Blue Jays Morning Brew: Podcast, Biagini, and fastballs

The Blue Jays play another late game in San Francisco tonight. First pitch comes at 10:15

Jays Nest Podcast Ep. 73  –  After this weekend’s special episode with Homer Bush, Shaun Doyle and I return with our regular Tuesday morning episode of The Jays Nest Podcast.

Bullpen struggles are at the top of the list this week with Drew Storen continuing to struggle, and we discuss how big a role John Gibbons plays in these recent shortcomings. Later in the show, we highlight Joe Biagini and the conversation regarding his role in 2017 with the Blue Jays. I wrote about this earlier in the week, but at this point in his major league career, aren’t we jumping the gun just a little bit?

We also get to Andy Burns, and have some audio from my interview with him in Buffalo this past week. Burns’ versatility is perfect for Interleague play and he’s hit well enough at every level throughout the minors, but where does he fit in the Blue Jays plans through the summer and towards playoff time?

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On Shulman  –  Here’s a wonderful piece from The Star’s Sean Fitz-Gerald on Dan Shulman, the great baseball voice that has come “home” in 2016 to join the Blue Jays’ broadcast booth on a semi-regular basis.

Fitz-Gerald spoke to several linguistics experts to see just what it is that makes Schulman’s voice so well-received by baseball fans.

Biagini going home  –  Blue Jays fans can’t get enough of Joe Biagini, and this piece from Melissa Cuoto featured at The Globe and Mail is one of the best. Biagini grew up under 70KM from AT&T Park, and after being drafted by the Giants, he seemed destined to make his major league debut there if the day came.

“My whole idea of baseball was very much constructed by the Giants and AT&T Park,” Biagini told Cuoto. “Getting drafted by the Giants, the hope was I’d play there one day. Ironically I’m now about as far away from there as you can get, but I’ll hopefully get to pitch (in the series) and I’m excited about that.”

Bourn released  –  We’d mentioned this in a recent Minor League Recap, but in case you’d missed it, Michael Bourn has been released from his minor league deal with the Blue Jays. With a crowded depth chart at the triple-A level, the Blue Jays must not have seen enough from the former star in his time with the Dunedin Blue Jays.

Next: Brown finding opportunity and a new home in AAA Buffalo

Let’s talk about fastballs  –  Excellent reading as always from Kyle Matte at BP Toronto. Both Marcus Stroman and Aaron Sanchez throw hard, but rarely straight, as neither rely heavily on a typical four-seam fastball. Kyle tackles a classic mix-up: the sinker and the two-seam fastball. Grab a cup of coffee, open up the article, and get yourself some learnin’.

Honorary bat girl  –  An important article here from Alykhan Ravjiani of MLB.com, where he speaks with Michelle Riccio. Diagnosed with Stage IV metastatic breast cancer in 2014, Riccio was on hand this past Sunday to throw out the first pitch on Mothers Day.