Blue Jays claim pitcher Jimmy Cordero off waivers

According to Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet, the Toronto Blue Jays have claimed pitcher Jimmy Cordero off waivers from the Washington Nationals and assigned him to Triple-A Buffalo.

The Blue Jays transferred reliever David Phelps to the 60-day injured list to make room on the 40-man roster for Jimmy Cordero. Phelps who has yet to pitch this season is eligible to be activated from the IL on May 27th.

The 27-year old Cordero made 22 relief appearances for the Nationals in 2018 compiling a 5.68 earned run average while fanning 12 in 19 innings of work. Cordero originally signed with the Blue Jays as an International free agent in 2012, however, was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for Ben Revere in 2015. At the time of the trade, the right-hander was assigned to Double-A New Hampshire.

Now nearly four years later, both Cordero and Revere have come full circle and will now be teammates in Buffalo.

Thus far this season, Cordero had struggled in 12 appearances for the Fresno Grizzlies of the Pacific Coast League. The 27-year old sported a 6.00 earned run average surrendering 10 runs including three round-trippers with three saves in 15 innings of work on the Nationals farm.

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Last season with Triple-A Syracuse, Cordero dominated in 41 relief appearances posting a minuscule 1.96 earned run average while striking out 10.4 batters per nine innings. He owns a career 4.17 earned run average in 209 games over eight minor league seasons.

Cordero has an electric arm with a fastball that sits in the high-nineties complimented by a curveball and fastball. The knock on Cordero has always been his ability to lose the strike zone, during his season in the majors, he averaged 5.7 walks per nine innings. Cordero has also issued nine free passes in 15 innings of work with Fresno this season.

Cordero will be minor league bullpen depth until the Blue Jays are in need of a fresh arm with MLB experience. The relievers arm plays at the big league level if he can find a way to harness his control.