Daniel Labude

Ricky TiedemannOrelvis MartinezArjun NimmalaTrey YesavageLanden MaroudisGage StaniferJohnny KingKendry RojasAlan RodenJonatan ClaseKhal StephenAndres AriasBrandon BarrieraYeuni MunozJake BlossVictor AriasSean KeysCristopher PolancoGrant RogersEnmanuel Bonilla

Ricky TiedemannOrelvis MartinezArjun NimmalaTrey YesavageLanden MaroudisGage StaniferJohnny KingKendry RojasAlan RodenJonatan ClaseKhal StephenAndres AriasBrandon BarrieraYeuni MunozJake BlossVictor AriasSean KeysCristopher PolancoGrant RogersEnmanuel Bonilla

The Blue Jays are currently in fourth place in the AL East and have the 11th-best record in the American League (prior to games on April 30). The difference between the Yankees in first place and the Blue Jays is four and a half games. Both teams have gone about the season in completely different fashions, though. The Yankees have smashed and bashed their way to the top, with their offense performing at a record pace. The Blue Jays have been more methodical and tedious in their push to victories this year, with pitching taking the podium and shining more often in the team's victories. The Blue Jays rank 29th in baseball in home runs with only 16 on the season. Meanwhile, the Yankees have 51 home runs and are tied in first place in the category. That is a big and substantial difference between the two offenses, and for the Blue Jays to keep pace with the top of the American League, they will need to find ways to hit more home runs. What options are out there to improve the team's home run prowess? Editor's note: This piece was written prior to the Blue Jays' power outburst against the Red Sox on April 30. Lineup Improvements The first place to look to find ways the Blue Jays can increase their home run total is the lineup. Currently, the main lineup for much of the year has consisted of: Bo Bichette - 0 HR Vladimir Guerrero Jr. - 3 HR Anthony Santander - 3 HR Andrés Giménez - 3 HR George Springer - 2 HR Alejandro Kirk - 1 HR Will Wagner - 0 HR Alan Roden - 1 HR Ernie Clement/Nathan Lukes - 1 HR *Addison Barger and Daulton Varsho have entered the lineup more recently, and both have 0 HR. The lineup will get longer and more powerful now that Daulton Varsho is back; the center fielder returned from the injured list on Tuesday, April 29. The 28-year-old has a powerful bat (79 career home runs), which will give the lineup roughly six hitters who consistently have a chance to hit a home run. Varsho made some changes to his swing over the offseason and launched four home runs across 33 at-bats in spring training. If that carries over into the regular season, it will be a beautiful sight for the power-strapped Blue Jays. Exit Velocities and Swing Speed The best way to hit a home run starts with exit velocity. The most important driving factor for high exit velocities is swing speed, and the Toronto Blue Jays are awful at that. We are talking about the absolute worst in the league right now (as of April 30). (Image via Baseball Savant) (Image via Baseball Savant) Only one Blue Jays hitter who has been in the lineup regularly is substantially better than league average (72 MPH) in swing speed: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. He is sitting at an average swing speed of 75.9 MPH. The team as a whole is at 70.4 MPH. To add to this, only four teams are worse than the Blue Jays in their fast swing rate: the San Francisco Giants, Cincinnati Reds, Chicago Cubs, and the Chicago White Sox. This has to change, and it could change with an influx of some hitters who have their own flaws, but swing speed and power potential aren't included in them. Addison Barger (75.1 MPH this year), Orelvis Martinez (76.2 MPH last year), and Joey Loperfido (72.7 MPH last year), as well as Varsho (73.7 MPH last year) can all help improve the home run power on the field for the Blue Jays. Barger is now back with the Blue Jays. However, Martinez and Loperfido are off to slow starts at Triple A and need a lot more time right now to get back to their best selves. Pull the Ball Another area that needs improvement for the Blue Jays to see a power surge is their pull rate on balls hit in the air. The Blue Jays rank 27th in baseball in pull rate at 37.3% (per FanGraphs). They rank 25th in flyball rate at a scary 35.2%. To cap it off, the Blue Jays have only hit 38.5% of their balls in play at what is considered a hard exit velocity (95+ mph). Add this all together with the low swing speeds, and it paints a troubling picture of the Blue Jays at the moment. Players Normalizing to their Career Averages Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, and Anthony Santander have combined for just six home runs on the season across 380 plate appearances. This isn't to be expected to continue over the course of the season for the trio, who the team was counting on to hit closer to 80 home runs as a group coming into the year. Last season, though, the trio hit just five home runs combined from April 1 to April 30. It could just be a slow start again this season. After April 30 last year, Guerrero Jr. and Santander alone combined for roughly 70 home runs. Hopefully, as the weather warms up, the bats will do so again as well. Change in Hitting Philosophy Different year, new hitting coach, same results. No power, but fewer strikeouts. It isn't working and must change. For one thing, the Blue Jays need to start swinging at more middle-middle offerings. As of April 30, they rank tied for last place in swing rate on such pitches, according to Joshua Rodrigues. Hitting mistake pitches is a thing of the past with this front office in charge, and the problem has remained across hitting coaches. The fact that the Jays have only swung at 69.1% of pitches over the middle of the plate is atrocious. They have to swing the bat and make pitchers pay for mistakes over the heart of the plate. What's Next? The Toronto Blue Jays have played well at times despite their lack of home runs. They are still only 2.5 games back in the AL Wild Card race. If they can finally start to improve in this area, they could take the leap to become a top-of-the-AL team. To do this, they need to think about making some lineup changes; Varsho will help, but he alone is not enough. Beyond that, the Blue Jays need to increase their swing speeds across much of the major league roster. This will be easier said than done with the season already in full swing, but given how low their swing speed is as a group, something needs to happen now and in the future. A center field and opposite field approach at the plate has led the Blue Jays to post a fine team batting average, but they need to pull the ball more to do damage on pitches and put more runs on the scoreboard. The stringing singles together approach hasn’t worked well for more than a season. They need to swing the bat on mistakes over the plate as well. Lastly, be patient with the big hitters. Guerrero Jr. and Santander started slow in the power department last season and then took off with a flurry of home runs. The same thing looks to be probable this season. View full article

