Blue Jays Minor League Depth – Relief Pitching

February 14, 2013; Tampa, FL, USA; Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Brett Cecil glove, sneakers and hat lay on the grass during work outs during spring training at Bobby Mattick Training Centre. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

We continue to compile our list at each position going through possible breakout players, MLB ready talent, bounce backs, minor league reserves, and long shots.  Moving right along with our Minor League depth coverage we get to the rest of the pitching staff.  Lets talk relief pitchers.

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Our bullpen is one of the soft spots on the teams roster.  There are a lot of question marks but there are definitely not a lack of options.  The issue is how good / reliable are those options that we have.  It seems that there are only a few locks for the pen and their roles are definitely in question.

Brett Cecil, Aaron Loup, and Todd Redmond seem like sure things for the bullpen.  Aaron Sanchez is going to be in the pen assuming he doesn’t make the rotation.  Possibly as a 6th starter if Gibby feels like getting creative with a 6-man rotation.  Hopefully we get similar output from Chad Jenkins so he sticks to help eat some innings with Redmond.  Plus Kyle Drabek will most likely make the team as an arm in the pen regardless of how he does this spring.  He is out of options so the team has to bring him north or release him to waivers.

The bullpen will largely be filled with pitchers that didn’t make our rotation this year.  To check out the depth at the starting pitching position please see my previous article “Minor League Depth – Starting Pitching.”  This list may be a little thin in areas.  You have had your warning that this is a possible trouble spot for the Jays playoff hopes.  Anyways here is the list I generated from our organization roster.

May 5 2014; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Toronto Blue Jays relief pitcher Steve Delabar (50) pitches against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. The Blue Jays defeated the Phillies, 3-0. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

Possible Breakouts

–Gregory Infante– Surprise Candidate

Infante might be the dark horse candidate that runs away with the crown in the bullpen race.  He has improved his control a ton over the past years which lead the Jays to sign him to a minor league deal last off season.  He was brought into the closer roll for the AA New Hampshire team and did not want to give the spot up.  In 46.1 innings he saved 22 games.  The more astonishing numbers that caught my eye were the 8.5 K9 and the 1.036 WHIP.  He has the makings of a dominant reliever possibly closer with the Jays in the near future.  I recommend reading the above article by our Senior Editor on Infante.

–Blake Mcfarland– Not invited to the party

This big right hander is a possible strikeout machine.  At the age of 27 he has already had some plus performance at the minor league level and possibly is ready for a shot in the near future.  His K9 rating the past two years has been 9.6 in 2013 and 10.5 in 2014.  He is also finding out how to be a better pitcher and not just blow away hitters the past few years.  His ERA and WHIP has consistently dropped over his minor league career.  He could be a great pitcher if he keeps this pace up.

Toronto Blue Jays

Bounce Backs

–Steve Delabar– Raise the bar

We all hope Delabar regains his All-Star presence on the mound this year.  I personally had a hard time watching him last year.  It hurt to watch a guy that has been through so much that was able to raise above it all just to stumble all over again.  Now that he is 100% healthy I hope his velocity returns and he becomes the sure thing that he was in 2013 when he was an All-Star.  We all know what he is capable and I think we saw an imposter Delabar last season.  Looking at his stats I find it hard to believe that he is beginning to decline.  Since rebounding from his thought to be career ending arm injury he has put up very consistent numbers until last years.  He is working really hard to regain his form and expect to see him performing well out of the pen for the Jays this season.

Blue Jays Spring Training Home-Florida Auto Exchange Stadium. Image via BlueJays Official Twitter

Long Shots

–Matt West– Waiver Claim # 4

I was surprised that Texas let West go to waivers after having a solid 2014 season in the minors.  His season in 2014 stretched across AA and AAA in the Rangers system.  While there he pitched 56.2 innings and posted a 3.34 ERA with a 1.359 WHIP.  That is very respectable but what makes him look good is he doesn’t walk batters and strikes out many.  He sat hitters down at a 10.2 K9 rating and only walked 18.  If he can start missing some bats with his pitches the ERA / WHIP will continue to drop and could become a plus arm out of the bullpen.

Toronto Blue Jays

–Arik Sikula– Young gun

Our 36 round pick in 2011 is starting to looking like a steal.  He is progressing at a great rate through our minor league system and is showing signs of being something special.  Over the past two minor league seasons with our A and AA teams he has posted 60 innings with an ERA at 2 or under.  His strikeout rate is through the roof at 12.3 K9 last season and only walked 12 batters in 58.1 innings.  Those are some phenomenal numbers and I look forward to watching this righty progress.

All Statistic information provided by baseball-reference.com.

Next: Could Daric Barton challenge Justin Smoak for a roster spot?