Blue Jays announce that Thomas Hatch has been lost on waivers

Just a few days after Jordan Luplow was lost on waivers to the Minnesota Twins, the Toronto Blue Jays have announced that a second player is moving on from the organization.

Per a Twitter (or is it X?) announcement from the Blue Jays themselves, right-handed pitcher Thomas Hatch has been lost on waivers via claim by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Hatch, 28, had been designated for assignment when Davis Schneider was selected to the club's 26 and 40-man rosters.

In the Pirates organization, Hatch will join a slew of former Blue Jays teammates such as Ryan Borucki, Vinny Capra and Josh Palacios. As of right now, it's unclear whether the club intends to option Hatch to Triple-A or carry him on their big league roster. With the incredible amount of injuries this Pirates team has had to battle through this season, it would not be a shock to see him tossed right on the active roster.

With this claim, a largely uninspiring five-year tenure on the Blue Jays comes to an end for the Tulsa, Oklahoma native. After breaking into the big leagues in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, Hatch showed off some serious promise in a 17-game cameo in which he had a 2.73 ERA and 162 ERA+ in just over 26 innings of work. Unforuntately, he was not able to match that output in any of the seasons past that.

In the current campaign, Hatch had quietly been a solid reliever in a small sample size for the Blue Jays. In six games and as many innings, he had a 103 ERA+ and 2.48 FIP while also showing off some increased strikeout numbers. Again, a small sample size, but it's worth noting. Losing a pitcher who has the ability to go multiple innings per outing will likely sting a little bit for the Jays, but Hatch's loss is ultimately not going to be a significant one for the organization. He joins Casey Lawrence and Drew Hutchison as swingman options to leave the Blue Jays semi-recently.