Blue Jays Rehab Recap: Mitch White struggles, a prospect hurls a gem, and more!

Over the past few days in the minor leagues, there have been a few pitchers with rehab assignments.

In this article, we’ll look at how big leaguers Adam Cimber and Mitch White did, along with CJ Van Eyk, who is returning from Tommy John surgery.
Let’s start with Cimber.
Adam Cimber’s first rehab appearance:

As you likely know, the 32-year-old submarine pitcher made his first rehab appearance on May 11th. He finished with a line of 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K. Recovering from a rhomboid injury, it’s likely that Cimber was limited to 20 pitches, as he only threw 17 before getting the hook.
He threw 10 four-seam fastballs, averaging 86.3 mph and touching 87.3. Interestingly, this was actually 1.7 mph more than his yearly average in 2023. He also thre five slider, averaging 73.6 mph (0.7 mph below his yearly average).
Cimber also generated a single whiff on the fastball, finishing with a 13 whiff% on eight total swings. He got Ricardo Rosario to fly out to centre field (94.8 mph exit velocity). Before walking the next batter on nine pitches, and striking out the last batter he faced.
Overall, it was a fine appearance for Cimber. It’s likely that he’ll make a few more appearances on his rehab assignment, but I’d expect it to be with the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons.
Mitch White’s fourth rehab appearance:
Sadly, Mitch White didn’t have the greatest outing in his fourth app …

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Author: Brennan Delaney / Blue Jays Nation

Ryan O’Reilly makes long-awaited return in time for big game against Bruins: Leafs Practice Notes

After a 4-2 win over the basement dwelling Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday, the Maple Leafs got back to work, with a familiar face taking in a full practice.
It’s been one month since Ryan O’Reilly’s last game for Toronto, in which he suffered a broken finger. The 32-year-old took part in the Maple Leafs’ morning skate on Tuesday, but stayed out for extra work after, confirming he wouldn’t return just yet.
However, on Wednesday, when Toronto stepped foot on the ice for practice, O’Reilly was in a regulars jersey, meaning good things are to come.
And they officially have.

Ryan O’Reilly is back tomorrow, Sheldon Keefe confirms.
— Joshua Kloke (@joshuakloke) April 5, 2023

The 32-year-old will return to the lineup on Thursday when the Maple Leafs take on the best team in the NHL, the Boston Bruins. A great test for the team, but also for O’Reilly since he hasn’t played a game in over a month.
In terms of lines for Thursday’s game, this is how they shaped out at practice Wednesday afternoon:

Leafs lines at practice
Bunting – Matthews – Jarnkrok Nylander – Tavares – Marner Kerfoot – O’Reilly – AcciariAston-Reese – Kampf – Lafferty Abruzzese, Simmonds
McCabe – Brodie Giordano – HollRielly – Schenn Gustafsson – Liljegren
SamsonovWoll @TSN_Edge pic.twitter.com/mBniuKF55Z
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) April 5, 2023

What sticks out right away to me is that O’Reilly won’t be getting either one of William Nylander or Mitch Marner on his wings. Instead, he’ll have Alex Kerfoot and Noel Acciari on his sides, which could make for a great defe …

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Author: Nick Barden / The Leafs Nation

Pitching prospects Gabriel Ponce and Connor Cooke impress, Zach Pop has a hiccup, and more as the Blue Jays fell 6-2 to the Yankees

Can spring training just be over already?

The Blue Jays took on the New York Yankees on Sunday afternoon, falling 6-2 to the Bronx Bombers. However, there were still some positives to take away from the game, mainly with regards to the minor league pitchers.
Let’s dig in.
Blue Jays Nation’s player of the game: Gabriel Ponce
You may have never heard of the 23-year-old right-handed reliever, but he showed up on Sunday afternoon.
Pitching in the bottom of the eighth inning, he struck out the side, generating six whiffs on just 17 pitches. The only base runner reached on a sharply hit ball which would have been an out if the shift were not banned.
Ponce pitched at three levels last season, High-A, Double-A, and Triple-A, where he posted a 3.54 ERA in 61 innings pitched. He topped out at 95.5 mph with his fastball, and looks to be a reliever to keep an eye on in 2023.

