Blue Jays accumulating pitching depth in minors

The Toronto Blue Jays have accumulated a rather impressive list of pitching depth that will be scattered throughout the various minor league ranks this season.

The Triple-A affiliate Buffalo Bisons appear poised to have a legitimate starting staff this upcoming season, something that has not been said for some time. The likes of Ryan Borucki, Thomas Pannone, Taylor Guerrieri, Andrew Case and potentially Joe Biagini may fill out their rotation.

Borucki and Pannone are both interesting talents and could both conceivably make their MLB debuts at some point this season depending on injuries with the big blub. Borucki went 8-8 with a 2.93 earned run average in 27 games in 2017, however, he only has one Triple-A outing under his belt albeit a 6 inning shutout.

Pannone was acquired from Cleveland in the Joe Smith deal so management is very familiar with his make-up. The hurler went 9-3 with a 2.36 earned run average in 25 starts last season but has not pitched at the Triple-A level yet either.

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Guerreri was a waiver claim from the Tampa Bay Rays after dealing with elbow issues for most of 2017. The 25-year old sports a career 2.51 earned run average in 81 appearances including 77 starts in the minors. Like both Borucki and Pannone, the former first rounder only has 2 Triple-A appearances on his resume.

Earlier today on the Jeff Blair Show on the Fan 590 broadcaster Buck Martinez opined that he feels the starting depth in Buffalo will afford the Blue Jays the opportunity to keep Biagini at the major league level to work out of the bullpen when the team heads north at the conclusion of spring training.

The Jays also have bounce-back candidates in Sean Reid-Foley, Francisco Rios and Jon Harris who will look to reassert themselves as future major leaguers in 2018. In all likelihood, they will begin the campaign in Double-A, however, any one of them could be summoned to pitch for the herd in Buffalo.

The most promising arm of them all may belong to Nate Pearson who absolutely dominated in his first taste of professional ball last season. Pearson may be on the fast track to superstardom if he keeps annihilating opposition batters.

Next: Blue Jays Spring Training News and Notes

With J.A. Happ, Marco Estrada and possibly Jaime Garcia all hitting free agency next season the plethora of arms will undoubtedly come in handy when crafting next years rotation.