Toronto Blue Jays: Top Starting Pitching Debuts

1. Jesse Litsch – May 15, 2007 – Win – 8.2 IP | 4H | 1ER | 3BB | 1K

Nobody ever had Jesse Litsch very high on their prospect radar as he was a 24th round pick in 2004 and did not look to have overpowering stuff, however he continually progressed.  Litsch put up an 8-2 record and 2.24 ERA during the 2007 minor league season that helped him earn his first career start during that year.  Litsch was a big reason for the turn around in what looked to be a long disappointing season when he got called up.  When he took the mound for his first start, the Blue Jays were 16-22 to start the season and were able to finish the regular season schedule four games above .500.

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His first start came against the Baltimore Orioles and was arguably the best MLB debut by any Blue Jays starting pitcher.  However, it did not start out so smooth as Litsch walked his first batter, which was followed up by a single and putting runners on first and third.

Litsch, who was known to induce a lot of ground balls was able to get Miguel Tejada to ground into a double play and then got Ramon Hernandez to ground out to get out of the inning allowing just the one run.  Litsch completely settled in after the first inning as he retired 11 straight batters at one point.   After the first inning no batter would reach second base for the rest of the game.  Litsch pitched into the ninth inning and got the first two runners out on ground balls, but walked Tejada and was pulled.  Litsch was replaced by Jeremy Accardo, who was able to get the final out two batters later to end the game.

Listch was a very good pitcher for the Blue Jays over his first two seasons, posting a 20-18 record and a 3.67 ERA and even led the American League in shutouts in 2008.  Unfortunately for the right-handed pitcher his injuries killed his career and he had to retire at the age of 26.

What do you think of the list?  Would you rank it differently? Is there another performance you think should be on the list?