Blow-up outings bit Jake Bloss in his first starts in the Blue Jays organization

Acquired in easily the biggest trade of the year for the Toronto Blue Jays, right-hander Jake Bloss has the potential to turn into a reliable piece in the Jays' starting rotation for years to come.

Bloss, 23, was a part of the huge return for Yusei Kikuchi at the deadline, alongside outfielder Joey Loperfido and infielder Will Wagner. Loperfido and Wagner immediately began making impacts at the big league level, but Bloss went down to Triple-A to start things off. While he was a candidate to earn a September call-up, he simply didn't do enough to warrant the promotion.

Prior to the trade, Bloss made the first three starts of his big league career as a member of the Astros. He threw a total of 11.2 innings while surrendering nine runs on 16 hits (6.94 ERA), striking out 11 and walking three. His performance all throughout the minor leagues suggested he could do better than those numbers showed, but the Blue Jays didn't get to see much of that in his eight starts for them post-trade.

Bloss, currently listed as the Blue Jays' No. 3 prospect per MLB Pipeline, threw 27.1 innings for the Bufffalo Bisons after the deadline. In that time, he allowed 23 runs (21 earned) on 33 hits, which is good for a 6.91 ERA. He also showed off some concerning walk issues and surrendered nearly 11 hits per nine innings to opposing batters.

Taking a look at the individual game logs, though, we'll see that Bloss did well on the Bisons to start with, but he simply wore down as the season marched on. The 93.1 innings of work he had on the mound this season were easily the highest he's had dating back to his collegiate days.

Here's a breakdown of his starts on the Bisons. It's obvious that Bloss succumbed to his lengthy workload this season. The Blue Jays are going to have to proceed with caution next year so he doesn't become yet another pitching prospect of theirs to go under the knife.

Notice how Bloss never even made it five innings in start. Again, this has a lot to do with his workload, and the Blue Jays were clearly handling him with care. It's just a bit concerning to see the blow-up outings hold him down to the point where he's not doing enough to get a look in the big leagues.

Bloss' repertoire consists of a four-seam fastball that ranges anywhere from 92-97mph along with a curveball, two different sliders and a heavy changeup that has a ton of sink is still a work in progress. He's got the arsenal to be a solid starting pitcher, but now it's just a matter of him reeling the individual offerings in. Expect him to spend a lot of time preparing for an even larger workload next season and likely the first look at him in a Blue Jays uniform at the big-league level.

There's a reason Bloss was demanded as part of the Kikuchi return. In eight starts at the Astros' Double-A affiliate this year, he posted a 1.61 ERA. In four starts in High-A for Houston, it was 2.08. This was enough to shoot him up the organizational depth chart to the point where he even made his big-league debut.

Bloss has arguably the highest upside of any of the pieces acquired in the trade and the Blue Jays know that. The club has a rather concerning history of developing pitching prospects, but he could be the exception if he can avoid the blow-up outings that bit him in the second-half of this year.