Around The Nest, Blue Jays Minor League Podcast

Three of the Toronto Blue Jays' four minor league teams are chasing a playoff berth (sorry, Fisher Cats fans). On this episode of Around The Nest we talk about the Jays' newly-drafted players like Cade Doughty, Alan Roden, and Peyton Williams injecting their talent into a surging Dunedin club alongside Edisson Gonzalez and Devonte Brown. We dissect New Hampshire's tough season that also featured a lot of individual positives, including Parker Caracci's recent promotion and Paxton Schultz turning his year around after a sluggish start. Vancouver has a magic number of six and several viable paths to the Northwest League championship series; the Canadians have been getting great performances from Orioles reject Garrett Farmer and closer Connor Cooke. We also get a report on the bumpy path Eric Pardinho has taken on his path back from injuries. This episode of Around The Nest was hosted by the radio voice of the Vancouver Canadians Tyler Zickel and featured Dunedin Blue Jays communications and admin specialist Andrew Thriffiley, and New Hampshire Fisher Cats broadcaster David Korzeniowski.

We had some fun on this episode of Around The Nest, the Blue Jays minor league podcast, by looking at the prospects that would be the best to put on a pickup football team based on body type, strength, and athletic prowess. This episode of Around The Nest was hosted by the radio voice of the Vancouver Canadians Tyler Zickel and featured Dunedin Blue Jays communications and admin specialist Andrew Thriffiley, New Hampshire Fisher Cats broadcaster Steve Goldberg, and the Voice of the Bisons Pat Malacaro. From the Bisons, we heard updates on the injury front about Gabriel Moreno and Spencer Horwitz, who are both back taking batting practice and are progressing on recovering from thumb issues. We discussed a Fisher Cats game last week where Adam Kloffenstein, Sean Mellen, Braden Scott, and Jimmy Burnette combined to strick out 19 Richmond Flying Squirrels, as well as Kloff’s general improvement in his first tour of double-A. Tyler laments the loss of the triple-digit-throwing Juan Nunez who moves up to double-A and shares with Steve his love for Addison Barger’s quiet but continued success at the plate this season. Andrew chats with Tyler about Gabby Martinez and Ranier Nunez, who were just promoted from Dunedin to Vancouver. He also gives us an update on the newest Blue Jays including Michael Turconi’s (15th round, 2022 draft) great bat and Alan Roden’s (3rd round, 2022 draft) flashy glove.

We took some fans’ questions on this week’s Around The Nest Blue Jays minor league podcast and found out the origin of the gold chains that the teams up and down the Jays ladder use to celebrate in the dugout. The Around The Nest crew talked about pitchers that have quietly built up some upside like Dunedin’s Dahian Santos, Ben Baggett, and Soenni Martinez, Vancouver’s Abdiel Mendoza and Trenton Wallace, and New Hampshire’s Luis Quinones and Paxton Schultz. Bob Lipman thinks that Yosver Zulueta can impact the big league Toronto Blue Jays this season—although he is coming out of the bullpen for clean innings for now and hasn’t seen high-leverage relief situations yet. Andrew Thriffiley gives us an update on Eric Pardinho’s road back from injury, then everyone talks about the truly fun guys in the organization. We also talk about Luis De Los Santos, Damiano Palmegiani, the two Nathanael Perezes, the affiliates’ chances at postseason berths, Brandon Barriera’s first appearance at the Development Complex, and more! As usual, this episode of Around The Nest was hosted by the Voice of the Vancouver Canadians Tyler Zickel and featured New Hampshire Fisher Cats broadcaster Bob Lipman and Dunedin Blue Jays communications and admin specialist Andrew Thriffiley.

This week we hear minor league stories about new Blue Jays manager John Schneider, like organizing bus karaoke featuring Bo Bichette singing Justin Bieber in falsetto. The low-A Dunedin Blue Jays have had a hot start to the second half of their season with Rainer Nunez being a contender for the Florida State League MVP and Canadian Dasan Brown providing a stabilizing force at the leadoff position. The Vancouver Canadians have plucked some pitching from Dunedin including Trenton Wallace and Nick “Frassbro” Frasso, who had eight straight strikeouts in his high-A debut. Up in double-A they are celebrating Addison Barger’s long-awaited arrival in the New Hampshire Fisher Cats’ roster as well as shortstop Luis De Los Santos’ amazing clutch numbers in the ninth inning. The Around The Nest crew also talk about Ricky Tidemann and Yosver Zulueta heading out to the All-Star Futures Game and how the minor league game clock should be managed in late and close situations. The episode wraps with a preview of the upcoming MLB trade deadline and who the broadcasters think are the “untouchables” and trade chips in the Blue Jays system. This episode of Around The Nest was hosted by the Voice of the Vancouver Canadians Tyler Zickel and featured New Hampshire Fisher Cats David Korzeniowski and Dunedin Blue Jays Communications and Admin Specialist Andrew Thriffiley.