Former Blue Jays prospect's dominant stretch makes Mitch White trade hurt more

Right from the start, the now-infamous Mitch White Trade between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays felt like one that could sway heavily in favor of the Dodgers.

At the 2022 trade deadline, the Dodgers sent White, a 27-year-old swingman who had some hot and some cold stretches during a three-year stint in and out of the big leagues, north of the border. He was a big time groundball pitcher who at times looked like a player capable of rounding out a team's starting rotation.

Heading from the Blue Jays to the West Coast were relief pitcher Moises Brito and starting pitcher Nick Frasso. While Brito, 20, has been lights out to start his minor league career, it's Frasso who has been turning heads in a big way to start the 2023 season.

Trading away Nick Frasso is going to hurt the Blue Jays.

This is by no means a new discovery, but the loss of Frasso is going to be one that stings the Blue Jays. The 24-year-old has been a fairly underrated prospect throughout his journey through the minor leagues, despite highly impressive results. Entering the current campaign, he ranked as the Dodgers' No. 16 prospect per FanGraphs, No. 11 per Baseball America and No. 10 per MLB.com.

Notably, Jim Callis of MLB.com has the right-handers fastball ranked as the best in the entire Dodgers' system, rating at a 75 on an 80-grade scale. He isn't completely irrelevant around prospect rankings, but his numbers show that he should be higher, even in a loaded farm system for Los Angeles.

Prior to the trade, Frasso had been absolutely lights out in two different minor league levels in the Blue Jays' organization. In 16 total starts last year, he had a 1.83 ERA with 76 strikeouts and just two home runs allowed in 54 innings of work. He averaged around 3.38 innings per start in 2022, which isn't great for someone who could be a long-term rotation piece, but he had been on an innings limit thanks to a previous Tommy John surgery he was working back from. He was also mostly a reliever in college, so he is undergoing a gradual build-up to be a full-time starting pitcher.

To start off the current season, he continues to shut down the opposition. In four starts and 18 innings, the flamethrower has a 1.50 ERA thanks to just three earned runs allowed. He has a whopping 26 strikeouts and only three walks, which also points to impeccable command. It's one thing for a pitcher to throw high-90s heat, but he becomes a whole different beast when he's able to control the heater, which Frasso has been able to.

To summarize, Frasso has been dominant while White ... has not been. He made 10 appearances for the Blue Jays post-trade and had a ghastly 7.74 ERA thanks to 37 earned runs in just 43 innings. His FIP suggests there may have been some unlucky play behind him on the diamond, but either way, the results just weren't there for him. To start the season, he is on the injured list and doesn't have a guaranteed spot on the big league roster when he returns.

This one may hurt for a while.