Five Jays Prospects to Suit up for WBC

Five players currently toiling in the Blue Jays farm system were named to various rosters for next month’s World Baseball Class.

Canada, in a Phoenix-based pool with Mexico, USA, Great Britain, and Colombia, will have two Toronto farmhands on their roster. Current 40-man guy Otto Lopez, who has had two brief cups of coffee with the big club, and 3B/1B Damiano Palmegiani, who played at both A ball stops in 2022, will don the maple leaf.

Dominican-born Lopez, who spent time in Montreal as a teenager while his professor father taught there, has a definite shot to be a starting SS for a the young (in terms of position players) Canadian squad. The trilingual (Spanish/English/French) Lopez, who won a Midwest League batting title in 2019, slashed .297/.378/.415 for AAA Buffalo in 2022.

Venezuela-born and Surrey, BC-raised Palmegiani, Toronto’s 14th-round choice out of Southern Nevada JC in 2021, had a breakthrough 2022 season, smashing 24 HRs (2nd-best in the system) between Dunedin and Vancouver.

1B/LF Spencer Horwitz was named to Israel’s Pool D roster. An on-base machine, Horwitz was added to the 40 man roster last fall. Horwitz fashioned a Northwest League-record 28-game hitting streak in 2021, and has generally been one of the more consistent hitters in the organization since the 2020 Covid shutdown. Israel is in tough pool with Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. The Israeli lineup is said to be the best that country has ever fielded, with 15 of their 35-man roster having MLB experience. Horwitz would appear to be very much in the mix for some playing time in the Miami-based pool.

RHP Luis Quiñones, who pitched at New Hampshire last season, has been named to Puerto Rico’s designated player pool, meaning he can be added to their main roster between rounds, if needed. Quiñones struggled with his command (6K/9) at AA, but fanned 102 hitters in 77 IP. Quiñones is a player I’ve watched for some time - a 34th round JC selection in 2019, he dominated Short Season hitters in the Northwest League that year. When I spent some time in YVR watching the C’s late that season, I asked a Canadians’ official who on the current team looked like a future big leaguer. Alek Manoah was the automatic, no-brainer response, but the C’s staffer added Quiñones’ name. He missed time due to Covid and a PED suspension, which is why he likely was a starter last season - to make up for missed devo time - but his fastball is as electric as anyone’s in the organization. Quiñones, as one might expect, is thrilled at the opportunity - “all eyes on the show this year,” he said after being congratulated for this honour.

Rounding out the Jays MiLB/WBC contingent is RHP Jiorgeny Casimiri, named to the Netherlands roster. Casimiri, signed along with countryman Sem Robberse just before the end of the 2018-19 signing period, pitched well in his first pro season, but has struggled since. Pitching mostly for Dunedin this season, he was shut down in July, then sent to the Development List in August. There were some who thought that Robberse would be added to the Dutch roster, but he turned down the offer in order to focus on spring training, where the non-roster invitee will be attending his first big league training camp after finishing 2022 with New Hampshire.

SS Leo Jimenez, who hit leadoff for the Panamanian national team at the tender age of 15, apparently was considered for their WBC roster, but he likely decided to remain in Dunedin (where he spent the off-season) to prepare for the 2023 season as well.

Recent Blue Jays farmhands like Maximo Castillo (Venezuela), Josh Palacios (Netherlands), Graham Spraker and Chavez Young (Great Britain for both) were named to other WBC rosters as well.