Blue Jays Prospect Check-In: Warmoth's New Approach and Pitchers to Know
A step away from the majors, Gabriel Moreno draws all the eyes at the top of Toronto's minor league system. Moreno was recently moved up in industry prospect rankings and has a .833 OPS for the Buffalo Bisons, but there are some strong prospect performances behind him, too.
Here are a few Blue Jays minor leaguers making waves so far this season:
AAA OF Logan Warmoth
The Buffalo Bisons' best hitter this season hasn't been top prospect Moreno or flashy infielder Samad Taylor, but former first-round pick Logan Warmoth. In his age 26 season and yet to crack Toronto's 40-man roster Warmoth has halved his strikeout rate from 2021 to 2022. Playing mostly corner outfield in Buffalo, he's slashing .282/.394/.491 with newfound doubles power and a sustainable offensive approach.
His OPS is in the conversation with some of the top youngsters in the International League, higher than top Mets prospect Mark Vientos' and Yankees outfielder Estevan Florial. Warmoth had a similarly strong start last season with the Bisons, but an OPS below .700 in the second half killed his chances at a call up.
“I don't think there's much holding me back from the next jump,” Warmoth told Inside The Blue Jays last season. “I mean, I know I can play on the same field as those guys, because I have.”
AA INF Tanner Morris
Tanner Morris is one of just six qualified Eastern League players with more walks than strikeouts. He flashed a solid eye in 2019 and 2021 at different Single A levels, but raising the walk rate and slashing the strikeouts even further this year has taken his game to a new level. Morris has been the best hitter for the Double A New Hampshire Fisher Cats, on pace to double his career-high in homers.
A RHP Dahian Santos
In 29.2 innings for Single A Dunedin, Dahian Santos has an ungodly 50% strikeout rate, combined with a .150 batting average against to produce his 1.52 ERA. Santos' K% and K-BB% are both higher than recently promoted teammate Ricky Tiedemann's and he's second in the entire Single A Florida State League in both stats.
Adding a few miles per hour to his sinker this year with gained weight on his frame, Santos pairs the pitch with a slurvey breaking ball and the occasional changeup. In his last outing for Dunedin, Santos threw 39 sliders, 30 sinkers, and six changes. The breaking ball generated 15 whiffs on 20 swings and an elite 54% called-strike plus whiff rate.
A 19-year-old, Santos is currently three years younger than the average player age in the Florida State League and came into 2022 28th in Toronto's organizational top prospect rankings, just ahead of Morris.
The Recently Promoted Pitchers:
After some strong early-season performances, Toronto reshuffled the minor league pitching, pushing a few big names up a level. Here are a few recently-promoted pitchers to know and their early returns at new league levels:
RHP Max Castillo (AAA Buffalo)
2 GS, 11.2 IP, 13 K, 4 BB, 0.00 ERA
RHP Adam Kloffenstein (AA New Hampshire)
1 GS, 3.1 IP, 4 K, 1 BB, 10.80 ERA
RHP Trent Palmer (AAA New Hampshire)
1 GS, 5.0 IP, 6 K, 2 BB, 1.80 ERA
LHP Ricky Tiedemann (A+ Vancouver)
2 GS, 9.2 IP, 13 K, 2 BB, 1.86 ERA