Nick Allgeyer's odd summer of 2021 saw the left-hander make his major-league debut with one inning of one game for the Toronto Blue Jays. In Buffalo. Then he finished the season in Triple-A. Again in Buffalo.
The St. Louis native gets to open 2022 with an equally bizarre footnote: He will throw the first regular season pitch across professional baseball Tuesday afternoon as he returns to Sahlen Field.
With the MLB season not starting until Friday, Moreno has stayed behind in Florida to get extra work. Visa issues delayed his arrival to spring training, and he missed a week of workouts trying to get his travel papers in order.Â
The Buffalo Bisons' 1:05 game against the Iowa Cubs is the first of the season at every level of the sport. The majors, of course, don't open their lockout-delayed season until Thursday. And every other minor-league opener set for Tuesday is a later start than what's planned in Buffalo.
"That's pretty cool," a smiling Allgeyer said prior to the Bisons' workout downtown Monday afternoon. "Any time you get to be an Opening Day starter it's pretty cool to get out there and throw the first pitch. And then I was just told we're actually playing the first game in pro ball this year, so that'll be pretty fun."
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Second-year Buffalo manager Casey Candaele never got the chance to be a visiting player in the traditional MLB opener in Cincinnati against the Reds. But even with some of his players still in Dunedin, Fla., with the Blue Jays, he's good with getting his team on the field first in the minors this year.
The Buffalo Bisons are preparing for Tuesday's opening day game against the Iowa Cubs.
"This is great. History. And it's Triple-A," Candaele cracked with his classic mischievous smile. "We haven't had a practice together with our entire team. They've been playing a lot and getting their reps in. So that's good. And then once they get here, they'll be thrown into the fray and we'll see what happens."
Tuesday's weather forecast is good, with clear skies and temperatures in the high 50s. The game will be the Bisons' first legitimate home opener in three years and a day, since an 8-3 win over Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on April 4, 2019. The 2020 minor-league season was canceled by the pandemic, and the Herd spent the first three months of last season playing in Trenton, N.J., while the Blue Jays were artists in residence in Buffalo.
Buffalo finally returned home for an abbreviated schedule that started on Aug. 10 and ran through the final week of September. A 10-game winner for Class A Dunedin in 2019, Allgeyer was 5-5 with a 5.34 earned-run average in 22 games for the Bisons last year (17 starts). He struck out 80 in 89 1/3 innings but also walked 52.
Allgeyer had a couple chances with Toronto and finally got into a game with his parents in the stands in Buffalo, throwing 14 pitches in the ninth inning to get the final three outs of Toronto's 11-1 win over Tampa Bay on July 2.
"Last year I thought there were a lot of positives," he said. "Obviously, getting a call to the big leagues is a lifelong goal. And that was pretty cool to have happened. There's some things pitching-wise that we needed to work on and I took care of that stuff in the offseason. I feel really good about going into the new season."
The University of Iowa product, known for his changeup and slider, increased his velocity to the mid-90s last season and said he spent the winter home in St. Louis working on his pitch design and trying to make sure he was repeating his delivery.Â
Buffalo Bisons manager Casey Candaele catches a ball during practice at Sahlen Field on April 4, 2022.
"They wanted him to get built up and get some length," Candaele said of the Blue Jays. "He's probably our guy this spring who has been pitching the most and has gone the longest amount of time. He'll be at a pitch limit because of the beginning of the season, but he's always gonna go out there and compete so it will be great."
Candaele said Allgeyer will be followed in the Buffalo rotation by Anthony Kay, Bowden Francis and Casey Lawrence. A fifth starter has yet to be determined.
The Bisons' 1:05 p.m. game April 5 against the Iowa Cubs, in fact, will be the first professional baseball game of 2022. It goes off before the delayed MLB season starts, and all other minor league openers are later that day.
Tuesday's game features another historical footnote, as it's Buffalo first game against Iowa, its former American Association rival, since the Bisons completed a three-game sweep of the Cubs with a 5-4, 10-inning victory in Game 3 of the American Association finals on Sept. 10, 1997.
Candaele was a player on that Buffalo team but did not appear in the clincher due to a knee injury. He vividly remembers the game and the wild clubhouse celebration that featured Bisons second baseman and current Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo handing the ball from the final out to Bisons owner Bob Rich Jr.
"I don't remember later that night," Candaele joked.
Even though they spent much of their season in New Jersey, the Bisons put up plenty of memories last year with a 79-47 record and a Northeast Division championship, their first division title since 2005. While no playoff format has been announced for the International League, it's expected there will be some sort of competition at the end of this season. There was simply a 10-game tournament at the end of the 2021 campaign and not any head-to-head series.
"When you're in the minor leagues, a lot of it is development, trying to get better get ready for the big leagues," Allgeyer said. "And one of the pieces to getting ready for the big leagues is winning. That's pretty much a lot of what matters up there. And I think it should matter down here to you. Winning is something that is a good experience. And you've got to be prepared for it."
