Blue Jays prospect Tiedemann expected to be ready for game action 'relatively soon'

Ricky Tiedemann has progressed to throwing bullpen sessions and is expected to return to game action "relatively soon," Toronto Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins said on Saturday.

Tiedemann, who is the No. 40 prospect on MLB Pipeline's Top 100 prospects list, was placed on the seven-day injured list on April 19 with ulnar nerve inflammation in his pitching elbow. He last pitched on April 11, allowing two earned runs in 3.2 innings against the Rochester Red Wings.

TSN's Scott Mitchell reports the time missed due to the injury removes any potential workload concerns later in the season.

The 21-year-old was slowed by a hamstring injury in spring training and has made three starts with the Triple-A Bisons this year, posting a 5.63 ERA with 10 strikeouts across a total of 8.0 innings.

Ranked as the Blue Jays' top prospect by Mitchell on TSN's Top 50 list released in January, Tiedemann is looking to build off a 2023 season where he threw a total of 44.0 innings across four minor-league levels. Tiedemann had a 3.68 ERA in 15 outings last year, all of them starts. 

The Blue Jays sit last in the American League East entering play on Saturday at 19-24. Atkins also addressed concerns over the offensive performance of the team, which ranks second-worst in the majors with 155 runs scored, and has hit the third-fewest home runs, with 36.

"We have seen some encouraging things of late that have not resulted in wins and have seen some encouraging things in our offence that we feel with time and the talent that's on the team that we can certainly see righting the ship," said Atkins. "However, that needs to start pretty soon."