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

The last couple of weeks haven’t been great for the Blue Jays (and worse for those of us watching them).

The team is 2-9 over their last 11 games.

The pitchers had a 5.42 ERA.

Hot

Ken Giles: 4 games, 0.00 ERA, 2 saves. In 4 innings batters hit .000/.000/.000 with 6 strikeouts.

He’s been unhittable. Too bad we aren’t getting him enough save opportunities.

Joe Biagini: 5 games. 1.80 ERA, 1 win. In 5 innings, batters hit .118/.211/.176 with 2 walks and 4 strikeouts.

He’s been so good and fun to watch. I wouldn’t mind him getting to pitch a couple of innings every now and then, but Charlie seems to think he’s a 1 inning guy or, at the most, a 1.1 inning guy.

Tim Mayza: 6 games, 0.00 ERA, 1 hold. In 5.2 innings, batters hit .190/.227/.190 with 1 walk and 8 strikeouts.

He’s leading the league in appearances. He’s been very good lately. Maybe it is confidence, maybe it is just a hot streak. His last earned run was on April 18th.

Cold

Marcus Stroman: 3 starts, 0-3, 7.43 ERA. In 14.1 innings batters hit .355/.388/.565 with 3 homers, 4 walks and 9 strikeouts.

One of the 3 starts was a Quality Start (only because one of the runs against him was unearned). He wasn’t happy when he was taken out of his last start, honestly I was on his side. In the 6th inning he gave up 3 ground ball singles, getting just one out, but none of the singles were hit all that hard, just that they missed the fielders, our bullpen had been throwing a lot of innings, I would have liked to give him a chance to finish the 7th inning. But then he was up to 97 pitches. I don’t mind a pitcher wanting to stay in a game, but then I’m older and I grew up watching watching pitchers who didn’t want to come out of games. I like pitchers who want to go deep into games. We really need to have a starter or two who can go deeper into games and give our overworked pen a break. But then, Marcus has to pitch better too. It would be nice if we could score for him too, we’ve averaged 2.2 runs in his starts. He’s 1-6, mostly because we aren’t giving him a chance to get a win.

Aaron Sanchez: 3 starts, 0-3, 6.35 ERA. In 17 innings batters have hit .329/.395/.562 with 4 home runs, 7 walks and 19 strikeouts.

One of the 3 starts was a ‘Quality Start’. He seems to be having one crappy inning a start. In his last start he game up 5 runs in the 4th inning. In that inning he gave up 5 hits, 2 homers, 1 hit batter. The other 5 innings scoreless allowing 4 hits, 2 walks with 10 strikeouts. I don’t know if he loses focus for an inning or if he gives up a hit and starts to dwell on it or what. He is pitching deeper into game than our other guys. He was good in April (2.32 ERA in 6 starts) and has been terrible in May (6.35 ERA in 3 starts).

Thomas Pannone: 4 games, 1 starts, 1 loss, 11.12 ERA. In 5.2 innings, batters hit .333/.414/.542 with 1 home run, 4 walks and 4 strikeout.

He got sent down to Buffalo and came back when Clay Buchholz went on the IL. His start went really badly, 2.1 innings, 5 hits, 7 earned, 3 walks. I’m thinking it is likely he’ll be going back to Buffalo when Edwin Jackson gets added to the roster tomorrow. Unless they decide to send Javy down instead.

Sam Gaviglio: 5 games, 4.15 ERA, 1 hold. In 8.2 innings batters hit .182/.229/.455 with 3 home runs, 1 walk and 9 strikeouts.

Other than the 3 homers, he’s been very good. I think he’s been worked a bit too hard. I’m glad he’s had a few days off. Charlie’s been using him a lot, and I don’t blame him. He’s been able to get us 2-3 shutout innings so often, it is hard not to go to him. And since our pitchers have been coming out of games early, we need guys who can cover a few innings.

Daniel Hudson: 6 games, 1 start, 2.70 ERA, 1 win. In 6.2 innings, batters hit .259/.355/.481 with 1 home run, 4 walks and 5 strikeouts.

He’s been surprisingly good. I’d like Charlie to let him pitch more than inning at a time more often. He was the opener for the game last Friday, and he gave up a couple of hits and a run in the first inning. I was hoping Charlie would let him pitch the second inning too, since it was a bullpen day, but no. Like Sam, he’s sort of a down arrow. Not cold cold like some of the others.

Elvis Luciano: 5 games, 6.43 ERA. In 7 innings, batters hit .250/.400/.464 with 1 homer, 6 walks and 7 strikeouts.

He’s been about what we expected. Flashes of good pitching and then times when he’s been a bit lost out there.

Ryan Tepera: 4 games, 1 hold, 2.45 ERA. In 3.2 innings batters hit .333/.412/.400 with 2 walks (both intentional) and 1 strikeout.

He hasn’t been good, but it’s been just 3.2 innings. Charlie hasn’t been using him much. Considering how few innings are starters have been going, it’s a bit of a surprise that’s he only threw 3.2 innings.

Inbetween

Trent Thornton: 2 starts, 0-1, 5.00. In 9 innings, batters hit .258//.333/.452 with 2 homers, 4 walks and 6 strikeouts.

He had one very good start (7 innings, 1 hit, no runs, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts) and one very bad start (2 innings, 7 hits, 5 earned, 2 walks 1 strikeout). He’s interesting to watch. When he’s throwing well, he is hard to hit. Unfortunately, he’s only been good half the time. He’s a rookie, and we should expect some inconsistency, but I’m hoping he’ll get better as the season goes on.

Derek Law: 4 games, 5.06 ERA. In 5.1 innings, batters hit .238/.360/.286 with 4 walks and 8 strikeouts.

He’s been good, but I couldn’t put him in the ‘hot’ group with 4 walks in 5.1 innings. But then also 8 strikeouts in that time. He hasn’t had an appearance where he didn’t give up a hit yet, but he’s had at least 1 strikeout in each of his appearances.

Also pitched

Javy Guerra: Called up. He’s pitched in 1 game. Allowed a hit, a walk and a strikeout.

Luke Maile: Pitched a clean inning in the 9th inning of 10-2 loss. He had 1 strikeout.

On the IL

Matt Shoemaker: Out for the season.

Clay Buchholz: Made the one start, (4 innings, 8 hits, 7 earned, 2 homers, 1 walk, 1 k) and then on the the IL with elbow inflammation. I was hoping that it would come out that he developed an sensitivity to sunscreen.