Blue Jays Minor League Recap: Hitters Going Wild

Blue Jays Affiliate Overview (April 18-April 19)

Triple-A Buffalo Bisons
Series vs. Rochester Red Wings (Washington Nationals): 3-3
Season Record: 10-11

Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats 
Series vs. Chesapeake Baysox (Baltimore Orioles): 4-1
Season Record: 8-5

High-A Vancouver Canadians
Series vs. Spokane (Colorado Rockies): 4-2
Season Record: 6-9

Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays
Series vs. Clearwater Threshers (Philadelphia Phillies): 3-3
Season Record: 8-7

Triple-A Buffalo Bisons

• Season Record: 10-11
• Series Opponent: Rochester Red Wings (Washington Nationals)

April 18: Saturday saw the bats for Buffalo come alive, and all at once it seemed. The team collected 11 hits in the game, and everyone in the lineup had at least one, except Josh Kasevich and Josh Rivera. In the top of the second inning, William Simoneit and Carlos Mendoza had RBI singles to give the Bisons the lead. In the third inning, Riley Tirotta finally got the first extra-base hit of the game for Buffalo, a big two-run home run that went 404 feet and 104.3 mph off the bat. Simoneit had himself a good game at the plate, adding an RBI double in the sixth inning. However, he wasn't done, notching another RBI double in the eighth. It capped off his 3-for-4 game, with three RBI, and brought his batting average up to .300 for the season. CJ Van Eyk worked hard on the mound to keep Buffalo in the lead. He worked around seven hits, giving up a run in the second and fifth innings. It would be the bullpen that saved the lead for Buffalo, going 4.2 innings and only surrendering one run. Hayden Juenger brought it home for Buffalo, pitching a solid ninth inning, striking out two, and earning the save. The win brought Buffalo back to .500, where they seem to continue to hover, though they cannot break the mark on the season. 

April 19: Sunday's finale against Rochester was a mixed bag of sorts. The teams combined for 20 hits, 28 strikeouts, and 10 runs scored. Lots of hits, lots of whiffs, and lots of fun. Carlos Mendoza led the offense for Buffalo, going 2-for-5 with two RBI and a run scored. His two RBI came on a double in the seventh and a single in the ninth. Buffalo was still in a hole after that, and Rafael Lantigua knocked in Mendoza on a double to center. It brought the score to 4-6. Unfortunately, RJ Schreck grounded out to end the game. On the pitching side, things were good and bad. The Bisons struck out 14 Rochester hitters on the day, but gave up six runs, three of which were unearned due to three errors. Josh Rivera had the worst of it in the field, committing two of the errors on back-to-back plays in the sixth, allowing the winning runs to score. Brendon Little pitched out of the bullpen again and looked relatively good, despite allowing two unearned runs to cross the plate thanks to those errors. He would strike out three and only allow one hit. Buffalo again couldn't crack the .500 mark, as they fell 6-4. 

Double-A New Hampshire

• Season Record: 8-5
• Series vs. Chesapeake Baysox (Baltimore Orioles)

April 18: New Hampshire started the Saturday contest with the Baysox quickly in the hole, down one run in the top of the first by way of a Brandon Butterworth solo home run. The Fisher Cats quickly answered with a run of their own, this time from hot-hitting Sean Keys, who drove in the run with a single to the shortstop. New Hampshire took the lead in the second inning, when Alex Stone drove in Jackson Hornung with an RBI single. Frederick Bencosme changed things in the fourth, as he launched a grand slam into the right field seats. The Baysox would score three more runs, one each in the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings. New Hampshire made a comeback attempt in the eighth on the back of another Keys long home run, his fifth of the year. Keys added an RBI groundout in the ninth as well, but it wasn't enough this time, with New Hampshire losing 8-9. Hitter note: Keys and Hornung had five hits combined in this one, and both rank near the top of all Double-A hitters so far this season. Keys is hitting .356 with five home runs, while Hornung is hitting .397. 

