6 Blue Jays whose future with the club hangs in the balance during spring training

As we approach the two-week mark in spring training for the Toronto Blue Jays, the intense battle to secure potential spots on the team is in full flight. But for a fair number of the Blue Jays, there could actually be more at stake than meets the eye as their ultimate role and future with the club could depend on how they perform overall this spring.

As a result, we will take a look at six players who could make or break their careers - at least with the Blue Jays - in the coming weeks.

Nate Pearson

After enduring through several years of setbacks, injuries, and underperformances, former top pitching prospect Nate Pearson appeared to have turned a corner in 2023. Following his call-up to the big league team in late April, the Pearson that everyone had been waiting for had finally arrived. Equipped with confidence and consistency like never before, he pitched to a 1.96 ERA, 0.91 WHIP with 26 strikeouts in 23 innings of work in his first 17 appearances.

However, his magical season quickly turned into a nightmare from mid-June onwards as Pearson completely fell apart, compiling a horrific 8.24 ERA, 1.68 WHIP, giving up 18 earned runs including 4 home runs, 13 walks and 17 strikeouts in just 19.2 innings pitched. Eventually, he was demoted back down to the minors with a couple of brief pop-up stints down the stretch, but failed to make the postseason roster.

Now at age 27, Pearson’s time with the Jays is hanging by the thread, as this could be his last chance to pencil his name into the Jays' long-term bullpen. Unfortunately, things haven’t gotten off to a good start this spring as Pearson has surrendered 4 runs on 5 hits, including a pair of home runs, for a 21.60 ERA and 3.60 WHIP over just 1.2 innings in two appearances. The upcoming weeks will be crucial for him to show the team once again why he was a bonafide former first-round draft pick, and that he deserves a spot on the roster. Otherwise, he may go down as one of the bigger first-round busts in the history of the organization.

Zach Pop

When Zach Pop was acquired from the Miami Marlins back in 2022, he helped provide a steady presence in the Jays’ bullpen down the stretch run. He pitched to a solid 2-0 record with a 1.89 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, giving up just 4 earned runs and just 2 walks, along with 11 strikeouts in 19 innings of work. However, it was a completely different story for him last year after starting off on a good note. Things began to spiral downward quickly for Pop after his ninth appearance of the season, as he ended up yielding 9 earned runs on 8 hits in his subsequent six outings before being sidelined with a right hamstring strain on May 4.

Despite being ready to rejoin to the big league club by July, his underwhelming performances during his rehab assignment ended up burying him in the minors for the remainder of the season. In total, Pop registered a 6.59 ERA, 1.24 WHIP with 14 strikeouts  in 13.2 innings pitched with the Jays, and a 5.51 ERA, 1.50 WHIP with 32 strikeouts in 32.2 innings pitched with their Triple-A affiliate Buffalo Bisons.

With the departures of both Jay Jackson and Jordan Hicks to free agency this offseason, a spot in the bullpen is certainly available for the taking. So far this spring, Pop has gotten off on the right foot compared to some of his main competitors, putting up zeroes across the board along with 2 hits and 2 strikeouts in 2.2 innings pitched over 3 outings. It will be up to Pop to re-establish his prior dominant form seen in 2022 and regain the trust of management if he wants to land his spot on the team’s 26-man roster when the season begins. 

Mitch White

Things have been a total disaster for Mitch White ever since joining the Jays two years ago at the trade deadline. Coming over from the Los Angeles Dodgers to provide what what supposed to be solid, reliable pitching depth, White had been anything but in his one and a half season tenure with the club. After putting up solid numbers as both a starter and reliever for the Dodgers where he maintained a 3.58 ERA and 1.20 WHIP in 38 games between 2020 and 2022, that version of him has yet to materialize in a Jays’ uniform.

Overall, White has posted an 0-6 record with a gaudy 7.60 ERA, 1.74 WHIP, giving up a whopping 47 earned runs along with 23 walks and 44 strikeouts in 55.2 total innings over 20 appearances (8 starts) with the Jays. It was so bad that many had thought he was done with the team when he was designated for assignment and put on waivers around last year’s deadline. But by going unclaimed, he remained in the organization and was sent outright to Buffalo. Perhaps the second chance given to him gave White some life and motivation, as he teased Jays’ nation by posting a stellar 1.69 ERA and 0.98 WHIP with 30 strikeouts in just 21.1 innings pitched in his September starts with the Bisons.

