With injuries to several pitchers this spring, the Blue Jays pitching depth is already being tested before the season begins.



Alek Manoah has been dealing with a shoulder injury, the same injury Kevin Gausman is seemingly close to getting over. On Tuesday, it was reported by Sportsnet’s Hazel Mae that both Jordan Romano and Erik Swanson will be out for a few days, which isn’t great news.

With all that being said, this is the <a href="https://bluejaysnation.com/news/digging-into-some-position-player-prospects-the-blue-jays-could-call-up-in-2024">second part of a mini-series where we’ll look at prospects that the Jays could call up in 2024. Yesterday, we looked at some position players</a>, today, it’ll be the pitchers.

Let’s start with some starters.
<h2>Paxton Schultz</h2>
Paxton Schultz may be a prospect you’ve never heard of, but he is someone to keep an eye on in 2024. Last season with the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats, Schultz posted a 3.30 ERA and a 3.02 FIP, along with a 27.3 K% and a 9.6 BB% in 46.1 innings pitched. All 10 of his appearances were starts.

The 26-year-old was called up to Triple-A, where he had a 5.92 ERA and a 6.09 FIP in 62.1 innings pitched. The K% dropped to 20.6% while the BB% rose to 14.3%, but like with all prospects, the jump from Double-A to Triple-A is a tough one.

https://twitter.com/BuffaloBisons/status/1676010111205031938

Between the two levels, Schultz finished with a 4.80 ERA and 4.78 FIP in 108.2 innings pitched, along with a 23.3 K% and a 12.4 BB%. His 108.2 innings pitched were the fourth-most in the organization.

Schultz is armed with a four-seam fastball, cutter, curveball, slider, and changeup, with the latter being his best pitch. The fastball averaged 93 mph in Buffalo last season.
<h2>Ricky Tiedemann</h2>
It’s Ricky Tiedemann, how in-depth do I need to go on the 21-year-old left-handed pitcher?

Last season between Single-A, Double-A, and Triple-A, Tiedemann had a 3.83 ERA and a 1.98 FIP in 47 innings pitched. His 43.7 K% was the highest in the organization with more than 30 innings pitched, while his 31.5 K-BB% was the highest as well. A worrisome sign about Tiedemann last season was the increase in walk rate, as his BB% ballooned to 12.2% as opposed to a 9.6 BB% in 2022.

https://twitter.com/Brennan_L_D/status/1696673591436448232

The fastball sits in the high-90s but drops to the mid-90s as he accumulates innings. His off-speed stuff is just as good, as his changeup and slider are both considered plus pitches, along with a bulldog mentality on the mound.

There's a solid chance Tiedemann will get big league experience in 2024, but first, the priority for the young lefty is to remain healthy and accumulate some innings in 2024.
<h2>Chad Dallas</h2>
Early in Spring Training, Chad Dallas’ name was all over the place as a pitcher to look forward to in 2024. Unfortunately, he didn’t have a great time this spring, posting an 8.31 ERA and a 7.15 FIP in 4.1 innings pitched, making two starts and striking out 33.3% of batters and walking just 4.8% of them.

Dallas started the 2023 season well with the Vancouver Canadians, posting a 2.03 ERA and a 2.88 FIP in 26.2 innings pitched, which included a 36.3 K% and an 11.8 BB%. This led to a promotion to Double-A, where he had a 4.10 ERA and a 4.41 FIP in 96.2 innings pitched. With the jump to the upper minors, his K% dropped to 25.8%, but so too did his BB% to 8.9%.

https://twitter.com/Brennan_L_D/status/1765901862564147487

The 23-year-old features a changeup that sits around 93-94 mph, along with the best slider in the organization and a cutter that gives him a pitch to get left-handed batters out. Moreover, his curveball is incredibly underrated and is a good get me over pitch.
<h2>CJ Van Eyk</h2>
CJ Van Eyk was selected in the second-round of the 2020 draft, and pitched in 2021 when he had a 5.83 ERA and a 4.55 FIP in 80.1 innings pitched with the Vancouver Canadians. Unfortunately, he was pulled from an August game and missed the entire 2022 season due to Tommy John surgery.

He finally returned to the mound in 2023 and posted a 3.67 ERA and a 4.72 FIP in 34.1 innings pitched between the Florida Complex League, Single-A, and Double-A. In an attempt to give him more innings, the Jays sent him to the Arizona Fall League where he posted a 2.51 ERA in 14.1 innings pitched.

https://twitter.com/Brennan_L_D/status/1769114996091363544

Now 25, Van Eyk lost some significant time in his development, but has pitched encouragingly lately between the AFL and his tenure in Double-A. He features  a 92.5 mph fastball, a mid-80s slider, and a low-80s curveball from his time in Dunedin last season. Van Eyk did hit 96.6 mph with the fastball during the Blue Jays Spring Breakout game though, so that’s an interesting development.
<h2>Yosver Zulueta</h2>
Yosver Zulueta had a big breakout season in 2022, where he pitched at every single “A” affiliate. However, his 2023 season didn’t go nearly as well, as he was basically moved into the bullpen full-time.

