4 Blue Jays prospects back on the rise

This story was excerpted from Keegan Matheson’s Blue Jays Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Better late than never, right?

The Blue Jays’ farm system got off to a rough start in 2023. Injuries and performance issues torpedoed the momentum that so many of the Blue Jays’ top prospects came into the season with but that’s finally starting to turn.

Here’s a look at four players who have regained some of that precious momentum for the home stretch:

SS/3B Addison Barger (No. 6)

This season has been a roller coaster for Barger, 23, who was the darling of Spring Training but started slowly in Triple-A and eventually hit the IL with an elbow issue. In 19 games since returning to the Buffalo Bisons, though, Barger is batting .266 with three home runs and an .821 OPS, producing more of the hard contact we saw back in March.

“He’s definitely getting back to what we had seen after a slow start and the injury,” said Blue Jays manager John Schneider, who’s been getting great reports on Barger recently.

Adding to the intrigue is the fact that Barger, who typically splits time between third base and shortstop, has started to dabble with right field again. This is expected to be an “extra” for Barger, not part of his core focus, but versatility can only help a prospect in his position. If he keeps this up, he could be an injury away from consideration for a spot at some point in August.

SS/3B Orelvis Martinez (No. 4)

Martinez’s April was dreadful. Since then, he’s posted a .926 OPS and earned a promotion to Triple-A at just 21.

Martinez launched 30 home runs a season ago and has 18 this year. His power, short of Vladimir Guerrero Jr., might be as impressive as anyone in the organization. He’s struggled with his plate approach and has had far too many empty at-bats in between those displays of power, but something seems to have clicked lately.

Where this really gets interesting is at third base. Barger and Martinez should both see plenty of reps there down the stretch with Buffalo, but since Matt Chapman is a pending free agent, the hot corner is wide open in Toronto for 2024 and beyond. The Blue Jays will explore options via trade and free agency, including retaining Chapman, but these two have a shot.

LHP Ricky Tiedemann (No. 1)

The hype train was stuck in the station for a couple of months as Tiedemann recovered from a left biceps injury he suffered in early May. He’s back now, though, and recently threw two shutout innings in the Florida Complex League as he builds back up to Double-A.

If it weren’t for the injury, Tiedemann would likely be part of this postseason run with the Blue Jays. That’s still not out of the question, given his rare talent from the left side, but the focus for now will be building up his workload down the stretch to set Tiedemann up for a big 2024 season.

If all goes well, Tiedemann should enter camp next spring with a chance to steal a job or, more likely, head to Triple-A as the next man up. It’s still risky to project a young pitcher with so few innings in the Minors, but Tiedemann’s ceiling remains incredibly high. It’s the type of potential on which one can dream.

LHP Brandon Barriera (No. 2)

Injuries have slowed Barriera, who was the Blue Jays’ first-round pick a year ago. The 19-year-old is back with Single-A Dunedin now, though, and just like Tiedemann, has left himself enough time to do something substantial down the stretch.

In Barriera’s return on Friday, he needed just 37 pitches to work through three hitless innings, striking out three. The time Barriera missed with injury hasn’t been wasted, necessarily, since he was able to focus on other parts of his game. But nothing compares to game action and he should now be able to finish the season with a regular starter’s workload.

Part of Barriera’s appeal coming out of high school was that he represented a type of middle ground between a high school and college pitcher. His skills were more polished and mature than your typical prospect coming out of high school, but he still offered some of the upside you get when selecting a younger arm. Now, after a rocky start, he has a shot to show some of that.