Toronto Blue Jays left-handed pitching prospect Ricky Tiedemann will undergo Tommy John surgery on Tuesday, manager John Schneider told reporters on Saturday. Teams these days tend to give their pitchers about 14 months to recover from the procedure, suggesting that he could miss the rest of this season and all of next.
Tiedemann, 22 come August 18, pitched in just eight games this season. He amassed a 5.19 ERA and a 1.69 strikeout-to-walk ratio, the latter mark fueled by some uncharacteristic wildness. (He walked 16 batters in 17 innings.) Tiedemann's durability has been a question mark since he turned pro in 2021. Even now, more than three years later, he's compiled just 140 minor-league innings. He's yet to clear even the 80-inning threshold in a single year.
Back in the spring, Tiedemann ranked No. 38 on CBS Sports' top 50 prospect list. Here's what we wrote at the time:
Tiedemann closed out the season with a Triple-A start that saw him strike out six of the 14 batters he faced. Even so, the error bars on his outlook remain as wide as any other top 50-caliber prospect. Since being drafted in 2021, he's thrown a total of 122 innings, including 44 this season. (He did throw an additional 18 frames in the Arizona Fall League.) In theory, Tiedemann should be at least a mid-rotation starter thanks to three plus or better pitches -- a mid-90s fastball, changeup, and sweeping slider -- that he delivers from a low slot. In reality, he's going to need to prove he can handle a starter's workload sooner than later if he wants to avoid being shifted to the bullpen.
Tiedemann's surgery is the latest in a long line of negative developments for this Blue Jays squad. They entered Saturday with a 47-56 record, putting them 9 1/2 games back of the final wild-card spot. The Blue Jays are expected to trade at least a few of their impending free agents before Tuesday's trade deadline.