Blue Jays: Not much has changed for Shun Yamaguchi since March

With roughly a week and a half until the Blue Jays begin their regular season schedule, not much has changed for Shun Yamaguchi.

It seems like a long time ago, but there were quite a few storylines to follow with the Blue Jays during their Spring Training back in March. One of the more interesting was Shun Yamaguchi‘s arrival in North America, and figuring out how he would help the Blue Jays in 2020.

The veteran right-hander has experience as both a starter and a reliever, and had made a successful move to the rotation back in 2014, where he’s been a quality contributor in Japan ever since. That said, he knew he was going to have to compete for a spot in the Blue Jays’ rotation, and that was going to be far from an easy task.

For a team with such a weak starting group in 2019, the Blue Jays suddenly have a fair bit of depth. In addition to Yamaguchi, they signed free agents in Hyun-Jin Ryu and Tanner Roark, traded for Chase Anderson, and re-signed Matt Shoemaker to bring him back after a mostly lost 2019 campaign. Add in MLB-ready or better arms like Trent Thornton, Ryan Borucki, Anthony Kay, and yes, Nate Pearson, and Yamaguchi has his work cut out for him.

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Not that you ever want to celebrate when a teammate gets injured, but Sunday brought a slight tweak to the oblique of Chase Anderson, which could open up an opportunity for Yamaguchi. That said, it sound like he’s in pretty much the same place he was back in March in a lot of ways, and I don’t know how seriously he’ll be considered for the role.

If you recall from back in March, one of Yamaguchi’s biggest struggles was adjusting to the different size of baseball in North America compared to the one in Japan. We’re not talking about a drastic difference to the average Joe, but for a precision skill like pitching at the highest level of baseball, a slight change can make a massive difference, and understandably takes some time to adjust to. On that note, it sounds like the 32-year-old is getting a little more comfortable. From Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi (and interpreted by Yuto Sakurai):

"“At this point, to be honest with you, I’ve been able to adjust to the ball and I have a limited amount of time left until the regular season, so I can’t really be talking about the ball slipping out of my hand and whatnot. Every day I’m trying to adjust and throw the ball better.”"

That much is encouraging, but Yamaguchi also understands that he’s running out of time, and that he’s far from alone in the competition for a rotation spot. He also admitted that he’s basically in the same place as he was back in March, waiting for word from his new coaching staff about the role he’ll play in 2020, and working toward being prepared for whatever is asked of him.

As 2020 has shown us time and time again, a lot can happen in a few weeks, so we can’t rule out the possibility that Yamaguchi could be starting for the Blue Jays this year. As of this writing, it would appear unlikely that he’ll be one of the top five to start the regular season, but hopefully he’ll be able to thrive in whatever role he fills.