Blue Jays: It’s time to call up Thomas Hatch to the major league roster

Acquired from the Chicago Cubs in exchange for reliever David Phelps back in July of 2019, right-hander Thomas Hatch made his major league debut for the Toronto Blue Jays last season, pitching to a 2.73 ERA through 17 appearances with 23 strikeouts and 13 walks in 26.1 innings of work.

Drafted in the third round of the 2016 MLB Draft by the Cubs, Hatch has worked his way through the minors as a starter, starting 87 games and accumulating 433.0 innings across pretty much every level of the Cubs/Blue Jays farm system. He currently owns a career 3.87 ERA with 399 strikeouts as a minor leaguer dating back to 2016.

Hatch was competing for a spot on the Blue Jays roster this year before going on the 60-day injured list with an elbow impingement early in the season, an injury that would sideline him until late May. Since his return, the right-hander has been spending his time in AAA with the Buffalo Bisons, starting eight games and throwing to a spectacular 2.15 ERA through 29.1 innings with 29 strikeouts, 12 walks, and a 1.057 WHIP as a member of the rotation.

The Toronto Blue Jays currently have right-hander Thomas Hatch down in AAA being stretched out as a starter after starting the season on the injured list but he could provide some much-needed relief in the bullpen if the club was to call him up to the active roster.

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It makes sense that the Blue Jays had Hatch down in AAA to help him get back up to game speed after missing almost two months with the elbow injury. With almost 30 innings to his name in AAA this year, it is a bit surprising that the Jays have not called him up to the big league club yet, especially with the difficulty the relief corps has had with both injuries and poor performances.

Both Rafael Dolis and Tyler Chatwood have struggled to gain the trust of the Blue Jays fanbase after numerous poor outings while one could argue that Hatch provides considerable upside over Jacob Barnes, another pitcher on the roster who is struggling to keep runs off the board as of late.

One has to think that the Blue Jays front office must want to keep Hatch in the mix as a starter, otherwise, there really is no reason as to why he should not be on the roster right now.

He pitched well in the small sample size fans saw last season and after some solid outings during his rehab assignment and the subsequent option to AAA this season, the only holdback would be the Jays value him as a starter versus a bullpen arm over the long run. He’s on the 40-man roster so he doesn’t have that issue to contend with and does have three minor league options at his disposal if the Blue Jays want to call him up and potentially send him back down if he struggles.

While Ross Atkins has improved the bullpen by acquiring Adam Cimber and Trevor Richards over the past few weeks, it seems odd that Hatch continues to throw down in AAA and be stretched out as a starter when he could be useful right now as a reliever.

One could argue that it is always beneficial to have depth down in the minors if injuries to the rotation occur but with other pitching prospects like Nate Pearson, Nick Allgeyer, Patrick Murphy, Jacob Waguespack (not on 40-man), Simeon Woods-Richardson, and T.J. Zeuch also in the pipeline, Hatch could be more beneficial to the organization as a bullpen arm rather than a starter on the active roster.

As of right now, the Blue Jays pitching staff owns a combined 3.96 ERA, sitting 12th in the league. The starting rotation has been solid with quality outings from Robbie Ray and Alek Manoah while Ross Stripling has turned over a new leaf since changing his mechanics earlier this season.

The biggest area of weakness of the roster right now is the bullpen and having Thomas Hatch on the active roster as a middle relief or long arm seems like it could be more beneficial to the club than keeping him stretched out as a starter in the minors.