The Blue Jays have claimed righty Brett de Geus off waivers from the Marlins and designated fellow right-hander Yerry Rodriguez for assignment in a corresponding move, the team announced Thursday. De Geus has been optioned to Triple-A. Miami had designated him for assignment earlier this week.
De Geus, 26, only pitched 5 2/3 innings for the Marlins. He surrendered four runs on seven hits and two walks with four punchouts during that brief look. They’re the second team of the year for the former Rule 5 pick, as he also pitched 3 1/3 innings of one-run ball with Seattle. He’s previously pitched with both the Rangers and Diamondbacks but sports an ugly 7.17 ERA in 59 major league frames. De Geus has fanned a well below-average 16.9% of his opponents in the majors against a 9.7% walk rate that’s about one percentage point higher than the average reliever.
Though he hasn’t had success in the majors or in Triple-A (7.09 ERA in 47 innings), de Geus has gotten looks from several clubs over the years. Teams clearly like his raw stuff. He sits 96.4 mph with his sinker, per Statcast, and regularly posts huge ground-ball rates because of that power offering and its movement. That sinker has still generally been hit fairly hard, but he has more intriguing swing data against his slate of secondary offerings: a cutter, knuckle curve and seldom-used splitter. For now, he’ll add a fresh arm to a Blue Jays bullpen that has been a major weakness this season.
As for the 26-year-old Rodriguez, he’ll now head to waivers. As with de Geus in Miami, he saw only a brief look with the Jays — and it didn’t go well. In 4 2/3 innings for Toronto, Rodriguez was torched for nine runs (eight earned) on 10 hits and a pair of walks. He punched out five of the 27 batters he faced (18.5%).
The Jays acquired Rodriguez from the Rangers in exchange for minor league righty Josh Mollerus earlier this summer after Rodriguez had been designated by Texas. The hard-throwing righty missed nearly a month of action in Triple-A on the injured list following the trade, and in five healthy innings there he’s walked nine batters. Rodriguez’s high-end velocity could hold appeal to another club, but he’s had a rough year both in Triple-A and the big leagues — his third season with some major league time. Overall, Rodriguez owns an 8.17 ERA in 36 1/3 MLB frames.