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Predicting the first Blue Jays' major league debut of 2015

Marcus Stroman on his major league debut in Pittsburgh
Marcus Stroman on his major league debut in Pittsburgh
Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Generally this thread comes earlier in the spring but I completely forgot about it until now wanted to give everyone extra time until the dust settled. In the past couple seasons, Blue Jays fans have waited until May to see a Jays player make the first major league debut of the season. In 2013, Sean Nolin was the first debuter on May 24 and last season Marcus Stroman debuted on May 4. Before 2013, the Blue Jays have had all their first major league debuts in April except for 1980 (May 24), 1989 (May 3),1997 (May 12), 2005 (May 20), and 2007 (May 15), so a couple consecutive years with late debuts was unusual.

In addition to Stroman, the Blue Jays saw major league debus from Rob Rasmussen (May 20), Brad Glenn (June 27), Aaron Sanchez (July 23), Dalton Pompey (September 2), Daniel Norris (September 5, 7th inning), and Kendall Graveman (September 5, 8th inning).

With the developments we've seen during spring training this year, we likely won't have to wait that long for the first debut to happen in 2015. They have yet to be added to the 40-man roster but it is very likely that the Blue Jays will bring up the likes of Miguel Castro, Devon Travis, and Roberto Osuna to start the season.

Last year's results

Congratulations Damaso's Burnt Shirt! He correctly guessed that Marcus Stroman would make his major league debut on May 4, even though Stroman came in as a reliever not a starter.

Game instructions

In the comments, guess:

  1. Who you think will be the first player to make a major league debut with the Blue Jays in 2015,
  2. The date of the debut,
  3. The inning of the debut, and
  4. The uniform number he would be wearing for his debut.
If multiple people guess the same player, the person who guesses the date closest to the actual debut date (either before or after), the debut inning will serve as a second tiebreaker if necessary, and his uniform number (which will likely be re-assigned after spring training) would be the third tiebreaker if necessary. If you are not registered (and why wouldn't you be?) you can answer the poll question.

Note: there are no prizes for winning because I completely forgot about this contest until now of our lawyers and such. The contest ends at 11:59 pm Eastern on Tuesday, March 31.

My pick: Devon Travis, April 6, bottom 1st, wearing #9.

First debuts per season in Blue Jays history
Player
Date
Position
Al Woods 1977-04-07 PH RF
Garth Iorg (1) 1978-04-09 2B
Bobby Brown (2) 1979-04-05 LF
Lloyd Moseby 1980-05-24 DH
George Bell 1981-04-09 PR LF
Jim Gott 1982-04-09 P
Jim Acker 1983-04-07 P
Jimmy Key 1984-04-06 P
Lou Thornton 1985-04-08 RF
Don Gordon 1986-04-10 P
Mike Sharperson 1987-04-06 2B
Sil Campusano 1988-04-04 CF
Junior Felix 1989-05-03 RF
Willie Blair 1990-04-11 P
Mike Timlin 1991-04-08 P
Ricky Trlicek 1992-04-08 P
Willie Canate 1993-04-16 LF
Alex Gonzalez 1994-04-04 SS
Paul Menhart 1995-04-27 P
Tilson Brito 1996-04-01 PH 2B
Chris Carpenter 1997-05-12 P
Steve Sinclair 1998-04-25 P
Peter Munro (3) 1999-04-06 P
Dewayne Wise 2000-04-06 CF
Ryan Freel 2001-04-04 2B
Eric Hinske (4) 2002-04-01 3B
Aquilino Lopez 2003-04-02 P
Simon Pond 2004-04-07 RF
Aaron Hill 2005-05-20 DH
Casey Janssen 2006-04-27 P
Jesse Litsch 2007-05-15 P
Randy Wells 2008-04-05 P
Ricky Romero 2009-04-09 P
Rommie Lewis 2010-04-28 P
Luis Perez 2011-04-16 P
Evan Crawford 2012-04-15 P
Sean Nolin 2013-05-24 P
Marcus Stroman 2014-05-04 P

(1) Garth Iorg made his debut by coming up to bat in the bottom of the first inning. Willie Upshaw also made his debut in this game, as defensive replacement for John Mayberry before the bottom of the third.
(2) Bobby Brown made his debut in left field in the bottom of the first inning. Ted Wilborn made his debut a few minutes later as defensive replacement for Rick Bosetti before the the top of the second.
(3) Pete Munro made his debut in relief of Dan Plesac in the bottom of the seventh inning. Tom Davey also made his debut, the next inning when he relieved Munro.
(4) Eric Hinske made his debut by coming up to bat in the top of the first inning. Scott Cassidy made his debut in the bottom of the fourth, relieving Scott Eyre.