Better know your Blue Jays 40-man: Elvis Luciano

You remember that Elvis Luciano was the youngest player ever to be taken in the Rule 5 draft, through a rule that, I’m sure, MLB never figured would come up, that allowed a player to be eligible for the draft if his original contract had been renegotiated. But it worked out in the Jays favor, allowing us to pick up a talented 18-year-old, back before the 2019 season.

Elvis was on the Jays roster for most of the 2019 season, generally pitching in blowouts, until he had been on the roster long enough to satisfy the rules and then he suffered a ‘season-ending injury’ (it was very polite of him to wait until after he had been on the roster long enough before getting injured). It likely says more that the team only sent him out to the mound twice. To be fair, the day he had the two walks was the day the Jays walked 9. There was something in the air that day.

He was number 26 on our 2019 Top Prospect list, but his time on the roster, that year, cost him rookie status, making him ineligible for the 2020 list.

He’s still just 21. He throws a fastball that can get to 96 MPH, has an ‘11-5’ curve, and a changeup.

Luciano didn’t have a good time in his two spring appearances. In 1 inning, he gave up 2 hits, 5 runs (3 earned), 2 hit batters, 2 walks, and 1 strikeout. This is where two voices are talking in my head. The rational one says ‘ignore one spring inning’, the other, generally louder one says ‘he hit two batters and walked two batters’.

Luciano has been optioned to the minors already. He won’t break camp with the team.

ZiPS projects him to pitch in 24 games, 45 innings, with a 5.60 ERA.

PECOTA has him at a 5.55 ERA in 50 innings.

I think they are both high on the innings, but you never know. I think this year is a development year for Elvis and that next year is the one we hope to see him make a difference on the major league team.