Minor League Report: The Buffalo Bisons blew an early 5-1 lead and lost 12-9 on Opening Day

We can dig deeper into the stats though, as Triple-A has Baseball Savant data. Tiedemann averaged 94.3 mph with the fastball, touching 97.4 mph and a minimum velocity of 91.3 mph. This may seem concerning, but it was (and still is) really cold in Buffalo, so the velocity drop is to be expected.

Sticking with Tiedemann, the fastball generated seven whiffs on 17 total swings for a 41 whiff%. The sweeper had just two whiffs on eight total swings, while the changeup generated just one swing and miss on seven total swings. All in all, he finished with a 31 whiff %, or 10 whiffs on 32 total swings. Moreover, he had a 34 CSW%, a very impressive number.

As for other pitchers, Brandon Eisert had a tough game, giving up seven earned runs in two thirds of an inning for a 94.50 ERA. Andrew Bash didn’t fare much better, giving up three earned runs in 1.1 innings pitched for a 20.25 ERA for the season.

However, Luis Quiñones, Hayden Juenger, and Brendon Little all finished with not giving up an earned run, with Juenger striking out two and walking none, the only pitcher to not give up a free pass on Friday afternoon.

Position players:

The Bisons hit just one home run in the afternoon, as Spencer Horwitz worked a count and eventually hit a two-run homer for the first home run in the Blue Jays’ system. Overall, he went 2-4 with three RBI, a walk and a strikeout. Addison Barger finished with the only other extra base hit, a double while going 2-5 with 2 RBI and a strikeout.

In fact, both Damiano Palmegiani and Nathan Lukes both had multi-hit games as they went 2-4 with a walk and a strikeout and 2-5 respectively. Orelvis Martinez picked up a single, but committed an error at second base which led to the only unearned run of the game.

All in all, it wasn’t the best of performances from the Bisons. Yes, scoring nine runs in any game is great, but over the course of the season, pitching has to be better than it was today.

The Bisons resume their season on Saturday at 1:05 PM ET, with Paolo Espino on the bump. They’ll conclude the three-game series on Sunday at the same time, with Chad Dallas toeing the rubber according to Keegan Matheson.

All “A” affiliates start on Friday, April 5. As the minor league season is in full swing, the format of the minor league reports will change to highlight just the big performers and the scores plus records. If there’s anything you want to see in the Minor League Report, comment below!