Article: The Blue Jays Have a Cuban Pitching Pipeline

[Simon Li]

The Blue Jays do not have a rich history of Cuban players coming over and playing up north, but there have been a few that have had solid success with the Jays, most notably a handful of position players. Shortstop Yunel Escobar, first baseman and designated hitter Kendrys Morales, and most recently Lourdes Gurriel Jr. were all productive bats (at least somewhat) for the Jays.

Only recently have the Jays had a pitcher come from Cuba, with Yariel Rodríguez being the first and only Cuban pitcher to play for the Blue Jays' major league team. That could change very soon, as the Jays have developed a little bit of a Cuban pitching pipeline, with five separate Cuban pitchers across four different levels all finding some success within the organization. 

RHP Yariel Rodríguez - MLB - Toronto Blue Jays
Most are already familiar with this hard-throwing righty who came out of Japan. Rodríguez was signed as a starter in the offseason of 2023-24, although he mostly pitched out of relief in NPB for the Chunichi Dragons. He had mixed success as a starter in 2024 for the Blue Jays, and although he accumulated 1.0 fWAR with a 4.47 ERA/4.34 FIP, he was ultimately moved back to the bullpen at the start of 2025.

From there, he has been excellent, raising his fastball velocity by over two ticks in shorter stints and pitching to a 2.86 ERA, although his FIP has been more mediocre at a 4.25. He has been more effective as a reliever relative to as a starter, as his strikeout his risen by 2.1%, and his walk rate has decreased by 1.7%. He’s been slightly more homer-prone, but that could just be a bit of variance, as his xFIP and xERA are down compared to last season. The 28-year-old has excelled at limiting hard contact, with a 68th percentile hard-hit rate and a 92nd percentile average exit velocity as well. “La Muneca” should be a staple in the Jays bullpen for the remainder of his contract, as his four-pitch mix to help him deal with righties and lefties plays up in the 'pen. 

RHP Lazaro Estrada - Triple-A - Buffalo Bisons
Although Yariel Rodríguez was the first Cuban pitcher to pitch in the majors for the Jays, Lazaro Estrada has been the longest-standing Cuban pitcher within the organization; he signed out of Cuba in January of 2018 as a 19-year-old. Estrada got off to a good start in Rookie ball, but the COVID year in 2020 and injuries limited his innings, so he was unable to advance past High A until last season.

Still, the righty has had solid success as a starter within the organization throughout his minor league career, and the now 26-year-old Estrada has pitched decently as a starter for the Buffalo Bisons. He also uses a four-pitch mix, with the pitch he uses the most being a four-seam fastball that sits 92-94 mph. The pitch has 18.5 inches of ride and 8.7 inches of run, but its mediocre velocity and extension allow opponents to hit the ball really hard when they make contact. However, the pitch also generates chase at an above-average rate, and a whiff rate of 22.2% due to its ride, as well as the flat approach angle at which it comes into the zone, as he has a -4.6 Vertical Approach Angle (VAA). Estrada relies on the pitch heavily because of his ability to zone it, but he does leave it over the heart of the plate a little too often.

The more intriguing aspects of his arsenal are his secondary pitches, as he has a very strong feel for spin, which he utilizes with two different breaking balls. His slider is a bit tighter with less spin. It sits in the mid-80s, and he uses it more often against righties. It has a near 40% whiff rate, and hitters chase it at a solid rate as well. The curveball is a big, slow looper that he throws in the mid-70s with over 2700 rpm, and it has -10.6 inches of induced vertical break along with -9.4 inches of glove side movement. The big movement makes it hard for hitters to square up, but he struggles to throw it in the zone, and hitters can spit on it after picking up the spin.

Lastly, Estrada throws a splitter mostly against lefties, which is also in the mid-80s. It doesn’t get that much whiff or chase, but hitters struggle to square it up as they only have a .160 batting average against the splitter. He’s currently a depth starter in Buffalo, but his stuff may tick up in a relief setting. He’s a little undersized, but with a starter’s arsenal, it still may be worth using him as one. 

