Wil Ledezma Added to The Jays – Again!

The Jays added yet another arm to the pen, this time a waiver claim, as they added a much needed Left Handed Pitcher (LHP) in soon to be 30-year old Wil Ledezma.

Ledezma will be paid $300,000 if he spends ’11 in the minors and $700,000 if he spends it in the majors. I imagine that anything in between would be pro-rated based on service time.

For more basic information on Ledezma, he stands at 6’4″ 225 lbs and hails from Guarico Venezuela. He was signed as an international free agent by the Red Sox in 1998 and stayed with them until the Tigers drafted him from them in the 2002 rule 5 draft. He made his MLB debut with the Tigers the following year and stayed with them until 2007 when he was traded to the Braves for Macay McBride.

Since his trade to the Braves, Ledezma has been swung around the majors, passing through San Diego, Arizona, Washington and finally Pittsburgh.

His best season was in 2006 while playing for the Tigers. He threw 60.1 innings, held a 3.53 ERA and 1.376 whip, and had a 0.8 WAR rating.

The thing many people may have forgotten about Wil Ledezma is that the Jays signed him to a minor league contract all the way back in August of 2009, but granted him FA again in October of that year. Therefore, it seems that the organization has had their collective eyes on him for some time.

I’m not sure we can expect much from this signing, but there is the encouraging fact that he dominated in AAA last season. His stats were: 38.1 IP/ 0.94 ERA/ only 20 HA but 19 BB/ 50 Ks/ and a 1.017 whip. While the K rate is definitely impressive, the walks are not reassuring.

His career stats in MLB are not that great against either LHB or RHB, so he doesn’t really fit the specialist mold. His tenure with the Jays could definitely be as short as the first one. If he does stick around, I would expect that it would be with AAA LAs Vegas to start the season.

– MG

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