By: Brian Frank
Hayden Juenger made his Triple-A debut in 2022 at the age of 21. Since then, he’s pitched in 126 games for the Bisons, the fourth most appearances by any pitcher in the team’s modern era, behind only Brandon Eisert (146), Bobby Korecky (138), and Fernando Cabrera (136). After a down year in 2023, Juenger bounced back last season, reestablishing himself as one of the most dependable arms in the Bisons’ bullpen.
“I think last year it was just staying focused on the task at hand,” the 24-year-old Juenger said from Blue Jays spring training in Dunedin, Florida. “I think in ’23, it was a really good challenge for me, struggling. So, (last season) it was like, okay let’s focus all year on bouncing back regardless of whatever happens. Kind of just showing me and the organization that ’23 was a fluke and this is who I am as a pitcher. It’s who I was when I came up. It’s who I am now still. So, for me, I think the biggest takeaway was just kind of even if your pitching bad, it always could be worse. I think at the end of the day, we’re human and everybody’s not always going to have a good day at the yard. So, as a reliever, how can you forget about it and just move on? That’s just kind of what my goal was last year – and I think that was kind of what I did.”
Juenger broke into Triple-A at just 21 years old. Photo Credit: Brian Frank, The Herd Chronicles
“Overall I felt like it was a pretty good season,” the Illinois native continued. “I felt like I was able to get back to what I did when I first came up (to Triple-A) in 2022. It was just simply attacking the strike zone. I felt like there were a couple months where my walks kind of got in the way, but for the most part I felt like I kept the walks down. The strikeouts were down, but I wasn’t really worried about that. It was more about – How can I get three outs as quickly as possible? There were a couple outings here and there that didn’t go my way, but overall for the season I thought it was pretty good.”
The former Missouri State Bear worked on perfecting his slider and locating his fastball in the offseason..
“Towards the end of the year, me and Drew (Bisons pitching coach Drew Hayes) were talking about my slider – and instead of chasing the shape in terms of metrically, it was more let’s just get it to a spot. So, this offseason I focused on execution of my slider and also kind of honing in on my fastball command and trying to attack the strike zone with that.”
Juenger on the Sahlen Field mound. Photo Credit: Brian Frank, The Herd Chronicles
Juenger is excited to start pitching in games again this spring. He enjoys the atmosphere of spring training and being able to learn from veteran hurlers on the Blue Jays’ staff.
“This is my third spring training, so I kind of know and have played with a lot of these guys in the room already, whether it was in camp or Triple-A,” he said. “But some of the guys around here, it’s impressive, and they’re great guys. Whether it’s Jeff Hoffman, who just got here, or Chad Green or Swanny (Erik Swanson), who’ve been here for a while. I love watching (Max) Scherzer’s sides. When you’ve got a guy like that, you just watch. Then you’ve also got guys like (Chris) Bassitt, (Alek) Manoah, (Kevin) Gausman, they’re all great guys too. They’re easy to talk to and they’re always there to help.”