Around the Nest Blue Jays Minor League Podcast - 2021 Episode 9: Ups and Downs

Around The Nest is the weekly Toronto Blue Jays minor league podcast, hosted by Tyler Zickel of the Vancouver Canadians (high-A).

This week, Zick is joined by special guest Jeff Hem of the Nashville Sounds to talk about Bowden Francis, the pitching prospect the Jays acquired in the Rowdy Tellez trade. We find out about what he throws and the origins of his given name, whose first syllable rhymes with “cow”.

You can also find Around The Nest on YouTube*, Soundcloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Stitcher. (*Although, due to a technical issue this episode is audio only.)

Nathan Strauss of the New Hampshire Fisher Cats (double-A) spoke about how it has been raining Fisher Cats and dogs lately and their team’s recent struggles with Samad Taylor, Gabriel Moreno, Austin Martin, and Jordan Groshans out of the lineup for one reason or another.

Gregg Caserta and Pat Malacaro of the Buffalo Bisons (triple-A) then hopped on to talk about the Bisons’ recent success, Logan Warmoth and Dany Jiménez turning their seasons around, and manager Casey Candaele.

Andrew Thriffiley of the Dunedin Blue Jays (low-A) then spoke about Naswell Paulino’s recent success, PK Morris being on fire, and Gabriel Ponce taking over the closing role on the D-Jays.

Zick wraps up the show talking about the struggling Vancouver Canadians (high-A). Cameron Eden was placed on the injured list but it looks like he can bounce back after seven days, new leadoff guy Rafael Lantigua is finding his power stroke and has been annoying pitchers on the basepaths, and how there are only two true outfielders (Eric Rivera and DJ Neal) on the roster.