18 days after taking liner off head, Jays' top pitching prospect dominates at Double-A
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Nolan Perry went 18 days between starts for Double-A New Hampshire. The last time he stood on a Minor League mound was July 19, when a line drive hit him flush on the side of the head. Toronto originally stated he would be week-to-week in his concussion recovery, but after just two and a half weeks away and having cleared all protocols, he was right back on the bump.
Making his home debut at Delta Dental Stadium on Thursday night, Perry showed no signs of being worse for wear. He pumped his first two pitches right down the middle for strikes and struck out the first two batters swinging on wicked breaking balls. By the time he was done, the Blue Jays’ No. 2 prospect had tossed three no-hit frames and racked up four punchouts in New Hampshire’s 5-2 win over Portland.
At the start of 2026, Perry was a relative unknown outside of the Florida State League circuit and the Blue Jays’ complex in Dunedin. Not ranked on the club’s preseason Top 30 Prospects list, he has enjoyed a meteoric rise over the past few months, now Toronto's top-ranked pitching prospect and No. 92 overall in baseball.
All four of Perry’s punchouts Thursday came on breaking balls, benders so nasty that even catcher Aaron Parker was unable to corral the first one as it went to the backstop before he completed the out. The 22-year-old threw first-pitch strikes to nine of the 10 batters he faced and didn’t allow a ball to leave the infield, yielding a baserunner only on a hit by pitch.
By virtue of his relatively speedy recovery, the Fisher Cats were able to pencil Perry into the rotation and utilize right-hander Gage Stanifer (TOR No. 7) as a piggyback. As nasty of a one-two punch as you’ll find in the Eastern League, Stanifer struck out five (while walking five) across four one-hit, one-run frames.
Perry has been a major development success story for the Blue Jays, who nabbed him with their 12th-round selection in the 2022 Draft out of the New Mexico high school prep ranks. He was an over-slot signing but not a major one, landing a $200,000 signing bonus. After getting clobbered in his first taste of pro ball in ‘23 (7.28 ERA across nine outings in the Florida Complex League), he broke out with an impressive Single-A debut in ‘24 before his elbow gave out after 14 starts.
What a pitcher looks like post-Tommy John surgery is always up in the air, but after missing all of 2025, Perry dominated the lower levels earlier this season. He allowed one earned run or fewer in all five of his Dunedin starts before getting the bump to High-A Vancouver in May. He won Northwest League Pitcher of the Month honors in June, and by the end of that month was ready for the challenge of the upper Minors.
While Toronto has largely kept Perry’s pitch count in check as he works his way back from the torn UCL, he’s been electric when on the mound. Across 59 innings, he's allowed just 38 hits and struck out 89 batters. He ranks fourth in the system in punchouts despite that capped workload and would lead in average-against, WHIP and several other categories if he had the requisite number of innings to qualify.
There’s plenty of good news elsewhere on mounds across the farm as well: Ricky Tiedemann (TOR No. 10) -- once the club’s top pitching prospect in his own right -- returned to Triple-A Buffalo on Wednesday night and tossed a scoreless inning of relief. He averaged 96.7 mph with his fastball and has given up just one run on three hits across five innings as he returns to action after dealing with left elbow soreness earlier this year.
Toronto also welcomed aboard a pair of new faces to its deepening pitching crop earlier this week. Dasan Hill (TOR No. 6) and John Klein (No. 25) both slotted in among the organization’s Top 30 prospects after arriving in the Jeff Hoffman trade with Minnesota. Hill's first start in his new system is set for Sunday with Vancouver, where he will join fellow fast-rising southpaw Johnny King (No. 3) in the rotation.