With that encouraging development to end the 2023 season, maybe, just maybe White can still be a valuable depth starter or long-relief role for the Jays heading into this year. After all, he is a former second-round pick by the Dodgers back in the 2016 MLB Draft, and we all know how the Dodgers are at developing in-house pitching over the years. Preliminary results from spring training so far for White have been mixed. He had kept the opposition to only 2 hits in his 3 appearances to date, but he has had some trouble with his command, leading to a whopping 6 walks and only 2 strikeouts over his 6 innings of work. With only Yariel Rodríguez being the main pitching addition during the offseason, White will sure have his work cut out for him if he wants that one last chance to stick and shine with the club.

Santiago Espinal

Despite chalking up an All-Star season in 2022, Santiago Espinal seemed to be given the short end of the stick in recent times. When it appeared that Espinal had solidified his starting role at second base, it suddenly no longer became the case when he had to deal with the three-player carousel along with Whit Merrifield and Cavan Biggio for the position in 2023. In the end, both Merrifield and Biggio rose to the occasion during various parts of the season, garnering most of the playing time while Espinal became the third wheel. 

As a result, not only did the reduction in game action affect his offensive stats, the usually sure-handed Espinal had a regression in his defensive numbers as well. In total, Espinal hit only .248 with a .644 OPS, 80 OPS+, with 30 runs scored, 2 home runs and 25 RBI in 93 games. In the field, he committed an uncharacteristic 9 errors in total for a .960 fielding percentage, along with an overall negative DRS of -2 on the season for the first time in his career. 

This offseason, Merrifield has left via free agency and joined the Philadelphia Phillies. However, the Jays have added another utilityman in Isiah Kiner-Falefa, along with indicating that rising star Davis Schneider could also be in the mix in the infield. Therefore, it appears that Espinal will be competing for playing time once again in 2024, so he desperately needs a strong spring to solidify any sort of starting role or even perhaps a bench role this season. In six pre-season games so far, he hasn’t been helping his own cause by hitting only .167 with a .579 OPS and only a single RBI, but he has at least demonstrated some patience at the plate with 5 walks in 17 total plate appearances. Nevertheless, the Jays will need a lot more out of Espinal if he wants to remain a key part of their everyday roster.

Trevor Richards

Some may find it surprising to see Trevor Richards here among the list whose future with the Jays may be in jeopardy. After all, he has been a veteran of 6 years of major league experience. With a lifetime ERA of 4.49 along with an elite strikeout rate north of 10 batters per 9 innings, he should be at minimum a trusted strikeout weapon in the bullpen, right?

Well, looking back, his tenure with the Jays started off fabulously after coming over from the Milwaukee Brewers in 2021. Richards compiled a strong 3.31 ERA, 0.80 WHIP, striking out 37 batters in just 32.2 innings pitched that year in helping stabilize the Jays’ bullpen, which was practically in shambles prior to his acquisition. However, inconsistency has plagued him for much of the past two seasons, as he would constantly alternate between stretches of pure dominance and stretches of absolute mediocrity.

Most notably, he completely imploded during the Jays’ most important run down the stretch in 2023 when he amassed a horrendous 12.41 ERA, 2.19 WHIP, .302 opponents batting average, giving up 17 earned runs and 11 walks in just 12.1 innings in the final month of the season. His strikeout ability was still evident, as he generated 16 whiffs over that same time frame, but that didn’t make up for the complete collapse that he had with regards to all other aspects of his pitching.  It hasn’t been all that pretty this spring either, as he has given up 5 runs (3 earned) on 5 hits, 3 walks and 6 strikeouts in 3 innings of work. As a result, entering 2024, Richards will be in the hot seat, as he needs to show right now that he can provide consistent effective innings for the club and no longer be the weakest link of the bullpen core. Otherwise, if he can no longer be trusted in high leverage or any type of situations altogether, promising hopefuls such as Bowden Francis and Hagen Danner can ultimately push him out of a spot for the coming year.