Better know your Blue Jays 40-man: Matt Dermody

Matt Dermody is a 26 year old (turns 27 on the fourth of July), 6’5", left-handed pitcher. The Blue Jays drafted him in the 28th round back in 2013.

After a couple of averageish seasons, he put it all together last year. He started 2016 in Dunedin, put up a 1.96 ERA in 16 games. Then moved up to New Hampshire, had a 0.92 ERA in 16 more appearances. Next was Buffalo, where he had a 2.76 in 15 appearances.

Over the 3 levels, he pitched 54.1 innings, allowed 55 hits, 1 home run, 8 walks with 47 strikeouts.

After that he was added to the 40-man roster and was one of September call ups. He pitched in 5 games, 3 innings, allowed 6 hits, 1 home run, no walks with 5 strikeouts. The 12.00 ERA might not look good, but it is pretty amazing that he made the climb from Dunedin to Toronto in five months.

FanGraphs shows that his fastball averaged about 91 mph and he also used a 84 mph slider.

John Sickels, over at Minor League Ball, said this:

The factors that got Dermody drafted back in 2013 re-emerged this season. His fastball has been a steady 90-93 and he throws strikes. He still has the change-up, a mid-80s pitch, but the curve he demonstrated in college is now more of a slider, also in the mid-80s. This is the profile of a back-end reliever but finding a useful arm in the 28th round is always a nice thing.

Will we see Dermody in Toronto this year?

I’m always kind of suspicious of guys that have a great season that seems to come almost out of no where. Especially minor league relievers in their mid-20s.

But, Dermody is a lefty. There are a handful of pitchers that will be fighting it out for the second lefty job in the pen, behind J.P. Howell, but no one has the job wrapped up. On the 40-man roster there are Aaron Loup and Ryan Borucki. On the non-roster side, Jeff Beliveau, Tom Mayza and Brett Oberholtzer are spring invites. I’d think that Loup and Beliveau are the ones with the inside track for the job out of spring training.

If Dermody has a good spring, you never know. It is more likely that he’ll start the season in Buffalo, but he pitches as well as he did last year, he’d be likely to be called up at some point.

He has all his options left, so he’s got the possibility of three years of getting to know the highway between Toronto and Buffalo. Course, if he puts up a 12 ERA in his next stint, he might not stay on the 40-man roster long enough to use up the options.

PECOTA figures Dermody to pitch in 18 games for the Jays (with a 5.78 ERA). Let’s use the 18 appearances as an over/under.