Blue Jays finalize 28-man roster for September with two surprising additions

With the Toronto Blue Jays struggling to string together a series of wins in recent weeks, many were looking towards September in anticipation of the two players that they would be adding to boost the team heading into the stretch run. That day has finally arrived and the Blue Jays have certainly surprised Toronto fans with two rather unexpected additions to say the least.

One of the players that will be joining the Jays’ 28-man roster is recent waiver claim Isiah Kiner-Falefa from the Pittsburgh Pirates. The other roster move sure came out of nowhere as Toronto selected the contract and promoted veteran pitcher Dillon Tate to join their battered bullpen.

Blue Jays finalize 28-man roster for September with two surprising additions

For Kiner-Falefa, it makes total sense as he returns to the team in which he had the most success with previously in his MLB career. He may have been struggling somewhat to produce offensively for the Pirates this season, but it was only one year ago when the 30-year-old veteran utilityman put up strong numbers for the Jays prior to being dealt at the 2024 trade deadline.

In 83 games, Kiner-Falefa batted a strong .292 with a .758 OPS, along with 32 runs scored, eight doubles, two triples, seven home runs and 33 RBIs. More importantly, he provided stellar defense for the Jays across multiple positions in the field. That positional flexibility along with solid hitting is exactly what Toronto needs heading into crunch time for the final month of the season.

However, the addition of Tate was a more intriguing yet peculiar move by the Jays. Sure, everyone knew they needed some bullpen help, given their struggles in recent weeks. But many were expecting the help to come in the form of Braydon Fisher or even Trey Yesavage to significantly bolster the firepower of the back end of their bullpen.

Instead, the Jays turn to Tate, who has had an underwhelming stint earlier this season with the club, putting up a less-than-stellar 5.06 ERA and 2.44 WHIP in five appearances. That performance ultimately led to him being designated for assignment, but ended up staying in the organization by joining their Triple-A affiliate Buffalo.

He had been a bit more productive down with the Bisons where he had compiled a solid 4-0 record with a 2.06 ERA along with 34 strikeouts in 35 innings pitched over 31 games played. But if the Jays truly believed that he could be a difference maker, he would have been already called up again when the team was struggling to find a reliable arm for their relief corps in recent months.

Nevertheless, the Jays will hope that their bold September call-ups will end up helping the team in the coming weeks as they look to lock down a playoff spot and hopefully a division title when all is said and done.