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Blue Jays Nation’s 2026 Pre-Season Prospect Countdown – No. 7: Ricky Tiedemann
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Photo credit: © Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images
Ryley Delaney
Feb 26, 2026, 19:00 ESTUpdated: Feb 25, 2026, 21:29 EST
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The 2026 season could be the year that Ricky Tiedemann makes his big league debut for the Toronto Blue Jays.
This is Blue Jays Nation’s bi-annual prospect ranking, where we’ll look at the top 35 prospects in the system in the month of February. As always, I’ll look at the player’s stats, what other publications have to say, as well as my own observations of the players. If you missed the eighth-ranked prospect, you can read about Jake Cook here.

Getting to know Ricky Tiedemann…

Position: Starting pitcher
Throws: Left
Born: August 18th, 2002
Acquired: Third round, 2021 MLB Draft
Previous ranking: 7th
Everyone knows the story of Tiedemann. Drafted in the third round of the 2021 draft, he didn’t make his professional debut until the following season. The left-handed pitcher dominated in 2022, beginning his season in Single-A and making it to Double-A as a 19-year-old. Overall, he finished with a 2.17 ERA and 2.51 FIP in 78.2 innings pitched, with a 38.9 K% and 9.6 BB%.
The first half of the story is terrific, as he put himself in the position of “the best Blue Jays prospect”. In fact, Tiedemann is the lone prospect to rank on every single one of our top prospect lists, dating back to the 2022 pre-season.
However, the second half of the story hasn’t been kind to Tiedemann so far. The left-handed pitcher’s 2023 season was solid, posting a 3.68 ERA and 1.68 FIP in 44 innings pitched. He mainly pitched in Double-A, and while his ERA of 5.06 was on the high side, Tiedemann had a 2.07 FIP. That season, the hard-throwing lefty had a 44.1 K%.
There was some downsides as well, as Tiedemann’s walk rate increased to 12.4% over the season. Worst of all, he spent some time on the injured list due to a bicep injury, and those injuries continued to plague him in 2024.
After pitching just 17.1 innings in 2024, mainly split between Single-A (rehab) and Triple-A, Tiedemann went under the knife, receiving Tommy John surgery. Of course, he missed the remainder of the 2024 season, as well as all of the 2025 season. Recently, news broke that he has been shut down for a week due to elbow soreness. Thankfully, the MRI on his elbow came back clean.
Tiedemann has been in the organization for nearly half a decade, but he’s only 23 years old still. At his best, his fastball is sitting in the mid-to-upper-90s and generating a ton of whiffs, something teams love in a left-handed pitcher. Add in plus secondaries in his changeup and slider, and you can see why he’s still considered to be one of the best left-handed pitching prospects in the league. 
That said, missing the last two seasons due to injury, as well as missing a large chunk of 2023 has dropped him to seventh on our list. If he can stay healthy this season and pitch like he did in 2022, he’ll be right back up near the top of our prospect list. Assuming that shutting down Tiedemann is precautionary, he’ll begin his 2026 season in the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons’ rotation.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

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