Lázaro Estrada

Lázaro Alejandro Estrada Montano

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 180 lb.

• Debut July 5, 2025

• Born April 24, 1999 in Havana Cuba

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Biographical Information

Pitcher Lázaro Estrada had an excellent major league debut for the Toronto Blue Jays against the Los Angeles Angels on July 5, 2025. Called up that same day to provide some pitching depth, he was brought into the game in the 6th inning and gave his team four solid innings of work, giving up just one run on two hits while striking out four. The game went into extra innings and the Jays won, 4-3, in 11 innings, to extend their winning streak to seven games. He only pitched one other time, however, but was rocked for 6 runs in 3 1/3 innings in a 16-4 loss to the Baltimore Orioles in the first game of a doubleheader on July 29th. As a result, his ERA for the season was 8.59.

Originally from Cuba, Lázaro was signed by Toronto as an international amateur free agent in 2018. He was never considered a top prospect within the organization - he went two full seasons without a single decision in 2021 and 2022 after losing the 2020 season to the COVID-19 pandemic and was used mainly as a swingman until 2024. That year, the Jays used him full time as a starter as he rose from Low-A to High-A to AA, going a combined 5-9, 3.29 in 22 games, with 113 strikeouts in 98 1/3 innings. On June 18th, he pitched a 7-inning no-hitter for the Vancouver Canadians against the Tri-City Dust Devils in the Northwest League. He then pitched in the Arizona Fall League after the season and was named to the Rising Stars Game. In 2025, he had made 15 starts for the AAA Buffalo Bisons, his first time pitching at that level, and was 2-4, 4.75 at the time of his call-up and finished the year at 4-7, 5.73 in 26 games (20 starts).

He started the 2026 season in the minors and had made one outing for Buffalo when he was called up to Toronto on March 31st, after the Blue Jays had been forced to place pitcher Cody Ponce on the injured list, his early exit from his first start of the year having badly taxed the bullpen. His first outing came on April 4th when he served as the bulk man in a bullpen game, giving Toronto four scoreless innings in an excellent outing. Toronto had a 2-1 lead when he left, but yet another awful outing by Brendon Little erased that and he ended up with a no-decision. For all of his good work, he was immediately sent back to Buffalo so that the Blue Jays could add another bullpen arm, in Austin Voth.

Related Sites

• Lazaro Estrada on mlb.com