Better know your Blue Jays 40-man: Yennsy Diaz

Yennsy Diaz was added to our 40-man roster before the Rule 5 draft this year. I have doubts that we really needed to protect him, he finished last year at Dunedin and doesn’t look like like someone who is ready to be in the majors for the full season. But then who knows.

Yennsy is a 22-year-old right-handed pitcher, who the Jays signed out of the Dominican Republic in 2014 for $70,000 (sometimes the smaller international signings work). He throws mid-90s (sometimes higher 90s). It will be interesting to see how he fares against hitters as he moves up the system. He was number 23 on our prospect list last year.

He isn’t a big guy, listed at 6’1” but just 160 pounds, but I hear that weight doesn’t measure heart or something like that.

Last year he split time between Lansing and Dunedin, putting up a 3.05 ERA in 27 games, 25 starts. In 147.1 innings, he had 53 walks and 125 strikeouts. I’d imagine he’ll start next year in New Hampshire.

He among many minor league pitchers who could either start or, with how hard he can throw and if the secondary pitches don’t become major league ready, he could be a setup man in the bullpen.

The question is where will he end up this year?

He’s on the 40-man, so there is a good chance that he’ll make it to the Blue Jays as one of the guys who comes up, pitches a few innings in a game and then gets sent back down.

Let’s break this into two questions:

And:

I’m looking forward to seeing him pitch this spring (or, I guess, not seeing him as RSN is only showing us a handful of games again this year, maybe he’ll throw on a day that another team shows the game).