Jays' top pitching prospects all felled by arm injuries
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TORONTO — It’s been a good news, bad news type of week for Toronto Blue Jays pitching prospects.
On Friday, manager John Schneider exhaled when he announced that the test results on top prospect Ricky Tiedemann’s left elbow revealed ulnar nerve inflammation, but no tear and no thought of surgery.
In fact, the Jays are hoping Tiedemann can get back on the mound in the next 7-10 days and get back to putting the finishing touches on his development.
But even when healthy this season, the Triple-A level is proving to be more of a challenge for the 21-year-old, with command woes helping to push his ERA up to 5.63 through three starts.
Over just eight frames, Tiedemann has already walked nine batters.
That aside, the important part right now is Tiedemann seems to have dodged another left arm bullet and there’s still potential for him to help out the big club this season, even if those odds are falling drastically with more missed time.
The news is apparently not as good for 2022 first-round pick Brandon Barriera, who was sent to see noted specialist Dr. Keith Meister in Texas last week to have his left elbow checked out.
Unfortunately, tests results showed some UCL damage, per a source, and Barriera will undergo surgery next week.
It’s not known at this point if Barriera will need a full Tommy John procedure or internal brace, which comes with an approximate 10-12 month timeline, compared to 12-14 for TJ.
Sitting at No. 4 on our TSN top 50 prospects list coming into the season, Barriera will be falling on that list next January and it’s been a laundry list of health issues piling up and setting him back.
Finally, to make matters worse, the Jays are also awaiting news from Dr. Meister on 2023 fourth-rounder Landen Maroudis, who was quickly putting himself on the national prospect map before leaving his Single-A Dunedin start last weekend with an apparent right arm injury.
No. 12 on the 2024 top 50, a healthy Maroudis would jump into the top three next January based on the stuff he’s shown in a tiny sample size.
As the Jays swoon at the major-league level to finish out the month of April, having the organization’s top three pitching prospects land on the IL with highly concerning arm injuries in quick succession is simply the cherry on top of a rough stretch.