Blue Jays Minor League Recap: New Hampshire and Buffalo Bats Have Some Fun As Lower Levels Fight Hard

[Brian Labude]

CURRENT W-L Records

-Buffalo Bisons: 15-26
-New Hampshire Fisher Cats: 14-21
-Vancouver Canadians: 17-20
-Dunedin Blue Jays: 22-15
-FCL Blue Jays: 6-4
-DSL Blue Jays: 0-0 (Season not started) 

TRANSACTIONS

05/16/25 - SS Lizandro Rodriguez assigned to Dunedin Blue Jays.

05/16/25 - C Juan Rosas assigned to FCL Blue Jays from Dunedin Blue Jays.

05/16/25 - SS Dariel Ramon assigned to FCL Blue Jays from Dunedin Blue Jays.

05/16/25 - RHP Ryan Jennings assigned to Buffalo Bisons from New Hampshire Fisher Cats.

05/16/25 - Toronto Blue Jays signed free agent SS Lizandro Rodriguez to a minor league contract.

05/15/25 - Dunedin Blue Jays activated SS Tucker Toman from the temporarily inactive list.

05/15/25 - Buffalo Bisons sent SS Leo Jiménez on a rehab assignment to Dunedin Blue Jays.

05/15/25 - Dunedin Blue Jays sent LF Alexis Hernandez on a rehab assignment to FCL Blue Jays.

05/15/25 - RHP Spencer Turnbull assigned to Dunedin Blue Jays from FCL Blue Jays.

05/15/25 - New Hampshire Fisher Cats activated RHP Justin Kelly from the 7-day injured list.

05/15/25 - New Hampshire Fisher Cats transferred C Alex Stone to the Development List.

Buffalo Bisons

Buffalo (12), Worcester (1) - 5/15

Box Score

Lazaro Estrada got the start for the Buffalo Bisons in this game, and he continued his recent success. From the first inning through the sixth, he dominated the talented Worcester offense. He threw six innings, only allowing three hits and one run, while striking out five. With Estrada dealing on the mound and baffling hitters, the Buffalo offense was teeing off on Worcester pitching. In the first inning, Buffalo got things started with a single by Joey Loperfido, two walks, a passed ball, and then Riley Tirotta capped off the rally with a three-run home run. In the second inning, Davis Schneider tripled, plating another run, pushing the lead to five. Five walks in the third inning led to two more runs, and a Rainer Nunez RBI single scored yet another run in the fourth inning. In the top of the fifth inning, Worcester would see their lone run of the game on a Nathan Hickey home run. Nunez would launch a three-run homer of his own in the sixth inning, and Alan Roden would finish the scoring in the eighth on a single to third base, scoring Phil Clarke. In the end, Buffalo would walk 12 times and win this one 12-1. 

Rainer Nunez- 2-4, 2 R, 4 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 HR

Lazaro Estrada- 6 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K

Buffalo (3), Worcester (10) - 5/16

Box Score

In this matchup, Worcester got on the scoreboard early and often versus Buffalo starting pitcher Easton Lucas. Phillip Sikes launched two home runs across the third and fourth innings for Worcester. Along with the Sikes home runs, Yasmani Grandal homered in the fourth inning as well. Going into the bottom of the fourth, Buffalo already trailed 7-0. In the bottom of the fourth inning, Orelvis Martinez would get Buffalo a run back on a soft infield single, scoring Alan Roden from third base. In the top of the sixth inning, Buffalo would walk the bases loaded and Worcester would clear them, adding three more runs. From there, Buffalo added a run in the seventh inning off of a Riley Tirotta RBI double, scoring Martinez from first base. Buffalo would try to rally in the ninth, but the lead was too much and Worcester would give the Bisons another defeat. 

