Blue Jays' revamped rotation dominates club's spring training headlines

Newly signed ace Hyun-Jin Ryu will be the ace of the Toronto Blue Jays’ 2020 rotation. Photo: Global News

February 15, 2020

By Lukas Weese

Canadian Baseball Network

On Thursday, February 13th, the weather in Toronto was predictable: cold and snowy.

The opposite was true in Dunedin, Fla., the annual site of the Toronto Blue Jays Spring Training where it was 25 degrees Celsius with sunny skies.

At this point in a Canadian winter, many are longing for the warmth of summer. Baseball supplies that optimism, with Spring Training signaling the nearness to quality time at the ballpark.

The Toronto Blue Jays did not proceed through the off-season without excitement. The highlight was strengthening their rotation, notably by signing free-agent pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu.

On the second day of Spring Training for pitchers and catchers, a large contingent of media members were waiting to speak to the Blue Jays highly anticipated signing.

Ryu, 32, graced the grounds of TD Ballpark Thursday in his blue and white uniform, ready to show the Blue Jays franchise that he has the stuff on the mound to be the team’s ace.

The Blue Jays have placed a lot of faith and trust in Ryu. Handing out a four-year, $80 million contract to a pitcher on the back end of his career is risky, but for a Blue Jays team looking to be competitive now, securing Ryu signals their immediate desire to improve.

Last season, Ryu led the MLB in ERA with 2.32. He also generated a 14-5 record for the Los Angeles Dodgers, striking out 163 batters over 182 2/3 innings pitched.

During Spring Training, expect Ryu to demonstrate command on the mound with all five of his pitches. But where the new Blue Jay shines is with his changeup and cutter. In 2019, when Ryu threw the changeup, the opposing hitters hit .121/.133/.207. Ryu’s cutter, a pitch that he uses 21.2 percent of the time, averages 87.3 MPH. The changeup and cutter are the ‘out’ pitches Ryu will look to utilize, considering his four-seam fastball velocity is ranked in the 11th-percentile among MLB pitchers, according to Fangraphs.

Obviously regular-season games need to be played to see if Ryu’s success from last year carries over for the Blue Jays, but the South Korean native is aware that he needs to play the role of ‘ace’ with the Blue Jays, a reality he was not used to as a member of the Dodgers.

“Of course it’s nice to be counted on as an ace, but to be honest I’m just another player,” Ryu said to reporters on Thursday through interpreter Bryan Lee. “We win games by having all the players put in their effort.”

Beyond Ryu, there are questions surrounding the rest of the Blue Jays rotation spots.

Last season, Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo often used an “opener” to precede the bullpen pitching the rest of the game. With the off-season signings of Tanner Roark, Chase Anderson and Shun Yamaguchi, Toronto hopes to achieve more consistency in the rotation.

Roark, 33, will provide quality innings on the mound. In 2019, he pitched in 165 1/3 innings, recording a 10-10 record and a 4.32 ERA. Having someone like Roark who has the potential to have longer starts is vital in order to protect the younger pitchers in the rotation.

Anderson is another pitcher coming to the Blue Jays with experience. Playing for the Milwaukee Brewers last season, the 32-year-old went 8-4 with a 4.21 ERA. While there is concern regarding his tendency to give up home runs (38 in 2019), Anderson is effective in his mixture of pitches. The cutter is his most impactful pitch, which yielded a .238 wOBA in 2019, as per Fangraphs. Anderson’s 83.9 percent low contact zone rate demonstrates his ability to combine the cutter with either a changeup and four-seam fastball to get batters out.

Where the uncertainty lies is in the rotation depth beyond Ryu, Roark, and Anderson. Shun Yamaguchi is under contract with the Blue Jays for two years, at a value of $6 million. While his record and numbers while playing in Japan (16-4, 2.78 ERA) in 2019 were promising, similar success is far from guaranteed in MLB.

Matt Shoemaker possessed a 3-0, 1.57 ERA in 2019 before going down to a season-ending ACL injury in his left knee. Given the right-hander’s litany of injuries suffered over his career, from a skull fracture in 2016 to a strained left forearm in 2018, playing a full season may be a stretch.

On Friday, Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins announced that Blue Jays pitcher Ryan Borucki had an MRI which revealed left elbow tightness. Borucki, 25, has dealt with his share of elbow issues throughout his career. Last season, he missed the first half of 2019 due to a bone spur, which required surgery to remove in August.

With health concerns clouding certain Blue Jays pitchers, Spring Training provides an opportunity for the young pitching prospects to impress management and coaching staff.

Eyes will be locked on 23-year-old right-hander Nate Pearson, who is eighth on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 Prospect list. In 2019, the 23-year-old tallied a 2.30 ERA, with 119 strikeouts over 101 2/3 innings pitched. Pearson has clocked over 100 mph on his fastball and is the leader amongst Blue Jays pitching prospects in his slider velocity.

Pearson is likely to start the season with the triple-A Buffalo Bisons. But if he dominates early on in his time in the minors, the Blue Jays organization may have no choice but to bring him up to the big leagues.

Over the course of a year, the Blue Jays rotation looks to have drastically improved, but the performances of the starting pitchers in Spring Training will go a long way in determining how it will look when the regular season begins on March 26.