With the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons, Zulueta posted a 4.08 ERA and a 4.07 FIP in 64 innings pitched, along with a 25.4 K% and a 15.7 BB%. Despite touching 100 mph at times, the K% is rather low, while he has struggled throughout his Blue Jay career with the walks.

https://twitter.com/Brennan_L_D/status/1669142377699631104

Now, that may be because of losing two seasons to the pandemic in 2020, as well as Tommy John surgery (also in 2020) as well as a torn ACL in his first inning of his first outing. It also explains why as a 24-year-old, the Blue Jays accelerated Zulueta up the minor league ladder.

Zulueta has a four pitch mix, a fastball that is tagged either as a four-seamer or sinker, a curveball, a changeup, and a slider that is sometimes incorrectly tagged as a sweeper. A lot of that has to do with him throwing that pitch inconsistently, but how do you give up on a pitcher who throws 100 mph on occasion?
<h2>Hayden Juenger</h2>
Hayden Juenger is one of several players who had a big year in 2022, along with Tiedemann, Zulueta, and Jimmy Robbins, who won’t be listed here (but keep an eye on him!)

Last season, Juenger had a 6.33 ERA and a 4.82 FIP in 75.1 innings pitched with Triple-A Buffalo in a bulk role. The ERA, which is admittedly horrific, was in part due to a .375 BABIP, along with batters hitting 11 home runs, which is actually down from the 18 home runs he conceded in 2022.

https://twitter.com/Brennan_L_D/status/1566501867651301376

Juenger has had a good Spring Training, posting a 3.52 ERA and a 7.08 FIP in 7.2 innings pitched, which includes a 27.6 K% (similar to last season), but also a 3.4 BB%. A big knock on Juenger since the draft was not just the long ball, but also the command and control as he had an 11.9 BB% in Triple-A in 2022 and a 11.2 BB% last season.

The 23-year-old has a three-pitch mix, a fastball that averaged 94.2 mph last season, as well as a slider and a changeup. All three pitches are at worst average, which is a good sign.
<h2>Connor Cooke</h2>
There’s a lot to like about Connor Cooke. Last season between High-A, Double-A, and Triple-A, the 24-year-old reliever posted a 4.17 ERA and a 2.78 FIP in 45.1 innings pitched. More impressively, he had a 40.4 K% and a 30 K-BB%, ranking second in both statistics for any pitcher with 30+ innings pitched.

Cooke rightly received an invitation to Spring Training, where he now has a 9.53 ERA in 5.2 innings pitched. However, reliever ERA in a small sample size is dumb, as prior to Tuesday’s outing where he gave up five earned runs in two thirds of an inning pitched, Cooke had a 1.80 ERA and 4.09 FIP.

https://twitter.com/Brennan_L_D/status/1664800632849551362

Not just that, but the stuff he throws is disgusting. Last season in Buffalo towards the end of the season, his fastball averaged 94 mph but has been up to nearly triple-digits in the past. Moreover, the slider only averaged 82.1 in Buffalo, but had an average spin rate of 2791.1 RPM and had hit over 3,000 RPM.

This isn’t to mention his changeup, which averages 9.2 mph slower than his fastball. It’s the weakest of his three pitches, but still an effective weapon against left-handed batters.

Out of anyone here except for Hagen Danner, who we’ll get too, Cooke has the best chance of pitching for the big league club in 2024.
<h2>Jimmy Burnette</h2>
If you’ve read any of my prior articles, you know I’m a big sucker for left-handed pitchers that can throw hard. In New Hampshire to start the season, Burnette posted a 2.63 ERA and a 2.10 FIP in 13.2 innings pitched, which included a fantastic 41.3 K%, but a less fantastic 14.3 BB%.

His tenure in Triple-A did not go as smoothly, as he had a 10.36 ERA and a 6.26 FIP in 28.2 innings pitched, with his K% dropping to 25.2% and his BB% rising to 18.4%. With an invitation to Spring Training, Burnette posted a 6.75 ERA and a 5.19 FIP in 1.1 innings pitched, including a 25 BB% and K%.

https://twitter.com/Brennan_L_D/status/1672051636649488384

<a href="https://www.prospectslive.com/2023-aaa-statcast-data">According to Prospects Live’s stat cast tool</a>, Burnette averaged a tick under 93 mph on his two-seam fastball and a tick under 91 mph on his four-seamer. However, he’s been up to 97 mph in the past, hence the “sucker for a hard throwing lefty”. His breaking balls are pretty good as well, as the curveball sits high-70s with a 26.7 whiff%, and his slider sits in the low-80s with a 28.1 whiff%. For context, the sinker has a 29.1 whiff%

Command and control is an important factor for Burnette moving forward.
<h2>Hagen Danner</h2>
Hagen Danner is the only pitcher on this list with big league experience. The 25-year-old pitched  just a third of an inning before an injury ended his season, but he found success in the minor leagues.

