Guardians Baseball Insider

On Wednesday, June 17th the Cleveland Indians signed undrafted free agent left-handed pitcher Jaime Arias.

Jaime Arias- Left-handed Pitcher

School: Fresno St.

Age: 21.4

Height: 6’0

Weight: 200

Bats: Left

Throws: Left

Rankings:

Not ranked

Notes:

The Woodlands, California native went undrafted out of high school. Arias pitched from the starting rotation and bullpen as a freshman garnering Freshman All-American honors from the Colleiage Baseball Newspaper. Arias’ sophomore season was split between the rotation and bullpen where he served primarily as the teams closer helping the Bulldogs seal the Mountain West Conference. In 2020, the lefty transitioned from team closer to the teams Friday night starter. In a longer MLB Draft the left-hander would have likely been drafted somewhere in the 15-25 round range.

Arias appeared in 55 games over his colleiage career with 10 career starts. As a freshman he appeared in 23 games with 8 starts across 68.1 innings allowing 56 hits, 12 walks, and punching out 62. As a sophomore the lefty appeared in 28 games, 26 in relief logging 46.2 innings, allowing 40 hits, 14 walks, striking out 59 and recording 12 saves. In 2020 the left-hander took the mound as the team’s Friday night starter (discusses transition here). He did not disappoint covering 5 or more innings in all of his 4 starts. The lefty logged 24 innings allowing 22 hits, walking 3 and striking out 22.

On the mound, the left-hander displays a shoulder height ¾ delivery. College footage for the lefty is scarce, but his high school footage appears to show a four-pitch mix. From his high school footage, Arias appeared to utilize a fastball on the corners, a curveball against same-handed hitters, a slider in on righties, and a changeup that drops off the table. Arias has displayed impressive above-average to plus control throughout his collegiate career posting a walk rate of just 2.03 over his career. Overall, adding left-handed pitching is always a priority Arias provides that and perhaps some untapped potential on the mound.

Future value:

Control– 55

Official announcement: