Better Know Your Blue Jays 40-man: Sam Gaviglio

The Jays picked up Sam Gaviglio from the Royals for cash (I’m thinking not all that much cash).

Sam pitched in 16 games, making 13 starts, for the Mariners and Royals last year. He had a 4.36 ERA, 26 walks, 49 strikeouts in 74.1 innings. Batters hit .270/.337/.512 against him.

FanGraphs said Gaviglio is a sinker/slider inventory swing man with an 88-91 mph sinker, solid average slider, fringy changeup and some feel.

Back when the Mariners called Sam up to the majors. John Sickels, at Minor League Ball wrote:

Gaviglio is listed at 6-2, 195, born May 22nd, 1990. A ground ball pitcher, he doesn’t throw especially hard, topping out at 91, and relies a lot on his slider and change-up. There’s nothing spectacular about him but he throws strikes and keeps the ball down. Long relief seems like the role for him.

He had a pretty rough spring, He pitched 7 innings for the Royals, giving up 13 hits, 8 earned, 1 homer, 2 walks and 7 strikeouts. He only got in one inning with the Jays give up 2 hits, 2 earned, 1 walk, 1 k.

Sam’s listed as a starter for the Bisons. I’m thinking if we see him in Toronto then something has really gone wrong. I suppose we could do worse for a long reliever, but I’m hoping we don’t find out. I do think it would be good to have someone on the Blue Jays staff who could go into a game if a pitcher had to be removed in the early innings.

He’s pretty near the top of my list of guys who could be DFAed, should we need a 40-man roster spot. I’ll admit I took a quick look at the 40-man just before hitting publish to make sure he was on the 40-man. If Diaz ends up actually hurt, we’ll need a 40-man spot for Danny Espinosa.

PECOTA has him down for 30 innings and a 5.00 ERA. I’ll take the under on the innings, but you never know I guess. If he is still on the roster, he could be a September call up. If we need a spot starter, and it is his spot in the rotation, he could get the start.