Simon Li

To be honest, watching him hit that triple was one of the highlights of last season, haha

After a trade to the Cardinals and a shoulder injury, former Blue Jays third-round pick Adam Kloffenstein rejoins the team on a minor-league deal with an invite to spring training. Adam Kloffenstein was the Blue Jays' third-round pick in 2018, coming as part of a package deal with high school teammate Jordan Groshans, whom the Jays selected in the first round. Kloffenstein received a $2.45-million signing bonus, a sign that the Jays really believed in his potential, and he'll get another chance to reach it. On Tuesday, Ari Alexander reported that Kloffenstein will return to the Blue Jays on a minor league deal with an invitation to spring training. Although Groshans and Kloffenstein have not found nearly the success that they'd hoped for, both have signed minor league deals in the past few days, still looking to make their way back to the majors. Both Groshans and Kloffenstein were once highly-ranked prospects in the Toronto farm system, and both were traded before their prospect sheen could wear off. Groshans netted Zach Pop and popcorn menace Anthony Bass, while Kloffenstein was traded with fellow right-hander Sem Robberse for the enigmatic Jordan Hicks. Groshans bounced from organization to organization, with stints with Miami, the team formerly located in Oakland, the Yankees, and finally landing with the Royals organization. Despite running a 4.74 ERA and 5.51 FIP in triple-A Memphis in 2024, Kloffenstein has had much more recent success than Groshans. The Jays are looking to rediscover the magic that allowed him to go 5-0 with a 3.00 ERA over 17 starts with the double-A New Hampshire Fishercats in 2023. It doesn't hurt that the Cardinals are not known for their pitching development. The big righty wields a deep arsenal, mixing and matching six pitches: a four-seamer, sinker, cutter, sweeper, curveball, and changeup. Kloffenstein's bread and butter is the sinker-slider combination. At 6-foot-5 and 245 pounds, Kloffenstein was expected to grow into veloctiy, but although his four-seamer reached 94.4 mph in 2024, it averaged just 91.8 and was down to 88 before a shoulder injury ended his season in July. The sinker helps Kloffenstein induce a ton of ground balls; he put up 49.0% groundball rate, which was good for 86th percentile in Triple A. His sweeper on the other hand, was much better at generating chases and whiffs. With a solid 14.9 inches of horizontal break, it ran a 37.8% whiff rate, and when it did get hit, it had a minuscule 17.6% hard-hit rate. During his short stint in the big leagues, pitch models also rated his cutter fairly highly. Kloffstein has just one major league appearance under his belt: he pitched a perfect top of the eighth inning during the Rickwood Field game on June 20. Despite the plethora of pitches and the large frame, it seems unlikely that Kloffenstein will be a decent back-end of the rotation starter, as he has fringy command at best, without any standout pitches to make up for a poor walk rate. Kloffenstein walked 11% of the batters he faced in Triple A last season while striking out fewer than 20%. However, Toronto's familiarity with Kloffenstein could be a boon. Maybe the team knows that could help him unlock his peak form. Hopefully, spending spring training alongside veterans with deep repertoires like Chris Bassitt, Kevin Gausman, and José Berríos could help Kloffenstein figure out how to wield his pitches more effectively as well. Kloffenstein's return to the Jays doesn't guarantee that he'll find success, but he's still only 24, with two options remaining. He's a depth piece for a team that needs just that. He'll be competing with Jake Bloss, Adam Macko, and Eric Lauer to be one of the first guys up in case of a starting pitching injury. View full article

I think his profile suits best as a reliever actually, he's already 25 years old, and will turn 26 during the 2025 season. He was good as a starter against younger competition, but I think his best path moving forward is as a reliever.

Arjun NimmalaRicky TiedemannTrey YesavageOrelvis MartinezJake BlossAlan RodenKendry RojasLanden MaroudisWill WagnerJosh KasevichFernando PerezAdam MackoKhal StephenCharles McAdooRJ SchreckJonatan ClaseSean KeysJohnny KingVictor AriasPeyton Williams

