The Baltimore Orioles Triple-A affiliate, the Norfolk Tides, have stolen most of the headlines through the first couple of weeks of the Minor League season, as they’ve put up some gaudy numbers en route to a 7-3 start to the year.
They deservingly nabbed the top ranking in Sam Dykstra’s list of top Minor League teams in all of baseball, but a Toronto Blue Jays affiliate is not far behind. The Triple-A Buffalo Bisons came in at number six on the list after starting the year with eight of the club’s top 20 prospects, including lefthanded pitcher Ricky Tiedemann (#27 on MLB.com’s top 100 list).
115.2 mph off the bat of Orelvis Martinez 🔥
The @BlueJays‘ No. 2 prospect smokes a single for the @BuffaloBisons: pic.twitter.com/3LWryBOhof
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) April 5, 2024
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
This Bisons team is particularly deep with infelders, with Orelvis Martinez (#83 on MLB.com’s top 100 list), Addison Barger, Spencer Horwitz, Damiano Palmagiano, and Leo Jimenez all sporting Major League skillsets. Joining Tiedemann in the rotation has been right-handed pitcher Chad Dallas, who has rocketed up the system after starting with the Vancouver Canadians to begin the 2023 season. Closing games for the Bisons has been Connor Cooke, who is one of the most intriguing relief prospects in all of baseball. He earned his second save of the season in last night’s 6-5 win against Rochester, frequently hitting triple digits with his fastball.
You may think it’s safe to assume that the most star-studded teams in the Minor Leagues are all in Triple-A, but this isn’t the case at all. Only three of the top ten teams on Dykstra’s list were Triple-A teams, with Double-A squads making up four of the top five.
Having a loaded Minor League team is more about having a number of players around the same age or in a similar stage of development. In the Blue Jays’ case, most of the team’s top prospects are a bit older, meaning that they have all converged together this season on one team. This could have easily happened at the Single or Double-A levels instead. A good example is to look at the High-A Canadians. Last year, the team entered the year boasting nine of the club’s top 30 prospects. With most of those players moving on to Double-A, as well as a lack of key younger guys moving up, the team had just three top 30 prospects entering 2024.
The #Bisons banged the drum at #Sabres game. Damiano Palmegiani, who is from BC, did the honors. Joined by Cam Eden (2), Connor Cooke (88), Chad Dallas (12) and today’s starter Ricky Tiedemann (behind drum) pic.twitter.com/rqwCAgaz9T
— Mike Harrington (@ByMHarrington) March 29, 2024
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
It is worth noting that Minor League teams will change drastically as the season progresses. Teams will lose star players to higher affiliates as well as welcome new players from the lower levels after the MLB Draft in July. Due to the ever-changing state of Minor League rosters, most leagues award a first-half and second-half winner, having them meet in a championship series at the end of the season. This allows organizations to have the opportunity to beef up certain teams to get some of their top prospects experience in a playoff atmosphere.
We’ve already seen Jackson Holliday get called up to the Orioles from the Tides, and certain Bisons players may also be getting the call to Toronto before too long. When you get to the Triple-A level, call-ups become mostly based on the needs of the big league team, especially when injuries occur. Since teams can never have enough arms, Tiedemann or Cooke seem like the most likely guys to get the call next.
For Blue Jays fans in Toronto, catching a glimpse of the club’s future is well worth making the couple-hour drive to Buffalo. It may be the most exciting Bisons team fielded since Vladimir Guerrero was destroying baseballs there back in 2018-2019. Booking a trip to Sahlen Field should be done sooner rather than later since there’s no telling how long this group will be together.
ARTICLE PRESENTED BY BETANO
