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Minor League Report: Tanner Morris has been traded and the Buffalo Bisons won their first game of the season
Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Minor League Report: Tanner Morris has been traded and the Buffalo Bisons won their first game of the season

Originally posted on Bluejaysnation  |  By Brennan Delaney  |  Last updated 4/1/24

Ladies and gentlemen, the Buffalo Bisons have won a game.

On Sunday afternoon, the Buffalo Bisons and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders played their third and final game of the series, with the Blue Jays’ Triple-A affiliate winning 4-3.

Let’s take a look at this edition of the Minor League Recap!

Bisons pick up their first win of the season

Chad Dallas made his first Triple-A start of his career, and finished with a line of 5 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 K for a 5.40 ERA. The 23-year-old averaged 91.9 mph on the fastball, touching 93.4 mph with it. However, it was cold and velocity tends to drop a few mph in the cold. In total, he finished with five whiffs on 38 total swings for 13 whiff%, which isn’t great.

Paxton Schultz came in after Dallas departed, and posted a line of 2 IP, 1 H,  0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K. Moreover, the 26-year-old averaged 93.3 mph on the fastball and touched 94.4 mph, generating six whiffs on nine total swings with that pitch. To close out the game, Hagen Danner set up while Connor Cooke closed. The former struck out a batter and allowed one hit in the eighth, while the latter walked two and struck out a batter for the save.

With the bats, Payton Henry picked up the games’ only home run to tie the game at one in the bottom of the fourth. Will Robertson was the only other Blue Jay prospect with an extra-base hit.

Spencer Horwitz  drove in the game-tying and game-winning run with a single in the bottom of the eighth, he also walked twice. He’s had a good start to his season, as he’s slashing .273/.429/.545 with a homer for a 162 wRC+, while his walk rate and strikeout rate reside at 21.4%. Horwitz won the Buffalo Bisons’ Player of the Week award.

Rafael Lantigua was the only Blue Jay prospect with a multi-hit game, as he singled twice and also walked once. The only other player in the game with a multi-hit game was Jordan Groshans, a former top prospect for the Jays who hit a double and a single.  Leo Jimenez had the only other hit for the Bisons.

Tanner Morris traded

During Saturday’s game, Tanner Morris hit a single and walked twice. However, CTV Toronto’s Paul Ross noted on Monday morning that Morris had been traded to the Minnesota Twins.

The same day, TSN’s Scott Mitchell reported that Morris had been traded to the Twins for cash considerations, likely due to the fact that the Blue Jays have a ton of prospects in the upper-minors. In reality, there wasn’t really anywhere for Morris to get regular playing time.

Morris was selected in the fifth-round of the 2019 draft, the same season he made his professional debut. That season, he slashed .246/.384/.346 with two homers in 294 plate appearances, along with a 16.7 BB% and a 19 K%. In the 2021 season, Morris slashed .285/.381/.401 with a career-high seven homers in 470 plate appearances, walking 12.3% of the time and striking out 19.1% of the time for a 115 wRC+.

He made his name known to start the 2022 season with the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats, where he slashed .312/.430/.468 with five homers in 186 plate appearances, along with an even K% and BB% of 16.1%. However, his tenure in Triple-A Buffalo in 2022 wasn’t great, as he slashed just .173/.352/.173 with no extra base hits in 126 plate appearances while dealing with a handful of injuries.

Last season with the Buffalo Bisons, Morris slashed .281/.390/.394 with six homers in 411 plate appearances, along with a 14.8 BB% and a 19.7%. The hit-over-power is interesting, and he can play third base, second base, and shortstop well.

Up next

Buffalo returns to action on Tuesday, where they’ll face off against the Worcester Red Sox. Yariel Rodríguez is expected to make the start for the Bisons in what will be his organization debut. The baby Red Sox are 2-1.

Every “A” affiliate will start on Friday, with the Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays hosting the Lakeland Tigers (Detroit), the New Hampshire Fisher Cats heading to Binghamton (New York Mets), and the Vancouver Canadians heading to Spokane (Colorado).

 

This article first appeared on Bluejaysnation and was syndicated with permission.

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