The Toronto Blue Jays have three Brazilians in the organization.
Everyone knows former Top 100 prospect, Eric Pardinho who is having a bit of a career renaissance coming out of the pen for the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. In the 2023 International Free Agent period, they also signed Sann Omosako, who had a 2.61 ERA and a 3.93 FIP in 20.2 innings pitched with the Dominican Summer League Blue Jays.
However, there is another Brazilian pitcher in the organization, Rafael Ohashi, who signed for just $10,000 in the summer of 2019. He is the prospect in focus in this edition of Toronto Blue Jays Prospect Profile.
Getting to know Rafael Ohashi
My first exposure to the 21-year-old righty came in 2021 when he pitched for the Florida Complex League Blue Jays and Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays, where he had a 5.40 ERA and a 4.59 FIP in 36.2 innings pitched.
Between those two rosters, there were four pitchers that stood out to me: Sergio Caruci, Eliander Alcalde, Kendry Rojas, and Ohashi. Caruci is no longer with the Jays organization, while Alcalde is in Dunedin and Rojas is on the 7-day Injured List.
The following season, Ohashi found himself in Single-A again for the entire season, where he had an impressive 2.96 ERA and a 3.91 FIP in 45.2 innings pitched. Eight of his 11 appearances were starts, and he had a 28.6 K% and a 7.9 BB%.
Here’s Rafael Ohashi’s strikeout thread from this evening!
90.8 mph fastball for the swing and miss + strikeout.#BlueJays #NextLevel pic.twitter.com/CXHm5GKLvc
— Ryley Delaney (@Ryley_L_D) June 7, 2023
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He remained in Dunedin for the entirety of the 2023 season as well, starting in 18 of the 22 games he appeared in, but was hit around often as he had a 6.20 ERA and a 6.25 FIP in 94.1 innings pitched. His K% dropped to 18.6% while his BB% increased to 12.3%.
Ohashi moved to the bullpen in 2024 with the Vancouver Canadians, where he hadn’t given up a run in 15.1 innings pitched, along with a 2.88 FIP, a 25 K%, and a 7.7 BB%. He started Saturday for the first time this season, where he finished with a line of 2.1 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, which brought his season ERA to 1.53.
According to this CsPlusBaseball article, Ohashi throws a four-seam fastball, a cutter, a slider, and a changeup, and has been using the four-pitch mix to great effect coming out of the bullpen.
Hopefully, his next outing will be better, but Ohashi is certainly a player to keep an eye on this season.
As always, you can follow me on Twitter @Ryley_L_D.