week.
Fourth @breezeline K for Big Mack ⛽️
Eight in a row sat down by lefty starter Adam Macko (@adaaam_15) in his Double-A debut 💨
End 3 | BNG 3, NH 0 #Cats
— New Hampshire Fisher Cats (@FisherCats)
6:08 PM • Apr 7, 2024
A+ Vancouver
If the Opening Weekend is any indication, it may be a long summer for Vancouver Canadians fans, accustomed as they are to a contending team, as the C’s dropped a hard-fought 7-6 decision to Spokane. The Rockies affiliate swept the three game series.
Vancouver returns to open their home schedule this week against Hillsboro.
Final Thoughts……
Hope you all are enjoying the move to this format. It will take me a bit to learn all the bells and whistles, but Elon made embedding Tweets impossible, so it was time to try another platform.
About Barriera’s apparent injury……man, they’re dropping like flies. This quote from famed surgeon Dr James Andrews really hit me when I first read it.
You can protect young arms all you want, but there are no guarantees, not with pitchers throwing harder and harder, and more and more with each passing year. Barriera took the final two months of his high school season off prior to being drafted in order to protect his status, but that, coupled with the time he missed last year makes me wonder if starting the season without a ramp up was the best idea. But he had missed development time to make up for. Now he’ll have even more. You can bet this will be something that I mention in my next conversation with the player development staff.
And speaking of that…….I think “covering” a farm system involves much more than tweeting someone else’s videos, or writing a post that just regurgitates a bunch of stats that anyone could look up. I talk with people throughout the organization on a regular basis - it’s incredibly ironic that at the same time Barriera was walking off the mound, I had an ongoing text conversation with a team staffer. Many of those conversations are of the off-the-record variety, but they help give background and perspective to bigger issues. I talk with Blue Jays Director Player Development Joe Sclafani a couple of times a year on the record, as well as Pitching Development Coordinator Cory Popham. In that way, I can bring you far more in-depth information about the system.
Thanks for reading, see you next week. I’ll have some first-hand notes from Vancouver’s Opening Weekend to share.