@Brock Beauchamp Can you add Yeuni Munoz

As we approach the one-month mark in the 2025 minor-league season, the Blue Jays system is a mixed bag. CURRENT W-L Records -Buffalo Bisons: 8-15 -New Hampshire Fisher Cats: 7-10 -Vancouver Canadians: 8-11 -Dunedin Blue Jays: 10-9 -FCL Blue Jays: 0-0 (Season not started) -DSL Blue Jays: 0-0 (Season not started) TRANSACTIONS 04/25/25 - Buffalo Bisons placed SS Michael Turconi on the 7-day injured list. 04/25/25 - SS Josh Rivera assigned to Buffalo Bisons from New Hampshire Fisher Cats. 04/25/25 - 2B Jay Harry assigned to New Hampshire Fisher Cats from Vancouver Canadians. 04/25/25 - Vancouver Canadians activated OF Carter Cunningham. 04/24/25 - SS Dariel Ramon assigned to Dunedin Blue Jays from DSL Blue Jays Blue. Buffalo Bisons Buffalo (8), Rochester (1) - 4/24 Box Score On Thursday, the Buffalo Bisons put together one of their most complete games of the season with an 8-1 drubbing of the Rochester Red Wings. On the mound, Eric Lauer started and spun five great innings. He gave up only five hits and didn't allow an earned run. To put a bow on his outing, he didn't give up a walk and struck out five hitters. In the bottom of the third inning, Michael Turconi got the Bisons started with a sacrifice fly. Michael Stefanic would drive in a second run with a line drive to center field. In the fourth inning, Buffalo would tack on four runs on the back of a mammoth 2-run home run from Orelvis Martinez. It was a rocket to center field that left the bat at 110.3 MPH, at a 32° launch angle, and traveled 413 FT. Michael Stefanic added another RBI single, and Daulton Varsho a sacrifice fly. In the seventh inning, Ali Sánchez and Steward Berroa also finished the scoring with RBI singles. It was a complete all-around game with everyone adding some contribution to the victory. Orelvis Martinez: 1-3, 2 R, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 0 K, 1 HR Martinez is finally getting some of his timing back at the plate. In his last five games, he has gone 5-12 with three runs, three runs batted in, two walks, four strikeouts, a double, and a home run. Hopefully, he is finally starting to get hotter as the temperature rises. Eric Lauer: 5 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K Buffalo (1), Rochester (8) - 4/25 Box Score In this Friday night game, it was an almost complete reversal of Thursday's game. The Bisons’ bats were ice cold, only managing three hits all night. Easton Lucas started for the Bisons on the mound and pitched well. He went 5 1/3 innings, while only giving up three hits and two runs. He was a bit wild on the night, walking four batters. He did miss some bats to the tune of four strikeouts. In the fourth inning, Davis Schneider tied the game at one, with a double down the line. That would be it though, as Rochester scored seven runs in the last four innings to run away with the game. Davis Schneider: 1-3, 0 R, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 2 K, 1 2B Easton Lucas: 5.1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 4 K New Hampshire Fisher Cats New Hampshire (0), Binghamton (5) - 4/24 - Game 1 Box Score On Thursday, New Hampshire played a double header against the Binghamton Rumble Ponies and sent CJ Van Eyk to the mound in game one. The first team to get on the scoreboard was the Rumble Ponies in the bottom of the third inning, when Van Eyk gave up back-to-back home runs to Nick Morabito and Ryan Clifford. New Hampshire threatened in the next half inning on a single from Yohendrick Pinango and a double from Charles McAdoo. Unfortunately, both runners would be stranded when Eddinson Paulino struck out to end the inning. A couple more errors in the bottom of the fifth would let Binghamton take some extra bases and led to a run. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Binghamton would add a couple more insurance runs via a two-run home run by Kevin Parada. Ryan McCarty would strike out to end the game in the seventh, as Binghamton would lose game one 5-0. Yohendrick Pinango: 2-3, 1 2B Pinango keeps hitting like he wants a promotion to Triple-A Buffalo. He raises his average up to .367 for the season and is really locked in at the plate. CJ Van Eyk: 5.2 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 0 BB, 9 K Van Eyk struggled giving up hits this game, but managed to eat innings in the first game of the double header. He did strike out nine, despite only garnering eight swing and misses. New Hampshire (1), Binghamton (4) - 4/24 - Game 2 Box Score In the second game of the double header on Thursday, New Hampshire flipped to the home team and Binghamton was the away team. However, it was much of the same play on the field as the first game. New Hampshire stayed locked up at zero, until in the top of the third inning, when Matt O'Neill hit a three-run homer to cap off a four-run inning for