2015 Toronto Blue Jays: Top 5 Sweet Surprises

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#1 – Marco Estrada, SP

(11-8, 3.16 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 107 K, 44 BB)

When Alex Anthopoulos traded Adam Lind for Marco Estrada, fans were underwhelmed. The big narrative was Estrada’s struggles as a starting pitcher, in particular his propensity to let up the homerun in a homerun friendy ballpark.  Most fans projected Estrada to be a reliever and spot starter, the Todd Redmond of 2015.

Estrada won the 5th starters job and was s=OK but not spectacular in his first run of starts.  Then he had a near no-hitter on June 19th vs the Rays and followed it up with another one on June 24 vs Baltimore, striking out 10.  Ever since then, he has built on this confidence and consistently given the Jays tremendous starts.

With an offense like the one the Jays possess, your 5th starter needs to manage 6 innings and keep the team in the game.  However, Estrada has been such a valuable starter that many fans are thinking that he deserves some post-season starts.

Jays Journal wrote this week about whether the Blue Jays should be looking to resign Marco long term.  It’s been that good of a season.

Time will tell, but it’s clear that the trade has worked out really well for the Blue Jays, and is yet another example of AA’s ability to identify talent and make a deal.

Next: Are We Seeing a New Brand of Blue Jays Baseball?

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