Blue Jays prospect and former first-round pick Brandon Barriera is back on the mound after a two-month absence, as well as Daniel Guerra making the move to Dunedin for his second start since landing on the IL.

Barriera was on the rubber for the FCL Blue Jays game yesterday against the FCL Phillies, getting the nod in his first rehab stint since his last outing on May 13th with Dunedin.

The 22-year-old started the game with a flyout to right field before walking the second batter to put a runner on. A wild pitch from Barriera put the runner on second, but he was able to escape the inning unscathed. Barriera got a groundball for his second out of the inning and was able to strike out the clean-up hitter, stranding the runner at third base. The Jays’ hurler needed just three pitches to get the swinging strikeout.

Barriera then started the second inning with another walk, with the first ball coming via a pitch clock violation for the Jays’ southpaw. He was able to get a groundout to third base, but the only play was to first, putting another runner in scoring position. He struck out Logan Dawson to put another K on the board, but followed that with a pickoff error at second base, moving the runner to third. Focused back at home, Barriera got out of the frame with his third strikeout of the day. He would face one more batter, notching another strikeout, before being lifted.

The former top prospect would finish the day with a clean 2.1 innings pitched, two walks, and four strikeouts. It wasn’t the cleanest outing, considering the wild pitch and the error on the pickoff attempt, but he’s back on the mound – a good sign for the left-hander who has dealt with injuries for most of his pro career.

For Guerra, he was making his second appearance since landing on the IL back in mid-June, but this was his first outing in Dunedin.

Facing off against Bradenton, Guerra tossed 3.1 innings of one-hit ball, walking one batter while striking out five. He pitched to a 60.9% strike rate, and four out of the five punchouts came via the swinging K.

The right-hander was sitting in the 96-98 MPH area with his fastball while mixing in a low 90s cutter. Guerra was effective for most of his outing, and only had a real threat in the bottom of the second with runners on first and second with just one out, but he was able to strike out Cristian Jauregui and get the following batter to pop out to escape the inning.

Guerra might get another outing in Dunedin before he is moved back to Vancouver.

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