The Toronto Blue Jays saw pitching prospect Ricky Tiedemann in action for the first time in almost two years on Tuesday, as the lefty began a rehab assignment at the Rookie-level Florida Complex League.
Tiedemann pitched one inning, where he struck out two and allowed two hits and an earned run.
The 23-year-old Tiedemann made his last appearance with the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats on July 10, 2024, when he threw 27 pitches in a start that lasted just one inning.
Tiedemann’s season ended after that start, when he had Tommy John surgery on his pitching elbow. It has been a lengthy recovery for Tiedemann, as the team elected to give him the entire 2025 season to recover.
The towering lefty entered Spring Training this year a prospect to watch, but Tiedemann had to be shut down again early in March as he continued to experience elbow soreness.
Standing 6-foot-4 and featuring a fastball that can reach 100 mph, Tiedemann offers a rare pitch mix for a lefty that can overwhelm hitters. Tiedemann rocketed up the Blue Jays’ prospect list in his debut 2022 season, pitching across three levels and striking out an astounding 117 batters over 78.2 innings.
That performance carried over into the 2023 campaign, where Tiedemann pitched across four levels - eventually finishing with the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons - and struck out 82 batters over 44.0 innings pitched.
Tiedemann finished the 2023 and 2024 campaigns as the top prospect in the Blue Jays system, per MLB Pipeline. He currently sits at the No. 4 spot in the system, the second pitcher behind 19-year-old Johnny King.
After a long road back, Tiedemann finally gets another chance to show the team what he can do.
“Whatever the team needs, you ought to be ready for it and you ought to be excited for it,” Tiedemann said to MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson in February. “Not many guys get the opportunity. If you’re putting up the numbers, whether you’re starting or relieving, just to get that call would be a blessing for me. I’ll be ready. No matter when they call, I’ll be ready for it and I’ll be excited.”