Here’s Gabriel Ponce (@gabriel2ponce)’s strikeout and whiff edit.
He struck out the side and touched 95.5 mph with the fastball.#BlueJays pic.twitter.com/EG192J4HQ0
— Brennan Delaney (@Brennan_L_D) March 26, 2023

Things worth mentioning:
The bats were cold on Sunday afternoon. While they managed to score two runs, Toronto only had four hits with a lineup comprised of mainly big leaguers or fringe big leaguers… and fan favourite Peyton Williams. Kevin Kiermaier hit a triple, while Matt Chapman, Danny Jansen, and Santiago Espinal all had a single apiece.
Connor Cooke was absolutely filthy on Sunday. While he allowed an earned run and walked two in his inning of work, he struck out Giancarlo Stanton on what is best described as a whiffle ball pitch (his slider literally hit 3106 RPM this afternoon), as well as Gleyber Torres. Drafted in the 10th round of the 2021 draft, Cooke spent time between Low-A and High-A last season, pos …

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Author: Brennan Delaney / Blue Jays Nation

2023 Rival Preview: Bobby Witt Jr. and other youngsters look to bring the Royals back to life

Over the next few weeks, we’ll look at each American League team and discuss their 2022 season, their offseason moves, and their 2023 outlook. 

2022 Season Recap…
Kansas City’s 2022 reminded me a lot of the 2019 Toronto Blue Jays — a mix of veterans and young players, with no legitimate expectations for the season. While I am in no way comparing the talent of the two teams (because the Jays definitely win that category), the overall goal of the year was that the young studs needed to get their feet wet in the MLB.
They were able to accomplish that, although it did come with its hardships, as the Royals finished 65-97 and fifth place in the AL Central. Since their World Series title in 2015, the Royals have finished third place or below each season in their division.
Last season featured the much-anticipated debut of 3B Bobby Witt Jr., who was a top-10 prospect in all of baseball entering the year. Witt was thrown into the fire from the jump, as then-manager Mike Matheny had him batting second on Opening Day. Witt answered the call; his RBI double in the bottom of the 8th gave Kansas City the lead for good, leading the Royals to a 3-1 win over the Guardians to open the season.

Bobby Witt Jr. the hero in his debut with the go ahead RBI for the #royals #OpeningDay pic …

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Author: Evan Stack / Blue Jays Nation

The Honour Roll: Final grades for the whole trade season

It’s final over. The trade season and all the rumours and speculation finished until the 10 minutes after the Leafs (hopefully long) playoff run is over. Exhale. It’s time to talk about hockey.
Before we get all the way back to the business of watching games, we need to grade the work of Kyle Dubas. It seems like there are two sets of grades that need to happen, the ones now based entirely on the optics of the transaction, and the ones that will come later with the benefit of hindsight of whether or not everyone did what they were supposed to do. We’ll see if we remember to do that. For now, here are the final thoughts on the Leafs trade deadline.
Colin Hunter: A-
Taken as a whole, Kyle Dubas’ “trade deadline” – being the moves he made from Ryan O’Reilly / Noel Acciari onwards – was great.
While you can analyze each trade individually, the current roster as a unit feels much stronger. While in my ideal world the team would have added one more scoring forward, the forward group overall has become much more versatile, and the bottom six seems to now have an identity – which it has lacked this season. Defensively, depth has certainly b …

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Author: Jon Steitzer / The Leafs Nation

2023 Rival Preview: The Texas Rangers had another spending spree this winter

Over the next few weeks, we’ll look at each American League team and discuss their 2022 season, their offseason moves, and their 2023 outlook. 

2022 Season Recap…
Valentine’s Day just passed us, and if there’s one thing we love, it’s belittling the entire Texas Rangers franchise. Another year has gone by that the Rangers have not won a World Series, and still, the best thing they have to their name is “The Punch” from 2016.
Thankfully, although they finished in fourth place in the AL West last season, the Rangers are starting to develop a core of established veteran players that have elevated the team’s competitive status.
After the 2021 season, the Rangers went out and acquired free agents 2B Marcus Semien, SS Corey Seager, and SP Jon Gray, and the contract numbers on them are quite opulent. Semien signed for seven years and $175 million, Seager was 10 for $325 million, and Gray was four for $56 million. Yeah, Texas had some money to play with.
It was an abysmal start for Semien during his first year with the Rangers. Semien had a .157 batting average through the month of April and didn’t hit his first home run until May 28th (keep in mind he hit 45 in 2021 with the Blue Jays).
The hole Semien dug himself was a tough one to emerge from, and he finished the season with a .248 batting average, 26 …

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Author: Evan Stack / Blue Jays Nation

2023 Rival Preview: All eyes on Shohei Ohtani as the Angels roll into another non-competitive season

Over the next few weeks, we’ll look at each American League team and discuss their 2022 season, their offseason moves, and their 2023 outlook. 

2022 Season Recap…
Although finishing in third place in the AL West, the Angels were four games worse in 2022 than they were in 2021. The Angels missed the postseason for the eighth straight season, even in the face of another set of stellar seasons from their two stars: Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani.
Let’s start with Ohtani, who, if it wasn’t for Aaron Judge hitting 62 homers, would’ve (and should’ve) won his second consecutive AL MVP. Ohtani hit 34 home runs and 95 RBIs, with an .875 OPS and a 145 OPS+. On the mound, Ohtani was 15-9 with a 2.33 ERA. The win total and ERA was a career-best, and his 11.9 K/9 led the American League.
Ohtani was also featured in one of the best matchups played at the Rogers Center this past season; on August 27th, Ohtani and Blue Jays starter Alek Manoah went shot-for-shot, combining for 14 innings pitched, 17 strikeouts, and only one earned run, which was unfortunately given up by Manoah.

