HERDchronicles

By Brian Frank Bisons outfielder Je'Von Ward always knew baseball was his calling, even though he comes from a football family. His father, Reggie Ward, played wide reciever and running back at Notre Dame and went on to play for the Ottawa Rough Riders of the Canadian Football League. His uncle, Mark Carrier, played college football at the University of Southern California and was a longtime NFL safety, who won NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year honors, earned three Pro Bowl se

By: Brian Frank Two prominent major-league rehabbers took the field for the Bisons at Sahlen Field on Thursday evening. Shane Bieber was on the mound for the Herd, continuing his rehabilitation from right arm fatigue, while Alejandro Kirk was the designated hitter in the Bisons' 3–1 victory over the Syracuse Mets. Bieber was acquired by the Blue Jays from the Cleveland Guardians at last summer's trade deadline while he was recovering from Tommy John surgery. The 2020 American

By: Brian Frank Alejandro Kirk returned to Sahlen Field on Tuesday night, continuing his rehab from a broken left thumb suffered on a foul tip in early April. The two-time American League All-Star is no stranger to Buffalo's ballpark. He made his major league debut here on Sept. 12, 2020, against the New York Mets, when the Blue Jays were using Sahlen Field as their temporary home due to the closure of the U.S.-Canada border during the pandemic. He collected his first big-lea

By: Brian Frank Bisons catcher Willie MacIver is so polished behind the plate that one might assume he's been playing catcher his entire life. But although he's long thought of himself as a catcher, he actually played a lot of infield growing up—including playing third base at the University of Washington. "When I was like 12 years old, I decided I wanted to be a catcher," MacIver recently told The Herd Chronicles. "But I was a pretty athletic kid, so most of the time it ende