Jairo Labourt

From BR Bullpen

Jairo Snaider Labourt

  • Bats Left, Throws Left
  • Height 6' 4", Weight 204 lb.

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Biographical Information[edit]

Jairo Labourt was signed by the Toronto Blue Jays as a 17-year-old in 2011. The scouts were Marco Paddy and Hilario Soriano. He began his professional career with the DSL Blue Jays that summer, going 0-4, 2.23 in 12 starts. In 2012, he was 0-3, 3.79 in another 12 starts after moving stateside with the GCL Blue Jays. He finally earned his first win as a pro in 2013 when he was 2-2, 1.92 for the Bluefield Blue Jays of the Appalachian League. He split 2014 between the Vancouver Canadians and Lansing Lugnuts, combining for a 5-3 mark and a 2.54 ERA. While he did not have eye-popping numbers over those first four years, he had a 2.56 ERA and a 206/106 K/W ratio while being consistently younger than the league average in each circuit in which he pitched. He had allowed a .217 opponent average in those four seasons.

In 2015, he began the season in the Florida State League with the Dunedin Blue Jays where he went 2-7, 4.59 in 18 starts covering 80 1/3 innings. In spite of mediocre numbers, he was selected to pitch for the World team in the 2015 Futures Game, a sign that he was a highly-regarded prospect. He entered in the 5th, replacing Wei-Chieh Huang with a 5-1 deficit. He fanned J.P. Crawford, got Kyle Schwarber on a grounder and K'd Richie Shaffer. Keury Mella relieved him in the 6th. He was the top pitcher for the World in a 10-1 loss. Another sign of his prospect status was that on July 30th, the Blue Jays traded him to the Detroit Tigers, alongside fellow pitching prospects Daniel Norris and Matt Boyd, in return for All-Star starter David Price. He finished the season with the Lakeland Flying Tigers, still in the Florida State League, and between the two teams was 3-12, 5.12. In 2016, he was back with Lakeland and did somewhat better, going 7-9, 5.26 in 30 games. 12 of these were starts and he recorded 81 strikeouts in 87 1/3 innings.

In spite of his struggles in Class A, he had some success in the winter leagues, for example with the Gigantes del Cibao of the Dominican League in 2016-17, where he put up an ERA of 1.93 in 11 games in relief. The Tigers made him a full-time reliever in 2017, and it worked, as he was outstanding at three different levels and was again part of the World team at the 2017 Futures Game. His ERA was 0.66 in 8 games for Lakeland, then 2.64 in 21 games for the AA Erie SeaWolves and 2.45 in 16 games in AAA with the Toledo Mud Hens. Altogether, that put him at 1-1, 2.17 in 45 games with 4 saves and 79 strikeouts in 66 1/3 innings. This earned him his first chance to pitch in the majors, as he made his debut on September 1st. He gave up 3 runs in 6 innings in 6 appearances for Detroit, with no decisions.

It was thus a bit of a surprise when the Tigers placed him on waivers on March 2nd just a week after the start of Grapefruit League games. He had struggled in the Dominican League, where he had pitched just two-thirds of an inning, and his health was likely not perfect, but it was still strange to get rid of someone who had been considered a top prospect by everyone and was coming off his best minor league season. The Cincinnati Reds immediately claimed him, putting him on their 40-man roster in the spot vacated when Rookie Davis was placed on the 60-day disabled list after undergoing surgery on his hip. But he only stayed a couple of days with the Reds, as on March 4th, he was placed on waivers again and claimed this time by the Oakland Athletics. That move cost veteran 1B Brandon Moss his spot on Oakland's roster, as he was designated for assignment to make room for the young pitcher. However, he was never able to return to the big leagues. His health issues were more serious than previously thought, as the Athletics gave up on him in mid March, the Tigers picked him up again that same month but let him go at the end of May, without his having pitched anywhere, and finally the Chicago White Sox - his fifth organization that year - signed him. They did manage to see him pitch 5 games for the DSL White Sox, but he walked 9 men in 5 2/3 innings and was let go again in late June. He got one final look-over by the Tampa Bay Rays who signed him the following December, but was released without appearing in any games in either the majors or minors, ending his career.

Related Sites[edit]

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