Happy Birthday Paul Quantrill and Ryan Tepera

Former Blue Jays reliever Paul Quantrill turns 52 today.

He spent 6 seasons with the Jays and pitched in 386 games, 6th in team history for games pitched (and no one will be passing him soon unless we somehow bring back Aaron Loup). His best season with the Jays was 1997, when he had a 1.94 ERA in 77 relief appearances. He had a rubber arm, pitching in 80 or more games in 5 different seasons, and led the league in appearances in 4 straight seasons.

Paul worked as the setup man for Kelvim Escobar, Randy Myers, and Billy Koch, but never got a shot at the closer’s job. He had 15 saves as a Jay.

He had the most Canadian of injuries, back in 1999, when he missed the start of the season because of a broken leg suffered in a snowmobile accident.

Quantrill also pitched for the Red Sox, Phillies, Dodgers, Yankees, Padres, and Marlins.

In a 14 year career, he pitched in 841 games, the most games of any Canadian pitcher, and had a 3.83 ERA. A skinny right-hander Paul threw a sinking fastball, a slider, change, and curve. The sinker was his best pitch causing batters to pound the ball into the ground.

Born in London, Ontario, Paul pitched in the 2006 World Baseball classic for Canada and was one of the coaches for Canada in the 2009 WBC. And he was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2010.

His son, Cal Quantrill, is also a major league pitcher. In two seasons he’s pitched in 41 games, 21 starts, with a 4.47 ERA. He was traded from San Diego to Cleveland at the deadline this year.

It’s also Ryan Tepera’s birthday. He turns 33 today.

Ryan has had 5 seasons with the Blue Jays. He’s pitched in 216 games with a 3.64 ERA. He has 10 career saves, and 38 holds.

He had 2 excellent seasons, 2017-2018, pitching in 141 games with a 3.60 ERA.

Ryan lost his 2019 season to injuries. He started the season on the IL, was activated April 18 then went back on the IL May 21 with right shoulder impingement. Tepera came back on September 1 and was pretty good in 11 games that last month.

Before this season, he signed with the Cubs, pitched in 21 games, had a 3.92 ERA with 31 strikeouts in 20.2 innings.

Happy Birthday Paul and Ryan. I hope you both have a good one.