3 Blue Jays players on the 40-man roster who could make an underrated impact in 2025

P Erik Swanson

After coming over to the Jays in the infamous Teoscar Hernández trade with the Mariners, Erik Swanson was once a key cog of their bullpen back in 2023. As one of the top arms that Toronto could rely upon in high-leverage situations, Swanson put together an outstanding first season with his new club when he compiled a 4-2 record, 29 holds, four saves, a 2.97 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, along with 21 walks and 75 strikeouts in just 66 2/3 innings pitched over 69 appearances.

Unexpectedly, Swanson would follow that campaign up with one of his worst seasons of his MLB career when he posted a 5.03 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, while giving up a whopping 22 earned runs including 11 home runs, with 14 walks and 37 strikeouts in just 39 1/3 innings pitched over 45 relief appearances. Things even got so bad such that he was actually sent down to the minors for a period of time with hopes that he could rediscover his game. If it wasn’t for the mass exodus of players around the 2024 trade deadline, Swanson might have found himself stuck with their Triple-A affiliate Buffalo Bisons for the rest of the season. 

However, looking back, there actually could be a pretty clear explanation for his abysmal numbers. For those who may have forgotten, Swanson endured a family emergency with his four-year-old son near the start of spring training last year and had to spend some significant time away from the team as a result. Although he did try to return prior to the start of the regular season, he ended up landing on the IL instead with right forearm tightness.

With both things likely on his mind for quite some time, it would be hard already to focus on what was at stake in his life, let alone the game itself. As a result, both incidents likely played a key role in his poor start to his 2024 campaign. 

To further justify all of that, Swanson ultimately finished off the year strong when he went 1-0 with three holds and zero blown saves, along with a stellar 1.32 ERA, 0.59 WHIP and 18 strikeouts in just 13 2/3 innings pitched over his final 15 relief appearances of the season. With that convincing performance, one of the best additions to the Jays’ bullpen ahead of 2025 won’t be from the barrage of relief arms that they added so far during the offseason. But instead, it will be the return to form by Swanson that will actually have the most significant impact going forward for their relief corps.