This might be a fitting way to start a story about Rowdy Tellez, since this is a fantasy a lot of Toronto fans are conjuring these days. (To fill out the picture, imagine him in a Blue Jays’ uniform. You might want to add a little more crowd noise too.)



That was one of 23 homers Rowdy Tellez whacked last year while playing first base for Double-A New Hampshire. Just 21, he finished with a .917 OPS and 152 wRC+ (100 is average). And when the Blue Jays lost Edwin Encarnacion to free agency after the season, suddenly a few fans dared to whisper that perhaps Tellez could make it all the way to the majors in 2017.



That notion, of course, was born of desperation. It arose from widespread angst over Encarnacion’s departure and the uninviting prospect of Justin Smoak getting regular at-bats as the team’s first baseman.



The Jays will not say where Tellez will start the new season, but it will not be in the big leagues. Buffalo would seem the best...