Toronto Blue Jays Minor League Recap: Johnny King Gets Back On Track and the Young Bats Start Hitting

[Daniel Labude]

Blue Jays Affiliate Overview (April 11-April 12)

Triple-A Buffalo Bisons
Series vs. Syracuse Mets (New York Mets): 4-2
Season Record: 7-8

Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats 
Series vs. Portland Sea Dogs (Boston Red Sox): 3-3
Season Record: 4-4

High-A Vancouver Canadians
Series vs. Eugene Emeralds (San Francisco Giants): 2-4
Season Record: 2-7

Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays
Series vs. St. Lucie Mets (New York Mets): 4-2
Season Record: 5-4

Triple-A Buffalo Bisons

• Season Record: 6-7
• Series Opponent: Syracuse Mets(New York Mets)

April 11: Josh Kasevich finally started to live up to his hype on Saturday, leading the Buffalo Bisons to a win. In the bottom of the first inning, Kasevich squared up a high changeup from Syracuse's starting pitcher, Carl Edwards Jr. and deposited the pitch over the fence in left field. The solo home run had an exit velocity of 100.5 mph, with a launch angle of 35°, and went 367 feet. In his second at-bat of the game during the third inning, he smoked a ball off the bat at 106.5 mph to center for an RBI double, scoring Yohendrick Pinango. The Bisons weren't done that inning, scoring another two runs on RBI singles from both Charles McAdoo and Riley Tirotta. Pinango capped off his big day at the plate as well, hitting an RBI double in the bottom of the sixth inning. For the game, Pinango reached base four times. In addition to his RBI double, he would walk three times. The run support from Buffalo's offense was more than enough for CJ Van Eyk, who had his best start of the season en route to the win. He pitched six innings of two-hit ball, didn't allow a run, and only walked two. The only thing missing from his dominance was strikeouts; he only managed to sit down one batter in that manner. Chase Lee and Jesse Hahn would come in and wrap up the game by combining for three innings of shutout baseball, as Buffalo won 5-0.

April 12: Sunday was a bit of a coming out party for Charles McAdoo. He racked up three hits, including a double and an opposite-field home run, his first at Triple A. The three base knocks raised his average up to .325 for the season, but it wasn't enough to get the win, as the bullpen would falter late. McAdoo's home run would kick off the scoring in the fourth inning but would be all the Bisons would get until the ninth inning. Unfortunately for Buffalo, the bullpen could not hold on to the one-run lead. Brendon Little did his job out of the 'pen, pitching one inning and striking out three. It was Adam Macko that couldn't step up in the late innings, as he coughed up three extra-base hits and three runs, including a two-run home run to Nick Morabito. Buffalo made one last rally attempt in the bottom of the ninth, where they would load the bases with just one out, but only managed an RBI groundout by Josh Rivera. The next batter, Will Simoneit, struck out swinging to end the threat and the game, as Buffalo fell 3-2 and dropped back below .500 for the season. 

Double-A New Hampshire

• Season Record: 4-4
• Series vs. Portland Sea Dogs (Boston Red Sox)

April 11: Richard Gallardo took the mound for New Hampshire and was one of the few bright spots for them on the day. He went four innings, gave up two hits, zero earned runs, and struck out three batters. Alex Amalfi went the other four innings for the Fisher Cats, but he did surrender two runs, while striking out six hitters. New Hampshire scored first, taking the lead by one in the third inning on an Ismael Munguia RBI single. An RBI double and sacrifice fly for Portland would put them up for good in the fourth inning. New Hampshire would only manage five singles and a double in the game and lose 2-1. 

April 12: New Hampshire had the bats going tonight in a win over the Portland Sea Dogs. Portland took the early lead by one run on a Ronald Rosario double in the first. In the next half inning, the Fisher Cats took the lead on a Geovanny Planchart RBI single to first base and Cade Doughty's run-scoring double play groundout. Portland would add five more to take control of the game. In the sixth inning, that would change, though. Sean Keys blasted a two-run home run to get the scoring started. Later in the inning, three RBI singles brought in four runs, and Jace Bohrofen hit a two-run homer as well. An RBI groundout and Planchart's second RBI single of the inning would cap off the scoring, only once nine runs had crossed the plate in the frame. Jackson Hornung would homer in the ninth inning to go with a Nick Goodwin RBI triple to finish the scoring for New Hampshire, as they won big, 15-9. 

