It was a good start to the season for the affiliates. New Hampshire were the only losers while Buffalo won two. Several starting pitchers had good nights and seven hitters went deep for the first time, including Orelvis.
Iowa 2 Buffalo 7 - game one
Iowa 0 Buffalo 1 -game two
New Hampshire 6 Portland 11
Vancouver 8 Spokane 6 - 10 innings
Bradenton 4 Dunedin 8
This is what I noted from yesterday's games.
These hitters started the season by registering their first home run: Logan Warmoth, Tanner Morris, Orelvis Martinez, Addison Barger, Rikelbin De Castro, Damiano Palmegiani and Adriel Sotolongo. Josh Palacios hit his second.
Shaun Anderson and Casey Lawrence had excellent starts for the Bisons. I think Anderson might be at the front of the line if a callup is required.
Elvis Luciano gave up six runs in two innings. Joey Murray came out of the bullpen and was rusty after basically not pitching for a year. He recorded a couple of K's in his first inning but a hit and a couple of walks loaded the bases and a grand slam duly followed. Murray was excellent over his next three innings, just one hit and five K's.
Adam Kloffenstein returned to Vancouver and he wasn't any better than he was in 2021. He pitched four innings, giving up four runs on eight hits. Just like the parent club, the C's rallied from a deficit to win. Down 4-0, the C's led 6-4 going to the bottom of the ninth but Spokane tied the game and Davis Schneider had to throw out a runner at the plate for the third out. In the tenth a Riley Tirotta double gave Vancouver all they would need to win.
There was a lot of buzz around Ricky Tiedemann in the off-season and he lived up to the hype as he made his first professional start for Dunedin. Five innings, eight strikeouts. He did give up two runs but they were in his last inning as he tired.
Estivan Machado had only one at bat in 2021 as he battled injuries. He had three hits on Friday.
The Dunedin lineup will be one I will be watching carefully over the next few months. In addition to Machado and De Castro, Dasan Brown is a former top 30 prospect. Adriel Sotolongo, Amell Brazoban, Victor Mesia and Gabriel Martinez all hit well for the FCL Jays. Add in 2021 draftee Damiano Palmegiani and Rainer Nunez and there is a player to watch at every position.
The Jays top prospects are roughly evenly divided among their minor league affiliates. Buffalo has five, New Hampshire seven, Vancouver six and Dunedin four. One is in FCL, three were traded, and four are still unassigned (Carter, Groshans, Pardinho and Van Eyk).
Three Stars
Third Star - Casey Lawrence
Second Star - Ricky Tiedemann
First Star - Shaun Anderson
MILB has changed how they present box scores and there is no longer a Blue Jay specific link. Just go to milb.com/scores
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20220408222526201