always have to be skeptical but it's still very good news imo.



Arden Zwelling
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Ricky Tiedemann, shut down this spring due to elbow soreness, is continuing to throw bullpens at the Blue Jays player development complex in Dunedin, Fla.

He’s nearing his first live BP and will throw 2-4 of those to make sure everything checks out before he’s back in games.

Hope Rickey will be ok.

The catcher depth chart has been especially weird this year with a ton of injuries and adds, so just wanted to clarify the current status for myself....

MLB (3): Valenzuela (25), Heineman (35) --- INJ: Kirk (27)
AAA (3): MacIver (29), Simoneit (29) --- INJ: Stubbs (29) 7day
AA (4): Parker (23), Winkel (26) --- INJ: Stone (24) 7day, Planchart (24) 60day
A+ (3): Duran (22), Sharp (24), Gililand (24)
A (6): Rosas (20), Hackenberg (26) --- INJ: Cresswell (22) 7day, West (22) 7day, Saum (22) 7day, Tibbits (23) 7day


Probably clear now that Heineman loses his spot when Kirk is back. Maybe Heineman clears maybe he doesn't, but either way 2/3 of Heineman/MacIver/Simoneit/Stubbs will probably stay in AAA for the rest of the year.

not sure which of the 22yr olds in Dunedin they actually think are real prospects are not, but some of those DL stints seem to be pretty fishy tbh.

if we remove all the guys older than prospect age from the equation:

AAA (0):
AA (3): Parker 23, Stone 24, Planchart 24
A+ (3): Duran 22, Sharp 24, Gililand 24
A (5): Rosas 20, Cresswell 22, West 22, Saum 22, Tibbits 23

With Parker, Duran, and maybe Rosas as the guys they probably think are actual priority prospects.

none of these guys are screaming promotion at the moment, though at the same time most of them are hitting well enough at their levels. Parker has been legit solid at the plate so far, and while Duran has been injured i expect he'll be hitting well soon enough.

If these guys ever got healthy, it could end up this by the end of the year:

MLB (2): Kirk 27, Valenzuela 25
AAA (3): Parker 23, Stone 24, Planchart 24
AA (3): Duran 22, Sharp 24, Gililand 24
A+ (3): Cresswell 22, West 22, Tibbits 23
A (2): Rosas 20, Saum 22

Yimi had a second rough outing in rehab down in the FCL, worse than his first, didn't finish his inning, it went triple, double, sacrifice bunt, sacrifice fly, home run.

Two semi-notable returns in the FCL: Javen Coleman pitched a clean inning in his rehab and Hedbert Perez, who we picked up in the minor league phase of the Rule V, made his Blue Jays organization debut and hit a home run, got hit by a pitch and struck out. He's in the category of guys with power and strikeout issues, so he was true to form.

Nice outing from Angel Rivero - 4 innings, 9 Ks. I haven't heard anything about him.

ESPN
39. Toronto Blue Jays: Gavin Grahovac (21.5), 1B, Texas A&M

Grahovac has been described as the “flavor of the month” by a few scouts. That’s a positive, meaning of the two dozen players said to “have a shot to go in the comp round” that otherwise go in the second round, Grahovac is the one that might actually land here.

Don’t be surprised if: The Jays are on a pitching development heater and might try again here with a potential quick-moving starter such as Jack Radel.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/48899402/2026-mlb-mock-draft-20-kiley-mcdaniel-predicts-picks-white-sox-rays-twins-giants-pirates

The Fisher Cats are still swinging, three home runs in the first inning tonight including Jay Harry and Nick Goodwin who hit two each yesterday.

hard not to be skeptical of Harry given his sky high babip and previous history but he's showing so much power now that even if his batting avg took a 100 point hit his overall line would still be solid.

I know the truism that you don't draft by positional need but I'd be surprised and disappointed if they drafted a pure 1B unless they think he's the next David Ortiz or something.

I was looking at the Pipeline ranking last night and there are some intriguing guys in that range.

One that intrigues me is Coleman Brothwick whom they have at 35:

"Borthwick has the size, pitch mix and makeup to be a future workhorse starter near the top of a big league rotation one day. While he’ll sit 93-95 mph mostly with his fastball, he’s shown the ability to get the heater up to 97-98 mph with good life up in the zone and to both sides of the plate. His best secondary offering is a hard 84-85 mph slider that can flash plus and miss a ton of bats. He has a really good feel for spin, though at times he can try to do too much. There’s some feel for a changeup with some fading action, but he doesn’t use it much.

While Borthwick can get a little east-west with his delivery, something very correctable, he shows the ability to pitch to all four quadrants effectively. He’s a power-hitting corner infielder who could get the chance to do both should he go on to Auburn, but he profiles as the kind of high-ceiling arm that goes early enough to forego heading to campus."

There's Landon Thome at 37

"Thome turns his left-handed swing loose with maximum intent but has the pitch recognition and bat-to-ball skills to make a lot of hard contact. His stroke has loft geared to drive balls in the air and he has tapped into more power as he has improved his strength and bat speed. His pure hitting ability may stand out a little more than his pop, but both grade as at least solid."

Daniel Jackson at 39

"Jackson is extremely strong and hits the ball extremely hard from the right side of the plate, looking like a taller version of Tyler O'Neill. He has demonstrated a selective approach throughout his college career and is doing a much better job this year of making contact, both against velocity and against non-fastballs. There's still some swing-and-miss to his game but he's getting to his well-above-average power more consistently and crushing homers from foul pole to foul pole.

More athletic than most catchers, Jackson can flash plus speed and regularly posts average run times. He's still a work in progress behind the plate with the potential to become a fringy or perhaps average defender once he polishes his receiving and blocking. He features solid raw arm strength but throws with effort and needs to improve his technique and accuracy. If he can't stay behind the plate, he could handle the outfield corners in pro ball."

Logan Schmit at 43 (high school lefty)

"An uptick in velocity this summer, particularly at the Area Code Games, certainly helped Schmidt’s stock rise. He was typically pitching at 93-94 mph with his fastball, but he was in the 94-97 mph range, and more of that consistently would certainly help him on Draft boards. There isn’t a ton of deception with the pitch right now, so it can get hit at times. He backs up the heater with a 78-81 mph slider that features three-quarters shape to it, a breaker that can disappear, miss a lot of bats and flashes plus. There’s feel for a changeup, too, which he sells well with arm speed out front.

Schmidt has shown an ability to repeat his delivery well and fill up the strike zone with all three of his offerings, providing a very nice left-handed starting pitching kit. The LSU recruit reclassified to be done with high school early, so he’ll still be 17 at Draft time, something that will look good in a lot of team models."