The Toronto Blue Jays went into the offseason with a goal of revamping their bullpen, and they showed they were serious by trading for Nick Sandlin and signing Jeff Hoffman and Yimi García.
And, nearly a month into the season, all of those moves have looked like wins for the Blue Jays.
The Blue Jays bullpen has been extremely effective, as the relievers have combined for a 1.06 WHIP (fourth in MLB) and 98 strikeouts (third) in 81 innings. Opponents have hit just .197 off Toronto relievers (fifth). While that success has been a group effort (largely by the back of Toronto's bullpen) a lot of it can also be credited to García.
Yimi Garcia has quietly emerged as Team MVP in April
Last December, the Blue Jays announced they'd brought García back on a two-year, $15 million deal after trading him to the Seattle Mariners at last year's trade deadline in a deal that netted them prospects Jonatan Clase and Jacob Sharp.
Clase is in Triple-A and Sharp is in Double-A, and, if either of them make any kind of MLB contribution at any point in their career, the trade will be a resounding win for the Blue Jays.
And if that wasn't enough, García has been downright dominant this year. He's thrown 10 1/3 innings this year and has yet to allow an earned run. In fact, he's allowed just four hits and has 14 strikeouts and just three walks. His WHIP is a pristine 0.677.
A decade of service. A lifetime of work.
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) April 18, 2025
¡Muchas felicidades, Yimi! 🇩🇴 pic.twitter.com/jsg8oCmIzq
His advanced metrics are also off the chart. He has a wOBA of .149, which is in the 98th percentile, and a strikeout rate of 35.9%, which is in the 96th percentile.
While Jeff Hoffman's the closer which means that García doesn't get the glory of getting the last out in close games and the save that comes with it (although he does have one save this season), he's been getting big outs in big situation. He’s faced 13 batters with runners in scoring position and he’s given up just one hit and recorded three strikeouts.
He has made a contribution in seven of the Blue Jays' 12 wins, with arguably the biggest coming this past week in a 3-1 win over Atlanta. In the top of the seventh, García came on to protect a 2-0 lead, and was facing off against Michal Harris with the speedy Eli White on base.
García struck out Harris looking and set down the heart of the Braves' order then next inning by striking out Austin Riley, Matt Olson and Sean Murphy.
His only blemish so far came. on April 10 in Boston in the bottom of the eighth inning.
With one out and runners on first and second, García got Alex Bregman to hit a ground ball to third. Will Wagner got the ball to second in time to try to turn the double play, but Andrés Giménez couldn’t get the throw to first to beat Bregman.
García then threw a pitch in the dirt that that resulted in the runner from third scoring in the trying run. García went back out and retired the side in the ninth inning to keep the Blue Jays in it, so the outing wasn't a total disaster.
Yimi García
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) April 10, 2025
Is Good pic.twitter.com/96Jq3J3pQj
García's ability to get the big outs in big situations while leading one of the best bullpens in the game has quietly made him the team's April MVP. We'll have to see if it can keep it up as the season goes on.