How They Got Here: Toronto Blue Jays pitchers on the 40-man roster

With the recent signing of Chris Bassitt, the Toronto Blue Jays are slowly piecing together one of the stronger starting rotations in the bigs. If Bassitt, who went 15-7 last year with the Mets with a 3.42 ERA is projected to be your fourth starter, your club is doing something right.

Alongside Bassitt, the Jays are going to see the dynamic duo of Alek Manoah and Kevin Gausman return to the top of the rotation with bounceback candidate José Berríos
and some combination of Yusei Kikuchi and Mitch White rounding out the staff.

With Jordan Romano and the recently-acquired Erik Swanson at the tail end of the bullpen, the Jays are also sitting nicely in that department but there is still a hole, or even two, to fill in the 'pen.

Recently, I got to thinking about how each player on the Jays got to this organization. In two separate articles, one for position players and one for pitchers, I'm going to break down the 40-man roster and reflect on how each of these players got here today. Let's get into it.

Homegrown talent

RHP Hagen Danner - 2nd round draft pick in 2017

RHP Alek Manoah - 1st round draft pick in 2019

RHP Nate Pearson - 1st round draft pick in 2017

RHP Jordan Romano - 10th round draft pick in 2014

RHP Yosver Zulueta - Amateur FA 06/2019

LHP Tim Mayza - 12th round draft pick in 2013

Free agent signings

RHP Chris Bassitt - Three-year, $63M contract signed in December of 2022

RHP Yimi García - Two-year, $11M contract signed in December of 2021

RHP Kevin Gausman - Five-year, $110M contract signed in December of 2021

LHP Matt Gage - Minor league contract signed in November of 2021

LHP Yusei Kikuchi - Three-year, $36M contract signed in March of 2022

LHP Hyun Jin Ryu - Four-year, $80M contract signed in December of 2019

Trade acquisitions

RHP Anthony Bass - Acquired from the Miami Marlins in August of 2022 in exchange for Jordan Groshans and Edward Duran.

RHP José Berríos - Acquired from the Minnesota Twins in July of 2021 in exchange for Austin Martin and Simeon Woods Richardson.

RHP Adam Cimber - Acquired from the Miami Marlins in June of 2021 in exchange for Joe Panik and Andrew McInvale.

RHP Thomas Hatch - Acquired from the Chicago Cubs in July of 2019 in exchange for David Phelps.

RHP Julian Merryweather - Acquired from the Cleveland Indians in August of 2018 in exchange for Josh Donaldson.

RHP Zach Pop - Acquired from the Miami Marlins in August of 2022 in exchange for Jordan Groshans and Edward Duran.

RHP Trevor Richards - Acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers in July of 2021 in exchange for Rowdy Tellez.

RHP Erik Swanson - Acquired from the Seattle Mariners in November of 2022 in exchange for Teoscar Hernández.

RHP Trent Thornton - Acquired from the Houston Astros in November of 2018 in exchange for Aledmys Díaz.

RHP Mitch White - Acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers in August of 2022 in exchange for Nick Frasso and Moises Brito.