The Toronto Blue Jays have optioned reliever Zach Pop (Brampton, Ont.) to their Spring Training Complex in Dunedin, Fla. Photo: Toronto Blue Jays

September 24, 2024

By Kevin Glew

Canadian Baseball Network

The Toronto Blue Jays optioned reliever Zach Pop to their Spring Training Complex in Dunedin, Fla., on Tuesday.

The team promoted left-hander Easton Lucas from triple-A Buffalo to take Pop’s spot on the roster.

Though he has made a career-high 58 relief appearances for the Blue Jays this season, Pop (Brampton, Ont.) has struggled, posting a 2-4 record with a 5.59 ERA. He has allowed 45 hits - including nine home runs - in 48 1/3 innings.

The 28-year-old right-hander is in his third season with the Blue Jays after being acquired from the Miami Marlins, along with Anthony Bass, on August 2, 2022 for infield prospect Jordan Groshans. In his first stretch with the Blue Jays, Pop was a reliable middle reliever down the stretch, going 2-0 with a 1.89 ERA in 17 appearances.

Pop then 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.

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 Toronto Mets and 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.

Lucas, a 28-year-old left-hander from Thousand Oaks, Calif., has posted a 9.39 ERA in 13 big league appearances over the past two seasons with the Oakland A’s and Detroit Tigers.