The Dunedin Blue Jays have not just one, but now two Italians on the roster.
On Tuesday morning, Francys Romero reported that the Toronto Blue Jays promoted Giaconino Lasaracina to the D-Jays after a terrific start in the Florida Complex League. Born in Venezuela but representing Italy’s national team, the Blue Jays signed the catcher/first baseman on March 2nd earlier this year. Beginning his season with the FCL Blue Jays, Lasaracina slashed .365/.441/.788 with six home runs in just 59 plate appearances, good for an 186 wRC+. He also had an 11.9 BB% and 30.5 K%.
Those six home runs are tied for 18th in the organization, but unlike most others with that number of home runs, Lasaracina has just 59 plate appearances. Only two other players, Hedbert Perez and Sam Shaw, have hit home runs at a similar rate. This season, Perez has six home runs in just 48 plate appearances, while Shaw has five home runs in 98 plate appearances. While this is Lasaracina first taste of action in an affiliate system, the 22-year-old spent three seasons playing professional baseball in Italy. With Serie A1’s BC Settimo Baseball in 2022, Lasaracina slashed .406/.470/.574 with no home runs in 117 plate appearances.
The following season, he slashed .338/.417/.556 with two home runs and 13 doubles in 151 plate appearances, then slashed .387/.472/.613 with four home runs in 127 plate appearances in 2024.
While hitting six home runs and four doubles in 59 plate appearances is impressive, Lasaracina was doing that in a rookie league at the age of 22. Single-A will be a bit tougher for the catcher/first baseman, but a good start could see him potentially reach High-A by the end of the season.
Despite a fourth-placed finish in the 2026 World Baseball Classic, Italy is not your prototypical baseball country. In fact, only three players on Italy’s roster were born in Italy, with four the national team have four play in Serie A1 in 2025.
That said, Lasaracina is the second Italian to join the D-Jays recently, as Giacomo Taschin has made one start with the Single-A team this season. He was teammates with Lasaracina in the FCL, where the 19-year-old lefty posted a 1.99 ERA and 3.75 FIP in 22.2 innings of work. In his one Single-A start, Taschin gave up two earned runs over three innings of work.
