April 30, 2024

By Kevin Glew

Canadian Baseball Network

The Toronto Blue Jays have recalled reliever Zach Pop.

He will replace right-hander Yariel Rodriguez on the roster who has been placed on the 15-day injured list with thoracic spine inflammation.

The 27-year-old Pop (Brampton, Ont.) returns to the Blue Jays’ big league staff for the first time since last May. In nine relief appearances with the triple-A Buffalo Bisons this season, he has posted a 1.86 ERA with 11 strikeouts in 9 2/3 innings.

Pop cracked the Blue Jays’ Opening Day roster in 2023 but was sidelined on May 4 with a hamstring injury after recording a 6.59 ERA in 15 relief outings. Following his recovery, he was assigned to triple-A Buffalo where he registered a 5.51 ERA in 31 contests.

The Blue Jays acquired Pop from the Miami Marlins on August 2, 2022. He developed into a reliable middle reliever for the Blue Jays down the stretch that season, posting a 2-0 record a 1.89 ERA in 17 appearances.

Selected in the 23rd round by the Blue Jays out of Notre Dame Secondary School in Brampton, Ont., in 2014, Pop opted not to sign and headed to the University of Kentucky. After three collegiate seasons with the Wildcats, the young right-hander was chosen in the seventh round of the 2017 draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers. He made five scoreless appearances in Rookie ball for the Dodgers that year and allowed just one run in 19 games out of the bullpen in High-A the ensuing campaign before he was dealt to the Baltimore Orioles as part of the package for Manny Machado that July.

Pop spent parts of two seasons in the O’s organization before he was taken by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the Rule 5 draft in December 2020. The D-Backs then flipped him to the Marlins. The Junior National Team alum spent the entire 2021 season in the big leagues with the Marlins, finishing with a 1-0 record and a 4.12 ERA in 51 appearances, while striking out 51 batters in 54 2/3 innings.

Pop returns to the big leagues on the same day that the Milwaukee Brewers called up infielder Tyler Black. Pop and Black will become the 13th and 14th players born in Canada to play in the major leagues this season.

Rodriguez had posted a 4.11 ERA in four starts, spanning 15 1/3 innings, before being sidelined. He was serving as the club’s fifth starter.