Blue Jays: Reviewing Every Reliever After the First Month

Roberto Osuna – Young Gun

Predictably the final reliever reviewed on this list, exciting young closer Roberto Osuna has continued his tradition of excellence with a fantastic start to yet another season. In 11 appearances, Osuna has pitched to a 2.38 ERA with 11 strikeouts in 11.1 innings. He has six saves and his WHIP stands at a respectable 1.06.

It’s been business as usual for the young Mexican hurler. He’s come into games late and has gotten the job done. It seems with every game, he gets more impressive. His velocity continues to remain steady, his location is as good as ever, and he’s been able to pitch more frequently than ever before.

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Having only surrendered runs in two of his outings, his ERA is not an accurate representation of his performance thus far. He didn’t allow a hit until his fifth inning of work and hadn’t allowed a run until his ninth appearance.

Additionally, Osuna became the youngest player in Major League history to reach 100 saves, surpassing Francisco Rodriguez. He’s consistently been the most effective pitcher in the pen, and perhaps on the team. After a great spring, he’s carried that exceptional momentum into the early part of the 2018 season.

Grade: A

With that, I think we’ve proved that the Jays bullpen has been fantastic so far, shutting down opposing lineups with ease and keeping them in games like never before. An outstanding weapon here’s hoping the bullpen continues to stay hot. As we’ve seen in the past, a good bullpen can be the difference between a win and a loss, and you can never have too much bullpen depth, something the Blue Jays have learned over the past few seasons.

Next: Blue Jays: The remarkable rise of Teoscar Hernandez