Binghamton. New Hampshire would try and claw their way back in the bottom of the fifth inning, with a solo shot by Ryan McCarty, for his first home run of the season. The game would just flow, mostly three-up and three-down, until the bottom of the seventh inning. In New Hampshire's last chance to mount a comeback, all three hitters struck out swinging to end the game. Binghamton would take the second game of the double header 4-1. Ryan McCarty: 1-3, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 K, 1 HR McCarty has been struggling most of the season, but his home run in the fifth inning brought his average up to the Mendoza Line (.200) for the season. Ryan Boyer: 3 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K Boyer came into the game in the fifth inning with New Hampshire already down four runs. He did a great job of keeping New Hampshire within reach for the bats to come alive, but alas they would not muster a comeback. New Hampshire (1), Binghamton (4) - 4/25 Box Score On a rainy Friday night, New Hampshire had a rough task, facing yet another difficult starting pitcher from Binghamton's rotation. This time they were up against Nolan McLean, a tough right-handed pitcher with an ERA below two for the season. The Fisher Cats started off slow, striking out three times in the top of the first inning, with a Peyton Williams walk breaking up the punch outs. The newly promoted Jay Harry started a mini rally in the top of the second inning, with a single in his first Double-A at-bat. It was followed by an Eddinson Paulino single, but a double play and ground out would snuff out the threat. In the top of the sixth inning, singles by Jace Bohrofen and Charles McAdoo would be followed up by an RBI single from Harry to take the lead 1-0. McLean would be chased from the game after the Harry single, but the damage would keep getting worse for Binghamton. Two walks, a hit by pitch, and an error would see New Hampshire score four more runs before they were through. After a couple more half innings, the game ended early after a rain delay, with New Hampshire winning 5-0. Jay Harry: 2-3, 1 R, 1 RBI Rafael Sanchez: 6 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K Sanchez ended up throwing a complete game with the game being called early due to rain. He used a nice looking changeup or splitter as his out pitch to garner swing and misses to end the at-bats. Vancouver Canadians Vancouver (3), Everett (4) - 04/24 Box Score Juaron Watts-Brown wasn’t as sharp as he was to start the season, but still pitched an effective start, going 4 and a third innings and striking out 6, while only allowing 2 runs. He did show shakier command than he did for most of the season, walking 3 batters and giving up 4 base hits. He was up to 80 pitches in the top of the 5th and was taken out for Pat Gallagher who was excellent. However, the normally very strong Canadians bullpen faltered slightly, with Kai Peterson giving up his first homer of the season in the top of the 8th. The Canadians answered back with a couple of homers from Jackson Hornung and Adrian Pinto in the 9th, bot in the bottom of the inning, Chay Yeager, who’s been excellent to start the season, gave up a leadoff homer to outfielder Michael Arroyo, who walked it off for the AquaSox. Pat Gallagher - 2.1 IP, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K Gallagher was solid in the minors as a starter, but the 25 year old has been exclusively used as a reliever so far this season. He had his best appearance on the season, striking out 5 in only 2 and a thirds of work without allowing a single run. Jackson Hornung - 1-3, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K Hornung hit his first homer on the season in the 9th, going oppo above the scoreboard. Hornung was drafted as a catcher, but he hasn’t caught yet this season and has split time at first base and now left field. Vancouver (3), Everett (12) - 04/25 Box Score Kevn Miranda got another start for the Canadians, but this time it did not go very well. He gave up 6 hits, 2 being homers and 1 a double and walked a batter, which resulted in 7 earned runs in only 2.2 IP. Edinson Batista, who was just recently moved up from Dunedin after some poor results also let in another 2 runs in 1.1 IP, struggling with command and walking 3 batters. Irv Carter came in to relieve Batista, but he too struggled, only getting 1 out, allowing 3 hits and a homer to give up 3 runs. Ortiz and Munson both had scoreless appearances, but it was too little and too late for the Canadians to come back from. The offense sputtered a bit, only scoring 1 run off of the starter Ryan Hawks from an RBI groundout by Arjun Nimmala, and then Nimmala hit a homer in the top of the 9th to score Jacob Wetzel as well for the only runs of the game. Arjun Nimmala - 2-5, 1 R, 3 RBI, 1 HR, 0 K Arjun’s hot start didn’t really carry over, as