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Blue Jays farm system notes (April 7): Brandon Barriera returns to the mound, Johnny King makes High-A debut
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Photo credit: © Nathan Ray Seebeck - Imagn Images
Ryley Delaney
Apr 8, 2026, 12:00 EDTUpdated: Apr 8, 2026, 15:14 EDT
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The Toronto Blue Jays’ affiliates began a new week on Tuesday.
After no noteworthy storylines in Sunday’s two games, there are a few interesting tidbits from the three games that were played on Tuesday. Once again, the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons game was postponed, this time due to snow. They’ll play a doubleheader on Wednesday.
The Vancouver Canadians had their home-opener, falling 4-3, while the Dunedin Blue Jays’ game was suspended and the New Hampshire Fisher Cats played a wild one. Let’s take a look at the notable storylines from Tuesday’s slate of minor league games.

Brandon Barriera returns to the mound

The Dunedin Blue Jays hit the road to play the St. Lucie Mets for their first road series of the season. Starting for the D-Jays was Brandon Barriera. The Blue Jays’ 2022 first round pick pitched just two innings before rain suspended the game, allowing two earned runs, five hits, and striking out a batter.
Barriera’s underlying numbers were concerning. He had thrown upper 90s in minor league spring training games, but averaged just 92.1 mph on his fastball and 92.3 mph on his cutter. There’s causation for that, as it was raining, but not generating one whiff on 17 total swings is concerning anyway that you slice it.
The lone hit that the D-Jays had before the suspension came courtesy of Enmanuel Bonilla, who drove in a run with an RBI single. This game resumes on Wednesday afternoon as the D-Jays play a doubleheader.
It’s unclear who’ll pitch when that game resumes, but Troy Guthrie is the expected start for the second game.

Johnny King makes High-A start

With a 4-3 loss at the hands of the Eugene Emeralds, the High-A Vancouver Canadians are still hunting their first win of the season. Johnny King was tagged with the loss, going just one inning where he gave up an earned run, walked two, and struck out three.
King, a left-handed pitcher who happens to be the youngest pitcher in the Northwest League, struggled with command. Of his 32 pitches, only 17 were strikes. While he struck out the side, the walks has been a problem since his promotion to the D-Jays last season, finishing his 11 appearances with 30 walks.
As for their other pitchers, Holden Wilkerson struck out seven, giving up three walks and two earned runs over three and a third innings pitched. Eminen Flores struck out two and allowed an earned run in one and two-thirds innings pitched. Jay Schueler struck out two in two innings of work, and Jonathan Todd struck out a batter in his inning, as the Canadians struck out 15.
Their best hitter of the game was Carter Cunningham, hitting a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth to bring the C’s to within one. He was one of two batters with two hits, the other was recently acquired Dub Gleed, who also drew a walk. Maddox Latta hit a single and walked twice, while Alexis Hernandez and Tucker Toman each hit a single.
The C’s are back in action on Wednesday evening, with Austin Cates on the mound.

New Hampshire Fisher Cats play a wild one

In Trey Yesavage’s professional debut last season, the D-Jays broke a Florida State League record by accumulating 22 walks in the game. Somehow, that game went from fun, to boring, and back to fun. Nearly a year later to the day, the New Hampshire Fisher Cats played a weird one as well.
In the bottom of the first, the Portland Sea Dogs scored twice, thanks to two hit by pitches, a double steal, a wild pitch, a walk, and a sacrifice fly. The Fisher Cats responded with a 10 run inning.
Sean Keys and Aaron Parker walked, a wild pitch moved them 90 feet, Je’Von Ward struck out, and Ismael Munguia hit a sacrifice fly to score a run. Then, Cade Doughty, Nick Goodwin, and Eddie Micheletti Jr. walked, the latter drove in a run. With a new pitcher on the mound, Jace Bohrofen was hit by a pitch to score a run the hard way, followed by a wild pitch that scored a fourth run.
They weren’t done, though, as Jackson Hornung walked, Keys was hit by a pitch, and another wild pitch scored the Fisher Cats’ sixth run. Two more walks scored their seventh run, as the Sea Dogs made their second pitching change of the game. A wild pitch scored another run, then Mungia hit a single to score two more, the lone hit of the inning.
The inning eventually ended, as Boston Red Sox’s prospect Hayden Mullins ended with a line of an inning and two-thirds pitched, no hits allowed, five walks, four strikeouts, and five earned runs. His replacement was tagged with the other five earned runs in the inning.
After the top of the second, the game returned to normal, with the Sea Dogs scoring twice to make it 10-4. The Fisher Cats restored their eight-run lead thanks to a lead-off double, a Hornung single, and a RBI ground out from Keys to make it 12-4. In the middle innings, the Sea Dogs scored twice, giving us the final score of 12-7.
Nick Goodwin’s double was the lone extra-base hit by the Fisher Cats, while Hornung had a two-hit performance. Fernando Perez made the start, giving up four earned runs and four walks in three innings of work. Irv Carter picked up the win, giving up two earned runs, two walks, and striking out four in his two and one-third innings.
The Fisher Cats played the second game of the six-game series on Wednesday evening, with Jackson Wentworth on the mound.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

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