Ryan Burr's quiet reliability may have bought him a future with the Blue Jays

The Toronto Blue Jays swung a trade with the Philadelphia Phillies at the end of May that netted them Ryan Burr, a relief pitcher whose career had been thrown off by injuries. The Phillies received $1 in that deal.

You're forgiven if this trade didn't do much for you at the time, because this was one of the first moves Ross Atkins made this past season and it hardly moved the needle. When the move went down, the Blue Jays were just 26-29 and it felt like Burr would never see the light of day in the big leagues for them, as that elusive turnaround was always just one hot streak away.

We all know how that ended. Those that didn't expect Burr to contribute at the big league level were dead wrong, too. The 30-year-old tied a career-high with 34 appearances down the stretch and while not every outing was of the stress-free variety, he did okay, all things considered.

Ryan Burr's 2024 showing bought him a job with the 2025 Blue Jays

Now that the embarrassing 2024 campaign is over for the Blue Jays, we're left with the rumor mill and a whole lot of time to look back.

Through 34 games and 32.2 innings out of the Blue Jays bullpen, Burr posted a 4.13 ERA along with a much-nicer-to-look-at FIP of 3.08. His ERA+ of 98 came in at just two percent below league-average, but he managed to raise his K/9 rate just about five full strikeouts from his last full season in the big leagues back in 2021. Amongst Blue Jays hurlers with a minimum of five innings pitched this past year, Burr ranked second (to Yimi Garcia) with a 33.6 strikeout-percentage.

Throughout his time in the big leagues in 2024, Burr threw just two pitches: a slider (60.5%) and a four-seam fastball (39.5%). His fastball was hit at a .256 clip by the opposition, but the slider was at just .214 and he had batters swinging through it a whopping 36.8% of the time. Being this efficient with such a small repertoire is some impressive stuff.

Burr came out of nowhere and truly impressed. One of the most admirable things about his performance was his versatility and willingness to be flexible. While he didn't earn any saves, Burr finished five games while functioning as an "opener" four times and going more than one inning seven times.

The Blue Jays played musical chairs with their relievers for the vast majority of the second half of the season. It was nice to have Burr as a stable presence while the rest of the 'pen was made up almost entirely of waiver claims the Blue Jays hoped would work out. None did quite like Burr, who turned out to be worth every bit of that $1 the Jays gave up for him.

Heading into next season, there are a ton of unknowns in the Blue Jays' bullpen. Chad Green and Brendon Little are the only two pitchers who are practically guaranteed a roster spot, with Erik Swanson being close to a lock as well.

Beyond that group (and Burr), Jordan Romano and Zach Pop are non-tender candidates and Hagen Danner could be traded due to his lack of minor-league options. The Blue Jays are gearing up for another season full of relief-pitcher turnaround, but one thing's for sure: Burr has earned another shot.