The Orioles and Blue Jays made what appeared to be a pretty typical deadline deal, with right-handed reliever Seranthony Domínguez heading to Toronto in exchange for right-handed pitching prospect Juaron Watts-Brown.
Except … it wasn’t typical at all. The Blue Jays were in Baltimore at the time of the trade. The New Hampshire Fisher Cats, the Jays’ Double-A affiliate, were in the midst of a series with the Chesapeake Baysox in Bowie. That meant both pitchers simply walked over to the other clubhouse to meet their new teammates and coaches after the deal was made official.
Watts-Brown had mixed emotions about the trade.
“I feel like it’s a little bit of everything, honestly,” he said on Glenn Clark Radio Aug. 15. “It’s kind of hard feelings toward the Blue Jays because it’s like damn, y’all drafted me and y’all could just give me up? It’s excitement because it’s another opportunity with another team that sees something in me that maybe the Blue Jays didn’t. I would say maybe a little bit of anxiety as part of going into a whole new org, having to meet a whole bunch of new people and getting comfortable with them.”
Watts-Brown, 23, was selected by the Blue Jays in the third round of the 2023 MLB Draft as an age-eligible sophomore out of Oklahoma State. The 6-foot-3, 190-pound right-hander has posted a 4.36 ERA in 44 minor league appearances, all starts, covering 210.2 innings. He has struck out 270 and walked 106.
Watts-Brown has made four starts with the Baysox since the trade, allowing 13 earned runs and striking out 24 in 18.2 innings. He hasn’t done a deep dive with the Orioles on his repertoire quite yet.
“They said they didn’t really want to put too much on my plate, obviously being traded to a new org and having to just get comfortable with that,” he said. “But I told them I was really open to listening to what they had to say about what’s going to make me better because they traded for me for a reason, so they had some stuff in mind.
“We kind of talked about some stuff like developing my changeup more and getting my heater to better zones than I was before. There hasn’t been too much outside of that obviously because we’re already kind of late in the year and still being new, but we kind of got on the same page of what’s going to make me a big league starter.”
Watts-Brown is confident he has the ability to start at the major league level. He throws a low-to-mid-90s fastball, changeup, curveball and slider. A right-handed pitcher typically throws a changeup to keep left-handed hitters off his fastball, but Watts-Brown is honing in on establishing that pitch to right-handers as well.
Watts-Brown is also focused on improving his command and control, a key to turning over a lineup multiple times. He walked 13.2 percent of the batters he faced in 2024. This year, that mark is down to 10.1 percent.
“I’ve been a starter my whole life and I feel like I’ve been a good one,” Watts-Brown said. “Obviously, I’ve gone through tough times just like any starter has, but that’s part of the process of playing this game and learning and getting better. I’ve made a tremendous jump from last year to this year of being a starter as far as cutting my walk numbers down and getting more contact outs and still getting the strikeouts. I think as I get a little bit older and get more years under my belt, I’m just going to continue to become a better starter.”
For more from Watts-Brown, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Thomas Takele