Who’s Hot, Who’s Cold: Blue Jays Pitchers

Our pitchers were pretty good, over the last couple of weeks. They have a 3.90 ERA. Batters hit .250/.312/.396 against them.

Hot

Marcus Stroman: 3 starts, 3.57 ERA. Batters hit .287/.319/.391 with 1 home run, 3 walks and 13 strikeouts in 22.2 innings.

Marcus made 3 starts, 2 were excellent (both complete games, 2 runs allowed in each) and one was bad (4.2 innings, 11 hits, 6 earned). Complete games are a rare thing these days, but they are so useful, resetting the bullpen. Last season we had 0 complete games as a team. Marcus doesn’t look like the type who would throw a lot of complete games, normally you think of big guys being the ones that get complete games. Anyway, 2 complete games and a pinch hit double and a scoring the game winning run...I think we can safely put him in the hot group. Next time around he’ll be in the ‘hot’ list of hitters.

Marco Estrada: 3 starts, 0.95 ERA. Batters hit .188/.263/.275 with 6 walks and 24 strikeouts in 19 innings.

An ERA under 1 and no wins (also no losses). I wish the team would score for him. We did win 2 of those 3 games. He pitched 7, 6 and 6 innings and struck out more than a batter an inning in each start. You couldn’t ask for better. And there is this:

Francisco Liriano: 3 starts, 2.08 ERA. Batters hit .222/.310/.302, 7 walks and 18 strikeouts in 17.1.

He allowed 2, 0 and 2 runs in the three starts, for which he gets a 1-2 record. Gibby seems to have a pretty short leash with him, which is likely a good thing.

Joe Biagini: Pitched in 7 of the last 12 games, 2.35 ERA. Batters hit .200/.231/..320 in 7.2 innings, with 1 home run, 0 walks and 7 strikeouts.

He’s pitching a lot. His longest outing, so far this season, has been 2 innings. I wouldn’t mind if they let him do 2-3 innings occasionally. If the team thinks he has the pitches to be a starter, they should be willing to let him pitch more than short outings. He had 2 holds, 1 save and the blown save last night, in the last two weeks.

Joe Smith: Pitched in 6 games, 1.59 ERA. Batters hit .200/.200/.350, with 1 home run, 0 walks and 8 strikeouts in 5.2 innings.

It seems like Gibby thinks he’s just a 1-inning pitcher (he did pitch 1.2 in our first game of the season). I’d like him to leave Smith out there for more than an inning, when he’s throwing well and gets of the inning in a few pitches. He’s never thrown more than 13 pitches in an appearance this season. I don’t think 25-30 pitches would kill him.

Dominic Leone: Pitched in 5 games. 2.84 ERA. Batters hit.136/.200/.227 with 2 walks and 7 strikeouts in 6.1 innings.

He had a blown save, in our win Friday, against the Angels. He’s pitched more than an inning in 5 of his 7 appearances this season. He seems to have gained Gibby’s confidence.

Cold

Ryan Tepera: Pitched in 5 games. 7.50 ERA. Batters hit .304/.407/.478, with 1 home run, 3 walks and 5 strikeouts in 6 innings.

He has 1 win and 1 save. He gave up 4 runs while getting just 1 out, in a game against the Orioles and gave up 1 run while getting 2 outs against the Red Sox in his next appearance. He also had 3 terrific innings against the Angels and had the save last night.

Jason Grilli: Pitched in 5 games. 7.71 ERA. Batters hit .222/.364/.444 against him, with 1 home run, 4 walks and 5 strikeouts in 4.2 innings.

He had a win, a loss and a hold in those 5 games. His last 2 appearances, he’s pitched a clean inning. Yesterday he did it with 3 strikeouts.

Roberto Osuna: Pitched in 4 games. 6.75 ERA. Batters hit .400/.375/.467, with no walks and 3 strikeouts in 4 innings.

He had 1 save and 2 blown saves in those 4 appearances. He hasn’t been good. I’m not sure if it’s small sample size or if there is something wrong.

On the DL

J.A. Happ: 1 start (before hitting the DL), 4.1 innings, 4 hits, 1 earned, 0 walks and 3 strikeouts.

I haven’t heard anything about his timeline, but I’m not expecting him back this week.

Aaron Sanchez: 1 start (before hitting the DL, 5.1 innings, 7 hits, 5 earned, 3 home runs, 1 walk and 3 strikeouts.

Threw in the bullpen and all seemed good. I would expect him back soon.

Also pitched

Casey Lawrence: 1 start. 5.68 ERA. Batters hit ..286/.355/.464, 1 home run, 3 walks and 4 strikeouts in 6.1 innings.

I didn’t expect he would go 6.1 innings in his first ever start. Course, I never expected he would pitch in the majors.

Mat Latos: 1 start. 7.20 ERA. Batters hit .286/.400/.476, 1 home run, 3 walks and 1 strikeout in 5 innings.

It wasn’t a good start.

Aaron Loup: Pitched in 4 games. 0.00 ERA. Batters hit .273/.333/.273, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts.

In the four games he’s gotten 1 out, 5 outs, 0 outs, 0 outs. Gibby is using him as a LOOGY.

Danny Barnes: Pitched in 3 games. 0.00 ERA. Batters hit .083/.154/.083, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts in 3.2 innings.

He pitched great and his prize is he’s back in the minors. I’m sure he’ll be back.