Blue Jays Minor League Recap: Winckowski Returns to Dunedin After 7 Years, and the D-Jays' Power Bats Continue To Mash

Blue Jays Affiliate Overview (August 25-26)

Triple-A Buffalo Bisons
Series vs Rochester Red Wings (Washington Nationals): 1-1
Season Record: 63-64

Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats 
Series vs Hartford Yard Goats (Colorado Rockies): 1-1
Season Record: 55-65

High-A Vancouver Canadians
Series vs Spokane (Colorado Rockies): 1-1
Season Record: 58-64

Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays
Series vs Palm Beach Cardinals (St. Louis Cardinals): 1-1
Season Record: 57-61

FCL Blue Jays: Season Complete

DSL Blue Jays Blue: Season Complete

DSL Blue Jays Red: Season Complete

Triple-A Buffalo Bisons

• Season Record: 63-64
• Series vs Rochester Red Wings (Washington Nationals)

August 25: Tuesday opened a new series for Buffalo against the Rochester Red Wings. With it came a Grant Rogers special. Rogers had his routine quality start on tap for the Bisons; he went six innings, gave up four hits, just two runs, and struck out four. It was his usual contact-oriented game. He didn't strike out many batters and walked none. The ball was put into play plenty, and Buffalo was up to the task, not committing any errors in the game. While Rogers had the Red Wings bats locked down, Buffalo jumped out to a quick lead in the first inning. Rudy Martin Jr. opened the game with a leadoff walk, followed by a single from Jay Harry, then Sean Keys smacked a ball to second base for an RBI groundout. Yohendrick Piñango then singled home Harry, giving Buffalo a 2-0 lead after the top of the first inning. With the game tied at two in the sixth, Buffalo loaded the bases with three straight walks, followed by Lenyn Sosa ripping a single to center, scoring Keys. Two more runs would score on a Rochester error, as well as a third run on a double play. Buffalo left the frame with a 6-2 lead and wouldn't relinquish it the rest of the game. Buffalo got a team effort to take the win, 6-2. 

August 26: On Wednesday, Buffalo had Josh Stephan on the mound looking for a bounce-back performance. Buffalo jumped on a rehabbing DJ Herz for Rochester, getting an RBI single by Sean Keys in the top of the first. Stephan then had a perfect bottom of the first, striking out two batters en route to a clean inning. The second inning for Stephan was the exact opposite of perfect; lead-off hitter Cayden Wallace homered to left, Leandro Pineda went back-to-back with Wallace, and then Liover Peguero would hit the third blast of the inning a few batters later. Two solo home runs and a two-run blast put Buffalo in a 4-1 hole. Josh Kasevich had an RBI single in the fifth, and Jay Harry added an RBI on a sacrifice fly in the eighth, bringing the deficit down to 5-3. Ricky Tiedemann threw 1.1 innings out of the bullpen for Buffalo, striking out two and keeping all of the balls in play on the infield. Daniel Guerra made his Triple-A Buffalo debut, pitching one inning out of the bullpen following Tiedemann. Guerra struck out the first batter he faced, walked a batter (who was erased on a caught stealing), gave up a solo home run, and got a flyout to right field to wrap up his outing. His fastball topped out at 99.5 mph, which you can round up to 100 mph – it looks better. Buffalo just couldn't climb out of the early hole they got put in, losing this game 6-3. 

Double-A New Hampshire

• Season Record: 55-65
• Series vs Hartford Yard Goats (Colorado Rockies)

August 25: Tuesday kicked off a series between New Hampshire and Hartford. Austin Cates was on the mound and had a successful start. He pitched five innings, allowing two earned runs, surrendered one walk, and struck out seven. Alexis Hernandez kicked off the scoring for the Fisher Cats in the fourth inning, as he crushed a two-run double to the left-center gap. Hernandez raised his average at Double-A New Hampshire to .368 in the game with three hits, half the hits New Hampshire had overall. Hartford would score six straight runs as the relief pitching for New Hampshire couldn't hold the game close. With the offense struggling, New Hampshire lost this one 8-2. 

August 26: In the Wednesday game between Hartford and New Hampshire, the Fisher Cats fared much better offensively. Dub Gleed continued his hot hitting by driving in a run with an RBI single in the first inning. In the second inning, Roynier Hernandez and Cole Messina added RBI singles for Hartford for them to take the lead. In the bottom of the inning, Carter Cunningham hit an RBI double, and Victor Arias grounded out, scoring a second run. After a two-run single by Hartford in the third inning, Cunningham answered again, this time with a solo shot to tie the game. Mathieu Vallee doubled home a run for New Hampshire in the eighth inning for them to take the lead for good. Gage Stanifer pitched the seventh and eighth innings for the Fisher Cats again and made quick work of Hartford, shutting them out over his outing. He threw the two innings, struck out four batters, and only allowed one hit and one walk. New Hampshire won this one 5-4. 

