Blue Jays Nation’s 2023 Preseason Top 50: #1 Ricky Tiedemann

Photo credit:Mark J. Terrill/AP

1 year ago

Let’s be real here. Ricky Tiedemann was always going to rank as Blue Jays Nation’s best prospect.

In fact, I was already planning to rank him first, even before the Gabriel Moreno trade, that’s how good I think the 20-year-old left-handed pitcher is.

But before we look at that, you can read the criteria below.

Brennan’s criteria:

Instead of writing this out every time I did for the mid-season Top 60, I’ll copy and paste my criteria for how I rank and scout these players.

There are many factors that determine a top prospect. The eye test is the biggest driver in determining a top prospect, but proximity to the majors, ceiling, and floor is also important. Moreover, statistics are another key ingredient, as everything works together to give you numbers.

As for the grades, it’s important to remember that they are relative to the league in which they play. A kid from Dunedin is not going to have a 50-grade hit tool if he were placed in the big leagues. But relative to the league in which he plays, a .300 hitter is eligible to have that grade.

For these prospects, I’ll be reviewing their background, numbers in the minors, pitch mix (if they’re a pitcher), and giving a scouting report (if feasible, rookie league guys are difficult).

Let’s jump in!

Ricky Tiedemann‘s career so far:

Tiedemann was drafted with the 91st overall pick in the 2021 draft, and made his professional debut in 2022.

He started the season off with the Low-A Dunedin Blue Jays, posting a 1.80 ERA and a 2.09 FIP in 30 innings pitched. He also had an absurd 44.5 K% and an 11.8 BB%, which was somehow his highest at any level this past season.

Tiedemann earned a promotion to the High-A Vancouver Canadians, where he spent the majority of the 2022 season. He had a 2.39 ERA and a 2.92 FIP in 37.2 innings pitched, along with a 36 K% and an 8 BB%. After five starts at the level, he was rocking a 0.38 ERA and a 1.72 FIP in 23.2 innings pitched, before faltering a bit. At the time, I believed that he’d probably end the season with the Canadians, but that turned out to be incorrect.

After a stint on the development list (to keep his innings in check), the then 19-year-old was promoted to Double-A New Hampshire. He was one of only four pitchers to pitch as a 19-year-old at the level, and he did quite well. With the Fisher Cats, he had a 2.45 ERA and a 2.23 FIP in 11 innings pitched, along with a fantastic 34.1 K% and a 9.8 BB%.

What’s more interesting is he had a bad start in his second game, allowing three earned runs in two innings of work. Over his next two starts, or six innings pitched, he didn’t allow a single hit and had a 36.8 K%.

Like fellow Blue Jays pitcher Alek Manoah, Tiedemann has a bulldog attitude. It doesn’t matter to him if he struggles in a game, because he’s just so dominant and significantly better than most of his peers.

Tiedemann has ace potential written all over him, and has a higher ceiling than Manoah… which says a lot. Let’s look at his stuff.

Ricky Tiedemann’s stuff:

Tiedemann is a three-pitch pitcher, featuring a fastball, a changeup, and a slider. The fastball sits in the mid-90s and has touched as high as 98.2 mph in Dunedin. With projectability remaining, it’s not out of the question that he’ll hit 100 mph at some point. His slider sits in the low-80’s and had an average spin rate of 2630 RPM in Low-A. His circle changeup is his best pitch to some, as it has a great downward fade and misses plenty of bats already.

Scouting report:

Tall, with long legs and torso, with broad shoulders and room for projection. Tiedemann pitches a low 3/4 arm slot which makes his already difficult-to-hit stuff harder to hit. His fastball has plenty of run, which makes batting left-handed against him an utter nightmare. His changeup is used against both right-handed and left-handed batters and has late downward movement. His slider has high spin rates with sweep, and is a plus pitch. His control and command are good, especially for his experience level. Tiedemann also has the dawg in him, much like fellow Blue Jays pitcher Alek Manoah.

Grades:

Fastball: 65

Changeup: 65

Slider: 60

Control: 50

Overall: 60

Where he’ll start in 2023:

In my mind, there are two equally possible outcomes of where Tiedemann could start his 2023 season. There’s a chance he repeats the Double-A level and earns a promotion to Triple-A in the middle of the season. The other scenario is that he has a fantastic spring training, dominates big leaguers, and earns himself a Triple-A Buffalo Bisons start.

There’s a chance he’ll be in the big leagues at some point in 2023, as the Jays have shown to be uber-aggressive with him. It’s to be seen if he ends up pitching out of the pen in September, or if he continues to dominate and earns a chance at the fifth starter spot if the rotation strugg

The biggest thing for Tiedemann is to just increase the number of innings he pitches in. Some improved control could make him even more deadly, and an additional pitch could truly make him even scarier. However, the Jays have a pitcher with ace potential all over him, and there’s a good chance he is an impact MLB player.

A thank you:

A big thank you to all that have read these top prospect articles. It was an arduous task from the get-go, and I put a ton of work into it. On Tuesday, I will be releasing all the scouting reports into one article, and there’ll also be a mailbag article coming out, featuring readers questions. You can send them in on my Twitter @Brennan_L_D.
Thanks again, and I hope you enjoyed it!