Blue Jays' prospect on the cusp of big leagues

Baseball is in Estrada's blood, having a father and several uncles who played professionally in Cuba. His uncle Jose won gold medals with the Cuban National team in 1992 and 1996. Growing up, Estrada excelled at several positions before he took the mound at the age of 16.

Now, after his first official camp with the Blue Jays, Estrada finds himself on the cusp of a major league roster.

While the surface results weren't necessarily there for Estrada, he has the raw stuff to succeed, with a fastball that reaches upwards on 94 mph, as well as a curveball with an extremely high and powerful spin rate. His curve averaged an impressive 2,834 RPM spin rate, which would have ranked in the 88th percentile in the majors. And that's not even the highest it's been.

He also has cutter that reaches the high eighties.

Given the injuries to the Blue Jays starting depth at Triple-A, Estrada could find himself in that conversation. He is coming off a strong showing last year, pitching to a 3.29 ERA over 22 starts before being invited to Arizona Fall League.

And he almost never made it here. It was May of 2016 and the Blue Jays international scouts were looking at another pitcher. Estrada just happened to be on the mound was impressive enough, that Andrew Tinnish, director of scouting for the Blue Jays, offered him a deal.

He signed for just $30 000.

Now he could be set to earn a whole lot more.