Blue Jays: Pitchers Performing in Spring Training

The Toronto Blue Jays have now played 10 games in their 2020 Spring Training circuit and have pulled off a 6-2-2 record. Plenty of players have been performing well in the early stages of camp, including several pitchers looking to make a good impression. Let’s have a look at some of the arms that are throwing well already.

While in my opinion the win-loss records in Spring Training don’t mean much at all, I thought it would be a good time to take a look at who has turned heads in Florida during the first 10 games of the Spring Training schedule. With the Blue Jays being 6-2-2, things have gone fairly well overall on both sides of the ball. In the field, Kevin Smith leads the club in games appeared in with eight, while six other players have played in seven, and just two of those look to crack the active roster (Cavan Biggio and Vladimir Guerrero Jr).

On the mound, the Blue Jays have had nine different pitchers throw in at least three games with Trent Thornton leading the club with five innings pitched, trailed closely behind by Anthony Kay. This early stage of camp is all about evaluating as many arms as possible, with most of the appearances being no more than an inning or two.

While this is basically a small sample size as you can get, here are the top five pitchers that have turned heads so far in camp.

Top prospect the talk of camp

Nate Pearson
Almost all the hype around Spring Training Camp has been on 23-year old Nate Pearson and his dominance. Pearson entered into camp as the Blue Jays top prospect, one of Baseball’s elite prospects and he has not disappointed. He made his spring debut last Tuesday starting against the New York Yankees. Pearson faced just three batters and needed just 10 pitches, eight of which were swinging strikes to strikeout the side.

Pearson had his second performance on Sunday against the Pittsburgh Pirates where he came in for the fourth and fifth innings when the team was trailing 7-2.  Pearson received plenty of applause from the crowd when he registered 100 mph on the stadium board from his fastball.  Pirates All-Star Josh Bell looked completely overmatched at the plate as he looked way in front of Pearson’s changeup and then was completely blown away on Pearson’s fastball. Over Pearson’s two innings he struck out three batters.

Pearson has pitched a perfect three innings so far this spring as he has not yet yielded a base runner and has struck out six.  While fans are getting extremely excited to see Pearson take the mound at Rogers Centre, they will have to wait a few months. The Blue Jays, along with Pearson have come up with a program that will see him start in Buffalo this year. Last season he started the year going back and forth between by at the end of July.  This year, Pearson is set to pitch as deep as his performance will allow him to in Buffalo before eventually getting the call up to Toronto.

More depth than there’s been in years

Yennsy Diaz
One of the forgotten names on the prospect list is 23-year old Yennsy Diaz, I had him ranked as #22 on my top 30 list.  Diaz got into one performance last year and you know he is itching to change his baseball-reference ERA as it is currently sitting at 27.00.

Diaz has gotten into two games this spring out of the bullpen.  His first appearance was on Spring Training Opening Day where he pitched a clean eighth inning against the Yankees and he struck out one without allowing a base runner on just three batters.

Diaz got into his second game, again against the New York Yankees last Tuesday. Diaz had another perfect performance as he faced six batters and sat them all down striking out three of them.  Diaz has been used as a starter through his minor league career as he has started 84 of his 96 appearances, however with the depth at pitching that the Blue Jays have through their minor league system it could be reasonable to think he will move to the bullpen.  At this time it is unlikely he will crack the active roster, but he has definitely had a few more eyes on him after his performances.

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A.J. Cole
The Blue Jays signed 28-year old relief pitcher A.J. Cole to a minor league deal with an invite to camp after coming of a season split between AAA and the majors in the Cleveland organization in 2019.  With the Indians, Cole pitched 26 innings to a 3.81 ERA.  Cole is trying to earn a spot in the bullpen and has made his name known in three appearances so far.

Cole first appeared in the opening game of spring where he picked up the win after a clean fifth inning that saw him get a fly out, ground out and strike out.  Cole next pitched against the New York Yankees last Tuesday and although he gave up both a hit and walk, he got through the inning without allowing a run.  Cole last pitched on Saturday against the Philadelphia Phillies where he picked up the save in a come from behind victory.  Cole faced just three batters surrendering a base hit but induced a ground ball for a 6-4-3 double play.

Through three performances, Cole has a win, save, a 0.00 ERA and 1.00 WHIP.  Cole has to be pushing his way into a deeper conversation about earning a spot in the Blue Jays bullpen.

Conclusion
While we are just 10 games into Spring Training and there are still three weeks to go, these are some players that are making management take notice and open a deeper conversation one what the pitching roster will look like.