Minor League Review: Looking at the notables from Blue Jays Rookie League teams
Photo credit: © Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
Sep 28, 2024, 10:00 EDTUpdated: Sep 28, 2024, 12:36 EDT
There was some bad and some good for the two Toronto Blue Jays rookie ball affiliates.
To end the month of September, we’re going to take a look at how minor league teams in the Toronto Blue Jays system did in 2024, as well as their top performers. In this article, let’s take a look at the Dominican Summer League Blue Jays and the Florida Complex League Blue Jays seasons. We’ll start with the DSL Jays.
Dominican Summer League Blue Jays
The good: It was a solid year for the Dominican Summer League Blue Jays. Overall, they finished with a 30-24 record, fourth in the Dominican Summer League Central division. While they didn’t make the postseason, they finished with a .556 win percentage, the highest of any of the six teams in the Jays system.
It was a season to remember for Randy Soto, who finished the season slashing .269/.485/.351 with no home runs and 11 doubles in 194 plate appearances. The catcher is certainly a prospect worth monitoring in the coming seasons.
They also had a handful of prospects that ranked as top international prospects according to MLB Pipeline in their 2024 international free agent section. Those prospects are Andres Arias, Franklin Rojas, and Angel Guzmán.
Arias missed a large portion of the season but made his professional debut towards the end of the year, where he slashed .309/.441/.418 in 69 plate appearances, hitting six doubles. Catcher Franklin Rojas was also an above-average hitter, slashing .258/.398/.348 with one home run in 114 plate appearances, along with a higher BB% (14.9%) than K% (14%).
As for Guzmán, he slashed .263/.350/.344 with nine doubles and two triples in 183 plate appearances, finishing the season with a 94 wRC+. Not the best season, but there were certainly some positives.
In total, the DSL Jays hit just 14 home runs, which isn’t surprising given most of these players are still teenagers. Aldo Gaxiola and Yorman Licourt each hit four home runs. The latter is 20 years old. Pascual Archilla hit two home runs, while David Beckles, Juan Rosas, Endry Reyes, and Franklin Rojas all hit one home run.
In total, the DSL Jays used 19 pitches, five of which pitched less than ten innings. The best pitchers were Brazilian righty Sann Omosako and Cuban righty Silvano Hechavarría. Omosako posted a 2.44 ERA and a 3.78 FIP in 55.1 innings pitched, along with a 21.2 K% and a 1.8 BB%. On the other hand, Hechavarría had a 1.84 ERA and a 3.55 FIP in 49 innings pitched, along with a 29.4 K% and an 8.2 BB%.
There were some other notable pitchers as well, as Eduar Gonzalez posted a 3.78 ERA and a 3.58 FIP in 47.2 innings pitched, along with a 24.4 K% and an 8.6 BB%. Reliever Ramon Suarez was terrific, finishing the season with a 0.79 ERA and a 1.46 FIP in 22.2 innings pitched.
Overall, it was a pretty good season for the DSL Jays, and quite a few of these players will move stateside for the 2025 season.
Toronto Blue Jays TD Ballpark in Dunedin
Florida Complex League Blue Jays
The bad: Statistically, the FCL Blue Jays were the worst team in all of minor league baseball in 2024. Their 12-44 record gave them a .214 winning percentage, the worst of any of the 200 teams in minor league baseball.
Of any player with 50 or more plate appearances (to remove rehabbing players), Kendry Chirinos was by far the team’s best position player. The 19-year-old slashed .300/.402/.443 with two home runs in 164 plate appearances for a 134 wRC+, the only wRC+ considered average or higher.
The next best batter in terms of wRC+ was Canadian Sam Shaw, who slashed .220/.361/.304 with two home runs in 209 plate appearances. Enmanuel Bonilla had a rough season, slashing .186/.257/.299 with a team-leading four home runs in 214 plate appearances, finishing the season with a 54 wRC+.
Former top-30 prospect, Luis Meza, finished the season slashing .274/.361/.290, but only hit one extra-base hit, a double. Overall, it just wasn’t a good season for the bats, but pitching wasn’t much better.
Of the 15 players with ten innings or more pitched, only four of them finished with an ERA below four. Left-handed reliever Luis Torres finished the season with a 2.17 ERA and a 4.17 FIP in 29 innings pitched, along with a 26.7 K% and an 8.3 BB%. Eminen Flores was their best starting pitcher, finishing the season with a 3.48 ERA and a 4.89 FIP in 44 innings pitched. Both these pitchers also pitched with the Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays.
The other two pitchers with an ERA below 4.00 were Jorge Bautista and Johan Simon. Both players are currently 23 years old, and the former is a free agent. It was a season to forget for the FCL Jays.
As always, you can follow me on Twitter @Ryley_L_D.