It’s hard to believe that pitchers and catchers will be reporting to Florida in just a few short weeks.
Today, the Blue Jays Twitter account announced that they’ve signed five players to minor league deals, with an invite to spring training.
OFFICIAL: We’ve signed the following free agents to Minor League deals with invites to Spring Training. pic.twitter.com/t9bE8koWTM
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) January 6, 2023
There were already a couple of players that we were aware of. You can read my deep dive on right-handed pitcher Julián Fernández here. The skinny is that he throws hard, has a nice changeup, but struggles with control and command. Furthermore, right-handed pitcher Casey Lawrence was on the 40-man roster last season, before being outrighted around the start of free agency. You can read his article here.
So what about Paul Fry, Drew Hutchison, and Rob Brantly?
Paul Fry:
The Seattle Mariners drafted the left-hander back in the 17th round of the 2013 draft, but he made his debut for the Baltimore Orioles in 2018. He spent parts of five seasons with the bad birds of the AL East, posting a career 4.82 ERA and 4.02 FIP in 177.1 innings pitched. He also has a career 24.6 K% and 12.3 BB% while sitting in the low 90s.
Fry’s best season came in the plague year, where he posted a .245 ERA and 3.69 FIP in 22 innings pitched. The 30-year-old also had a 29.6 K% and 9.2 BB%, a career best in both those numbers. He struggled with his ERA in 2021 (3.93 FIP that year), before once again having issues in 2022.
Paul Fry, Nasty 86mph Slider. 🍟🍔😨 pic.twitter.com/aXFnKSkGSK
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 11, 2021
Last season, he posted a 6.23 ERA and 4.50 FIP in 13 innings pitched (one with the Arizona Diamondbacks). Fry’s K% dropped from 27.9% in 2021 to 23% this season as well.
He has options and has shown to be able to get batters out, so this is a nice pickup.
Rob Brantly:
The definition of a depth catcher for Triple-A, the 33-year-old Brantly has spent the past two seasons in the New York Yankees organization, registering 24 plate appearances. For his career, he has a .225/.287/.326 slash line with seven homers in …
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Author: Brennan Delaney / Blue Jays Nation