Despite converting from a catcher to a pitcher in 2020, Danner is one of the most exciting prospect relievers in the organization. In nine innings in Double-A last season, he posted a 3 ERA and a 0.39 FIP, along with a 43.2 K% and a 5.4 BB%.

Danner was promoted to Triple-A, where he had a 3.81 ERA and a 5.51 FIP in 28.1 innings pitched, along with a 31.5 K% and a 6.3 BB%. While the strikeout rate and walk rate are impressive, Danner struggled with the long ball as he gave up eight home runs in Triple-A.

https://twitter.com/Brennan_L_D/status/1763750850915135732

With the Blue Jays in Spring Training, Danner has a 4.50 ERA and a 5.85 FIP in six innings pitched. Once again, the 30.8 K% is fantastic, the 3.8 BB% is even more impressive considering he spent his first three seasons in the organization as a catcher. However, in just six innings, he’s given up two home runs, which is concerning but fixable.

What makes Danner so exciting is his mid-90s fastball that has touched 98 mph and potentially 99 mph in the past. On top of that, he has an upper-80s slider that had a fantastic 45.5 whiff% in Buffalo, as well as a big looping curveball that sits in the high-70s that had a 35.7 whiff% last season.

If Danner can sort out the long ball, he has “high leverage reliever” written all over him. Even if he doesn’t, he has the talent to be a big league pitcher.
<h2>Mason Fluharty</h2>
In the position player article, I looked at two players who only reached Double-A but could still impact the 2024 Blue Jays. I’ll do the same here.

Mason Fluharty, nicknamed “Shake”,  is a disgusting left-handed pitcher. Selected in the fifth-round of the 2022 draft, Fluharty started the 2023 season with the High-A Vancouver Canadians and had a fantastic 0.59 ERA and a 2.79 FIP in 15.1 innings pitched. To go along with that, he had a 36.2 K% and an 8.6 BB%.

https://twitter.com/Brennan_L_D/status/1762924014178107501

Of course, Fluharty was promoted to Double-A, where he had a 4.25 ERA and a 4.06 FIP in 42.1 innings pitched. The K% dropped to 28% while his BB% rose a bit to 9.3%, but that’s to be expected as he jumped to the upper-minors.

The 22-year-old earned an invitation to Spring Training, where he has a 5.68 ERA and a 6.06 FIP in 6.1 innings pitched. Like Cooke, you have to look past the stats as he hadn’t given up a run in his first 5.2 innings of work while striking out nine batters, before a rough outing where he gave up four earned runs in two thirds of an inning.

Fluharty sits in the low-90s with the fastball, but plays up due to his deception. His best pitch is his slider, which is very difficult for left-handed batters to hit.
<h2>T.J. Brock</h2>
T.J. Brock was selected in the same draft as Fluharty, a round after the left-handed pitcher. The 24-year-old’s nickname is “Bake”, <a href="https://www.bluebirdbanter.com/2023/6/11/23756534/toronto-blue-jays-podcast-around-the-nest-episode-4-june-2023">and there was a fantastic episode of Around the Nest (a must listen) about the friendship Brock and Fluharty have</a>.

Like Fluharty, Brock spent time between High-A and Double-A in 2023. With Vancouver, he had a 1.77 ERA and a 2.92 FIP in 20.1 innings pitched, along with a 39.2 K% and an 11.4 BB%. In Double-A, his ERA ballooned to 6.68 while posting a 4.30 FIP in 32.1 innings pitched. However, his K% in Double-A barely took a hit, as it sat at 36.4%, while his BB% actually dropped to 9.1%.

https://twitter.com/Brennan_L_D/status/1569095672191766528

Brock received an invitation to big league camp, where he has a 3 ERA and a 4.02 FIP in 3 innings pitched, along with a 28.6 K% and a 21.4%.

Also like Fluharty, Brock has nasty stuff. The right-handed pitcher has a high-90s fastball that has touched 100 mph before, while his gyro slider is one of the best in the organization. In fact, Fangraphs and MLB Pipeline both gave him a 70-grade for that pitch, with a 60 grade for the fastball.

The command could use some work and MLB Pipeline’s bio also notes he needs to get into dominant counts, but it’s not a matter of “if” Brock makes the big leagues, but “when”.

<hr />

As always, you can follow me on Twitter @Brennan_L_D.

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Digging into some pitching prospects the Blue Jays could call up in 2024

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