⚡ LATEST UPDATE: Former Blue Jays righty lands with Arizona Diamondbacks as they reshape their pitching staff ⚡ .MH

The Diamondbacks have signed former Blue Jays reliever Junior Fernandez to a minor league contract.

Big velo & whiff rates. He averages 98.4 MPH on the heater with some nasty secondaries, highlighted by his changeup that clips 57% whiffs with solid depth.

Vladdy knows firsthand just how nasty Junior Fernández’s sinker can be.

Initially an amateur signee of the Cardinals in 2014, he’d spent his entire career in the St. Louis organization.

After being designated for assignment by the Cards, he landed with the Yankees and Blue Jays on successive waiver claims.

While his fastball has been his calling card, command issues have been Fernandez’s downfall over the years

Fernandez last played with the Blue Jays in 2023, since then he has bounced around the league due to severe command issues, but the raw stuff is MLB-ready.

Fernández has appeared at the MLB level in parts of the last six seasons.

The righty has thrown 54 innings across 50 outings, compiling a 5.17 ERA. He’s induced grounders on nearly half the batted balls he’s allowed but paired that with a mediocre 18.7% strikeout percentage and lofty 13.9% walk rate.

While he’s yet to find much consistent success, it’s easy to see why multiple teams have given Fernández a look over the past few months.

He averaged 98.7 MPH on his sinker and 88.9 MPH on his slider during his 16 big league outings last year.

That velocity hasn’t translated into many strikeouts but has gotten a decent number of swings and misses.

Opponents have whiffed at 13.5% of the pitches he’s thrown throughout his MLB career, a rate that’s roughly two points higher than average.