5 Reasons Why The Blue Jays Should Be Afraid Of The Rangers

Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

1. Yovani Gallardo

Recently I wrote an article about the potential of Yovani Gallardo signing with the Blue Jays as a free agent in the offseason. I thought one of the main reasons the Blue Jays should go after Gallardo is simply so they don’t have to face him again. Gallardo has been an extremely consistent pitcher since 2009, only posting an ERA above 3.99 once (2013 4.18ERA 180.2IP 3.89FIP). This steady play has been shown against the Blue Jays, as they’ve been beaten on all three occasions they have face Gallardo.

*Gallardo 2015/Career numbers against the Blue Jays.

Gallardo is projected to pitch the first game against Daivd Price, which will most likely be a low scoring affair. Trade deadline acquisitions Ben Revere and Troy Tulowitzki have posted good numbers against Gallardo in the past (Revere .353/.421/471 17AB 2XBH 2BB/ Tulowizki .407/.429/.667 5XBH 4RBI 1BB), which might be the difference maker against Gallardo, as players like Jose Bautista (.083AVG) have not faired so well.

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Gallardo isn’t going to overwhelm Blue Jays hitters with a crazy fastball. Instead, Gallardo gets it done with an effective fastball that he throws for a ton of strikes which touches about 90mph. If Gallardo’s curveball is on, he gets his best results. Even though Gallardo’s curveball has been the worst of his career this year, (-4.3wCB ) and he’s only throwing it 11.6% of the time, it can be his deadliest pitch when it’s on.

Gallardo’s 4-Seamer/Changeup/Slider don’t vary greatly in speed, so his curveball becomes his true off speed pitch. On 373 curveballs thrown this year, Gallardo has struck out 23.6% of all batters with that single pitch, while only walking 1.4%. Pretty astounding numbers as opponents are hitting .229 against the Curve. Unlike Gallardo’s fastball, he doesn’t need to throw his curveball for strikes to get guys to swing at it.

“Courtesy of: Fangraphs”

If Gallardo’s curveball is on that night mixing his speeds through the lineup, he will defiantly be a hassle for the Blue Jays

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