Minor League Pitching: Oramas Released and Opening Day Assignments

Andrew Albers
Andrew Albers

We’ll hit you with a quick news and notes edition of Blue Jays from Away heading into the afternoon.

 

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In a piece of news that went under the radar thanks to all the excitement around Opening Day was the fact that the Blue Jays designated Juan Oramas for assignment in order to make room for Miguel Castro, Roberto Osuna and Devon Travis on the Blue Jays’ 40-man (and 25-man) roster. The Blue Jays claimed Oramas off of waivers from the San Diego Padres in December and gave him a little look-see in spring training. He was optioned back to Buffalo in March but I have a feeling that they weren’t crazy about what they saw.

 

I saw Oramas throw in a bullpen session and, while I’m not sure if he was heavier than expected, he was definitely not the slimmest of players in camp. He also didn’t look all that impressive from what I could see (although it’s very hard to tell in a bullpen session). His fastball velocity didn’t appear very good and his breaking stuff wasn’t all that sharp.

 

Juan Oramas
Juan Oramas

The Blue Jays released Oramas yesterday to little fanfare.

EDIT: Thanks to Bluebird Banter for spotting that Oramas is going to head back to Mexico City to play for the Diablos Rojos (Red Devils) and probably asked for the release to go back there to pitch where he was the Mexican League’s Rookie of the Year in 2009.

 

 

In other news, we’re getting some information trickling in about who will be the Opening Day starters for the Blue Jays’ full-season minor league affiliates. The Buffalo Bisons have announced that Saskatchewan-born Andrew Albers will be their Opening Day starter. Albers has big shoes (or little shoes, depending on how you want to look at it) to fill; last year’s Opening Day starter for the Bisons was none other than Marcus Stroman (see photo).

 

Matt Boyd
Matt Boyd

The New Hampshire Fisher Cats have decided on Matt Boyd to handle the Opening Day duties, as reported by Bob Lipman in yesterday’s Around the Nest podcast.

 

The Dunedin Blue Jays have yet to announce their Opening Day starter but it may well be Jayson Aquino, who was acquired from the Colorado Rockies.

 

Chase De Jong
Chase De Jong

Jesse Goldberg-Strassler tells us that Chase De Jong has the Opening Day assignment. De Jong spent last year in Lansing and is looking to build on an up and down season in 2014.

 

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