RHP Rafael Sanchez - Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats
Rafael Sanchez was the inspiration for this article, as just last week, he pitched a seven-inning no-hitter. Sanchez was signed out of Cuba in 2022 and immediately showed some good results in Rookie ball with a 3.00 ERA across 51 innings pitched. Strong results followed in 2023 in Low A, where he pitched to a 2.27 ERA/2.91 FIP and showed some strong stuff. That earned him a promotion to High A, where he struggled a bit against advanced hitters but still had decent peripherals.

In 2024, Sanchez was again solid, splitting time between High A and Double A with a 3.64 ERA/3.27 FIP. He struck out 23.6% of batters to a 7.1% walk rate. As a 25-year-old, he’s now repeating Double A, and although he had that no-hitter last week, his ERA is a little elevated compared to last season. He has a 4.97 ERA, but his FIP is in the mid-3.00s, suggesting that he’s been a little unlucky. The strikeout stuff isn’t there against more advanced hitters in Double A, but he’s done a good job avoiding the long ball.

Sanchez throws a four-pitch mix himself, with a slider, a four-seam fastball, a splitter, and a cutter that he mixes in slightly less often. There’s no public pitch data on his pitches since 2023, so I’m not confident in saying how his pitches look, but he’s another depth starter option scouted and developed by the Jays. 

LHP Kendry Rojas - Low-A Dunedin Blue Jays (On Rehab Assignment)
The lefty pitcher was one of many people expected to have a breakout campaign prior to the start of the minor league season, as Rojas had an excellent performance in the "Spring Breakout" game, where he was touching the upper 90s with his fastball in an abbreviated appearance. He continues to improve year-over-year, but unfortunately, he was shelved early in the season due to a midsection injury.

After two appearances in the Complex League (5.0 IP, 2 ER, 8 K), Rojas is just returning to pitch on a rehab assignment in Dunedin, and he's pitched four scoreless innings so far. The early velo gains are noticeable, as he is sitting 94-96 mph on his sinker with 18 inches of ride and 11 inches of run. The Dunedin ball is slightly different, so expect those numbers to regress a bit as he heads back up to High A, but he's showing some strong stuff very early in the season. If the velocity holds over longer starts, Rojas will have some serious momentum. For more on Jays Centre's number 10 prospect, please check out our scouting report on him!

RHP Silvano Hechavarria - Florida Complex League/Low-A Dunedin Blue Jays
The newest pitching addition to the Jays organization is this hard-throwing righty. Hechavarria was signed out of Cuba in 2024 as a 21-year-old for a signing bonus of $215,000. He was hidden away a little bit in Rookie ball his first year with the organization, as they presumably wanted him to get his feet wet against weaker competition, but he has finally made his way stateside in 2025.

Hechavarria pitched 17 innings in the Florida Complex League to start the year, and although he didn't strike many batters out, he pitched to a 2.12 ERA/5.15 FIP. After a plethora of players were promoted from Dunedin to Vancouver, Hechavarria was subsequently promoted to Dunedin, where he's made three appearances already and has struck out a quarter of the batters he has faced while walking only 6.3%.

The 22-year-old has three pitch mixes with a high-80s cutter that he throws 36.2% of the time as his main offering. It's been highly effective in Low A, with a 45.2% chase rate and a 39.5% whiff rate. His high-powered fastball sits at 94-96 mph, and it has 18 inches of ride and 10 inches of run that comes at a -5.2 VAA. His fastball also has solid chase and whiff rates. In addition, he throws a sinker that's 94 mph, which is more for boring in against righties, with 16 inches of ride and 13.5 inches of run. He does have a changeup that he mixes in 5.6% of the time, but he mainly throws the other three pitches. As a slightly older pitcher, the big righty is definitely more advanced than the competition in Low A, but the raw stuff is decent. 

The Jays have done an excellent job scouting Cuban players, and although they don't have a dedicated scout for Cuba like they do for other Latin American countries, they have recently found talent in international free agency that they hadn't found previously. Yariel Rodríguez was the first Cuban pitcher for the Jays, but he definitely will not be the last. 

Stats updated prior to games on June 17.

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