Mason Fluharty Has a Chance To Set a Blue Jays Record

The Toronto Blue Jays bullpen has been heavily relied on this season due to the plethora of injuries to the team's starting rotation. There are currently seven starters on the IL, though Jameson Taillon is looking to return as early as tomorrow (Friday, September 4). With the depth thinned out, the bullpen has been leaned on to fill a slot in the rotation 19 times so far.

The Jays' relief corps ranks fourth among MLB bullpens in innings pitched (582 1/3, entering games on Sept. 2). However, they've been mostly solid when called upon, ranking ninth with a 3.83 ERA. A few inflated inputs heavily skew that statistic. With the pen's heavy workload, the Blue Jays have made numerous minor league call-ups to preserve arms. Even with the high number of roster moves, there are still relievers on pace for career highs in usage. 

One of those relievers is Mason Fluharty. He has pitched in 73 games, but thrown only 55 innings. The number of games he's pitched in is already a career high, but his highest innings total was 67 while he was with Triple-A Buffalo in 2024. Last season with the Blue Jays, the southpaw pitched 52 2/3 innings over 55 games (plus another 11 games and innings with the Bisons). 

This season, Fluharty has been decent, posting a 3.44 ERA with a 59:24 strikeout-to-walk ratio and a 1.25 WHIP. He's had some bad luck fall on him, as his expected ERA is 2.84. He has been the go-to lefty out of the bullpen, with Brendon Little's poor performances, which have led to the 30-year-old bouncing between Triple-A Buffalo and the big leagues multiple times.

Batters have had some success against Fluharty, posting a .274 batting average on balls in play, but those balls haven't been hit hard. He ranks in the 91st percentile in hard-hit rate (31.1 percent), which is the third best among Blue Jays' pitchers, trailing Tyler Rogers and Spencer Arrighetti.  

Fluharty's workload this season has him on pace for 85 appearances. That would move him ahead of Paul Quantrill's 82 appearances in 2001 for second place in Blue Jays history. Fluharty would trail only Mark Eichhorn's 89 games in 1987. Toronto didn't qualify for the postseason that year, but it still counts for the record books. Fluharty is unlikely to surpass Eichhorn during the regular season, but he could get more opportunities if the Blue Jays nab the third Wild Card spot. If he can reach 85 games by the end of the regular season, another four appearances in the playoffs would tie him with Eichhorn for the franchise record. Fluharty made 11 appearances last year during Toronto's deep postseason run.

The Blue Jays securing that playoff berth seems like a tall task, though. According to FanGraphs, the team has only a 23.1 percent chance of making the postseason. Their chances improved after winning the second game of a vital three-game series against the Cleveland Guardians, whom they now trail by 1.5 games for the third Wild Card spot. There are also three other teams within four games of the Guardians, which should make these last few weeks a dogfight.

The Blue Jays would likely need to reach at least the ALDS for Fluharty to pass Eichhorn. It's a long shot, but the popular saying is, "Just make the postseason, and anything can happen!"