Well-Traveled Jonathan Loaisiga Wins Admirers At Instructs

The Yankees added six players to the 40-man roster on Nov. 20 so they wouldn’t be available to other teams in the Rule 5 draft. One of these players was not like the others.

Righthander Jonathan Loaisiga made 11 combined starts for short-season Staten Island and in the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League in 2017. Two years earlier he was unemployed.

The 23-year-old Loaisiga signed with the Yankees in February 2016 but made only one start at low Class A Charleston that season before having Tommy John surgery. He originally signed with the Giants in 2012 but worked just 69 innings in the Dominican Summer League in 2013 before missing 2014 and 2015 with arm issues, which earned him his release.

Yet, one sensational performance in Yankees instructional league was good enough to protect the native of Managua, Nicaragua.

“There were a ton of scouts from other teams there,” vice president of baseball operations Tim Naehring said. “They were asking about him. He threw enough strikes to believe that a team could take in him in the Rule 5 draft and keep him in the big leagues for a year.”

A 5-foot-11, 165-pound frame doesn’t scream “power pitcher,” but Loaisiga’s arm produces velocity. After his fastball reached 96 mph and averaged 94 in his lone 2016 start, his fastball reached 97 in 2017.

“He has a good delivery and is a strike-thrower,’’ Naehring said of Loaisiga, who worked 32.2 innings and struck out 33 and walked three. “He throws a power curveball at 80-83 (mph) with feel and has a good feel for his changeup with fade that is in the upper 80s.”

While Loaisiga, who recorded a 1.38 ERA in 2017, isn’t close to the big leagues and might have to open 2018 with a short-season team, the Yankees’ decision to protect him was an investment in the future—even if his track record is a short one.