Blue Jays reportedly recall Pat Venditte, DFA Arnold Leon

The recall of Pat Venditte will give the Toronto Blue Jays a second left-handed arm out of their bullpen to use alongside Brett Cecil

Bob Elliot of the Toronto Sun is reporting that the Blue Jays are recalling ambidextrous pitcher Pat Venditte ahead of their second game with the New York Yankees.

Venditte has been excellent in his first two outings of the season with the triple-A Buffalo Bisons after just missing out on a 25-man roster spot out of spring training. In 2.0 innings, Venditte has struck out five batters.

Originally a draft choice of the New York Yankees, Venditte made his Major League debut last season at age 30 with the Oakland Athletics where he posted a 4.40 ERA over 28.2 innings. In 40.2 innings pitched with triple-A Nashville in 2015, he struck out 8.9 batters per nine innings with a 1.55 ERA.

He should now slide into the role of the bullpen’s second left-handed arm in lower-leverage situations, but with his ambidextrous ability, he’ll be given chances to pitch full innings outside of just a lefty-specialist role.

Arnold Leon now enters the DFA limbo after a difficult start to his Blue Jays career after joining Toronto via trade from the Athletics this offseason. In Leon’s two outings, he allowed two earned runs on three hits with a walk.

For the time being, this also signals that right-handed pitcher (and Rule 5 pick) Joe Biagini has “made it” with some level of certainty as he and Leon were in competition for the final spot in the bullpen.