High-A Vancouver 

• Season Record: 58-63
• Series vs Spokane (Colorado Rockies)

August 25: Silvano Hechavarria had a season to forget, as he never really found his footing after starting the season on the injured list. This was a start to be proud of, as he went six innings and had his first scoreless start since June. He struck out five batters, only allowing one walk and three hits. On the offensive end, JoJo Parker supplied most of the offense, as he had three hits, driving in two of the six runs scored by Vancouver. Dariel Ramon also had two RBIs, and the Canadians were leading 6-0, until Bradley Wilson lost the shutout in the ninth. However, he pitched three solid innings and earned his first save as a Canadian in a dominating 6-1 game. 

August 26: JoJo Parker once again scored in the first inning, this time on a wild pitch, but in the second inning, Robert Calaz hit a homer off of Vancouver's starter Connor O'Halloran. The Mississaugan gave up six hits but only allowed that single run in 3.2 innings. He was replaced in the fourth by Reece Fields, who gave up three runs in the fifth inning to make it a three-run lead for Spokane. The Canadians scored their second run on a wild pitch in the eighth, then Gable Mitchell had the Canadians' only RBI of the night on a groundout, but they were just not able to get a consistent offense going as they fell 5-3. 

Single-A Dunedin

• Season Record: 57-61
• Series vs Palm Beach Cardinals (St. Louis Cardinals)

August 25: Josh Winckowski returned to Dunedin after being involved in the Steven Matz trade, getting sent to Boston, then getting injured and signing with the Jays on a minor league contract. He returned to Dunedin for the first time since 2019, when the Dunedin Blue Jays were the Jays’ High-A minor league affiliate. He gave up a homer on the very first pitch of the game, but struck out a batter going 1.2 innings. Owen Carapellotti had his sixth homer in seven games to tie it up in the fourth, and Aldo Gaxiola went back-to-back, hitting a homer in three straight games to take the lead for good. Jack Nedrow replaced Winckowski in the second inning and tossed 5.1 innings of no-run ball, striking out six batters. The Jays added a five-run sixth inning to prevent a comeback, as Gaxiola had his second RBI with a single this time, and Raimundo De Los Santos cleared the bases with a double to make it 7-1. Landon Waters pitched two no-hit innings to finish the game off. 

August 26: Karson Ligon has struggled since returning from the injured list, as the righty from Mississippi State has given up 11 earned runs in just 6.2 innings, including three earned runs this outing. Aldo Gaxiola homered in his fourth straight game with a 107.4 mph liner to center field, but Edrwin Veras gave that run back on an RBI single from Gabe Camacho. Sann Omosako made his debut for Dunedin, as the Brazilian righty had one of his best outings of the season, going four innings, striking out seven batters, and allowing only one unearned run due to a Raimundo De Los Santos fielding error. Isaac Williams added more good pitching from the 'pen, as he went six up, six down with four strikeouts. The offense was able to generate a couple of runs, as Dean West scored on a wild pitch, and in the bottom of the sixth, Giaconino Lasaracina had his eighth homer as a D-Jay to bring it within two runs, but the comeback didn’t fully bear fruit, as the Jays lost 5-3. 

FCL Blue Jays

• Season Record: 38-20

Season Completed

DSL Blue Jays Blue

• Season Record: 20-35

Season Completed

DSL Blue Jays Red

• Season Record: 33-18
• Playoffs (2-1)

Season Completed

Transactions

08/26/26     Buffalo Bisons sent LF RJ Schreck on a rehab assignment to Dunedin Blue Jays.
08/25/26     Toronto Blue Jays sent LHP Joe Mantiply on a rehab assignment to Buffalo Bisons.
08/25/26     RHP Daniel Guerra assigned to Buffalo Bisons from New Hampshire Fisher Cats.
08/25/26     Toronto Blue Jays recalled RHP Chad Dallas from Buffalo Bisons.
08/25/26     Buffalo Bisons sent RHP Josh Winckowski on a rehab assignment to Dunedin Blue Jays.
08/25/26     Dunedin Blue Jays activated OF Enmanuel Bonilla from the temporarily inactive list.
08/25/26     RHP Sann Omosako assigned to Dunedin Blue Jays from FCL Blue Jays.
08/25/26     RHP Victor Espiritu assigned to Dunedin Blue Jays from FCL Blue Jays.
08/25/26     RHP Daniel Guerra assigned to Buffalo Bisons from New Hampshire Fisher Cats.

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