Riley Tirotta- 2-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 0 BB, 0 K, 1 2B

Andrew Bash- 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K

New Hampshire Fisher Cats

New Hampshire (10) Reading (11) - 5/15

Box Score

In a wild and crazy game, the New Hampshire bats came alive on Thursday, but so did the bats for Reading. New Hampshire started the game quietly, notching a single and a walk in the top of the first, before Charles McAdoo hit into a double play to end the half inning. Reading quickly took control of the game in their bottom half of the inning, by way of a walk, four singles, and a double. They would end the first inning with a 5-0 lead. The hot hitting Yohendrick Pinango launched his sixth home run of the season in the top of the third inning to get New Hampshire onto the scoreboard. A Jay Harry solo shot in the top of the fifth inning cut the lead down to four, 6-2. After an RBI single for Reading by Cade Fergus in the bottom of the fifth, New Hampshire went on a scoring barrage in the sixth and seventh innings. They scored two in the sixth from a Devonte Brown double (one) and a ground out by Jay Harry (one). In the top of the seventh inning, Peyton Williams singled in one run, another scored on a balk, and two scored on a Ryan McCarty single and error by Reading in the field. New Hampshire left their top half of the inning with a lead, 8-7. In the bottom half of the inning, Reading would score on a home run, wild pitch, and a groundout. They took the lead back at 10-8. Down to their final at-bats in the ninth inning, New Hampshire tied the game with two runs on a double by Jay Harry and a single by Eddinson Paulino. Their luck ran out in the bottom of the ninth though, as a Leandro Pineda double scored the winning run for Reading and gave them the walk-off win. New Hampshire fell 11-10 in one of the more exciting games of the season.

Jay Harry: 2-4, 1 R, 3 RBI, 1 BB, 0 K, 1 HR, 1 2B, 1 SB

After his promotion to Double-A, Harry started off hot, but then disappeared for the most part. This game he did a little bit of everything and really showed off his tools. He will need more games like this to remain prospect relevant moving forward on the season. 

Alex Amalfi: 3.1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K

New Hampshire (2), Reading (3) - 5/16

Box Score

In Friday's game, Reading jumped out to an early lead, on a Hendry Mendez two-run homer in the bottom of the first inning. They would add another run in the bottom of the fifth inning, by way of an Aidan Miller home run, giving Reading a 3-0 lead. New Hampshire managed only two hits through the first six innings and didn't get a run across home plate in that span. They finally got on the scoreboard in the top of the seventh, when hit his second home run of the season. In the eighth, Jace Bohrofen doubled home Yohendrick Pinango to cut Reading's lead to 3-2. In the ninth, Paulino walked, but never advanced past first base and the game ended with New Hampshire losing 3-2. 

Eddinson Paulino: 1-3, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 HR

This was only Paulino's fifth game in May, but he has been swinging a hot bat. His batting average for the month is now .400, he has two multi-hit efforts, and a four game hitting streak.

Michael Dominguez: 4 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K

Vancouver Canadians

Vancouver (4), Everett (5) - 5/15

Box Score

An uncharacteristic Grant Rogers start where he walked four batters in four and two-thirds innings of work, led the Canadians to go down early against the AquaSox, with top prospect Colt Emerson scoring the first run for Everett with an RBI single in the third inning. A wild pitch allowed Cutter Coffey to score the first run for the Canadians to tie it up, but Rogers let in another run via a Lazaro Montes single. Edinson Batista came in relief for Rogers, but his struggles after getting traded to the Jays continued, giving up three runs in the sixth with a walk and three hits to put them down 5-1. Vancouver chipped away at the lead in the half-inning directly after, with Gabriel Martinez getting driven in by Jackson Hornung. Kai Peterson and Julio came in and kept it close for the Canadians, and in the bottom of the 9th Carter Cunningham walked, then Nick Goodwin got hit by a pitch to put two runners on with no outs. Quebec City native Nicolas Deschamps laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move both runners up, and Eddie Micheletti Jr. singled on a soft grounder to Colt Emerson to score Cunningham from third to bring the score within one. However, Nick Goodwin was aggressive rounding third thinking that the ball would sneak into the outfield and was caught stranded between third and home, getting tagged out, making it a two-out game with a runner on first. Arjun Nimmala couldn’t be a hero as the momentum was taken away from that baserunning mishap and the Canadians couldn’t get past the finish line. 

Gabriel Martinez - 2-4, 1 R, 1 K

Martinez continues to perform well after getting a demotion, going 2-4 and scoring a run. Hopefully this stretch can let him get his timing down and he showcases the talent that put him on many top 30 Jays prospect lists a few years ago. 

