Artificial Turf Wars

The 2025 Minor League Baseball season has reached the halfway point, and for the Toronto Blue Jays system (oft-maligned last year), things are definitely turning around. In this episode of the Around the Nest Blue Jays minor league podcast, host Tyler Zickel, play-by-play voice of the Vancouver Canadians, chats with his fellow affiliate broadcasters as they wrap up the first half for their respective clubs. First up is the triple-A Buffalo Bisons’ Pat Malacaro, who joined the show on the road from Worcester, MA. Pat talked about how the return of big leaguers Alan Roden and Davis Schneider sparked a Bisons’ turnaround that lasted even after both were called back up to the big leagues. On the pitching side, rehabbing future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer came up for discussion, as did recently promoted CJ Van Eyk. Following Pat in the order is Chris Jared, play-by-play man for the double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats, who also joined us from the road, where he’s helping Pat call Bisons games against the Woo Sox.