3 Blue Jays prospects who should not be traded and 2 who should to help the team

Yosver Zulueta

Yosver Zulueta was a $1 million international free agent signing out of Cuba back in 2019. He is a fascinating prospect for the Blue Jays as he possesses the ability to throw a fastball that could consistently hit triple digits on the radar. Other than Nate Pearson, the Jays haven’t had a hard flamethrower in their system in a long time. Equipped with it in his arsenal, Zulueta had a strong breakout year in 2022 where he moved up four minor league levels, all the way to Triple-A Buffalo. He posted strong numbers across the board with a 3.72 ERA, 1.293 WHIP, giving up only 23 earned runs, two home runs, with 32 walks and 84 strikeouts over 55.2 innings pitched. Many have predicted he was bound to make his MLB debut some time in 2023.

However, Zulueta has been off to a rough start for the 2023 season with Buffalo. Being used as both a starter and reliever role throughout this season so far, he has accumulated an ERA close to 5 and a WHIP close to 1.8 due to inconsistency in his command, leading also to a high number of walks, but his strikeouts were still there. Nevertheless, the Jays believe he will eventually work out his pitching mechanics and be able to get back on track in due time. With the fact that he can potentially be a starter or a reliever when he reaches the major leagues, he could be the solution to whatever the Jays needed at the moment of his promotion. With that kind of flexibility, along with being one of the rare flamethrowers in the organization, he should be off-limits to any teams requesting for him in a trade with the Jays. After all, it will be definitely fun to watch if Zulueta ultimately joins Pearson in a beefed-up bullpen, blowing baseballs by batter after batter after batter.