![\"Toronto](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2269406551-e1775495262127.jpg\")
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Blue Jays sign Japanese right-hander<\/p>\n
The Toronto Blue Jays<\/a> have made an intriguing International Free Agent signing.<\/p>\n Toronto has been scouring the Japanese market for years the team finally landed one of the top ones, in slugger Kazuma Okamoto this offseason. Now, the team has inked a pitcher, according to Francys Romero on X.<\/p>\n \u201cSource: Japanese right-hander pitcher Tomoya Kinjo is in agreement with the Toronto Blue Jays for the current international signing period, pending a physical. Kinjo, 23, reaches 97 mph with his fastball and also features a changeup, curveball, and sinker,\u201d Romero wrote on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n Although Kinjo is 23 years old, he is part of the International Free Agent signing period, so he won\u2019t factor into the MLB<\/a> roster anytime soon, even though the Blue Jays rotation is dealing with plenty of injuries.<\/p>\n Kinjo is a hard-throwing right-hander with four pitches, but there isn\u2019t a ton of information available on him. How much he also signed for is uncertain, but he adds some more pitching depth to the organization.<\/p>\n According to Yakyu <\/a>Cosmopolitan, Kinjo was pitching for the independent league Kochi Fighting Dogs in 2025 and also played in the Japan Winter League. He is also documenting his journey to throwing 100 MPH.<\/p>\n And, at 23, Kinjo could move quickly up the minor leagues if he can pitch well. But, for now, it\u2019s another addition to the Blue Jays\u2019 farm system, which is starting to become a much better system.<\/p>\n Blue Jays International Free Agent Signings<\/p>\n The International Free Agent signing period began back in January, and the Blue Jays have made some nice splashes.<\/p>\n Toronto\u2019s top signing was Venezuela catcher Juan Caricote to a $1.95 million deal, whom the Blue Jays described as an athletic, twitchy, strong left-handed hitting catcher.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are at times some bigger moves in the swing, but he has a whippy bat and has a pretty good idea at the plate,\u201d Blue Jays\u00a0vice-president, international scouting and baseball operations Andrew Tinnish said<\/a> to Sportsnet. There\u2019s a chance for real power. There\u2019s a chance to be a good defender back there. He needs work. It\u2019s going to take time. He is still learning the finer points.\u201d<\/p>\n The other two marquee signings are Dominican outfielders Michael Mesa, who signed for $800,000, and Anuedy Severino, who signed for $700,000.<\/p>\n Toronto Dealing With Injuries to Rotation<\/p>\n The Blue Jays entered this season with a plethora of starters, but already the team is dealing with some key injuries.<\/p>\n Jose Berrios, Trey Yesavage, and Shane Bieber were all injured to begin the season, while Cody Ponce suffered a knee injury that could cost him the entire season.<\/p>\n The Blue Jays\u2019 rotation was so depleted that the team has signed left-hander Patrick Corbin to a one-year, $1 million deal to add some much-needed depth.<\/p>\n \u201cA veteran lefty who can post. He\u2019s done it, he\u2019s been a winning player, he\u2019s been a winning pitcher and he\u2019s been doing it for a long time,\u201d John Schneider said<\/a>. \u201cHe\u2019s been built up. And I think he\u2019s throwing 75 pitches today, at least. He\u2019s been throwing, much like Max was before we signed him.\u201d<\/p>\n The Blue Jays are off to a disappointing 4-5 start.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tCole Shelton<\/a> Cole Shelton covers the NHL, MLB and Cleveland Browns for Heavy.com. He has covered pro and college sports since 2016, including bylines at BJ Penn, USA Today, SB Nation, Rotowire, Canadian Baseball Network and more. More about Cole Shelton<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Blue Jays\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Blue Jays sign Japanese right-hander The Toronto Blue Jays have made an intriguing International Free Agent signing.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":666785,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2378],"tags":[5,377,2554,4,282,70,2553],"class_list":{"0":"post-666784","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto-blue-jays","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-blue-jays","10":"tag-bluejays","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-toronto","13":"tag-toronto-blue-jays","14":"tag-torontobluejays"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116358989932257933","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=666784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/666785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=666784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=666784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=666784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}