March 30, 2023

Canadian ties for the final roster decisions for the Toronto Blue Jays Opening Day roster

By Tyson Shushkewich

Canadian Baseball Network

The Toronto Blue Jays begin their season later today in St. Louis, set to face the Cardinals for a three-game series.

With their first game of the year set to begin in the late afternoon, the Jays will get an off-day on Friday (the customary rain delay makeup day should the weather not cooperate) before finishing the weekend against the Cards and then jetting off to both Kansas City and Los Angeles for another seven games on the road due to Rogers Centre renovations.

While most of the Jays’ active roster was locked down given the current core and the veteran players brought in this off-season by the front office, there were a few battles to this spring in the form of the fifth starter spot, the last bench spot, and one or two spots in the bullpen.

Southpaw Yusei Kikuchi locked down the open rotation spot with a pretty remarkable spring (0.87 ERA through 20 2/3 innings with a league-leading 31 strikeouts), which pushed competitor Mitch White to the bullpen, although things got interesting because the former Dodger has struggled to get time on the mound after dealing with a variety of injuries early this year.

White will likely begin the season on the injury list creating a spot in the bullpen for opening day.

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Bullpen battle won by Canadian Zach Pop

As spring training wore on, the big league roster kept getting trimmed down and potential relief candidates were being optioned or reassigned such as Nate Pearson, Trent Thornton, Thomas Hatch, Hagen Danner, Yosver Zulueta, Julian Fernández and Junior Fernández.

This left one man to take the open bullpen spot – Zach Pop (Brampton, Ont.).

Ex-Ontario Blue Jay Zach Pop (Brampton, Ont.) is in the Toronto Blue Jays bullpen.

A former member of the Ontario Blue Jays, Pop was drafted by Toronto back in 2014 (23rd round) but went on to honour his commitment to pitch for the University of Kentucky Wildcats, improving his draft stock and later being drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the seventh round in 2017.

Pop would be dealt just over a year later to the Baltimore Orioles as part of the Manny Machado trade package and two seasons later, the right-hander found himself in the Marlins organization.

After not pitching in 2020 due to the COVID-19 shutdown for minor league ball, Pop impressed the Marlins in spring training the following season and was named to the opening day roster, appearing in 50 games and pitching to a 4.12 ERA through 54 2/3 innings with a 1.427 WHIP and an 8.4 K/9.

The additions of Cole Sulser and Tanner Scott to the Marlins’ relief corps prior to opening day in 2022 combined with Pop having options available saw Pop begin the year at triple-A Jacksonville, as one of the last cuts on the active roster.

Riding the options bus that year, both with the Marlins and the Blue Jays following the trade deadline, Pop finished the campaign with a collective 2.77 ERA through 39 innings, improving his WHIP to a 1.154 but seeing a dip in his strikeout totals, racking up 25 on the year to the tune of a 5.8 K/9.

While he didn’t strike out nearly as many batters last campaign, he sat in the 89th percentile in fastball velocity and was a ground ball machine, racking up a 56.8 ground ball percentage to go along with a 2.96 FIP.

Even with a strong showing after joining the Jays last year, considering Pop still has options available on a roster with veteran bullpen arms, there was no guarantee he would be making the Opening Day roster. While the injury to White likely created an opening, Pop routinely hit the upper 90s with his sinker this spring and impressed manager John Schneider and the Blue Jays staff.

So, Pop will be lined up along the third base line with the rest of his Blue Jays teammates hearing ‘O’Canada’ play on the loudspeakers later today.

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Otto López one of the last cuts

While Pop will be joining Jordan Romano (Markham, Ont.), also a former Ontario Blue Jay and Montreal-born Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in St. Louis for opening day, one player with a Canadian connection will begin the season in triple-A with the Buffalo Bisons.

One of the battles this spring was on the Blue Jays bench, with one spot open for a bevy of candidates that included Addison Barger, Vinny Capra, Nathan Lukes and Otto López amongst others (and potential late waiver claim additions). López, who was born in the Dominican Republic, spent four years during his childhood in Montréal after his father secured a teaching position in the city.

The righty batter would later return to the Dominican to continue training and eventually signed with the Jays as an international free agent in 2016.

With a total of 10 at-bats at the big league level over the past two years, López had a busy spring, suiting up in 11 games with the Jays during spring, putting up a .923 OPS with eight hits, but he also represented Team Canada at the World Baseball Classic in Phoenix, Arizona back in mid-March. At the WBC, López put on quite a show, going 5-for-17 with six RBIs, including two timely extra-base hits against Colombia.

He had a triple in the eighth inning and a home run in the ninth to give Canada an additional three-run cushion late in the game, eventually winning 5-0. López was one of the last remaining players vying for a spot on the Jays’ bench for opening day but the club went with outfielder Nathan Lukes instead, who also had a strong spring training and is added insurance for an outfield core that has had their fair share of a checkered injury history.

With Buffalo, López will likely get regular playing time compared to the bench spot he was competing for and the Dominican product should be one of the first names called upon should a position player be needed at the big league level