Blue Jays: Five prospects not on the top 30 list to watch next year

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TORONTO, CANADA – AUGUST 15: The ball boy fills the pitching basket with baseballs during batting practice before the Boston Red Sox MLB game against the Toronto Blue Jays on August 15, 2013 at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images) /

Nick Fraze – RHP

Selected by the Blue Jays during 22nd round of the 2019 MLB Draft, right-hander Nick Fraze only pitched in 12 games for the Vancouver Canadians during his rookie campaign before COVID-19 shut down the 2020 season. In his first taste of professional baseball, the Texas State Univeristy alum started 10 of 12 games and would finish with a 2.12 ERA through 34.0 innings.

Fraze would return to the Canadians roster for the 2021 season and would post very similar stats, appearing in 11 games (nine starts) and posting a 2.14 ERA through 42.0 innings with 46 strikeouts and a 0.881 WHIP.

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Fraze did improve his SO/9 by over 2.8 points and was able to keep his stats compareable to his rookie campaign but did spend roughly a month on the injured list, hence why he actually made one less appearance compared to his first year in the Jays minor league system.

The Texas product would see a promotion to the AA New Hampshire Fisher Cats on August 9th but did not find the same success, finishing with a 4.58 ERA through five appearances (three starts) with 10 earned runs through 19.2 innings of work while posting a 1.576 WHIP.

It will be interesting to see if the Blue Jays will keep Fraze down in A ball with the Vancouver Canadians to begin the 2022 campaign or if they will give him another crack at AA to begin the year, hoping that he can find the same momentum that the club experienced with him for a majority of the 2021 season.