Blue Jays: Grading the first quarter of the season

Bullpen

One of the best relief units in all of baseball has certainly been a nice surprise for the Blue Jays in 2021. Although the group has been decimated by injury, they still have the 5th best ERA (3.17) in MLB and racked up the 7th most innings pitched.

While this recipe for success may not be stable, the Blue Jays have done a good job of distributing those innings to different relievers as no single member of the bullpen has thrown over 19 innings so far.

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Losing David Phelps and Julian Merryweather to the 60-day IL hurt as both had a sub 1.00 ERA but pitchers like Joel Payamps (1.93 ERA) and Tyler Chatwood (0.56 ERA) have been fantastic and have softened the blow.

Trent Thornton, Ryan Borucki and Jordan Romano have also all been very good so far. The trio has combined to throw 45 innings in relief and strike out 45 hitters in that time.

As a unit, the Blue Jays bullpen doesn’t strike out the most hitters or walk the fewest, but they rank top-12 in both HR/9 (0.93) and ground ball rate (45.4%).

Grade: A+

This group of relievers has been a huge part of the Blue Jays first quarter success. Although it may not be sustainable to rely on your bullpen this much, if the Jays can find some more success and eat up more innings with their rotation, the bullpen may be able to become even more effective in a more limited role.

* All stats courtesy of Fangraphs