Toronto Blue Jays Opinions

Who's up, Who's down: Blue Jays pitchers

By Tom Dakers@bluebirdbanter Apr 20, 2015, 1:13pm EDT

We are about 2 weeks into the season, so lets take a look at how our players have done over the first 2 weeks. We'll start with the pitchers.

Our pitchers are 9th in the league in ERA, at 4.50, about half a run worse than the league average of 4.02. The Walks.....we lead the league in walks with 53.

Our starters have allowed 4.69 runs/game, 9th in the league. Our average game score is 47, 11th in the league. They've averaged 5.3 innings per start, putting them 12th in the league

Pitchers
	R.A. Dickey	R.A. made 3 starts and is 0-1 with a 3.26 ERA. He's averaged 6.4 innings per start. Batters are hitting .169/.300/.277 against him. The walks, of course, have been the problem, 12 in those 19 innings and he's given up bases loaded walks twice. He's had 16 strikeouts. A bigger problem has been run support, we have score 10 runs in his 3 starts and 7 of those 10 runs came after he left the game. He's given up 2 home runs.
	Mark Buehrle	Mark made 2 starts and has 2 wins. Of course the team has scored 24 runs in his 2 starts. That makes winning so much easier. Batters have hit .306/.346/.551 with 3 walks, 5 strikeouts and 3 home runs in his 12 innings. That sounds pretty bad, but then the team has given him a huge lead in both his starts, so he was really out there just throwing strikes. I don't believe in the 'pitching to the score thing' when the game turns ends up 6-5 or something like that, but when your team gives you 12 runs, I think there is a tendency to just throw strikes and use your defense. I guess we will find out when the team doesn't score 12 runs for him, see if he can keep the other team off the board. Thought I'd be happy it that never happens.
	Daniel Norris	Norris has had 3 starts and is 1-1 with a 6.08 ERA. Yesterday's start was the worst of the 3 but his control has been, at the best of times, pretty shaky. He has thrown 5.2, 5.0 and 2.2 innings in his starts. I really think he'll top out around 6 innings, at least early in the season. Batters are hitting .292/.390/.583 against him with 3 home runs, 7 walks and 10 strikeouts. There is a price to be paid for organizations that put too much faith in spring training numbers. I think he'll get better, or I hope he'll get better, but he's going to have to show it soon.
	Drew Hutchison	Drew has made 3 starts, the first one (against the Yankees) was very good, the other 2 have been awful. In his first start he went 6 innings allowing just 3 hits and 1 earned. The other two games he's totaled 9 innings, allowed 14 hits, 11 earned, 4 walks, 11 strikeouts and 2 home runs. Over the 3 games, batters are hitting .333/.417/.500. In all a 7.20 ERA. Strangely enough, he's having much more trouble with RHB, who have a 1.450 OPS against him, than lefties, who have a .548 OPS. We were hoping for a breakout season, that Russell Martin would bring out the best in him. It isn't happening. I'm really to the point of wondering if there is an arm problem.
	Aaron Sanchez	Aaron has made 2 starts, one terrible one and one that was kind of ok if you squint a bit. In total, 0-2 with a 6.23 ERA. In 8.2 total innings, batters hit .333/.415/.583 against him, with 2 homer runs, 5 walks and 5 strikeouts. His first start was terrible, the second was better, I'm hoping he'll continue to improve.
	Miguel Castro	Our 20 year old closer has a nice looking ERA at 1.23, he has 2 saves, 1 blown save, 1 hold and 1 loss. Batters are hitting just .200/.276/.320 with 1 home run., 3 walks and 5 strikeouts in 7.1 innings. His FIP looks a lot worse at 4.65. Really, I don't see how you could expect all that much more from him. He's only allowed runs in 2 of 7 appearances. He is getting a lot of work.
	Roberto Osuna	Our other 20 year old pitched in 6 games, hasn't allowed a run yet. He's only given up 3 hits, 3 walks with 9 strikeouts in 8 innings. Batters are hitting .115/.207/.231. He has been nothing short of terrific
	Aaron Loup	Aaron pitched in 6 games, 4 went very well, he gave up a solo homer in one and had one very bad game (2 hits, 1 hit batter, 3 earned runs, though the runs scored after he left the game). He had 1 win and 1 loss. Batters hit .143/.250/.333 against him with 1 home run 1 walk and 4 strikeouts. It is hard to believe he could have a 6.00 ERA with that batting line against.
	Brett Cecil	Brett came out of spring training as the closer, blew the save in his first appearance and lost his job. A little bit of impatience. He had that blown save and one really bad game, giving up 2 home runs against the Braves, in a really tough loss. He is 1-1, with a blown save and a hold. Batters hit .294/.400/.647 with 2 home runs, 2 walks and 6 strikeouts in 4.1 innings.
	Liam Hendriks	Liam's pitched in 5 games and has been great. Surprisingly great. Batters hit .111/.158/.111 against him, with 2 singles, 1 walk and 9 strikeouts in 6 innings. Who figured that he could average 1.5 strikeouts per inning, even in a small sample.
	Marco Estrada	Marco pitched in 3 games, 5.1 innings, allowing 3 hits, 1 walk, 5 strikeouts. Batters hit .167/.250/.389 giving up 1 earned run on a solo homer. He deserves a shot at some higher leverage spots. His tendency to give up home runs worries me but he's looked good.
	Todd Redmond	Todd pitched in 2 games, and was rocked both times. Batters hit .278/.458/.500 against him in 4.1 innings, allowing 5 hits, 1 home run, 5 walks with 4 strikeouts. He has a 16.62 ERA. He was so good last year...I'm not sure what's going on this year.
	Colt Hynes	Colt pitched in 5 games, batters hit .500/.556/.563 against him with 2 walks and 4 strikeouts in 3 innings and then Colt was shipped off to Buffalo. I do feel sorry for the guy, it seemed like everything hit against him found a hole.
	Jeff Francis	Jeff got called up yesterday, and threw 3.1 innings, allowing just 2 hits, 2 walks and had 3 strikeouts. He gets an up arrow for moving up to the majors.