Hailing from Groves, Texas, right-hander Grant Rogers is just starting his professional baseball career in the Toronto Blue Jays organization. A product of the 2023 MLB Draft, Rogers was drafted in the 11th round out of McNeese State – a D1 program in the Southland Conference out in Lake Charles, Louisiana – where he pitched for two years after spending his first two campaigns with Panola College in NJCAA Division 1.

In his Junior year with McNeese, Rogers pitched to a 1.82 ERA with 88 strikeouts and a 0.936 WHIP through 103 2/3 innings, winning 12 games through 15 starts. After a successful season with the Cowboys, Rogers’ name was on the draft radar and the Jays selected the 6-foot-7 righty early into day three.

“The draft was a pretty stressful time,” said Rogers, speaking to Blue Jays Nation. ” Having to wait three days to hear your name was a trying time but it was also thrilling in a sense. I just wanted to hear my name called and have someone just give me a chance. I wanted to prove that I could do this and all I needed was just a chance with a team and the Toronto Blue Jays were the team to do that.”

As it turns out, the Jays have been interested in Rogers for some time.

“The Blue Jays have always been around and were one of the first teams interested in me from the get-go, even in my Junior College days,” said Rogers. “Chris Curtis, the area scout for the Jays (now northeast regional crosschecker) gave me a layout of the land of what the Blue Jays organization is like and gave me a great background on how the Jays value their players.”

Following the draft, Rogers and the rest of the Blue Jays’ newest draftees travelled down to Dunedin for introductions and signing the paperwork. To finish out the year, the Texas product did not join an affiliate program but instead worked with the staff off the field to get ready for the 2024 season. It’s a tactic the Jays have employed with numerous arms – Ricky Tiedemann, Brandon Barriera, and Landon Maroudis as recent examples – and Rogers slotted into that group as well.

“Once I was drafted, the Blue Jays wanted me to get stronger and take some time off after my Junior season,” said Rogers. “I think that was a wise decision and was incredibly beneficial because it put me on the right track to the 2024 season. They put me on the right path in terms of eating better nutrition-wise, lifting smarter in the gym and just putting in the work to benefit myself on the mound. I am incredibly grateful for the staff down there.”

Heading into the 2024 campaign, Rogers was assigned to single-A Dunedin and had an impressive debut against the Tampa Tarpons – going four innings while allowing two hits and four walks while striking out six to put up a zero on the scoreboard.

With the Jays, the 23-year-old went five or more innings nine times and held opponents to one or fewer runs through seven contests (five of which were 5+ innings). In single-A, Rogers was dialled in with his command to the tune of a 2.7 BB/9 while striking out opposing batters to an 8.5 K/9 rate – holding opponents to a .284 BAbip and a .686 OPS. At the time of his promotion, he sat second on the Blue Jays staff in games started (14) and innings pitched (74). Rogers works with a cutter, four-seam fastball, sinker, slider, and a changeup.

“Getting assigned to Dunedin was awesome because I was able to show off what I can do on the mound,” said Rogers, speaking about his start to the season. “These pro hitters have a much better approach than what you see back in college; you don’t get away with getting chase pitches outside the zone, these hitters have a plan of attack and you need to be just as sharp on the mound.”

Rogers also had positive notes about the Blue Jays team, “The staff in Dunedin are top notch and everything they did for me was fantastic, they made the atmosphere feel just like home which was such a great feeling. I have nothing but great things to say about that team.”

On July 30th, the Jays promoted Rogers to high-A Vancouver, with the starter being moved across the country (and North of the border) to the Northwest League.

His debut was easily the most impressive outing of his professional career, as Rogers made his debut under the bright lights of Rogers Field at Nat Bailey Stadium and held the Tri-City Dust Devils to three hits through eight innings. He also was commanding the strike zone the entire night, collecting nine strikeouts (single-game career high) while walking just one batter with a 66.67% strike rate, facing the minimum number of batters through seven of those innings. The outing in front of just under 5,000 Canadians fans earned Rogers the Northwest League Pitcher of the Week honour for July 29th – August 4th as the Texas product set a Canadians record (as a high-A club) with eight scoreless innings.

His second outing on Saturday against Eugene saw Rogers deal with a bit more adversity, as the Emeralds collected nine hits and four earned runs off the Jays prospect through 5 2/3 innings. Rogers was still firing on the mound, collecting seven strikeouts in the outing. The Canadians rotation arm has amassed a 2.63 ERA and 16 strikeouts through the small sample size with Vancouver (13 2/3 innings).

Since joining the team, Rogers has taken notice of the fans at Nat Bailey Stadium every time he steps on the mound.

“If I had to summarize it in one word, it would be electric,” said Rogers, speaking about his debut in front of a packed crowd of Canadians fans. “No words can really explain how that first inning felt in front of the home crowd. To go from pitching in front of roughly 400 fans to a crowd of roughly 5000 in Vancouver is such a crazy feeling, it’s once in a lifetime honestly. Similar to Dunedin, the staff were excellent here as well, helping me get acclimated to a new city and new team, they are top-notch.”

Looking ahead, Rogers is setting himself up for a run with the Canadians, who are looking to repeat as NWL champions. The club sit two games behind first-half series winners in Spokane and five games ahead of Hillsboro for the second postseason spot with just over three weeks left in the season.