Kai Peterson - 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K

Last season Peterson was wildly effective, with over a near 40% strikeout rate, but also a near 20% walk rate, but he’s reined it in quite a bit this season, striking out “only” 29.5% of the batters that he faced, and walking 11.5%. This has let him pitch to a 1.20 ERA, although his FIP isn’t nearly as sparkling at a 4.48. The wild lefty has put his mark on the Vancouver bullpen, and kept them close enough to almost claw back victory from defeat. 

Vancouver (6), Everett (7) - 5/16

Box Score

The game started off with Sean Keys hitting his fifth homer of the season, but Wentworth was hittable again, giving up two solo homers himself in the top of the second. Wentworth allowed another two runs in the next two innings putting Vancouver in a hole early on yet again. Cutter Coffey provided another run for the Canadians with an RBI single in the fifth, and then Keys once again hit a bomb to give the Canadians the lead in the seventh. Eddie Michelleti Jr. added one of his own in the same inning, and the Canadians needed just six more outs to finish off the game. Chay Yeager was his excellent self in the 8th, but Bo Bonds faltered for the first time this season, blowing the save with a three-run inning. 

Sean Keys - 3-5, 2 R, 4 RBI, 2 HR

After his two homer outburst in the previous series against the Spokane Indians, Keys once again bashed a pair of homers, being one of the main spark plugs for the Canadians this game. Keys raised his slugging percentage to .469 on the season, and he’s had 14 extra base hits in 31 games this season. As a power over hit tool prospect he’s been a departure from typical Jays drafting strategy but has not disappointed.

Jackson Wentworth - 5.0 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 6 K

Wentworth has been a bit homer prone as of late, but still struck out six batters in five innings of work. He has now given up 18 hits in his past two starts after only giving up 16 hits in his previous six starts. 

Dunedin Blue Jays 

Dunedin (11), Bradenton (6) - 5/15

Box Score

The D-Jays put on a show, getting to Carlos Castillo early scoring four runs in the first three innings to make an RBI double from Braylon Bishop an afterthought. In the fourth, Castillo was taken out, and the Jays matched that total with two homers from Sam Shaw and Yhoangel Aponte, who’s been heating up recently, as well as a sac fly from Kendry Chirinos to score Leo Jiménez, finally back on rehab assignment after contracting mono. Eminen Flores gave up a few runs after Turnbull came out, before the Jays added to their total with another three runs in the sixth, including an RBI-groundout from Dariel Ramon and Kendry Chirinos hitting a two-run shot himself. Khal Stephen pitched for what could be the last time in Dunedin, as he’s getting promoted to Vancouver, and went four innings of three-run ball, one unearned, as he gave up three doubles in the seventh. Still he struck out seven batters and continued to showcase why he was too good for Low-A, and if not for the chance of poor weather in Vancouver, he might not have even gone to Dunedin in the first place. 

Sam Shaw - 2-5, 2 R, 2 RBI, 1 HR

Sam Shaw has changed a lot from last season compared to this season, where in the complex league he was a high contact, zero-power type of hitter, but he’s sacrificed his contact for some real damage, with his fifth homer on the year and some really strong metrics including a greater than 90 mph average exit velocity, 15.4% barrel rate, and a 50% hard-hit rate. His contact rate has fallen 10% compared to his 2024 rookie ball season, but it sure hasn’t hurt his production at all, in fact it seems like it has helped. 

Spencer Turnbull - 4.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K

Spencer Turnbull made his debut for the Dunedin Blue Jays and looked solid, sitting in the low 90s which was to be expected on his first start back. He relied on his sweeper to get Low-A hitters to whiff and was a nice sight to see him pitching again. 

Dunedin (2), Bradenton (4) - 05/16

Box Score

The Dunedin offense slowed down after a big game the night before, only scoring two runs. Guerra was solid in his start, only allowing two runs, but the Jays struggled to stop the running game, with the Marauders living up to their name, snagging four on the night against Jays pitchers and catchers. Leo Jimenez has been solid during his rehab assignment, but the rest of the team haven’t been as good. Konnor Griffin put the game out of reach with two RBI in the seventh and ninth off Jay Schueler and Javen Coleman. Bryce Arnold hit an RBI-double in the ninth, but at that point it was too little, too late, and the Jays went out quietly after that. 

