Trenton Wallace 'has gone through a few learning experiences' in midst of career year in Blue Jays system
New Hampshire Fisher Cats left-handed pitcher Trenton Wallace is a perfect reminder that just because you aren’t a member of an organization’s top 30 prospects, doesn’t mean you aren’t a legitimate prospect.
Wallace was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 11th round of the 2021 MLB Draft out of the University of Iowa. The 25-year-old is off to one of his better starts so far in 2024.
“It has been pretty solid for me.” Wallace said of his season. “I have gone through quite a few learning experiences this year. My mechanics in the beginning of the year were a little funky since I was injured last year for a while. Coming off an injury year and getting back out there was fun getting to play again. It just took me some time to really settle in again. The velocity was down a little bit, but I did feel confident in the ability to go out there and compete and find ways to get outs.”
After being promoted to Double-A Manchester in June of 2023, Wallace has put up a 3.07 over 76.1 innings pitched at the level. That includes a 2.65 ERA over 68 innings in 2024.
“It’s a steady mix and trusting my stuff.” Wallace said of his success in 2024. “I am not a guy that is going to go out there and blow you up with 95 MPH. I don’t have that ability unfortunately. What I can do is throw 3-4 different pitches for strikes and compete. I can keep hitters off balance a lot better than others. I think it’s rare in the game to have a guy that can constantly mix and throw pitches in different counts whenever he wants.”
It’s not uncommon to see pitchers struggle after moving levels due to better plate discipline and more matured hitters they have to face every single night. What did Wallace notice about the improvement of hitters at the Double-A level?
“The hitters stick to their approach a lot better.” Wallace noted. “There were times in High-A where I felt I could catch a guy in between his approach as in if I was going left-on-left sliders and he went up there sitting sliders and taking ugly swings, I could tell that he was thinking in the back of his head that I might be throwing a fastball. These guys in Double-A will stick to their approach. At the end of the day, you just have to throw the ball in the zone and see what happens. I am going to trust my stuff in the zone until the hitters prove me wrong.”
Being in professional baseball is so unlike the other professional sports in America given all of the stops below the big leagues. Once drafted, players typically have to spend time at most of the affiliates from Low-A to Triple-A before making it to the show. Some even add in the complex league. The whole process takes years, and it might be easy to get frustrated looking at the big picture.
“I never really thought about the journey down the road even when I was in Low-A in 2022 for my first full season.” Wallace said of his minor league journey. “I just stayed with the program and told myself to compete like I was still pitching at Iowa. You just go out there and give your team a chance to win. If you are doing that and doing everything you can control the right way, good things will happen. I never really thought that I needed to get to a certain level by this time or anything. I trust the front office to see how I am competing against each level, and they are giving the time to develop at each level.”
As the second half of the season is now underway, Wallace would like to keep up his excellent season and has his eyes set on even more quality starts.
“I am a longevity guy when I got out and pitch so a goal for me is to see how many quality starts I can rack up in the second half.” Wallace said, “I think I did a fairly good job of getting a quality start and giving the team a chance to win each time out. I want to see how many in a row I can stack up or how many I can stack up for the rest of the season.”
