On the season, he’s slashing .278/.360/407 with three homers in 239 plate appearances. Bernard had 42 plate appearances with the Colorado Rockies last season, slashing .286/.286/.310 with an extra base hit. His speed on the bases could be of value to the Blue Jays.

Players worth mentioning:

Jordan Luplow went 2-4 with a double and a walk in Saturday’s game. With the Bisons, he slashing .226/.303/.377 with three homers in 119 plate appearances. He’s still on the 40-man roster, so we may see him in Toronto again.

Cam Eden had two hits, a sac fly, was hit by a pitch, and four RBIs in five plate appearances on Saturday. He also stole his 29th base in 30 attempts and is now slashing .247/.332/.361 with two homers in 220 plate appearances.

Jamie Ritchie hit two singles and added two walks in his five plate appearances Saturday. For the season, he’s slashing .268/.402/.310. He’s had an excellent minor league career, and I’m curious when he’ll get a shot in the big leagues.

High-A:

The Vancouver Canadians defeated the Hillsboro Hops, bringing their record to 35-26. More importantly, they are three games ahead of Spokane with only four games to go. They have a chance to clinch the first half title on Sunday.

The Blue Jays Nation Player of the Game: Devereaux Harrison

The 22-year-old righty moving to the rotation was unexpect, it has worked out well.

On Saturday afternoon, he finished with a line of 6 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K. On top of throwing six no-hit innings in his last start, he has finished with a quality start in his last three games.

For the season, he has a 1.83 ERA, a 24.8 K%, and a 12.4 BB% in 39.1 innings pitched.

Players worth mentioning:

Estiven Machado has been heating up as of late. He continued his hot stretch on Saturday, going 2-3 with a double. He’s risen his slash line to .231/.294/.282 with four extra base hits in 85 plate appearances. Just a week ago, he was slashing .182/.239/.227.

Michael Turconi went 1-3 and was hit by a pitch, while driving in Vancouver’s first run. He’s slashing .305/.410/.492 with four homers and 13 extra base hits in 144 plate appearances this season. Not bad for a 15th rounder.

Devonte Brown had another strong game on Saturday, going 0-1 with two walks and a run scored in three plate appearances. He’s now slashing .252/.331/.409 with four homers in 133 plate appearances.

Single-A:

The Dunedin Blue Jays were the only Blue Jay affiliate team to suffer a defeat on Saturday, falling 4-3 to the Lakeland Tigers. Their record now sits at 31-31.

The Blue Jays Nation Player of the Game: Jaden Rudd

The Baby Jays only had four hits on Saturday, but Jaden Rudd had two of them, both singles.

For the season, he’s slashing .253/.407/367 with two homers in 210 plate appearances. His 126 wRC+ (as of Saturday) ranks as the ninth highest in the Blue Jays organization, and first amongst Dunedin Blue Jays players.

Players worth mentioning:

Zach Pop was sent to the Dunedin Blue Jays for a rehab assignment, and finished with a line of 1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K. It’d be nice to get his velocity in the Blue Jays bullpen again.

Edward Duran is the catcher/first base prospect that the Jays acquired in the Jordan Groshans trade last season. After just 12 plate appearances, he was promoted to Dunedin (likely to play first base) and went 1 for 2 with a walk and an RBI. He also nabbed his first stolen base of the season.

Angel Del Rosario had the only extra base hit on Saturday, hitting a double. He went 1 for 3 and is slashing .230/.319/.410 with two homers in 70 plate appearances with the Blue Jays. Last season with Dunedin, he went 32/37 in stolen bases, but has only gone 6/9 in attempts this season.

Florida Complex League:

The FCL Jays beat the FCL Tigers 9-4, bringing their record to 4-6. Don’t look now, but they’ve won three of their last four games.

The Blue Jays Nation Player of the Game: Yhoangel Aponte

The 19-year-old outfielder has been mentioned quite a bit in these reports recently, and had another strong showing on Saturday.

He went 1 for 2 with his first triple of the season, but also walked three times. He’s now slashing .294/.429/.500 with a homer and four extra base hits in just 42 plate appearances. Moreover, he has a 33.3 K% and a 16.7 BB%.

If he can drop his strikeout rate, there’s definitely something in Aponte.

Players worth mentioning:

Brody Rodning made his fourth rehab appearance on Saturday, finishing with a line of 2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K. The 27-year-old was selected with the 399th overall pick in 2017 and last pitched with the Double-A Fisher Cats, where he had a 5.58 ERA and a 3.81 FIP in 40.1 innings pitched.

Joey Murray made his third rehab appearance on Saturday, finishing with a line of 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K. Murray’s career has been derailed the past few seasons due to injury and he’s coming back from Tommy John surgery. He had a 3.50 ERA and a 3.42 FIP in 43.2 innings with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats in 2019.

Kendry Chirinos had another strong day at the plate, going 2 for 2 with a walk, and a sac fly. In 32 plate appearances, he’s slashing .240/.375/.360 with a homer.

Dominican Summer League:

The DSL Jays defeated the DSL National 6-3, brining their record to 5-5 for the season. Washington’s team has yet to pick up a win in ten games.

The Blue Jays Nation Player of the Game: Daniel Pérez

The 21-year-old has been the most impressive player from the 2023 international free agent period. A part of that is due to his age relative to others at the level, but he hit his first professional home run of the season on Saturday, while going 2 for 4.

For the season, he’s slashing .421/.560/.632 with a 19.2 BB% and a 7.8 BB%. I don’t envision he’ll be in the DSL for much longer, as the lower minors are starved for first basemen.

Players worth mentioning:

Enmanuel Bonilla is heating up, as he hit his second triple of the season and had his first multi-hit game, going 2 for 5. Over his last seven games, he has failed to record a hit in just one game, and has raised his slash line up to .200/.349/.343.

David Guzmán went 1-5 on Saturday, registering an extra base hit. Despite the .147 average, he has a .341 on base percentage due to a 20.5 BB% in his 44 plate appearances.

Jonathan Bautista didn’t have a single walk coming into Saturday’s game, but he walked thrice and went 0-1. More importantly, he didn’t strike out once, but still has a 45 K% early in the season.

Setting up for Monday’s Minor League Report:

Like last week, the Minor League Report on Monday will be posted after the conclusion of the rookie league games.

The games on Sunday start early, as the Buffalo Bisons will look to split the series at 1:05 PM EST. From their game notes, it appears it’s set to be a bullpen day.

New Hampshire starts their double header (yes, another one, please get a roof) at 12:05 PM EST. It’s likely that Adam Kloffenstein and Sem Robberse will start the two games.

Vancouver takes on Hillsboro at 4:05 PM EST, with Kevin Miranda as the scheduled starter. With a Spokane loss last night, a Vancouver win or Spokane loss in any of the next four remaining games will mean that the Canadians will return to the Northwest League Finals.

Dunedin takes on Lakeland at 12:05 PM with Irv Carter probable, as he started last Sunday’s game and hasn’t pitched this week.

The two rookie league teams are off on Sundays, but we’ll cover their games in the next minor league report on Monday.