Leo Jimenez - 2-4, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 2B

Jimenez’s second game back from rehab and he was the designated hitter, getting on base three times including an RBI double for one of the two runs scored for the D-Jays. He’ll work his way back up the Triple-A as he gets healthier and once he’s completely ready, should fight for a backup spot in the major league team’s infield as the Jays lack some bench right handed hitters. 

Daniel Guerra - 5.0 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K

Guerra returned to the rotation after pitching in relief for a few games, and he was pretty good, going five innings and only allowing two hits, one walk, and two earned runs off of a homer and triple in the second inning. Guerra pounded the zone with his fastball, which had 19 inches of rising action, which resulted in a good amount of whiffs and chase. Guerra is still developing his secondaries as they aren’t as sharp or good at generating whiffs or chase, and he’ll need to figure out a strong one. 

FCL Blue Jays

F-BLU (1), F-TIG (9) - 5/15

Box Score

This game will be one to forget for Landen Maroudis, who got the start for the Toronto Blue Jays squad. He managed to only get one out in the first inning, as he walked four batters and gave up a bases-clearing double to Javier Osorio. After Maroudis left, an RBI groundout would score another run that would be charged to him. Osorio would add a home run in the second inning and the Detroit squad would rack up eight runs in the first three innings. The Blue Jays team got on the board in the fourth on an Aldo Gaxiola single, which scored David Beckles. Detroit would add a run in the bottom of the fourth and then the bats for both teams went completely silent taking zeros the rest of the way. The Blue Jays team would lose this one 9-1. 

Aldo Gaxiola- 1-4, 0 R, 1 RBI, 0 BB, 1 K

Eliander Alcalde- 4 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K

F-BLU (8), F-TIG (1) - 5/16

Box Score

In a rematch of the Thursday game, things were much different for the Blue Jays squad. Johnny King got the start for the Blue Jays and he pitched great. He threw three innings, only allowed one hit, an unearned run, and struck out four, while allowing just one walk. This set the stage for the fourth and fifth innings, where the Blue Jays offense came alive, well kind of. They scored five runs in the fourth inning to take a four run lead, but they did so without a hit driving in a run. Three bases loaded walks scored three runs and an error by the Detroit pitcher, along with a wild pitch scored two more. In the fifth inning, the Blue Jays added two runs via a David Beckles RBI single and an Aldo Gaxiola RBI double. Yorman Licourt finished the scoring in the sixth inning with an RBI single to right field. The Blue Jays would win this one 8-1. 

Yorman Licourt- 3-3, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 0 K, 1 2B

Johnny King- 3 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K

DSL Blue Jays

No games

Toronto Blue Jays Minor League Players of the Day

Pitcher of the Period: RHP Lazaro Estrada (Buffalo) - 6 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K

Hitter of the Period: 3B Sean Keys (Vancouver) - 3-9, 2 R, 4 RBI, 0 BB, 3 K, 2 HR

Prospect Summary (Last 2 Days)

1. Arjun Nimmala (Vancouver) - 1-4, 1 BB
2. Ricky Tiedemann (Buffalo) - DNP
3. Trey Yesavage (Dunedin) - DNP
4. Orelvis Martinez (Buffalo) - 1-3, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K
5. Khal Stephen (Dunedin) - 4 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K
6. Jake Bloss (Buffalo) - DNP
7. Alan Roden (Buffalo) - 2-8, 1 R, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 0 K, 1 SB
8. Landen Maroudis (FCL Jays) - 0.1 IP, 1 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 0 K
9. Jonatan Clase (Toronto) - 0-3, 1 K
10. Kendry Rojas (Vancouver) - DNP
11. Josh Kasevich (Buffalo) - DNP
12. Johnny King (FCL Blue Jays) - 3 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K
13. Gage Stanifer (Dunedin) - DNP
14. Adam Macko (FCL Jays) - DNP
15. Charles McAdoo (New Hampshire) - 0-2, 2 R, 2 BB, 1 K
16. Fernando Perez (Vancouver) - DNP
17. Brandon Barriera (Dunedin) - DNP
18. Emmanuel Bonilla (FCL Blue Jays) - 0-6, 2 BB, 1 K
19. Juaron Watts-Brown (Vancouver) - DNP
20. Jace Bohrofen (New Hampshire) - 1-9, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 4 K, 1 2B

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