This Toronto Blue Jays Player Just Became Incredibly Fascinating For 2026

Since the outset of the offseason, we’ve said that Anthony Santander is the most fascinating player on the Toronto Blue Jays for 2026. And that still remains true, however, left-handed pitcher Ricky Tiedemann is rapidly moving up the list.

Here’s why:

A former Top 100 prospect in the sport, Tiedemann has seen his star fall over the last year, but he’s still the No. 4 prospect in the organization, according to MLB Pipeline.

Now 23 years old, he was a third-round pick of the Blue Jays in 2021.

He has some of the best swing-and-miss stuff in the minor leagues, and he fanned 82 batters in just 44.0 innings in 2023. He made eight appearances in 2024, going 0-1 with a 5.19 ERA across three minor league levels before undergoing Tommy John surgery.

He missed all of 2025 while recovering from the injury.

The following comes from a portion of his MLB.com prospect profile:

At his best, Tiedemann has the potential to be a truly dominant lefty. In past camps, he’s received the highest praise a young pitcher can, which is veteran starters going out of their way to watch him throw on the back fields. His fastball, which was touching 98 mph while sitting 94-96, is one of the best pitches in the organization, and Tiedemann’s three-quarter arm slot plays up that velocity. His slider and changeup could both be plus pitches in the big leagues.

This is the truly fascinating part.

With Shane Bieber, Kevin Gausman, Trey Yesavage, Dylan Cease and Jose Berrios in the fold, there is no real pathway for Tiedemann to start for Toronto this season. Furthermore, the injury issues of 2023, 2024 and 2025 make it unlikely that he could handle a true starters workload as well.

Will the Jays keep him in the minor leagues and build up that workload so that he can be a starter in 2027 when Bieber and Gausman are free agents?

Or, does Toronto take advantage of his great arm and their need for impact bullpen arms and utilize him as a ‘pen option for the season? This would be a good way to manage his innings, considering he’s never thrown more than 78.2 in a professional season – and that was in 2022.

However, he has just 13.0 innings above Double-A in his career. Are they ready to give him big-league innings with that little of experience?

It remains to be seen, but considering Toronto was just an inning away from winning the World Series in 2025, the urgency is certainly real. It will be one of the many decisions for manager John Schneider at spring training.

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This Toronto Blue Jays Player Just Became Incredibly Fascinating For 2026

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