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Minor League Report: Yariel Rodríguez was excellent in his first start with the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons

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The Buffalo Bisons are now on a winning streak.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Buffalo Bisons defeated the Worcester Woo Sox 2-0, bringing their record for the season to 2-2.

Let’s dig into some interesting notes about this game!

Yariel Rodríguez made his Blue Jays organization debut

Getting the ball to start the game on Tuesday was the big Blue Jays free agent signing from this past off-season, Yariel Rodríguez.

It was a fantastic debut, as he finished with a line of 4 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K. According to baseball savant, his fastball averaged 92.4 mph, maxing out at 94.5 mph, while generating five whiffs on 12 total swings. His splitter had two swings and misses on two swings, while his slider failed to generate a whiff on eight total swings.

All in all, it was a great debut and his fastball really fooled Triple-A batters. It’ll be interesting to see how long it takes for Rodríguez to get the call to the big leagues, because he is far too good for Triple-A.

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Following Rodríguez out of the bullpen was Mason Fluharty who pitched two clean innings with no strikeouts or even whiffs. The young left-handed pitcher’s fastball averaged 86.8 mph, likely due to it being early April in the Northeast. Brendon Little finished with a line of 2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, a much better appearance than some of the outings in Spring Training.

Hayden Juenger set up, and the 23-year-old finished with a line of 1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, while Hagen Danner closed, finishing with a line of 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K. Danner’s fastball averaged 95.5 mph and maxed out at 96.3 mph, similar to his first outing.

In terms of the bats, they were quite quiet as the Bisons only had seven hits with nine strikeouts. Spencer Horwitz had two hits in his four plate appearances, both singles, while also striking out once. Addison Barger hit a double, drove in a run, and walked in his four plate appearances.

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In terms of other players with a hit, Cam Eden hit a double, while Nathan Lukes, Orelvis Martinez, and Leo Jimenez all finished with a single. Interestingly, Jimenez had a ball in play that had an exit velocity of 109 mph, but it was caught on a line. His single had an exit velocity of 65.7 mph.

Elsewhere

It appears that Dahian Santos will start the season on the 60-day Injured List, according to the transaction page. That’s not great, as this is supposed to be a big year for the right-handed pitcher with a wicked slider. He hasn’t pitched in a game since July 1, 2023.

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On March 30, the Blue Jays signed shortstop/infielder Ricardo Balogh to a minor league deal. Last season for Houston’s Single-A  team, the 21-year-old switch hitter slashed .241/.315/.358 with six homers in 346 plate appearances, along with a 9.5 BB% and a 26.9 K%.

Up next

The Bisons are set to return to action at 3:05 PM ET on Wednesday afternoon, however, there is rain in the Worcester forecast, so who knows. The starter is yet to be announced according to Buffalo Bisons’ game notes, but top prospect Ricky Tiedemann will get the ball on Thursday.

As always, you can follow me on Twitter @Brennan_L_D.

ARTICLE PRESENTED BY BETANO