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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:
- Who you think will be the first player to make a major league debut with the Blue Jays in 2015,
- The date of the debut,
- The inning of the debut, and
- The uniform number he would be wearing for his debut.
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.