his offensive production tapered off slightly, but this was a nice return to form from him, where he drove in all 3 runs for the Canadians and hit his third homer of the season. Nimmala is now slashing .284/.342/.478 on the season for a solid .820 OPS. Julio Ortiz - 1.2 IP, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K Dunedin Blue Jays Dunedin (2), Tampa (7) - 04/24 Box Score The Dunedin Blue Jays were unable to get anything off of Tarpons starter Griffin Herring, who went 7 scoreless giving up only 2 hits and 3 walks, while striking out 6. Cates had a shaky start, despite going for 5.1 IP, and that put the Jays in a hole 4 - nil in the first 7 innings. Only after Herring was taken out did the Jays get on the board, with 2 runs scored off reliever Jack Sokol, with 2 RBI groundouts from Manuel Beltre and Yeuni Munoz to bring the Jays within 2. Johan Simon came in to the bottom of the 8th and immediately gave up 3 runs, stopping the Jays momentum and putting the game out of reach. Austin Cates - 5.1 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 1 K This wasn’t the best start for Cates, as his fastball had less life than usual and he gave up 4 runs. Still Cates went 5 and a third innings, with 3 out of 4 runs scoring off of shaky defense or wild pitches. J.R. Freethy - 1-2, 1 R, 2 BB, 0 K Freethy led off for the Jays, and got on base multiple times for them but the hitters behind him were unable to drive him in. The 22 year old utility player is now up to a 116 wRC+ and a 17.3% walk rate. Dunedin (4), Tampa (2) - 04/25 Box Score This game revolved around 2 awesome pitching performances from 2 different pitching prospects in the Jays system. Trey Yesavage, the refined college pitcher, showed exactly why he was a first round pick and an elite major college pitcher going perfect in his first 4 innings and striking out 10. Gage Stanifer on the other hand was not a highly touted prospect out of high school, and was a raw pitching prospect drafted out of the 19th round in the 2022 draft. However, Gage Stanifer came in relief and pitched 4 scoreless innings, which led to him getting the W on the game. As pointed out by Sam Dykstra from MLB Pipeline, he’s been doing that very consistently over the course of the season. The offense was very balanced as they got on base 17 times in total with 10 hits and 7 walks. Cade Doughty got his first couple of RBIs on his rehab assignment and Duran, Joseph and Powell all had 2 hits on the night. That was enough to score 4 runs off of the Tarpons, and help overtake the Tarpons after Yesavage stumbled a bit in the 5th inning. Trey Yesavage - 4.2 IP, 1 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 10 K Yesavage had his most dominant outing of the year, with 4 and a third perfect innings with 10 strikeouts before the wheels fell off a bit with a hit and a couple of walks led to 2 runners scoring. Still Yesavage is showing that there’s nothing else to prove in Dunedin, as he’ll look to get promoted along with his draft-class mate Stephen once the weather improves consistently. This is Yesavage’s second straight outing with 10 strikeouts, and he’s showing that he has some big league stuff. Peyton Powell - 2-2, 2 R, 2 BB Powell got on base all 4 times he made a plate appearance, and the 24 year old undrafted free agent has had a solid start to his pro career, with a batting average of .333, and an OBP of .484. He hasn’t had an extra base hit, but he’s been stellar at getting on base. FCL Blue Jays No games DSL Blue Jays No games Toronto Blue Jays Minor League Players of the Day Pitcher of the Period: RHP, Trey Yesavage (Dunedin) - 4.2 IP, 1 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 10 K Hitter of the Period: SS Arjun Nimmala (Vancouver) - 3-9, 1 R, 3 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 HR Prospect Summary (Last 2 Days) 1. Arjun Nimmala (Vancouver) - 3-9, 1 R, 3 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 HR 2. Trey Yesavage (Dunedin) - 4.2 IP, 1 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 10 K 3. Ricky Tiedemann (Buffalo) - DNP 4. Orelvis Martinez (Buffalo) - 1-7, 2 R, 2 RBI, 1, 3 K, 1 HR 5. Jake Bloss (Buffalo) - DNP 6. Alan Roden (Toronto) - DNP 7. Josh Kasevich (Buffalo) - DNP 8. Kendry Rojas (Vancouver) - DNP 9. Khal Stephen (Dunedin) - DNP 10. Charles McAdoo (New Hampshire) - 2-9. 1 R, 1 BB, 4 K. 1 2B 11. Adam Macko (Buffalo) - DNP 12. Landen Maroudis (Dunedin) - DNP 13. Fernando Perez (Vancouver) - DNP 14. Will Wagner (Toronto) - DNP 15. Johnny King (FCL Blue Jays) - DNP 16. Brandon Barriera (Dunedin) - DNP 17. Emmanuel Bonilla (FCL Blue Jays) - DNP 18. Juaron Watts-Brown (Vancouver) - 4.1 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 K 19. Eddinson Paulino (New Hampshire) - 2-5, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 2B 20. Dahian Santos (New Hampshire) - DNP View full article

