Blue Jays Top Prospect 'In the Mix' for Opening Series Start

Ricky Tiedemann Could Make Opening Series Start

Tiedemann’s time with Toronto is very much coming. He and Bowden Francis made their marks in different ways this spring. Schneider himself told Francis that he’s opening the season in the rotation. Later, Tiedemann performed stellarly in a 3-2 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. The left-handed Tiedemann looks like someone who is on the verge of a breakthrough to the majors, throwing five strikeouts in three innings before giving up a home run to Bryan Reynolds and a walk to Ke’Bryan Hayes in the fourth to close out the inning.

His fastball hit was as high as 98 mph, and his slider was filthy during his outing. If injuries didn’t limit Tiedemann to 62 innings last season, he might very well be in the big league mix right now. But he could open the season at Triple-A Buffalo with a carefully managed workload.

“I’m not too sure exactly what they want. But if I had to guess, that would be the case, kind of start me out light so they can utilize me later on the year when it really matters, rather than throwing me out there at the beginning of the year, reach my inning limit an then kind of have to pull back the reins on me,” Tiedemann said. “I don’t think they want to do that and I definitely don’t want to do that if we can ramp up the year in the right way to get to the major leagues later in the season, rather than the beginning.”

What the Blue Jays Should Do

If the Blue Jays are confident in what they saw in Tiedemann, he might be with the club sooner. If not, starting out light means keeping an eye on Tiedemann’s pitch count. He did miss time with a minor left calf and hamstring inflammation earlier in the spring. His next start will likely take him up to 60 or 65 pitches, but with four days left in camp, that next start won’t happen in Florida.

“After that, I just continue to go up from there,” Tiedemann said. “Until we reach a point where they think they’ll be able to use me at a higher level.”

Tiedemann has risen through the system and should be an option for the Blue Jays in 2024. His talent is too much to hide on the farm, and a strong start in the minor leagues might force the Blue Jays to bring his talent to the big leagues. There’s a lot to like in the starting pitching prospect.