Blue Jays: A closer look at Stroman, the ace

Marcus Stroman has been an incredibly effective pitcher during his time in the MLB, and used to be considered the ace of the staff. Now slotting in 3rd or 4th on most healthy Jays’ depth charts, Stroman is proving doubters wrong and showing the stuff of a #1.

Marcus Stroman had another strong outing on Saturday afternoon, once again keeping his team in the game long enough to let the offence do their thing, picking up their 4th straight win in the process. He threw 6 innings and allowed 8 hits, 2 earned runs, and picked up 9 strikeouts in the no decision.

The “Stro Show” has been healthy and performing very well thus far in 2017, currently holding a 3-2 record with a 3.33 ERA through his first 8 starts. He’s recorded 49 strikeouts in 51.1 innings, and has a 1.38 WHIP. In fact, the young right-hander has given the club a quality start in 6 of his 8 chances, only faltering on May 3rd against New York (when he was removed with “tightness”), and on April 18th when he was touched up for 6 earned runs in 4.2 against the Red Sox.

Otherwise, Stroman has been one of the saving graces for a hurting Blue Jays’ rotation, providing health and length, averaging more than 6 innings per start, and giving the bullpen a bit of breathing room.

What I’ve always found strange about Stroman is that he was once the prized jewel of the Blue Jays’ pitching ranks, only to have fallen back significantly in the eyes of many baseball fans and pundits. I present to you an argument for why Stroman would be considered the ace if he were dropped into plenty of other MLB rotations.