The 9th inning belonged to Berroa 😅
Looking at the Buffalo Bisons’ season at the All-Star break
Jul 17, 2024, 21:00 EDTUpdated: Jul 17, 2024, 21:12 EDT
The Buffalo Bisons’ roster has all but been decimated.
After 20 games in the first-half, they were 12-8 and second in the International League East. Constant call ups have made that lineup unrecognizable, and the Bisons are 5-13, last in the International League and eight games back with 19 teams to jump over.
Losing their best hitter, Spencer Horwitz, hasn’t helped, nor has losing the power of Orelvis Martinez’s bat. Moreover, Leo Jiménez, Addison Barger, and a handful of other position players have been called up for a period of time.
The depth of the rotation has been tested as well. Two prospect pitchers were supposed to make an impact – Chad Dallas and Ricky Tiedemann – but both have missed significant time in 2024 due to injury.
With all that being said, let’s take a look at some of the team’s best players currently on the roster.
Steward Berroa
Steward Berroa is currently on the 26-man roster of the Toronto Blue Jays, but it’s doubtful it’s a long-term thing. However, he’s on the team’s radar for one reason alone: The increase in power.
This season with the Bisons, Berroa has already hit a career-high eight home runs in just 239 plate appearances, adding to an already solid slash line of .296/.387/.456 with a 12.1 BB% and a 23.8 K%. Overall, this has given him a 121 wRC+, but he is also a menace on the base paths, stealing 30 of 38 bases.
Defensively, the outfielder already has one Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average in 11 innings in the outfield. He’s certainly a player to watch in the coming seasons.
Damiano Palmegaini
Damiano Palmegiani had a big 2023 season, but things haven’t quite gone his way so far this season. In Triple-A, he’s slashing .222/.328/.403 with 12 homers in 287 plate appearances, along with an 11.5 BB% and a 26.8 K% for a 90 wRC+. It’s worth noting that he has 14 total home runs thanks to two in Single-A during a rehab assignment, so he’s tied for second in the organization again.
#BlueJays No. 14 prospect Damiano Palmegiani delivered the game's only run with his 12th homer of the season in Sunday's victory. @USAFRecruiting #AimHigh
The power is real, but the hit tool will have to improve a tiny bit before we talk about a callup. Even with the below-average season with the bat, there’s a lot of hope for optimism. In fact, he’s even started playing left field, playing 43 innings at the new position.
Riley Tirotta
Riley Tirotta is by far this season’s breakout position player. In Triple-A this season, the 25-year-old utility player is slashing .266/.405/.539 with nine homers in 158 plate appearances, along with a 14.6 BB% and a 28.5 K% for a 144 wRC+.
Picked up right where we left off… straight up MASHING BASEBALLS 💥
If you want to include his entire season which included a rehab assignment in Single-A as well as a stint in Double-A, Tirotta is slashing .269/.431/.512 with a 19.2 BB% and a 26.9 K% with 12 home runs, tied for fifth in the organization.
Tirotta will be Rule 5 eligible at the end of the season, and the Blue Jays pretty much have to add him to the 40-man roster at this point, right?
Will Robertson
Speaking of home runs, Will Robertson is another Bison who has mashed this season, as he’s slashed .239/.339/.457 with 13 home runs in 283 plate appearances, along with an 11.3 BB% and a 30.7 K% for a 103 wRC+.
WILL ROBERTSON
The 26-year-old’s season can be split into three sections. Section one, let’s call it “the early portion”, saw Robertson slash .286/.412/.738 with five homers in 51 plate appearances for a 182 wRC+. The “middle section” saw Robertson fall into a lull. Here, he slashed .190/.289/.276 with two home runs in 105 plate appearances for a 51 wRC+.
Thankfully, Robertson has found his hot hand over the past month of so, as he’s slashed .271/.360/.531 with six home runs in 111 plate appearances for a 124 wRC+. Saying he’s been streaky is an understatement, but his great 2023 was aided by a monster second-half. Let’s hope the same happens here.
Alan Roden
Repeating the level in Double-A, Alan Roden had a terrific start to his 2023 season, where he slashed .267/.373/.432 with seven homers in 244 plate appearances, along with an 11.9 BB% and a 13.9 K% for a 130 wRC+. However, his promotion to Triple-A hasn’t gone quite as well.
With the Bisons, the 24-year-old outfielder is slashing .197/.308/.318 with two homers in 78 plate appearances, along with a 12.8 BB% and a 15.4 K% for a 66 wRC+. Roden is just two home runs shy of breaking a career-high in home runs, so he has that going for him.
ALAN RODEN GRAND SLAM!
Roden is a top five Blue Jays prospect according to most publications, so hopefully, he can turn it around and make an impact for the Blue Jays next season.
