Blue Jays: Reviewing Every Reliever After the First Month

Aaron Loup – Stable Southpaw

It’s been an up-and-down type season so far for the longest-tenured Blue Jay, Aaron Loup. After faltering out of the gate, he’s settled down, pitching to a 3.48 ERA overall in 10.1 innings, striking out nine and appearing in 11 games. His WHIP stands at a decent 1.35 and he has only walked one batter.

At the start of the season, it was unknown just what role he would play. The sole left-handed hurler in the pen, John Gibbons opted to use him as a situational lefty. The role didn’t suit him so well, as he quickly saw his ERA skyrocket following a pair of short outings in the first series against the Texas Rangers.

Recently though, Loup has been a sort of longman out of the bullpen, pitching in two innings on April 26th against the Sox, holding them hitless and striking out two. At this point, it’s difficult to accurately assess just how reliable he will be this season, but it’s a good start for sure.

He has yet to appear in a tie ballgame, has only appeared once when the Jays are trailing by a run, and has not appeared when they’ve had leads of one, two, or three runs. That should tell you something about how much faith Gibby has in the Raceland, Louisiana native.

Still, Loup seems to be putting things together quite nicely, and while it’ll take some time for his skipper to start trusting him in higher leverage situations, he’ll serve as the “long-man” in the meantime.

Grade: B-