Around The Nest Episode 8: Shaking and Baking in New Hampshire

This past Friday, Tyler Zickel (Vancouver Canadians) performed a check-in with the minor league broadcasters up and down the Blue Jays system to see who has been performing during these dog days of summer in episode 8 of this season’s Around The Nest Blue Jays minor league podcast.

Pat Malacaro (Buffalo Bisons) led off from Syracuse, NY to talk about the lengthening of the Bisons’ lineup with the return of Nathan Lukes and Ernie Clement to triple-A to complement Spencer Horwitz and Rafael Lantigua who just know how to put the bat on the ball. Addison Barger has become the team’s everyday right fielder, stunning fans and broadcasters with his cannon of an arm. Speedster Cam Eden has passed mailman Roemon Fields to take the Bisons’ single-season stolen base record with 45 (and counting). Pat wrapped up his segment talking about how Bisons superfan Mark Aichinger is getting his own bobblehead day in September.

Steve Goldberg (New Hampshire Fisher Cats) re-joined Around The Nest after some time off to speak with Zick about some former C’s who had been promoted. Alan Roden has kept his consistent approach after arriving in double-A and is finding success, starter Michael Dominguez recorded nine strikeouts against the Rumble Ponies, and the “Shake & Bake” duo of Mason Fluharty and TJ Brock are now the leverage arms in the Fisher Cats’ bullpen. Steve also took us for an audio tour around the new training facilities at Delta Dental Stadium.

To wrap up the show, Chris Valentine (Dunedin Blue Jays) bantered with Tyler about the two lowest rungs of the ladder. The Canadians have hit a bit of a dry spell, getting no-hit at home and losing several consecutive games, but are still seeing a great performance from big guy Peyton Williams, who is sporting a .311/.385/.556 slash line in August. Chris gushed about the D-Jays’ Lazaro Estrada, who has been deploying a wipeout slider that is impossible to hit by right handers in his transition from late-inning bulk guy to a legit starter. Outfielder Jace Bohrofen (6th round, 2023) slugged five homers over his first five games after being promoted out of the FCL and Chay Yeager (12th round, 2023) is throwing 96 mph fastballs out of the ‘pen. The two broadcasters then chatted about Jeff Wehler in Vancouver and Davis Feldman in Dunedin providing a solid veteran presence in their respective clubhouses.