The Blue Jays have selected the contract of right-hander Paolo Espino from Triple-A Buffalo and designated right-hander Wes Parsons for assignment in a corresponding move, the team announced Friday.
Parsons, 31, has spent the past two seasons with the Jays after a two-year run in the Korea Baseball Organization. He’s logged just nine innings over three appearances at the MLB level with Toronto dating back to a spot start last October. The results haven’t been pretty. Parsons was tagged for nine runs in four innings against the Rays in that spot start, and this season he’s served up another six runs in five innings of relief. On the whole, he’s yielded 15 runs on 16 hits and five walks with five strikeouts in nine frames for the Jays.
Rough as that showing has been, Parsons pitched decently for the Jays’ Triple-A club in 2023, tossing 81 2/3 frames over 17 starts and recording a 4.52 ERA, 27.6% strikeout rate and 12% walk rate. He was effective for the KBO’s NC Dinos as well, making 32 starts and turning in a 3.68 ERA while striking out more than a quarter of his opponents. In his limited time with Toronto, Parsons has shown five pitches — four-seamer, two-seamer, curveball, slider, changeup — averaging 94.7 mph on his four-seamer and 93.5 mph on his sinker. The right-hander, who’s in his final minor league option year, will either be traded, placed on outright waivers or released within the next week.
Espino, 37, spent the 2020-23 seasons in the Nationals organization, oscillating not only between the big leagues and Triple-A but also between starting and bullpen roles. He pitched 233 innings with the Nats in the majors, working to a 4.91 ERA with a below-average 19.5% strikeout rate but an excellent 5.4% walk rate.
Espino doesn’t throw hard, sitting just 88-89 mph with his fastball, and his extreme fly-ball tendencies could be a tough fit in the American League East. That said, he excelled in spring training, tossing 17 innings with a 2.65 ERA, 36.4% strikeout rate and 3% walk rate. That brilliant showing earned him a look with the Jays, and he can now add some length to their bullpen in the event of a short start or a game getting out of hand.