3 Blue Jays players that need to step up with Cody Ponce out

When the Toronto Blue Jays began their 2026 season, they were already hit hard in terms of their starting pitching depth as Trey Yesavage, Shane Bieber and José Berríos were all sidelined due to injuries. Fortunately, the Blue Jays were still able to put together a solid starting five to hold the fort down while they waited for reinforcements.

However, even before the reinforcements have arrived, the Blue Jays were dealt another blow when pitcher Cody Ponce went down to an ACL sprain in his very first start with Toronto and is expected to be out for an extended period of time. While Toronto has reinforcements on the way with Yesavage looking good in his first start in Dunedin and the possibility of veteran Patrick Corbin joining the team, the current crop will still have to stem the tide in the meantime.

These 3 Blue Jays players will be needed in the absence of Cody Ponce

Eric Lauer

With the Blue Jays’ logjam of starting pitchers, Eric Lauer appeared to be destined for the bullpen prior to the start of the 2026 season. However, the string of injuries to their starters mentioned above thrusted the 30-year-old left-hander into the rotation. Now with further decimation of the starting five with Ponce’s injury, Lauer will now need to take up a more prominent role as a starter for the foreseeable future.

But if he can pitch just like how he did in his season debut for Toronto, injury replacement or not, he could cement himself with a spot in the rotation for good. In his first game against the Athletics, Lauer held them to just two runs on three hits with nine strikeouts in just 5.1 innings of work. The Blue Jays will certainly need more of that with their starting pitching depth set to be tested in the coming weeks.

Max Scherzer 

For someone that was likely re-signed more as valuable pitching depth this offseason, Max Scherzer has suddenly become a key piece of the Blue Jays’ rotation. For those that expected a workload management for the 41-year-old veteran, those thoughts can now get tossed out the window as Toronto will need him to be vintage Scherzer until reinforcements arrive.

The three-time Cy Young winner sure answered the call in his season debut this past Tuesday when he went six strong innings of four-hit ball, giving up just one run with four strikeouts against the Colorado Rockies. More importantly, his thumb issues appeared to be officially behind him, especially after his “surprising remedy” to his problem.

Trey Yesavage 

Finally, one of the key potential difference makers in the Jays rotation this season will be Yesavage. He surprised the entire baseball world in 2025 by ascending four minor league levels to make the big league team and nearly helping them win the World Series. Despite starting 2026 on the injured list due to a shoulder impingement, Blue Jays manager John Schneider predicted that Yesavage should be the starting pitcher closest to returning from the IL as per Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet, and it could actually be pretty soon as well.

That is because the 22-year-old rookie just made his first rehab start with the Blue Jays’ Single-A affiliate Dunedin on Friday where he gave up one run while striking out three in 2.2 innings of work. Once Yesavage gets in a couple of more rehab starts, he could be back with the Blue Jays by mid-April where he will be counted upon to help fill the void left by Ponce. And if Yesavage pitches anywhere close to how he did from last year, let’s just say he will be more than making up for Ponce in the Blue Jays’ rotation going forward.