Blue Jays prospect Landen Maroudis dominates in his first professional outing for Dunedin

The Dunedin Blue Jays put forward an interesting lineup today against the Lakeland Flying Tigers, with pitchers Alek Manoah and Erik Swanson getting some work in as the Major Leaguers continue their rehab assignments. While Manoah’s outing was wild at times, Swanson put forward a solid outing with the reliever striking out two while throwing 11 pitches, 1o for strikes.

Also taking the mound was right-hander Landen Maroudis, the Blue Jays fourth round pick in last year’s MLB Draft. The Calvary Christian grad did not pitch in affiliated ball following his draft year but followed Swanson in today’s contest, entering the game in the top of the sixth inning with Lakeland leading 7-4.

In Maroudis’s first professional outing, the 6-foot-3 righty shoved against the Detroit Tigers single-A affiliate, the Lakeland Flying Tigers.

“I thought it went really well,” said Maroudis, speaking to Blue Jays Nation. “I felt like I was commanding everything well and I was happy our team could come out with the win.”

Through four innings, the Blue Jays prospect did not allow a single hit or walk while striking out five batters. Maroudis immediately struck out John Peck on five pitches, getting a called strike three on an 80 MPH curveball for his first strikeout in the first batter he faced. He was then tasked with the Tigers’ #1 ranked prospect Max Clark stepping into the batter’s box and he made quick work of him, getting Clark to ground out to second on a 94-MPH fastball.

Blue Jays prospect Landen Maroudis dominates in his first pro outing

The top of the seventh went even better for the Blue Jays #12 ranked prospect, with Maroudis getting all three Flying Tigers batters to strike out swinging, using just 14 pitches in the inning. His second strikeout was against Christian Jarvis, the Tigers 26th ranked prospect. All three punchouts came via his curveball, with the Tigers prospects unable to make contact with his breaking ball that he got every batter to chase low and out of the zone.

The eighth and ninth innings were just as impressive, as Maroudis never found himself in too much trouble and was able to generate balls in play that the Jays defence was able to work with, keeping the hits column empty. The finisher was his final strikeout of the evening with one out in the ninth, where the right-hander was able to sit down Clark on just five pitches, with the Tigers’ top prospect swinging and missing on three separate offerings from the Blue Jays pitcher. Similar to his teammates, Clark chased the curveball down and out of the zone and was sent back to the dugout.