TIEDEMANN, ZULUETA TO REPRESENT TORONTO AT FUTURES GAME

MLB / Baseball

Written by Gus Cousins

In addition to the smattering of big-league talent that Toronto will be sent to Los Angeles for the MLB All-Star Game this year, two Vancouver Canadians’ Pitchers will also be making the trip out west.

Lefty Ricky Tiedemann and righty Yosver Zulueta will be joining the American League side in MLB’s Futures Game - an event to showcase some of the best MiLB talents through the first three-plus months of the season. In recent memory, Bo Bichette and Vladdy Jr. played in the 2017 Futures Game together, with Bo returning for a second consecutive year in 2018. Ex-Jays prospect Austin Martin (traded to Minnesota in the Jose Berrios deal) represented Toronto in last year’s event, while Nate Pearson tossed a shutout inning on the Jays’ behalf in 2019.

Canadians’ Tiedemann faces the Tri-City Dust Devils in June, eventually striking out 9 over 5 innings. | Source (Background photos): Getty Images

What’s different about this year’s Minor Leaguers? Simply put, Tiedemann and Zulueta haven’t generated the same level of fanfare. It’s through no fault of their own of course - comparing any prospect’s level of excitement to that of Bo Bichette or Vlad Guerrero Jr. is unfair. Both have pitched extremely well thus far, and are two of the reasons why the Vancouver Canadians managed to stay afloat in the first half of High A’s Northwest League.

Tiedemann, who’s only 19, was drafted as the ninety-first overall selection in the 2021 Draft - one round higher than fellow Canadians’ Starter Chad Dallas. Through 63 innings this year between A and High A, Tiedemann has amassed a 1.71 ERA while striking out 13.7/9 innings - on track for a better year than Sem Robberse, yet another Canadian pitcher who has lit up the Northwest League. The third-highest rated prospect in Toronto’s system behind Gabriel Moreno and Orelvis Martinez, the lefty is on track to surpass his peers and advance to New Hampshire, if not by the end of this year then most definitely by 2023. One of the very few concerns around Tiedemann’s game, ironically enough, is that he has had no setbacks - relatively speaking, little adversity has followed him simply because his numbers have been so good. Not to mention that he’s incredibly young - only 19 - and realistically shouldn’t be expected to hit AAA until late 2023 at the absolute earliest.

Contrary to just about everything Tiedemann is, Zulueta is a 24-year-old righty who signed with Toronto as an International Free Agent in 2019. Coronavirus, Tommy John Surgery, and a torn ACL have prevented him from bounding up the Minor League ladder, although he’s hopped right on the back this year - Zulueta’s touched triple digits on his fastball on multiple occasions. At 24 years old, there also isn’t the same amount of leeway that Tiedemann has purely because of his age. Rare is the prospect who’s rated as highly as Zulueta is when they haven’t surpassed A-Ball, with a great many opting to retire or step away from the game based on the situation they’ve found themselves in. While not as high as Tiedemann’s strikeout rate, Zulueta has amassed 11.8/9 innings - primarily due to his fastball.

Ricky Tiedemann is a number of years away from asserting his dominance with the big club, but lucky for us that doesn’t mean we can’t see him sooner. July 16th isn’t too far away, and an appearance by Tiedemann is almost guaranteed. Yosver Zulueta could make the Majors as early as next year, but hopefully, he too should get a batter or two when he travels to Los Angeles. In any case, Tiedemann and Zulueta are names worth remembering.