Nathan Lukes
Nathan Lukes isn’t much of a prospect anymore, as he’s now 30. However, he’s always been one of the best pure hitters in Buffalo since joining the organization prior to the 2022 season.
This season, Lukes is slashing .333/.406/.480 with six homers in 192 plate appearances, along with a 9.9 BB% and a 15.1 K% for a 133 wRC+. He also features solid defence, but hasn’t stolen as many bases (4/6) as he did in his first season with the Bisons (20/23).
Nathan Lukes 2 run home run gets us started!
Still on the 40-man roster, Lukes may receive an opportunity with the Jays after the trade deadline depending on what happens with Kevin Kiermaier.
Mason Fluharty
Moving to pitchers, Mason Fluharty has been one of the team’s best relievers this season, posting a 3.05 ERA and a 3.50 FIP in 44.1 innings pitched. His K% has dropped slightly from about 30% to 26.7%, but he’s still getting results.
After further review, it's a perfect first career Triple-A inning for Mason Fluharty. Strikeout Strikeout Strikeout looking @BlueJays | @MLBPipeline
It wouldn’t be surprising if the 22-year-old left-handed reliever gets an opportunity at some point next season, as the depth chart is rather weak behind Génesis Cabrera. Right now, he has Brendon Little and Brandon Eisert ahead of him.
Hagen Danner
Sadly it was back to the 7-day Injured List for Hagen Danner in mid-June, but the 25-year-old catcher turned reliever was putting together a solid season with the Bisons.
In 22.2 innings pitched, Danner had a 3.18 ERA and a 4.87 FIP, along with a 24.5 K% and a 9.2 BB%. It is worth mentioning that his K% dropped from 31.5% the season prior, while his BB% rose from 6.3%, but the results are there.
HAGEN DANNER FILTH. BOOK IT. ✅
Moreover, he’s doing a better job at keeping the ball in the ballpark. Last season, Danner had an incredibly high 2.54 HR/9, but that has dropped nearly a full homer to 1.59. If he can return within the next month, he may get his second call-up to the big leagues depending on what the Blue Jays do at the deadline.
Andrew Bash
One player who has consistently put up results after signing a minor league deal is 27-year-old righty Andrew Bash.
For any pitcher with 50 or more innings pitched, Bash’s 2.52 ERA was the lowest, doing so in Double-A and Triple-A in 89.1 innings pitched. Once again, he’s having a good season, as he has a 3.69 ERA and a 4.23 FIP in 53.2 innings pitched, starting 13 of the 14 games he’s appeared in this season.
Andrew Bash was one of the most under the radar prospects in the Jays organization last season. 85.2 mph cutter
He isn’t an ace by any means, but he’s been the team’s best starter aside from Yariel Rodríguez, who is far too talented to be pitching in Triple-A.
Connor Cooke
Connor Cooke looked as if he was on the fast track to earn a promotion to the big league club after his terrific 2023 season. Last season between High-A, Double-A, and Triple-A, Cooke had a 4.06 ERA and a 2.71 FIP, along with a 40.6 K% that ranked only behind Ricky Tiedemann with 30+ innings pitched.
However, it hasn’t been a great season for the 24-year-old with the Bisons. In 30 innings pitched, he has a 4.80 ERA, a 5.40 FIP, and an even worse 6.55 xFIP. There were signs he was going to struggle in his first season with the Bisons, as he had a 19.6 BB% in 10.1 innings with the team in 2023.
Nice fastball here from Connor Cooke for a strikeout.
However, while his BB% dropped slightly to 18.4%, he just isn’t getting strikeouts this season, as he has a 21.3 K%. The pure stuff is there, but Cooke is no longer on the fast track to the big leagues.
Chad Dallas
Another player who has had a rough season is Chad Dallas, who was supposed to be depth for the big league team this season. After a rough rookie campaign in 2022, Dallas had a good 2023 season, where he logged the most innings in the Jays’ farm system (123.1 innings pitched) while posting a 3.65 ERA and a 4.08 FIP, with a 27.9 K% and a 9.5 BB%.
Dallas didn’t get off to as good a start this season, posting a 9.24 ERA and a 6.42 FIP in 12.2 innings pitched, along with an 8.8 K% and a 13.2 BB% before heading to the Injured List. His totals in Buffalo since returning have been better, posting a 6 ERA and a 3.28 FIP in 18 innings pitched, along with a 24.7 K% and a 7.8 BB%.
Here's Chad Dallas' strikeout thread! This one was a whiff on an 83.5 mph curveball. I've always been a big fan of the curve from Dallas.
There’s some encouraging signs there, and hopefully he can right the ship in the coming months.
In this series…
We’ll look at the four affiliates, the Buffalo Bisons, the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, the Vancouver Canadians, and the Dunedin Blue Jays. Moreover, we’ll combine an article to look at the two rookie teams where things… haven’t been going great.
As always, you can follow me on Twitter @Ryley_L_D.