Colby Rasmus activated by Blue Jays, looks to provide spark

The all-world offense that the Toronto Blue Jays sport has been sputtering of late, and with a big series against the New York Yankees in play, the Jays needed an offensive spark to get things going. On Tuesday night, they took a chance on that spark and activated center fielder Colby Rasmus from the 15-day disabled list and optioned outfielder Anthony Gose to Triple-A Buffalo.

Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi was the first to report the move via Twitter on Tuesday night.

The 27-year-old Rasmus will be in uniform for Friday’s game in New York and should draw the start in center field with right-hander Chase Whitley on the mound. That said, it looks a bit preemptive, as Rasmus struggled in his 5 games with Buffalo, collecting just 3 hits and 2 RBI in 20 plate appearances (19 at-bats). Rasmus also had a very Colby-like 9 strike-outs in those 20 appearances, indicating that his timing is perhaps still a bit off, something that Alex Anthopoulos alluded to a bit.

"“Sure, there’s a timing component of getting his at-bats, but I remember last year, I don’t think he did all that well on his rehab assignment, he came back and hit three or four home runs in a short period.” – Alex Anthopoulos (h/t Gregor Chisholm, MLB.com)"

The Blue Jays are hoping that Rasmus can pick up where he left off. Despite having just a .222/.266/.489 slash-line at the time when he hit the DL, Colby Ramus had been heating up when the hamstring bit him. In May contests, Rasmus had increased his triple-slash to .286/.318/.714, hitting 5 of his 9 home runs in that span and also collecting 12 of his 22 RBI in the process.

More from Toronto Blue Jays News

• Matt Chapman has been exactly what the Blue Jays needed
• Blue Jays: The goalposts are moving in the right direction
• Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays advance to the Championship Series
• Blue Jays: Comparisons for Alek Manoah’s Second Season
• Blue Jays: Adam Cimber, the unlikely decision King

To make room for Colby Rasmus on the active roster, the Blue Jays optioned outfielder Anthony Gose to Triple-A. The 23-year-old Gose held his own during his recent recall and was hitting .241/.351/.652 for the season.

However, after a big May saw Gose slash .295/.380/.364 in more of a platoon role with Kevin Pillar, an increase in playing time in June didn’t do anything to improve his numbers. In 43 plate appearances this month, Gose slashed just .189/.286/.243 and had shown some lapses on the base-paths, getting picked off twice at first.

Gose will return to Triple-A Buffalo where he’ll get consistent at-bats with the Bisons and return to the Jays down the road when a roster spot opens back up. We’ll have more on Anthony Gose later today.