Toronto Blue Jays' No. 1 Prospect Progressing After Early Injury Scare
After being scratched from his first start of the spring last week, Toronto Blue Jays' top prospect Ricky Tiedemann has begun throwing again.
Per Hazel Mae of Sportsnet on social media:
Ricky Tiedemann (inflammation between hamstring/calf) played catch yesterday, which is encouraging news. Schneider said they will be cautious with the young lefty, and see how he feels day to day. #BlueJays
Given that Tiedemann is the No. 1 prospect in the organization and the No. 29 prospect in all of baseball, the team has every reason to be careful with him. However, they also want to see him on the mound and developing. Because of arm problems in 2023, Tiedemann only threw 44 minor league innings and needs more time on the mound to grow, so this setback is certainly frustrating.
Though he's certain to start the year in the minors, Tiedemann is expected to make his major league debut this season at some point. The Jays have five starters to start the year (Kevin Gausman, Jose Berrios, Chris Bassitt, Alek Manoah and Yusei Kikuchi), and also have Yariel Rodriguez so perhaps Tiedemann can come up as a bullpen arm, but that all remains to be seen.
He has elite swing-and-miss stuff, as evidenced by his 82 strikeouts in 44 innings last season.
The Blue Jays are coming off a 2023 season in which they finished third in the American League East and were swept in the wild card round of the playoffs by the Minnesota Twins.
Given the escalating contracts of Bo Bichette and Vlad Guerrero Jr., this season feels like a massive one for the organization to try to capitalize.
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