Toronto Blue Jays 2023 Season Preview: RHP Adam Cimber

Happy Monday everyone, it's time for us to dive into the next installment of our 2023 season preview series, reliever Adam Cimber.

Previously:

Addison Barger, Anthony Bass, Chris Bassitt, Brandon Belt, José Berríos, Bo Bichette, Cavan Biggio, Matt Chapman

Here's a look at which projection systems we're going to be using for this as well:

STEAMER

ZiPS

THE BAT

Cimber, 32, is a master of decption thanks to his unorthodox "sidearm" delivery on the mound. The sidearm delivery definitely used to be more popular back in the 1980s and 1990s but it has largely gone away.

STEAMER: 60 G, 3-3 record, 4.15 ERA, 44 SO and 17 BB in 60 innings

ZiPS: 69 G, 7-5 record, 3.80 ERA, 48 SO and 14 BB in 64 innings

THE BAT: 60 G, 2-2 record, 4.05 ERA, 48 SO and 16 BB in 60 innings

2022 stats: 77 G, 10-6 record, 2.80 ERA, 58 SO and 13 BB in 70.2 innings

Interestingly, the projection systems all have Cimber taking a fairly significant step back from his 2022 performance. Last year, the crafty right-hander led the majors in appearances (77) and accumulated a whopping 10 wins in relief, something that is almost never seen nowadays.

Cimber's Blue Jays career has been excellent so far and I fully anticipate him continuing on the path he's been on over the past two seasons. In total, he's made 116 appearances in just two seasons, posting a 2.42 ERA, 170 ERA+ and 3.24 FIP in that time.

One thing you know you're always going to get out of Cimber is an extremely low walk rate. Last season, he ranked in the 94th percentile in walk-percentage per Baseball Savant and was in the 84th percentile in barrel%.

What makes Cimber even more unique is his repertoire of pitches. He will never overpower the opposition with blazing fastballs; instead he relies heavily on a huge, sweeping slider and a heavy sinker.

As you can see, there is no heat to be found in his pitching toolset. His slider has a ton of movement on it and is a huge strike pitch for him, being thrown for a strike nearly 65 percent of the time last year and being hit for only a .227 average by opposing hitters.

His sinker and fourseam fastball are equally as impressive. While they are not going to blow hitters away, he throws both pitches for strikes consistently and uses his heavy sinker to induce groundballs, something he was able to do 72 percent of the time last year.

There is no real reason to anticipate that Cimber takes any sort of step back in 2023. He has never had a full season in the big leagues where he was statistically below average and his excellent ability to limit home runs and walks makes him a valuable asset to this Jays bullpen moving forward.