Blue Jays: Marcus Stroman is Back

With Marcus Stroman back, and better than he has been all season, it’s safe to say that he’s probably healthy.

Now I know he’s only made a couple of starts so far, and I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself, but it’s exciting to see Marcus Stroman play like this. I do believe he’s gotten better and I think that he is now working at 100% or at least close to that. Let me show you why he’s much better and there’s nothing to worry about.

He’s beaten the Angels and Tigers.

With Stroman getting his first win against the Tigers, that in itself should be promising. Not because he beat Detroit, but because of how he did it. He went through seven strong innings, only allowed two runs, and did it all with just 90 pitches. Not only is he being dominant, but he’s becoming economical with his pitches as well.

More from Jays Journal

• Blue Jays: What Yusei Kikuchi’s latest stumble should mean
• Blue Jays: Alek Manoah on pace to succeed in possible postseason
• Blue Jays: Bradley Zimmer has carved himself a valuable role
• Anthony Bass has been the shutdown reliever the Blue Jays needed
• Blue Jays: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. open to a long-term contract

Beating the Angels was a good win for him as well. Now he didn’t receive the win from that game, but there’s no denying that he did his part. ESPN has the Angels as the #10 best offensive team in the league, and Stroman took them through five scoreless innings. He did that while only throwing 81 pitches. I’m sure he could’ve gone on for at least one more inning but I don’t think the team wanted to push his shoulder any further.

His pitches are better.

His shoulder wasn’t healthy, therefore his movement was off earlier in the season. Stroman’s bread and butter on his pitches is his movement. He’s always been a movement guy. Now that he’s back to looking like the pitcher we saw in 2017, hopefully he can really do some damage.

His pitch values have gone up since he’s come back as well. His fastball and slider values are at the peak of what they’ve been at all season, and even his change-ups drop off pretty well. It’ll be interesting to see if he can keep this new pace up as the season goes on, but he definitely looks like he’s poised to do just that.

Watching Stroman now, he’s a lot better than he has been, and it’s pretty obvious to see that. It looks like the Blue Jays have the Stroman of old, who is a great pitcher, and the future for the rotation that we need in Toronto.

Next: Additional details of the Steve Pearce trade