Shi Davidi says that Yannsy Diaz has walked into the Blue Jays clubhouse. He’s been added to the roster, Nick Kingham goes to the IL with a oblique issue.
Yennsy was pitching in New Hampshire. He has a 4.15 ERA in 21 games, 19 starts. In 112.2 innings he’s allowed 100 hits, 11 homers, 47 walks and 88 strikeouts. He was added to the 40-man in the offseason, so we knew it was likely we’d see him this year.
Yennsy is 22 a right-handed pitcher, who was 18th on our top 40 prospect list. I wrote:
Yennsy had a very good 2018 season. He started the season in Lansing. He made 9 starts there, had a 2.08 ERA. In 47.2 innings, he allowed just 22 hits, 25 walks, with 42 strikeouts.
He was moved up to Dunedin, where he played in 18 games, 16 starts with a 3.52 ERA. In 99.2 innings he allowed 91 hits, 28 walks with 83 strikeouts.
All that earned him a spot on the 40-man roster. Since he hadn’t pitched above A ball, we were a little surprised that he was added.
Diaz throws mid-90s, hitting 97 at times. He’s still working on change-up and a breaking ball, but then isn’t everyone in A ball. He walks more batters than you would like (8.8% last year) and more strikeouts would be nice (20.8% last year).
He’s on the 40-man, but it’s unlikely we’ll see him this year, though we should get a look at him this spring (or we would if Sportsnet would show us more of the games). He’ll likely start the season at Double A and we’ll see from there. But he could be an interesting arm in the bullpen (like many it wouldn’t be that much of a surprise if he ended up in the bullpen in the majors). He’s not a big guy, so working out of the pen might be the job for him, but the Jays will give him every chance to be a starter.
Today’s lineup: Grichuk is back in there, at DH today. Galvis plays second again. I’d prefer Biggio playing second but we’ll have some days off. McGuire catches
Grichuk is back in the lineup. Fisher in right. McGuire will catch Pannone. #bluejays pic.twitter.com/0UhkkfqdGi
— Ben Wagner (@benwag247) August 3, 2019