With much of the Blue Jays organization locked in on trade deadline news and happenings, they were dealt a rough hand of cards earlier today when it was revealed that top prospect Ricky Tiedemann would need Tommy John surgery.

The left-handed pitcher had reportedly sought out up to three different medical opinions on his elbow last week, including visits to Dr. Keith Meister and Dr. Neal ElAttrache. ElAttrache, a notable sports medicine specialist, will perform the surgery on July 30th.

Tiedemann was placed on the Injured List on April 18th due to ulnar nerve inflammation after making three starts in Buffalo. He had allowed five earned runs through eight innings, striking out ten hitters and walking nine. He didn’t pitch again until a rehab outing with the FCL Blue Jays on June 14th when he recorded only one out and allowed two hits, three runs, two walks and a strikeout. He made three starts between late June/early July with Single-A Dunedin, looking much better while he got his pitch count built back up. In those three outings, Tiedemann posted a 1.13 ERA, three hits, one run, two walks, and fifteen strikeouts across eight innings.

The Blue Jays advanced him to Triple-A Buffalo on July 10th, and with anticipated roster movement via the trade deadline, Tiedemann was “auditioning” of sorts for his chance to be called up this season. Unfortunately, his first outing back in Buffalo lasted only 27 pitches and one inning total, allowing one hit, one run, three walks, and no strikeouts. Furthermore, he experienced forearm tightness following the outing, which led to the desire to grab as many opinions as possible.

As I just mentioned, Tiedemann had a legitimate shot to crack the Blue Jays roster at some point this season. Yusei Kikuchi’s inevitable trade coupled with the potential of Kevin Gausman and/or Chris Bassitt being dealt as well could wind up leaving multiple vacancies in the rotation, and Tiedemann was a leading candidate to take one of them.

Instead, it’s just the latest punch to Toronto’s pitching depth; a rotation that seemed to have sufficient depth has been depleted over the past several months. Alek Manoah underwent UCL surgery back in June, Bowden Francis has underperformed as a starter, and Mitch White was DFA’d in mid-April. It’s also the latest setback for Tiedemann, who has fought injuries in each of the past two seasons. Now, there’s a good chance fans won’t see him pitch until the 2026 season.