Veteran Lefty Joe Mantiply Re-Signs With Blue Jays, Earns Non-Roster Spring Invite

Joe Mantiply re-signed with the Toronto Blue Jays on a minor‑league contract and earned a non‑roster invitation to Major League spring training, the club announced in an official tweet March 4. The 35‑year‑old left‑hander finished 2025 in the Blue Jays organization after time with the Diamondbacks and will report to big‑league camp with a chance to compete for a lefty relief role.

Mantiply’s 2025 work at Triple‑A Buffalo included a 3.45 ERA in 14 appearances, and MLBTR recorded him allowing eight runs, six earned, across 15 2/3 innings for the Bisons. Heavy also cited a 29.7 percent strikeout rate in Triple‑A; MLBTR added the striking line, “The run prevention was unexceptional, but Mantiply posted a 19:0 strikeout‑to‑walk ratio against 64 Triple‑A opponents. It didn’t get him a big league look.” Despite those numbers, Mantiply did not reach Toronto’s big‑league roster last season.

Major league 2025 results were rough: Sportsnet reports Mantiply threw 9.2 innings for Arizona and allowed 17 runs, a 15.83 ERA; MLBTR counted 17 runs in 9 2/3 MLB frames. Career context matters here — Mantiply was a surprise All‑Star in 2022, when he posted a 2.85 ERA across a career‑high 60 innings and logged 61 strikeouts in those 60 frames, and he has eight big‑league seasons on his résumé.

Scouting marks from MLBTR describe Mantiply as a command lefty who “gets grounders but has below‑average velocity,” averaging 88.4 mph on his sinker last year while getting “good movement on the sinker and his changeup” and remaining a “solid middle reliever as recently as 2024.” LastWordOnSports summarized Mantiply’s big‑league totals as an 11‑13 record with a 4.54 ERA and a 1.347 WHIP across parts of eight seasons, with most of his work coming in Arizona.

Toronto’s left‑handed relief picture heading into camp offers both competition and opportunity. Heavy wrote that “Little is locked in as the primary lefty setup guy, with Lauer likely in a long relief role. There’s an opening for a left‑handed middle reliever.” Brendon Little, Eric Lauer, and Mason Fluharty are already in camp; Fluharty posted a 4.44 ERA across 55 appearances last season and has minor‑league options remaining. Heavy also noted that Jorge Alcala, Josh Fleming, and Jesse Hahn join Mantiply as non‑roster invitees with significant big‑league experience, while Yimi Garcia remains out as he recovers from elbow surgery.

One transactional detail remains inconsistent across outlets: The Big Lead described Toronto as having “acquired the former All‑Star reliever in a trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks at last year’s deadline,” while MLBTR, Heavy, Sportsnet, and LastWordOnSports report Mantiply was released by Arizona in June and signed with the Jays after the All‑Star Break. That discrepancy leaves the precise mechanics of his 2025 movement open for confirmation.

For now, Mantiply adds veteran left‑hand depth to a Blue Jays club defending an American League title, a low‑velocity, high‑command option who figures to battle for a middle relief job in big‑league camp and could begin the season at Triple‑A Buffalo if the club prefers internal options.