April 19: Postponed

High-A Vancouver 

Season Record: 6-9
Series vs. Spokane (Colorado Rockies)

April 18: After homering in his first at-bat of the season, Arjun Nimmala slowed down quite a bit, but he turned it around in this one, as he once again homered on his first at-bat of the game. Johnny King’s strikeout stuff was also on display, and despite an unearned run in the first inning that resulted in a tie game, King cruised after that. He struck out seven batters in 3.1 innings, only allowing a single hit and two walks. The Canadians scored three more runs in the second off of two RBI knocks from Manuel Beltre and Brennan Orf, and Carter Cunningham hit his sixth homer of the season in the fourth to make it 5-1. Holden Wilkerson came on in the fifth inning and pitched just as well as King, as he went four innings with six strikeouts and only allowed two baserunners. The Canadians' offense continued to pile it on, and Tucker Toman hit his second homer of the season, as the former switch-hitter has started off hot after switching to just hitting left-handed. The Canadians ran away with this one, scoring 11 runs to Spokane’s one. 

April 19: The Canadians were positioned to win their first series of the season, and it took a strong performance from Arjun Nimmala to get it done. Austin Cates went five strong innings to start the game, and despite allowing the first run of the game in the fifth inning on a solo shot, he earned the win. Toman and Alexis Hernandez doubled up on RBI doubles to take the lead back in the bottom half of that inning, and one of Nimmala's three hits doubled the lead. Strong relief efforts from Carson Pierce, Jay Schueler and Eminen Flores kept Spokane to only one run, and Nimmala put the cherry on top with a two-run homer in the top of the ninth to seal the series win. 

Single-A Dunedin

• Season Record: 8-7
• Series vs. Clearwater Threshers (Philadelphia Phillies)

April 18: JoJo Parker has arrived, as after the Threshers got ahead early, Dariel Ramon and Parker went back to back to claim the lead. Dayne Pengelly, who graduated from New Mexico with a mechanical engineering degree, took the mound and despite walking four, allowed one run a little over three innings pitched. The Threshers brought it within one off of Carson Myers, but the Jays pulled ahead off of an Aldo Gaxiola single in the sixth. Jaxson West continued his scorching start with a three hit day, and Gaxiola went deep again with a 106.9-mph, 407-foot shot to center field to make it 8-3 for the Jays. The Threshers brought in a couple of unearned runs in the eighth, but Jack Eshleman got the save in the ninth to give the Jays the win. 

April 19: Brandon Barriera still isn’t finding his command, and although he only allowed one run, he walked four batters in only 2.1 innings. Juan Sanchez got his first RBI for Dunedin to tie it up in the bottom of the third inning, and a David Beckles sac fly gave the Jays the lead. The game remained in the Jays’ favour, as Luis Victorino made his first appearance of the year and pitched well. However, once he was replaced by Brayden Heidel, the lead was given up in the seventh, and in the eighth the Threshers took the lead on a solo shot from Nathan Humphreys. In the bottom of the ninth, the Jays threatened after Beckles walked. He was immediately pinch ran for with Dariel Ramon, who then stole second. An Eric Snow single put runners on the corners, with no outs, and it looked like the Jays would at least tie it up. However, after Snow stole second, Gaxiola, Yorman Licourt, and Will Cresswell left them stranded as all three struck out swinging, leading to a series draw. 

Transactions

04/19/26     Dunedin Blue Jays placed RHP Karson Ligon on the 7-day injured list.
04/19/26     LF David Beckles assigned to Dunedin Blue Jays from FCL Blue Jays.
04/19/26     C Juan Rosas assigned to Dunedin Blue Jays from FCL Blue Jays.
04/18/26     RHP Luis Victorino assigned to Dunedin Blue Jays from DSL Blue Jays Red.
04/18/26     Dunedin Blue Jays placed C Charlie Saum on the 7-day injured list.
04/18/26     RHP Aiden Taggart assigned to Dunedin Blue Jays from FCL Blue Jays.
04/18/26     1B Peyton Williams assigned to Vancouver Canadians from Dunedin Blue Jays.

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