The Toronto Blue Jays prospect pool has been bitten by the injury bug these past few weeks, especially regarding pitchers. Ricky Tiedemann, Landen Maroudis, and Kendry Rojas are currently on the IL. At the same time, southpaw Brandon Barriera underwent internal brace surgery on his pitching elbow, also referred to as hybrid Tommy John surgery, and will be on the sidelines for at least a year and likely more, another pitcher on the sidelines within the Jays farm system.

While some Jays pitching prospects are struggling to stay healthy, a look towards the West Coast will see one right-hander thriving under the bright lights of Nat Bailey Stadium.

Ryan Jennings, drafted in the fourth round out of the 2022 MLB Draft out of Lousiana Tech, has been outstanding for the Vancouver Canadians to start the 2024 season. The 24-year-old made three starts for the Canadians to finish the 2023 campaign to help the team capture the championship and he returned to the Northwest League to start this season as well. He was the team’s Opening Day starter.

Through four starts, Jennings owns a 0.56 ERA through 16 innings while holding opponents to a .132 average. He owns a 1.00 WHIP and has allowed just seven hits and one earned run on the season (out of four) while striking out 17 batters. Opposing hitters own a .171 BABip against Jennings and a .481 OPS while boasting a 9.6 K/9 compared to a 5.1 BB/9, which is a bit elevated at the time and may need to be reigned in before a potential move to double-A New Hampshire.

While he sits just below the qualified pitcher line with his 16 innings, he leads the Canadians starters in terms of ERA, hits allowed, WHIP, opponents’ batting average, and earned runs while ranking second in strikeouts.

The Texas product has allowed just one hit in three of his starts with Vancouver and has accumulated four or more strikeouts in three out of four outings as well. Jennings owns a 60.0 strike percent rate and has increased his ground ball rate to 45.7% to start the year. Working with a sinker, curveball, four-seam fastball and a slider, Jennings can keep hitters off balance while hitting the mid-90s with his sinker/fastball while mixing in the offspeed well, using his curveball as a plus strikeout pitch.

An elbow injury limited Jennings to just 43 innings last season and the right-hander is looking to make a statement this year. Should he find a way to reel in the walks and increase his pitch counts, which will likely be kept in check after the elbow injury last season, Jennings will likely be in double-A within the next few months for his next challenge as he continues to work his way up the minor league ladder.