Toronto Blue Jays Minor League Starting Pitchers of the Month - April 2026

Welcome to the season's first installment of Minor League Starting Pitchers of the Month here on Jays Centre! While Toronto's farm system hasn't exactly been at the top of the league for a few years now, things definitely appear to be trending upward, especially on the pitching side. Lately, the Blue Jays have acquired and developed arms like Trey Yesavage, Mason Fluharty, and Braydon Fisher in short order. Now, thanks in part to the work of key figures in the front office such as veteran amateur scouting director Marc Tramuta and pitching director Justin Lehr, their prospect pool is full of intriguing starters, especially in the lower levels of the minors. Here's who stood out from the first month of games in 2026.

Honourable Mentions

Richard Gallardo, RHP (AA): 4 GS, 17.0 IP, 1.06 ERA, 4.28 FIP, 4.77 xFIP, 24.4% CSW
The underlying numbers suggest the 24-year-old Gallardo's microscopic ERA is a bit of a red herring, but he has still been the centerpiece for a New Hampshire rotation that doesn't currently have anyone else with an ERA under 4.20. The Blue Jays took him from the Cubs in the minor league portion of the 2024 Rule 5 draft, and he missed all of 2025 with an elbow injury, but he has come back strong. Thanks to his ability to pound the zone with a mid-90s sinker, he's running a 60% groundball rate for the Fisher Cats, and opponents are hitting just .176 against him. 

Landen Maroudis, RHP (A+): 5 GS, 16.0 IP, 1.69 ERA, 3.23 FIP, 5.07 xFIP, 24.2% CSW
After losing more than a calendar year due to elbow surgery, the 2023 fourth-round pick has fared well in his first stretch outside the player development complex in Florida. FanGraphs gave him 55 future value grades on his sinker, changeup, and slider, and the fact that his walk rate is down to ~7% after control issues plagued him following his return from injury is a good sign. He's not overpowering and gets hitters out in a variety of different ways, although a next step for him would be to keep the ball down, as opposing hitters are elevating, hence the bloated xFIP. Still, this is a promising development for a pitcher coming off a major injury who wasn't quite himself upon his immediate return. Hitters are 5 for their last 32 against him.

Top 3

#3. Daniel Guerra, RHP (A+): 5 GS, 24.1 IP, 2.22 ERA, 3.63 FIP, 3.50 xFIP, 32.6% CSW
Signed as an 18-year-old minor league free agent from Venezuela back in 2022, Guerra has quickly become a riser on the edges of Toronto's system and a workhorse for the Vancouver Canadians. He first broke out last season with a solid year in Dunedin, and his promotion to the Northwest League, where he's still younger than the average pitcher, has been quite the success so far. Standing at 6-foot-6 and 230 lbs, he's striking out 34.7% of opposing hitters so far, armed with a powerful high-90s fastball. He failed to crack FanGraphs' preseason top 40 Jays prospects list due to his underdeveloped secondaries and high walk rates, but he's turning heads after an excellent start that included an 11-strikeout performance on April 16 and an 18-whiff outing on the 27th.

#2. Johnny King, LHP (A+): 5 GS, 14.1 IP, 0.63 ERA, 2.61 FIP, 3.29 xFIP, 33.1% CSW
It's been a while since the Blue Jays have drafted and developed a lefty starter. The jury's still out on whether hot draft commodities Ricky Tiedemann and Brandon Barriera can make the leap, but it's looking more and more like Johnny King could be that guy. The 2024 third-round pick out of high school jumped all the way to No. 4 in Baseball America's latest preseason ranking of the Jays' top 30 prospects, with BA diagnosing him as a viable mid-rotation option once he gets to the big leagues. He's walking too many batters at the moment but has been effective thanks to a 38.6% K rate in Vancouver. In Dunedin last year, his mid-90s fastball averaged 17.6" of iVB from a low slot, making it a swing-and-miss pitch thanks to its deceptive flight path. He doesn't even turn 20 until late July, but he already looks like the class of the pitching prospect pool now that Yesavage is back in the big leagues.

#1. Nolan Perry, RHP (A): 4 GS (5 G), 21.0 IP, 1.71 ERA, 2.43 FIP, 2.58 xFIP, 33.0% CSW
The unanimously unranked Perry is bursting onto the scene with Dunedin in 2026. If this keeps up, it'll be a remarkable player development victory for the Blue Jays, who drafted him out of high school in the 12th round in 2022 and signed him to a bonus worth only $200,000. He had Tommy John surgery late in 2024 and has taken off since his return, with a ludicrous 38.7% K-BB% so far. The movement on his 94-mph fastball might be even more deceptive than King's at the moment, with 18.1" of iVB from a similarly low slot on the other side of the mound. His mid-80s slider and massive high-70s curveball are both running swing-and-miss rates over 50% on the young season as well. We're still quite early into his ascension, but making the most out of late-round picks is a hallmark of a successful front office. Let's hope Perry continues to dominate.

Interested in learning more about the Toronto Blue Jays' top prospects? Check out our comprehensive top prospects list that includes up-to-date stats, articles and videos about every prospect, scouting reports, and more!