The Toronto Blue Jays delivered some bad news about pitching prospect Ricky Tiedemann on Tuesday.
Tiedemann is taking a week off from throwing after feeling left-elbow soreness during a recent side session, manager John Schneider told reporters on Tuesday. The 23-year-old southpaw went for an MRI, which did not reveal any structural damage.
Drafted in the third round of the 2021 draft by Toronto, Tiedemann was selected to the club’s 40-man roster in November, protecting him from the Rule 5 Draft.
Formerly the club’s top prospect, Tiedemann missed all of 2025 after undergoing Tommy John surgery the previous summer.
Before having the surgery in 2024, he threw just 17.1 innings over eight starts between Toronto’s complex league team, low-A Dunedin and triple-A Buffalo. In his limited time on the mound, the California native posted a 5.19 ERA, a 32.5 per cent strikeout rate, a 19.3 per cent walk rate and a .203 batting average against.
Tiedemann broke onto the scene as a future rotation option in 2022, striking out 117 batters and carrying a 2.17 ERA in 78.2 innings.
While injuries limited him in 2023, he continued to deliver strong results. He finished the year in triple-A and struck out a whopping 44.1 per cent of the batters he faced.
In addition to Tiedemann’s untimely injury news, fellow pitching prospect Chay Yeager is set to meet with Dr. Keith Meister on Tuesday after feeling right-elbow discomfort in live batting practice last week.
Surgery is on the table, depending on how the meeting goes.
Yeager, a 23-year-old reliever, was a non-roster invite to Blue Jays spring training. A 12th-round pick in 2023, Yeager pitched to a 2.75 ERA with 64 strikeouts in 55.2 innings across two levels in 2025.
