Former Cleveland Guardians pitcher Nic Enright has reportedly signed a two-year minor league deal with the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Cleveland Guardians have been busy adding new arms to the bullpen this offseason after improving the depth, which was an offseason priority. At the same time, they’ve also lost one of their free-agent relievers to another American League contender.
The Toronto Blue Jays have signed RHP Nic Enright to a two-year minor league deal, per ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez.
Enirght made his long-awaited MLB debut on July 18 after battling cancer for the last few years. What started as an amazing life comeback story quickly developed into the Guardians adding another impact arm to the middle of the bullpen.
In 27 games for Cleveland, Enright logged a 2.03 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP. He did a tremendous job limiting hard contact and showed potential as a punchout pitcher, too, logging a strikeout rate of 23.6 percent and a chase rate of 29.7 percent.
The Guardians were in desperate need of more reliever depth in the middle of the season, and Enright stepped up in a big way to get that to them.
Everything was going well for Enright, but then he was placed on the injured list on September 4 with right elbow forearm inflammation. Ultimately, the 28-year-old underwent the dreaded Tommy John surgery and learned he would miss the entire 2026 season.
The Guardians were in a tough spot. Enright showed promise, but Cleveland needed room on the 40-man roster to protect a number of prospects from the Rule 5 Draft. The organization designated him for assignment on November 18, making him an unrestricted free agent.
Enirght’s elbow surgery is the reason for the abnormal two-year minor league deal. The righty will spend all of next season rehabbing, and the Blue Jays will then hope he can be an option for their bullpen during the 2027 season.
After everything Enight has gone through in his life, not just his baseball career, he’s an easy person to root for to bounce back after surgery and pick up right where he left off once he’s healthy. It’s unfortunate that his career couldn’t continue in Cleveland, but Enirght is still entering another strong pitching development organization in Toronto, which has a history of developing pitchers.