Justin Maese

The athletic Maese is still growing into his body and figuring out how to pitch, but he has two significant qualities that work in his favor. The 20-year-old throws strikes, and he keeps the ball down in the zone. Maese posted a 2.57 groundout-to-airout ratio in 2016, while allowing just three home runs in 82.2 innings. He also walked just 15 batters over that span. The 6-foot-3, 190-pound righty is rough around the edges when it comes to his secondary offerings, but fastball location has not been a problem thus far during his brief stint in the minors. Maese finished the season at Low-A Lansing, where, he posted a 3.36 ERA and 44:14 K:BB in 56.1 innings. While he does not possess the strikeout stuff of other hurlers in the Toronto system, he remains a work in progress with significant upside. Maese should return to Low-A to begin the 2017 season, with the chance to advance to High-A Dunedin by the end of the year.