Top Blue Jays prospect Ricky Tiedemann leads Arizona Fall League in strikeouts following strong outing

“Tiedemann was 93-98 mph across his three innings on Saturday, punching out five and allowing just one walk. His slider was 78-83 but varied some in shape, while he showed good run on an 82-83 mph changeup that gives him a true three-pitch mix to be a starter. The slider can be pretty big, but the changeup was the better pitch in this particular outing.

It’s a low 3/4 arm slot and he looked stiffer this year than when I saw him in early September of 2022, while his shoulder is still pretty open at release, all of which would seem to put more pressure on his upper arm to help generate that big velocity while possibly inhibiting his command as well. You have to develop a guy like this as a starter if his health allows it, especially since he has the pitches to get hitters on the opposite side out, but I have concerns about whether he can hold up and throw enough strikes to get there.”