Toronto Blue Jays 2020 Report Cards: Jacob Waguespack

 Jays Journal contributors will be authoring Toronto Blue Jays report cards based on how each player performed in 2020. In this edition, we take a look at Jacob Waguespack

One of the least talked about players on the Toronto Blue Jays this season was Jacob Waguespack. Did you know that the tall righty pitched in 11 games this year? Cause until I clicked on his player profile, I didn’t.

Over 11 games, all coming in relief, which consisted of 17.2 innings, Waguespack posted a 8.15 ERA with an opponent average of .346.

Waguespack’s arsenal

Waguespack had five pitches at his disposal this season. A fastball (43.8%), changeup (18.9%), cutter (18.1%), curveball (10.8%) and sinker (8.3%).

He threw exactly 147 fastballs splitting them against right-handed and left-handed batters. He gave up hits at a .206 clip off his fastballs. Unfortunately, that was his only good pitch as batters hit at least .400 off his other pitches. Despite this, he seemed to be on the wrong side of luck.

With his changeup, he gave up hits at a .444 clip, but the expected batting average (XBA) was .254. He threw the changeup primarily against left-handed batters (70.7%).

With his curveball, he gave up hits at a clip of .600 but with an XBA of .198, a huge difference. Like his changeup, he threw his curveball mostly against left-handed batters. Off his cutter, batters hit .455, while against his sinker, he gave up hits at a clip of exactly .400.

Grade

After a decent 2019 campaign which saw him post a 4.38 ERA over 78 innings in 16 games (13 starts), there was hope that Waguespack would carry that momentum and be a valuable pitcher for the Blue Jays, whether it be in the rotation or bullpen.

Unfortunately, that didn’t happen and with the Jays having lots of pitching depth now, his horrible 2020 campaign may have left him off the roster for good going forward.

Final grade: F