Blue Jays reportedly call up intriguing prospect, in the wake of Cody Ponce's injury

Players never want to see their teammates get hurt. But if and when that happens, it represents an opportunity for the next guy to step up and in the case of the Toronto Blue Jays, that next guy is seemingly Lazaro Estrada. According to Francys Romero on X (formerly twitter) the Blue Jays have recalled the righty from Triple-A Buffalo. The move was made, yet not officially, following Monday's contest (Mar. 30) in which starting pitcher Cody Ponce went down with an injury.

Estrada made his MLB debut last season, seeing very limited action, but this time around, he could have a chance to show he belongs in The Show.

Blue Jays reportedly call up intriguing prospect, in the wake of Cody Ponce's injury

Ponce was carted off the field in the third inning against the Colorado Rockies after collapsing to the ground in an attempt to field a ground ball. Reports said he was scheduling to undergo an MRI following the game, and the official diagnosis at the time was that he left with "right-knee discomfort." Depending on the results of that MRI the Blue Jays could may need an additional arm in the rotation.

While the schedule and the math works out so that the Blue Jays could keep the current four guys on a five-man rotation until late April, factoring in the scheduled off-days, they would still be better served bringing up an extra arm just in case and Estrada provides them with that option. The 26-year-old from Cuba made his MLB debut in July of last year, striking out four LA Angels hitters in four innings pitched while giving up two hits and one earned run.

During Spring Training, Estrada threw 11.1 innings and had results that could be defined as "fine, but not great." He gave up 13 hits, and allowed six runs, and only struck out four batters. He was averaging 93.2 mph off his fastball, and mixed in a mid 80's splitter and slider while his curveball sat at 74.7 mph on average.

Estrada pitched the entire season with Triple-A Buffalo in 2025 (save for the 7.1 innings in the big leagues) and in 97.1 innings pitched he struck out 99 batters. He made 26 apperances, 20 of those being starts, and had a 2.96 BB/9 rate and a BABIP allowed of .331. Again, numbers that will need to be straightened out if he wants to have any chance of success at the big league level.

And maybe he's on the way to doing that. He made a relief appearance on Friday with Buffalo and in 2.2 innings pitched he struck out three of the nine batters he faced, and didn't allow a hit. Estrada, is not ranked within the Top 30 prospects in the Blue Jays system, but was their 25th best prospect when he was called up last July, and he could come up and just completely surprise everyone and perhaps be that early "break out player" that every team needs in order to have a successful season.

For now though, just like with the Ponce injury itself, they'll have to play the waiting game and if Estrada is called upon, they'll hope that he looks like the best version of himself.