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

Over the past two weeks the Blue Jays were 4-8. The pitchers had a 4.17 ERA.

Hot

Yusei Kikuchi: 3 starts, 2-0, 1.56 ERA. Batters hit .105/.203/.211 with 1 home run, 7 walks and 20 strikeouts in 17.1 innings.

He’s having a great May. Three terrific starts. He’s allowed 3, 2 and 1 hit in those starts, so the next one should be a no-hitter.

Alek Manoah: 3 starts, 0-1, 2.12 ERA. Batters hit .213/.269/.344 with 1 home run, 2 walks and 14 strikeouts in 17 innings.

In the 3 starts, the Blue Jays scored a total of 4 runs and lost all three games. Not Alek’s fault at all. You would think if you can hold the other team to a .613 OPS over three games, you would get a win or two.

Kevin Gausman: 2 starts, 1-1, 2.70 ERA. Batters hit .216/.245/.275 with 0 home runs, 2 walks and 13 strikeouts in 13.1 innings.

He had one excellent start and one okish start. He gave up a walk in each after 5 starts without a walk.

Hyun Jin Ryu: 1 start, 1.93 ERA. Batters hit .235/.278/.471 with 1 home run, 1 walk and 3 strikeouts. in 4.2 innings.

Yeah, he should really be in ‘also pitched’ but let's give him credit for a good start in his first game back from the IL. He did give up a home run.

Yimi Garcia: 5 games, 2 holds, 1 blown save, 1.93 ERA. Batters hit .222/.300/.389 with 1 home run, 0 walks and 2 strikeouts.

He’s been good other than the home run allowed. He also hit 2 batters in the past two weeks. One got him thrown out of the game because umpires.

Cold

José Berríos: 2 starts, 0-2, 9.90 ERA. Batters hit ..302/.333/.488 with 2 home runs, 2 walks and 4 strikeouts.

His ERA looks a little worse than it might be, because 3 runs scored after he left the games. The pitcher relieving him could have helped his ERA out by stranding some runners. But, Jose hasn’t been good. In his 7 starts, he’s had 2 Quality Starts.

Ross Stripling: 1 start, 1 relief appearance, 0-1, 8.31 ERA. Batters hit .300/.364/.550, with 1 home run, 2 walks and 4 strikeouts in 4.1 innings.

He had a pretty poor start against the Guardians and, nine days later, last night, started the ninth inning, giving up a hit and a walk and came out of the game. He was unlucky last night. An easy double-play ball was whiffed on by Santiago Espinal for an error and then the next batter had a weak ground ball that missed the infielders for a single.

Jordan Romano: 3 games, 0-1, 1 save with an 11.57 ERA. Batters hit 364/.500/.636 with 1 home run, 3 walks and 3 strikeouts in 2.1 innings.

He had 2 scoreless innings but gave up 3 earned in the other outing. When they said he was being ‘evaluated’ before yesterday’s game, I thought they were checking his arm since he hasn’t looked great, but it was a ‘non-Covid’ illness. He’s day-to-day. 2.1 innings is a pretty small sample size, but we haven’t had many save opportunities.

Adam Cimber: 5 games, 0-2, 1 save with a 5.40 ERA. Batters hit .286/.412/.429, with 3 walks and 4 strikeouts in 3.1 innings.

He got hit pretty hard in 2 of his outings. The other 3 have been good. But he took the loss in his other 2 outings.

In Between

Trevor Richards: 5 games, 2 holds with a 2.08 ERA. Batters hit .250/.333/.438 with 1 home run, 2 walks and 5 strikeouts in 4.1 innings.

He’s been ok, but a .771 OPS isn’t great.

Trent Thornton: 3 games, 4.50 ERA. Batters hit .200/.368/.367 with 4 walks and 4 strikeouts in 4 innings.

And now he’s in Buffalo.

David Phelps: 5 games, 1 hold, 3.38 ERA. Batters hit .111/.429/.111, with 5 walks and 2 strikeouts in 2.2 innings.

Only gave up 1 hit, but 5 walks is a lot in just 2.2 innings.

Ryan Borucki: 4 games, 6.00 ERA. Batters hit .250/.308/.333 with 1 walk and 4 strikeouts in 3 innings.

He had a bad outing in his first game back from the IL, but has been very good since then.

Also Pitched

Julian Merryweather: 2 games, 13.50 ERA. Batters hit .333/.300/.444 with 0 walks and 1 strikeout in 2 innings.

And now he is in Buffalo.

Casey Lawrence: 2 games, 2.70 ERA. Batters hit .308/.333/.385 with 1 walk and 0 strikeouts in 3.1 innings.

Also in Buffalo.

Andrew Vasquez: 1 game, 18.00 ERA. Batters hit .250/.400/1.000 in 1 inning.

He’s back from Buffalo taking Mayza’s spot.

IL

Tim Mayza: 5 games, 1 win, 2 holds, 1 blown save, 4.50 ERA. Batters hit .267/.313/.600 with 1 home run, 1 triple, 1 walk and 4 strikeouts in 4 innings.

He was put in the IL yesterday with left arm inflammation. Does that mean it is inflammable? I’m hoping he won’t be out long.

Tayler Saucedo: Right hip discomfort. He could be back sometime in June.

Nate Pearson: Mononucleosis. He’s been throwing batting practice. He should be on a rehab assignment soon. Then it will depend if they want him to be a starter or a reliever. If reliever, he could be called up soon after the rehab starts. If starter, it will likely he is a month away. It is sort of like spring training for him.