July 25, 2019

By Michael DiStefano

Canadian Baseball Network

Marcus Stroman likely threw his last pitch as a Toronto Blue Jay Wednesday night in the 4-0 loss to the Cleveland Indians.

Stroman was remarkable on the mound tossing seven strong innings giving up just one run while fanning six batters. The run he gave up in the fifth-inning broke a 13-inning shutout streak. But with the club’s unwillingness to extend their longest tenured player, Stroman’s days in the six are numbered.

The trade deadline is a less than a week away and Stroman’s tip of the cap and glove clap to the Rogers Centre crowd Wednesday night was telling about his future in Toronto.

“I realize it possibly could’ve been my last home start so I just wanted to show the crowd some love,” he told reporters after the game. “The last six or seven years have been unbelievable. “

The 28-year-old right-hander broke into the league with Toronto in 2014 and has been arguably the staff’s ace ever since.

“I felt I had a pretty good tenure here as a Blue Jay,” Stroman said. “‘15 and ’16 were whirlwind years and those are the kind of moments that will always hit home.”

Two of the biggest moments in franchise history took place in those years. Jose Bautista’s bat flip in Game 5 of the 2015 ALDS and Edwin Encarnacion’s walk-off winner in the 2016 wildcard game against Baltimore. Stroman started both of those games for Toronto.

Although the love and connection to the city and country will stick with Stroman for the rest of his career, the 2019 All-Star sees the writing on the wall and is ready to move on and play for a contender.

“I feel like I’ve pitched pretty well in the best division in baseball [and] there’s been no willingness from the front office to sign me so I’ve just come to terms with [that] and I’m ready to dominate, wherever that may be,” he paused with a sheepish smile before adding another, “just dominate.”

It’s safe to say he believes he’s at the top of his game right now based on how the season has gone.

Stroman is having a career-resurgence after struggling in 2018. His earned-run average has fallen from 5.54 to 2.96 and his stuff has been lively this year resulting in a career best 17.5% swinging-strike rate. When batters do get lumber on his pitches it’s usually weak contact as Stroman sports a 56.3% ground ball rating— which happens to be the second best rate in the league.

“I feel I can put them in play with weak contact or I can strike them out if I need to. I have multiple ways that I can attack hitters,” he continued. “[or]I can go out there and throw sliders to get swing-overs and get my punches up”

Over the past few games Stroman has done just that.

He’s proving the rest of the league that he’s not just a ground ball pitcher. Stroman insists he can be a strikeout pitcher if he wants to be.

Since the All-Star break, the Jays righty has seen his strikeouts-per-nine (K/9) rate increase from 7.1 to 8.55. A big factor for this uptick is the amount of sliders he’s thrown over his past three starts. On average, 34.7% of Stroman’s pitches are sliders but since the all-star break his usage of the pitch is up to over 40%.

Is this uptick because Stroman is auditioning for the scouts in attendance in an attempt to prove he is the full package worth trading for?

Perhaps, but history would show that Stroman historically is a strong second half player. Throughout his career he’s allowed a .719 on-base-plus-slugging percentage (OPS%) against prior to the all-star game. That number dips down a full 54 points to .655 OPS with a significantly improved strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.14 > 2.68) in the later stages of the season.

Stroman is playing with swagger and he’s been one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball since the mid-summer classic. What’s even scarier is the fact that the Jays ace says he has more to his game that hasn’t been unleashed yet.

“I have a bunch of weapons I’ll be debuting, whether it be here or with another team,” Stroman said. “I’m able to take things guys tell me and work it into my game— not over a week or a month but literally the next day. “So like I said, I have a lot of weapons [and] I’m excited for the future.”

If the Stroman we’ve seen the past two weeks is just revving up, he’s in for a strong second half and he’d be a huge asset to the rotation of a contender down the stretch.

And on that note, let the ‘Stro Show Sweepstakes’ begin.