The Blue Jays have released their non-roster invitees to spring training, with five pitchers who pitched for a Jays minor league team that has not yet been added to the 40-man roster. After a disastrous season from the bullpen, the Jays are looking to see if reinforcements can come internally in addition to their bigger-name major league reliever acquisitions. Last season, only three pitchers in the Jays system not on the 40-man pitched innings for them, being LHP Brandon Eisert (who was just traded to the Rays after being designated for assignment), 37-year-old Paolo Espino, who pitched some spot starts, and Brendon Little, who did an admirable job as the second lefty in the pen after Genesis Cabrera. Every other pitcher was either acquired in a trade, waiver claim or was already on the 40-man prior to the beginning of the season. Hopefully, the Jays are looking to change that, with these five pitchers having ample opportunity to shore up the middle-to-low relief appearances. Braydon Fisher - RHP Acquired in the Cavan Biggio deal from the Dodgers, Fisher was their fourth-round pick in the 2018 draft out of high school. Fisher has consistently racked up gaudy strikeout numbers throughout his minor league career but, at the same time, has struggled immensely with his command. Last season with the Dodgers in Double A and Triple A, he had a 5.68 ERA in 19.0 IP and also ran a 2.88 FIP with a 33.3% K rate to a 16.7% BB rate without giving up a single homer. After coming to the Jays, in 34.2 IP, he improved his ERA to 4.67, striking out his opponents at a 28.8% clip and dropping his walk rate by 4%. He struggled with the contact he gave up but seemed more in control. With the Jays, he increased his first strike percentage, getting ahead more in the count, leading to an increased swinging strike rate and O-Swing rate. Lazaro Estrada - RHP Just recently re-signed to a two-year minor league extension, the 25-year-old right-hander out of Cuba has quietly been one of the most productive pitchers in the Blue Jays minor league system. Having started his career slowly after some injuries and the lost COVID year, Estrada slowly worked his way up the minor league system, first as a reliever and then building up innings as a starter more recently. This season, across three levels, he pitched to a 3.29 ERA/3.31 FIP with a 28% K rate and an 8.2% walk rate for an impressive 19.9% K-BB%. His bread and butter is his 93 mph fastball and a low 80s breaking ball, each capable of generating solid chase and whiff rates. I expect him to use that combo more often if he gets converted back into a reliever after starting the last year or so, as the Jays might need bullpen help immediately. Mason Fluharty - LHP The Jays drafted this 23-year-old lefty in the fifth round of the 2022 draft, and he has been excellent since his pro debut. Sitting only 88 mph with his fastball, Fluharty flummoxes batters with a unique arm slot and a nasty sweeper to get whiffs and a cutter to induce soft contact. Fluharty pitched to a 3.63 ERA/4.15 FIP with a 27.4% K rate and a 9.0% BB rate in a high offensive environment in Triple-A Buffalo. It is hilarious seeing a guy with a 4th-percentile fastball velocity have this much red on their Statcast summary, with all three of his pitches flashing plus (courtesy of TJStats). Despite his excellence, Fluharty may have a platoon issue, giving up a .727 OPS to righties compared to his solid .658 to lefties. He’ll have decent competition for one of the main lefties in the pen, as Brendon Little, Easton Lucas, Josh Walker, and Lovelady are all vying for spots. (via @TJstats) Hayden Juenger - RHP An exciting draft pick out of college in 2021, the sixth-rounder has yet to live up to the hype many expected. He made his way up to Triple A in 2023, but with mediocre results, which tapered a lot of expectations. In 2024, Juenger repeated Triple A and performed much better, dropping his ERA from 6.33 to 4.19 and his FIP from 4.82 to 4.20. His strikeout rate also dropped from 26.4% to 21.7%, which is not optimal for a reliever, but that came with a lower walk rate and better contact quality. He relies on a four-pitch mix with a 94 mph fastball, an 89 mph cutter, an 86 mph changeup, and a slider, all being average or below pitches, according to TJ Stuff+. (via @TJstats) Ryan Jennings - RHP Jennings was a fourth round pick in the 2022 MLB draft for the Jays and was expected to move quickly through the system as a reliever. Still, due to necessity, he was primarily used as a starter for the majority of his professional ball career. Surprisingly, he found decent success as a starter, moving up to High-A ball with very solid peripherals, before the Jays finally bit the bullet and converted him back to a reliever after getting promoted to Double-A New Hampshire. He pitched to a 1.00 ERA as a reliever in Double A, in 9 IP, with a 30% K rate and a 10% BB rate, only giving up an opponent’s BA of .121 and not giving up a single homer. He carried that success to the Arizona Fall League, where he went scoreless in 10.0 IP, with a 1.85 FIP and a 26.3% K-BB% rate, flashing four plus pitches in an extremely high offensive environment. Although I expect him to start the season in Buffalo, Jennings could come up for the Jays and be an important part of their bullpen in 2025. (via @TJstats) The Blue Jays have struggled to develop pitching to help out the major leagues, and with many of their high-profile pitching prospects going down to injuries, it's nice to see them have this group of relievers that they've acquired and developed. Atkins and Co. have drafted no small number of high-probability relievers, and it looks like they're finally coming around to help out the major league roster. With the development complex up and running for the previous few years, hopefully, things are finally coming to fruition for their minor-league pitching. View full article

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/gilberto-batista/sa3020987/stats?position=P Embarrassingly, I spelt his name wrong. He was part of the return in the Danny Jansen trade.

Could you also add RJ Schreck, Gilberto Bautista, Victor Arias, Adrian Pinto, Jonatan Clase, Aaron Parker, Peyton Williams and Sann Omosako?