Building the Best Roster of Former Blue Jays: Pitchers

Yesterday, I published the first part of this two-part series, in which I tried to assemble the best possible lineup of former Blue Jays position players. Today, I’m moving on to pitchers. Here’s a reminder of the challenge, the criteria, and the position players I chose.

The Challenge: Put together the best possible 26-man roster made up of former Blue Jays. Specifically, I was looking for the most talented group of players in 2025. That means I wasn’t concerned about contract status or future potential, and I only cared about injury status or current stats insofar as either might inform my opinion of a player’s true talent

The Criteria: Each player must have played at least one MLB game for the Blue Jays, simple as that. I didn’t consider any players the Blue Jays traded before their MLB debuts, but everyone else was fair game.

Starting Lineup

• Catcher: Gabriel Moreno
• First Base: Spencer Horwitz
• Second Base: Marcus Semien
• Shortstop: Otto Lopez
• Third Base: Matt Chapman
• Right Field: Teoscar Hernández
• Center Field: Isiah Kiner-Falefa
• Left Field: Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
• Designated Hitter: Rob Refsnyder/Rowdy Tellez

Bench

• Catcher: Danny Jansen
• Infield: Santiago Espinal
• Outfield: Randal Grichuk

Now that you’re all caught up, let’s move on to the pitching staff.

Starting Rotation

• Matthew Boyd (2 games with TOR in 2015)
• Robbie Ray (32 games with TOR in 2021)
• Yusei Kikuchi (86 games with TOR from 2022-24)
• Taijuan Walker (6 games with TOR in 2020)
• Steven Matz (29 games with TOR in 2021)

This might just be a postseason-caliber starting five, depending on how much you believe in Matz and Walker – and how much you’d trust such a lefty-heavy rotation.

Ten years after the Blue Jays dealt him away in the David Price trade deadline blockbuster, Boyd is enjoying a Cy Young-caliber campaign for the Cubs. Meanwhile, Ray finally looks like his old self again after a couple of injury-marred seasons. In case you need reminding, that’s the old self who won the 2021 AL Cy Young with Toronto.

Kikuchi joined Ray and Boyd at the All-Star Game this summer. In his first year with the Angels, he has continued to demonstrate why he was in such high demand at last year’s trade deadline and again in the offseason.

This rotation drops off quite a bit after the top three (as many rotations do), but Walker has done an impressive job of shaking off his dreadful 2024 season. He has provided the Phillies with some much-needed innings as a swingman in 2025, with a mid-3.00s ERA as both a starter and a reliever.

Matz has moved into a full-time bullpen role this year, but he was a starter for much of his career. He’s been so successful out of the ‘pen for the Cardinals and Red Sox that I’m confident he’s a better choice to round out this rotation than anyone else I could have picked. 

Just for fun, here’s how the combination of Boyd/Ray/Kikuchi/Walker/Matz compares to Gausman/Berríos/Bassitt/Scherzer/Lauer/Bieber in 2025. (Stats updated prior to play on August 26.)

I’d also like to give a quick honorable mention to Hyun Jin Ryu (60 games with TOR from 2020-23). At 38 years old, he’s still pitching well for the Hanwha Eagles in the KBO. If I hadn’t decided to convert Matz back into a starting pitcher, I was considering giving Ryu a call to join this team.

Bullpen

• Jason Adam (23 games with TOR in 2019)
• Brock Stewart (10 games with TOR in 2019)
• Mark Leiter Jr. (8 games with TOR in 2018)
• Bryan Baker (1 game with TOR in 2021)
• Anthony Banda (7 games with TOR in 2022)
• Jordan Hicks (25 games with TOR in 2023)
• Ryan Yarbrough (12 games with TOR in 2024)
• Matt Gage (11 games with TOR in 2022)

While there’s no proven closer among this group, Adam is the obvious choice to take on the role. The right-hander the Blue Jays non-tendered after the 2019 season has been one of the best relievers in the sport across the past four years. 

Stewart and Leiter give this ‘pen another couple of options for late in games, while Baker and Banda are fine choices to cover the middle innings. Yarbrough gives this group a veteran swingman.

Hicks has struggled moving back and forth between the rotation and the bullpen over the last two years, but the Jays saw how dominant he and his triple-digit fastball could be as a full-time reliever down the stretch in 2023. 

Finally, the inexperienced Gage is a bit of a wild card choice for the final bullpen spot, but he’s only given up two runs in 22 innings of work this year. He was also excellent at Triple A. Perhaps this pick will come back to haunt me, but I say, without any great options, why not make the most fun choice? 

Here’s how these eight pitchers have performed over the past four seasons. In nothing else, their consistency is impressive. (Stats updated prior to play on August 26.)

For context, here’s how the actual Blue Jays’ bullpen has performed in all of those same categories since 2022:

It’s not entirely fair to compare the collective stats of the best eight relievers I could find to the collective stats of an actual bullpen. It takes a lot more than just eight arms for a big league bullpen to get through a season.

However, while depth might be a problem for the All Former Jays, the stats suggest that a bullpen comprising Adam, Stewart, Leiter, Banda, Baker, Yarbrough, Hicks, and Gage would be a pretty solid unit. It might even be stronger than the bullpen Toronto currently has.

*****

Now that I’ve laid out the full 26-man roster, what do you think of my All Former Jays team? How do you think this team would fare in the 2025 season? Share your thoughts with me and the rest of the Jays Centre community in the comments below!