This pitchers’ duel was as good as advertised
Shohei Ohtani: 7 IP, 0 R, 2H, 1BB, 9K, up to 100 mph season-high 109 pitches
Alek Manoah: 7 IP, 1 ER, 4H, 2BB, 8K, up to 96 mph, 105 pitches
— Ben Nicholson-Smith (@bnicholsonsmith) August …

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Author: Evan Stack / Blue Jays Nation

2023 Rival Preview: The Orioles had a surprisingly quiet winter after their breakout season

Over the next few weeks, we’ll look at each American League team and discuss their 2022 season, their offseason moves, and their 2023 outlook. Let’s start with the Baltimore Orioles…

2022 season recap…
The Orioles exceeded everyone’s expectations during the 2022 season. Despite being a shoo-in to finish last in the AL East, the Orioles entered September only 1.5 games back of a Wild Card spot. They would ultimately miss the playoffs, but a 4th place division finish and an 83-79 record made the Orioles seem a year or two ahead of their rebuild. They were also no longer the Blue Jays’ punching bag, clearly handing that role over to the Red Sox.
2022 featured the much-anticipated debut of C Adley Rutschman. Rutschman was baseball’s top prospect at the time of his call-up and would finish second in Rookie of the Year voting. Rutschman owned a .254 batting average, 13 homers, and 42 RBIs through 113 games, and it looks like he’ll be the Orioles’ backstop of the future.

Who else is looking forward to a full year of Adley Rutschman?pic.twitter.com/bbV6zxYPVl
— MLB Caught Stealing (@MLB_CS) January 24, 2023

Many knew about Baltimore’s sluggers: 1B Ryan Mountcastle, RF Anthony Santander, and CF Cedric Mullins are all established major league players who have developed well during their first few years in the league. Mullins was an All-Star in 2021, and although his production regressed a little in 2022, he still finished 3rd in the MLB in stolen bases, profiling as an ideal leadoff man for the Orioles.
Blue Jays fans are more than aware of Mountcastle’s presen …

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Author: Evan Stack / Blue Jays Nation

Up and down weekend for Knies, Abruzzese stays hot for Marlies: Leafs Prospect Roundup

Up and down weekend for Knies, Abruzzese stays hot for Marlies: Leafs Prospect Roundup

We are now just a little over a month away from the NHL’s trade deadline, and much of the talk surrounding the Leafs has been centered on how they can improve their current roster before March 3rd.
Speculation about potential trade targets naturally leads to discussion regarding exactly what the Leafs have in terms of trade assets and which ones they might be willing to move. The Leafs will almost certainly have their 2023 and 2024 first-round picks on the table, but will they will be willing to move off the organization’s top prospect in Matthew Knies if that’s what it takes to land an impact player for a crucial playoff run? What about other highly regarded young pieces like Nick Robertson, Topi Niemelä, or Fraser Minten?
What the Leafs have working in their favor is that despite a lack of high draft picks in recent years, there is depth in their prospect pool, and many of their recent picks have performed well enough to raise their stock, not only in the eyes of the Leafs but amongst other NHL organizations as well. Will other teams have interest in some of the Leafs’ middle-tier prospects like Ty Voit or Nick Moldenhauer, who are both putting toget …

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Author: Nick Richard / The Leafs Nation

2022 Blue Jays Retrospective: Bo Bichette’s legendary September, the Wild Card series vs. Seattle, and more

Over the next few days, we’ll be taking a look back at the year that was for the Toronto Blue Jays. 

Bo Bichette Revenge Tour
One of the only ways that Blue Jays fans could describe September of 2022 was simply the name Bo Bichette. Bo went on an absolute tear, in which he was undoubtedly the best hitter in baseball through the first couple weeks of the month.
The numbers are truly eye-popping; Bichette posted a .403 batting average with a 1.134 OPS throughout September, with 7 home runs and 27 RBIs. His 48 hits set the Blue Jays record for most hits in a single month, and if it wasn’t for Aaron Judge, the MLB would have likely named Bichette the AL player of the month.
Let’s take a quick dive into how Bichette did in some of the September series.
September 2-4 @ Pittsburgh: Bichette went 6-for-12, with 5 RBIs. His clutch three-run double in game two of the series broke a 1-1 tie in the 7th inning, sealing the series win. He also added two much-needed insurance runs in the 9th inning of game one with a two-run home run off of Pirates reliever Yohan Ram …

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Author: Evan Stack / Blue Jays Nation