With Shane Bieber's Toronto debut set, what are the other most hyped Blue Jays debuts?

First impressions matter in sports - it's why Blue Jays fans still remember who J.P. Arencibia is (beyond his 2013 Masterclass on how NOT to catch a knuckleballer). And as 2020 Cy Young Winner Shane Bieber prepares to make his Blue Jays debut on Friday in Miami, it's an opportunity to look back at some of the more memorable introductions over the past few decades.

Keep in mind - this is as much about hype as it is about overall results - so this list does not include great players with quiet debuts (like a Chris Carpenter or a Carlos Delgado), or players quietly acquired who went on to become cult heroes (with apologies to Jason Grilli).

Looking Back at the Most Highly Anticipated Blue Jays Debuts as Shane Bieber Prepares for His Own.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

When the Blue Jays signed Vladdy Jr. as a 16-year-old international free agent in July of 2015, it allowed fans the chance to dream big about the future - unaware that in just a few weeks, a couple of Hail Mary deadline deals would catapult the team into their first post-season race in two decades.
Following those two exciting runs of 2015 and 2016, as the team aged, struggled, and started to sell off assets, news of the young star's bat speed and unmatched eye for the strike zone provided a needed distraction from the tire fire on the field.

On April 26th, 2019, after a few weeks of... extensive work on his defence (and definitely not service time manipulation), Vladdy would make his debut at home against the Athletics. Following an extended pre-game special, Guerrero would start at third base, batting 5th between Rowdy Tellez and Billy McKinney, and would go 1-for-4 with his first career double.

Much like the 2019 season itself, it was a somewhat forgettable debut - but at least the Jays won the game 4-2.

Nate Pearson

Drafted 28th overall in 2017, the big Floridian represented the first exciting pitching prospect to crack the big leagues since Aaron Sanchez, and the fourth notable name to debut in less than a year after Guerrero, Bo Bichette, and, yes, Cavan Biggio. However, the circumstances could not be more different than the previous three.

While the rebuild was not explicitly over, the team was starting to climb back into relevance - especially after signing one of the top free agents available in Hyun-Jin Ryu. Off the field, the world had been thrown into complete uncertainty by the COVID-19 pandemic - the first three months of the season had been cancelled, and the Blue Jays couldn't even enter Canada because of travel restrictions.

And so Nate Pearson would make his debut on July 29, 2020 - in just the sixth game of the regular season - at "home" against the Washington Nationals - a game played in Washington, because Sahlen Field in Buffalo, their eventual home, was not yet ready. His opponent - current Blue Jay Max Scherzer.

Both pitchers would sparkle - with Pearson's five innings of 2-hit shutout ball beat by Scherzer's 7 and a third innings of 3-hit shutout ball - and the Jays eventually losing in extras thanks to Shun Yamaguchi's shoddy work in the bullpen.

For Pearson, outside of an impressive relief outing in the post-season a couple of months later, this outing could turn out to be the best of his career (so far).

Brett Lawrie

Despite some impressive individual performances, including the emergence of Joey Bats, there wasn't a whole lot to get excited about when it came to the 2011 Blue Jays.

Keeping fans hyped through that slog of the season was the fact that one of their top prospects - perhaps the best Canadian prospect in franchise history (at the time) - was on the verge of a call-up. Brett Lawrie, acquired in the off-season for starting pitcher Shaun Marcum, finally reach the show on August 5, 2011.

Batting 9th and playing third base, Lawrie would single twice, and commit an error en route to a 5-4 victory over the Orioles - kicking off an impressive first month in the majors that saw the BC native slug six homers in 25 games, along with three stolen bases and a 1.056 OPS.
Had Lawrie kept that production up, he may well have been known as more than simply the centerpiece of the Josh Donaldson trade.

R.A. Dickey

The 2013 season proved to be an unfortunate lesson for Jays fans - that winning the off-season ultimately means nothing if the stars on paper don't perform, and that you should never trust the Miami Marlins if they offer you several stars in a blockbuster trade.

Before those lessons were learned, though, fans had spent most of the off-season dreaming on just what all those big names - Josh Johnson, Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle, et all - would look like in a Blue Jays jersey. And the cherry on that off-season sundae was supposed to be reigning NL Cy Young winner R.A. Dickey - who would get the opening day start against Cleveland.

Despite the Jays acquiring Josh Thole from the Mets to ensure they had a catcher comfortable with the highly unpredictable knuckleball, the afore-mentioned J.P. Arencibia insisted that he'd spent the off-season perfecting the craft and deserved the game one start. Three passed balls later, and Arencibia would never catch another Dickey start - while the veteran knuckler would tough out six innings, coughing up 4 runs (3 earned) en route to a 4-1 loss.

While it's not Dickey's fault that he was likely acquired to be someone he wasn't, that debut proved to be a harbinger of things to come throughout a season only salvaged from complete irrelevance by the emergence of cult hero Munenori Kawasaki.

David Cone

The Blue Jays were a juggernaut in the early 1990s, but while their lineup was as good as it gets, their rotation had some holes and on August 27th, 1992, the Jays sent prospect Jeff Kent and a player to be named later to the Mets for all-star hurler David Cone.

Cone would make his debut two days later, and... it didn't go great. He'd cough up seven earned runs on seven hits, walking seven batters en route to a 7-2 loss to the Brewers at Skydome.

Following another so-so outing in his next start, Cone would finish September allowing just four runs over five starts, allowing just 22 hits in 38 innings with a 0.94 ERA. He was also a key contributor in the post-season, making four starts, including tossing six strong innings in the 6th and deciding game against the Braves.

A starter acquired for the stretch run, making his debut in late August - probably the best comparable to the Jays' current situation. Will it work out as well this time around?

Troy Tulowitzki & David Price

There was magic buried within the 2015 Blue Jays, but up until July, it had yet to be unleashed.
And so, with his contract set to expire and seemingly no bleeps left to give, Jays' GM Alex Anthopoulos decided to truly go all in. On July 28th, he'd land star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki and reliever LaTroy Hawkins from the Colorado Rockies.

While Tulo's time as a Blue Jay on the whole may not have been what many had dreamed it would be, his first game, on July 29th against the Phillies, couldn't have gone better. Batting lead-off, he'd wind up with two doubles, a two-run bomb, and 3 RBI in an 8-2 victory over a surprisingly bad Phillies team.

Of course, Anthopoulos wasn't done - the day after Tulo's debut, he got a bonafide ace in David Price from Detroit. Arriving in Toronto with scooters and personalized bath robes for his team mates, Price became a fan favourite before he even threw a pitch.

And when he did, on August 3rd against the Twins, he'd allow just a run on 3 hits while striking out 11 in eight innings. By providing almost surreal instant stability atop a rotation that was suddenly loaded the Blue Jays went on a to claim the AL East, while Price went 9-1 record over 11 starts, with 87 strikeouts in 74 innings.

His performance in the post-season, a 6.17 ERA over four appearances (including a bizarre move by John Gibbons to bring him in from the bullpen) was ultimately not good enough as the Blue Jays fell to the Royals in the ALCS.

The Bieber acquisition essentially marks the third time the team has acquired a top-level starter at the deadline since the early 90s (with apologies to Esteban Loaiza), and those past two contributed to some of the most memorable baseball Jays fans have ever seen.

Whether or not the former Guardian provides that same spark remains to be seen - but his return to the mound Friday, and his eventual first game at home will be memorable regardless of the result.