Article: Blue Jays 2025 Top 20 Prospect Rankings: No. 8, Kendry Rojas

[Daniel Labude]

Welcome back to the Jays Centre Top 20 Prospect reveal and breakdown. Today, we will look into Kendry Rojas as we keep inching toward the magical top five. We will be deep diving into another Toronto Blue Jays pitching prospect, one with a lot of promise if he can stay healthy and avoid the injury issues many others have fallen victim to. Let us take the plunge and see what our #8 prospect looks like.

Top 20 Prospects: #16-20
Top 20 Prospects: #11-15
#10: Charles McAdoo
#9: Khal Stephen

8. Kendry Rojas, LHP, 22, Vancouver Canadians
The Toronto Blue Jays signed Rojas as an international free agent out of Cuba in 2020 for $215,000. He started his Blue Jays career in good fashion at the Complex League as an 18-year-old in 2021. It was only eight games and 23.2 innings pitched, but it came with a pristine ERA of 2.28 and some sparkling strikeout numbers. He struck out 44.8% of the batters he faced and only had a walk rate of 5.7%. In 2022, he received a well-earned promotion up to Low-A Dunedin. There, he showed similar promise for getting hitters out and limiting runs for someone younger than almost every batter he faced. What slowed his progress the most in 2022 was an injury that took out the majority of his summer. However, following a few months of rehab, he finished the year strong, only giving up three runs in his last four outings for Low-A Dunedin. In 2023, he would repeat the level and put together a complete season. Showing an extreme improvement in swing-and-miss stuff, he would get a promotion one more time to High-A Vancouver for the 2024 season. Like many Blue Jays pitchers, an injury once again limited him to just 13 games and 62.2 IP. To finish 2024, he was healthy again and made some noise, going deep into games and striking hitters out, setting himself up for the upcoming 2025 season to be a big one. 

What's To Like
The first thing that stands out when you see Rojas is his size and improving body. Currently, he is listed at 6-foot-2 and 190 pounds. He has grown noticeably stronger and now really fills out his frame compared to a more slender nature the previous few years. This has naturally helped him increase his fastball velocity from an average of 90.8 MPH in 2022 to 92.9 MPH in 2023. The increase in max velocity from those years was even more noticeable; he went from a max fastball of 94.3 MPH to 97.3 MPH. This past season, he was routinely sitting 94-96 MPH on his fastballs, which, as a left-handed pitcher, will play up even more than from the right side. This increase and sustainability of his velocity greatly improve the possible outcomes he could have as a starting pitcher in the major leagues. 

Rojas’ repertoire is a key to his success on the mound. He now features a plus 4-seam fastball sitting between 94 and 97 MPH. The pitch has a natural cutting action and works well up in the zone, where he used it often, with excellent command. In 2023, his four-seam fastball had very good iVB, routinely in the range of 18 inches. This also came with good extension on the pitch. The combination of iVB and extension will cause the fastball to work much better up in the zone, and when paired with his command, it results in a plus pitch. From 2023, you can see exactly how well he uses his four-seam fastball up in the strike zone. 

Rojas has a sinker, slider, and changeup to complete his pitch mix. He also pitches from an abbreviated stretch position and can use a hesitation delivery and a quick pitch. The slider comes in at 83 MPH but has had a wider range of velocities than most. The shape can vary a lot, but still misses bats frequently. The changeup averages around 85 MPH and can range from the low to upper 80s. The pitch has improved a lot over the years and flashed plus more frequently this past season. Rojas also has a sinker, which he can use to mix in a different look from time to time.

Rojas can get a lot of swing and miss from the four-seam fastball, slider, and changeup, usually in different areas of the strike zone. This improves the deception of the pitch mix when all of the pitches are working simultaneously. The fastballs are used up in the zone, the slider down to the glove side of the plate, and the changeup mostly down and to his arm side. Here are his strikeout pitches from 2023 (catcher's view, the middle box is the strike zone). 

Following his return from injury in 2024, Rojas racked up swinging strikes with an improved changeup, which was added to his already good fastball/slider combo. He finished the year averaging 14 swings and misses per game over his last ten games. This helped him to a strikeout rate of 27.9%. 

What To Work On
The main areas that Rojas needs to work on are his consistency overall and pitch quality for his slider and changeup. He has made big strides with his changeup, but now is the time to improve the consistency. Being able to throw a changeup for strikes and off the plate to get a swing and miss will go a long way, helping to move him up levels and towards the major leagues. Also, he needs to have more consistent pitch shapes with the slider and changeup. This will help with the control and command and lower his already great walk rate even more. He needs to work on his health and pitching deeper into games for an entire season. We saw Rojas pitch more innings per start at the end of the 2024 season, and that is the next step in his evolution as a starting pitcher. 

What's Next
Rojas should begin 2025 at Double-A New Hampshire. If he can routinely stay healthy and pitch five innings or more, he could reach Triple-A Buffalo by the end of the season. Improvements in his command of the slider and changeup can propel him up levels even faster. If everything comes together, he has the makings of a mid-rotation major league starting pitcher who should debut at the end of 2025 or early 2026. There are some promising times ahead for him if he can remain healthy and continue progressing.

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[Spanky99]

Some dude Seth decided to say, f*** you all, lol.

[Spanky99]

Some dude Seth decided to say, f*** you all, lol.

What the f*** is he doing? What a bird.