3 Blue Jays prospects to watch in the Arizona Fall League
Kendry Rojas
21-year-old Cuban southpaw Kendry Rojas was signed as an international free agent for $215,000 by the Blue Jays as a 17-year-old in October 2020. He’s already spent 4 seasons in Toronto’s system, compiling a 3.28 ERA over 54 appearances, including 42 starts, and 211 innings with 236 strikeouts. But after missing nearly three months due to a shoulder issue earlier this year, Rojas dominated at High-A Vancouver with a 2.16 ERA and 56 strikeouts in 50 innings following his July 9 return.
Kendry Rojas, the @BlueJays' No. 12 prospect, lowers his ERA to 2.43 with a strong start for @vancanadians:
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) September 6, 2024
6 IP
1 H
1 R
0 BB
6 K pic.twitter.com/Aw3XvG4HVj
Standing 6-foot-2, the 190-pound left-hander features a 94 mph riding fastball that can be a plus pitch. As per Jays Journal’s Matthew Rowell, “He can cut it to keep it off barrels and it's already getting above average swing and miss with less than ideal command. His [low-80s] slider is his main put-a-way pitch. It features tough two-plane break and he can use it all over the zone.”
While durability remains a question mark, Rojas projects as a mid-rotation starter; the AFL is a perfect opportunity for him to add to his 2024 workload and audition for a promotion to the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats in 2025. He won’t have to be protected from the Rule 5 Draft until after next season.
The only Blue Jays pitchers above him on MLB’s updated mid season top 30 prospect ranking were 2024 1st-round pick Trey Yesavage, Jake Bloss — who was acquired in the Yusei Kikuchi trade, the rehabbing Tiedemann, 2024 second-round pick Khal Stephen, fellow lefty Adam Macko — who’s already on the 40-man roster but was dealing with left forearm tightness as the season wound down, and 20-year-old Nicaraguan Fernando Perez.
As Keegan Matheson of MLB.com recently noted, “This is why a prospect like Rojas is so important to the organization. There’s a level of scarcity at play here. The Blue Jays have struggled to develop starting pitching, and while that’s been covered up well by some excellent trades and free-agent signings to bring in José Berríos, Kevin Gausman and Chris Bassitt, that won’t last forever.”