In the summer of 2019, the Blue Jays selected the Oakville, Ontario native out of Abbey Park High School in the third round, as he was the first Canadian to go off the board at that year's draft. Brown had a strong abbreviated debut, slashing .222/.444/.356 in the 14 games he played after the draft. Like all minor leaguers, Brown didn't play in the minor leagues in 2020, because there were no minor leagues.
The Royals and veteran catcher Jorge Alfaro are in agreement on a minor league contract, reports Aram Leighton of Just Baseball. Presumably, there's an invitation to major league camp included in the CAA client's deal. Now 32 years old, Alfaro was one of the top catching prospects in the game when the Phillies sent him to Miami alongside right-hander Sixto Sanchez in the trade that sent star backstop J.T. Realmuto to Philadelphia.
Drew showed some promise in 2024, hitting .289/.394/.414 in 110 games across Augusta and Rome. Because of it, and his good production in college, there were some expectations brewing for Drew because of his ability to switch hit and hit for some decent power. Because of this strong performance, Drew was named the starting first baseman for the Columbus Clingstones in 2025 with some promise.
Cedric first appeared in mid-May in the FCL and made two starts there, before being sent to Rome for his final 13 starts of the season. He had a 0.00 ERA and 1.09 WHIP with 13 strikeouts to two walks in 7.1 innings with the FCL team before he pitched to a 3.74 ERA and 1.43 WHIP in Rome, striking out 66 and walking 41 in 53 innings.
The Rays announced that first baseman Bob Seymour has been released to pursue an opportunity in Asia. No details were provided about which team or country he is heading to. He was already off the 40-man roster, as he was designated for assignment last week. Seymour, 27, has spent his entire professional career with the Rays thus far. A 13th-round pick from the 2021 draft, he crushed homers throughout his minor league career but also struck out quite a bit.
Takahashi, 29 in February, pitched to a solid 3.04 ERA in 24 starts for the Lions this past season. He struck out only 14.3% of his opponents in 148 innings of work, however, and his 2024 season was limited to just 15 starts at the highest level of NPB play when he posted a 3.87 ERA in 81 1/3 innings of work last year and saw his velocity dip below his previous career norms.
Misiorowski, 23, made waves when he debuted back in June by posting massive strikeout totals in the first few starts of his career and landed a somewhat controversial All-Star nod just five starts into his MLB career. At that time, he had a 2.81 ERA and a 33.7% career strikeout rate. He turned in another pair of strong (albeit abbreviated) starts to round out the month of July and bring his ERA down to 2.70 while his strikeout rate crept up to an incredible 36.4%.