High-A Vancouver 

• Season Record: 2-7
• Series vs. Eugene Emeralds (San Francisco Giants)

April 11: The Canadians' struggles continued, as Colby Holcombe took the bump for them. Holcombe was wild, walking four batters in less than three innings. He was able to escape relatively unscathed after some big jams, with an unassisted double play from Manny Beltre in the top of the second and a strikeout with runners on the corners to end the inning. He did give up a run in the top of the third, which brought Eminen Flores, who kept the Emeralds to one with 3.1 scoreless innings. J.R. Freethy scored the first run for Vancouver on a throwing error, but the game held firm until Jonathan Todd replaced Flores and gave up a sac fly in the eighth, and then he gave up another run in the ninth. The Canadians had a chance to tie it up after Tucker Toman brought it within one on an RBI single in the bottom of the ninth but were unable to get him to cross the plate. 

April 12: With a series loss confirmed, the Canadians wanted to get back on track to end the series, and Johnny King set the tone, giving up only one hit and a walk while striking out five. The offense got out to an early lead as well, with a patient Arjun Nimmala walking on a wild pitch, leading to a run scoring, and Carter Cunningham’s hot start continued with an RBI single that same inning to score another runner. After a couple of sac flies, Kendry Chirinos solidified the lead with a two-RBI triple. Holden Wilkerson again followed King, and although he faced some trouble in the sixth inning, where he allowed two runs to score, he was able to keep the Emeralds at bay. Carter Cunningham hit his third homer of the season for extra insurance. Aaron Munson gave up three runs in the ninth, but with such a commanding lead, the Canadians were able to win the last game of the series at least. 

Single-A Dunedin

• Season Record: 5-4
• Series vs. St. Lucie Mets (New York Mets)

April 11, Game 1: In the first game of the doubleheader, Eric Snow followed a lead-off JoJo Parker double by driving him in on a sac fly. Dayne Pengelly got the start and induced a couple of double plays to keep the Mets scoreless for the first two innings. Aldo Gaxiola had his first homer of the season in the second to double the lead.  Some bad BABIP and stolen bases given up resulted in two runs scoring to even the game up in the third for the Mets, but another extra base hit from Gaxiola, this time hit 110.7 mph scored another two runs to take the lead right back. 2025 13th-rounder Trace Baker pitched two scoreless innings in relief, and the Jays had a big top of the fifth inning scoring five runs thanks to a Peyton Williams double and Enmanuel Bonilla’s first homer for Dunedin. Carson Myers pitched well after Baker came out, with two more scoreless innings while striking out three for a dominant game one of the doubleheader. 

April 11, Game 2: The second game of the doubleheader was a makeup game for the postponed game on the April 8. The Jays came out swinging with a P-Willy RBI double and Yorman Licourt swatting his third homer of the season to score Williams, but Karson Ligon struggled after his awesome debut. His stuff looked good, as he sat 96 mph with his fastball, but only 20 of his 47 pitches were strikes, leading to three walks and four runs, three of them being earned. The Mets were able to get solid production out of their bullpen, but the Jays bullpen struggled, allowing seven more runs, preventing the Jays from coming back in the game. 

April 12: As the Jays hoped to win the last game of the series to get a series win, Brandon Barriera started off very slowly. His stuff ticked up a bit, but his command really lost him. After getting two quick outs, a hit, a passed ball, and two walks led to an RBI single to put the Jays down early. Parker could not be denied, as after two Jays were hit by pitches and Dariel Ramon walked, Parker tied the game with a two-run RBI single. Blaine Bullard followed that up with a homer to break the game open at 5-2 for the Jays. Barriera still struggled to throw strikes, but his stuff was good enough to get clean innings. The Jays continued to tack on runs in the fourth inning, as poor command from the Mets bullpen led to the Jays one-upping their second inning with six runs scored. Diego Dominguez pitched three shutout innings in relief, and 2025 16th-rounder Jaxson West has had a really strong start to the season, hitting a two-run homer to give the Jays 13 runs unanswered. Jack Eshleman gave up four runs in a poor outing, but that was all for both teams, giving the Jays their first series win. 

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