Hey, but the strikeouts are low. That's a win for putting weak easy ground balls into play lol

4 for last 59 as a team. Amazing analytical approach to hitting

Little league approach has to go. They try to not score runs almost lol

3 of his first 6 pitches touched middle middle. That's the main issue

So thats what a team is suppose to do with middle middle pitches...hit a long long long way

Now that was a Clutch closer

There is like 1 hitter in the minors worthy of coming up right now (Clase). You can't send half the MLB team there lol

There definitely is. But how much you are paid doesn't impact it at all Bo so unclutch

Fangraphs says unclutch 3B coach lmao. I'm sorry these write themselves right now

Thats kind of accurate at times. At least the more close games you play the more those cracks get noticed as well

He is now the most clutch player on the team after being the least lmao

You aren't going to enjoy baseball if you are crying about every pitch, every play, and every AB. Being clutch varies as much as anything and is overly dependent on opportunities and how you are pitched

If Springer is out for a time, hopefully they bring up Clase Maybe just do that and DFA Lukes lmao

According to fangraphs he is the best clutch hitter on the Jays...so don't let facts interrupt you here

That Bo at bat is the prime example why the Jays aren't hitting home runs. At least he finally got an RBI. But we need to do damage on those pitches. They aren't pitching Vlad cookies, but Bo got a middle middle 96 MPH fastball and does nothing with it. 29 other MLB teams crush that pitch, Jays just foul them off. That has to change

Still having a lot of good ABs and hits, just need to start doing damage soon

I'm good. Making fun of the swings he took in that AB

Ain't it. Kind of sad that their reasonings seem so fake as well. Some people just want to cry I guess