Top 10 Blue Jays Relievers of All Time

4. Dan Plesac

TORONTO SUN/FILES

Dan Plesac was drafted in the 1st round by the Brewers in 1983. He was a reliever his whole career except for an odd partial experiment in 1991 and 1992. He played 7 years for the Brewers, 2 for the Cubs and two for the Pirates before he came to the Jays. Plesac was a part of 3 Blue Jays trades in his career. This one was (eventually) a nine player deal with the Jays sending about 6 minor leaguers Pittsburgh’s way. Plesac spent parts of three seasons with the Jays and then was traded in the midst of the 1999 campaign. Plesac went to the Diamondbacks in exchange for Tony Batista and John Frascatore—a pretty good swap.

Plesac went back to the Blue Jays as a free agent in 2001 and stayed for one and half more seasons before he was traded the third time. In 2002, the Jays and Phillies swapped Plesac and Cliff Politte. Plesac played 18 seasons in total. By the time Plesac played with the Jays he was mainly used for less than an inning’s work at a time. He was usually brought in for a tough out or two and not necessarily just against lefties (but more so).

Plesac threw hard and racked up strikeouts with a nasty slider. He had a 4.21 ERA, 3.39 FIP in 262 games with the Jays. His strikeout rate was excellent (11.1 K/9) but had trouble with the long ball from time to time (1.04 HR/9) (1.68 gmLi). He never had the raw talent of Koch or Ryan but was much more consistent and dependable over his time with the Jays.

He is 4th in WARIP, 2nd in K/9, 8th in FIP, 9th in WAR, 3rd in gmLi, 7th in SDs

Dan Plesac played his last game in 2003 and transitioned into broadcasting. He is currently an analyst with MLB Network. Interestingly Plesac is 7th all time among pitchers in games played.