Owen Hill

Ernie Clement is having a career year with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2025, but flashback 2.5 years ago, he was a free agent without a team, after being cut by the Oakland Athletics in 2022. With his former employers, the Athletics in town for a four game set at the end of May, Clement made them pay for letting him go. View full video

Kevin Gausman - 32 IP, 10 ER, 33 K, 1 BB, 2.74 FIP Are we on #AceWatch with Gausman again? I think we might be.

May was an up-and-down month for Blue Jays hitters. After an ice-cold April in which the Jays were among the worst power-hitting teams in the sport, the bats turned the page, finding their home run stroke early in May. But just as it seemed the offence had settled into the season, a six-game road trip to Tampa and Texas saw the Jays score just six runs, a new low, even for this group. The Jays quickly rebounded from that unfortunate road trip, ending the month by mutilating Athletics pitching, scoring a total of 31 runs in their final three games of the month. Nine Blue Jays had a May wRC+ over 100, meaning they provided above-league-average production at the plate, a big step up from the five such bats the Jays had in March/April. Perhaps most importantly, after all of our conversations discussing the power outage, and after the Blue Jays finished March/April second last in baseball with just 19 home runs, they bounced back this month to hit 38, the fifth-best total in MLB. The end of the month is the perfect time to dig into some individual performances and give credit to the most productive Blue Jays over the last 31 days. Honourable Mentions Bo Bichette - .281/.325.513, 7 HR, 11 BB, 23 K, 137 wRC+, 0.9 fWAR After a March/April in which he didn’t hit any home runs, one of the easiest Blue Jays to pick on when diagnosing the reasons for the power outage was Bo Bichette. Although he plays a premium position in shortstop, his defence grades out below average in most categories, which means his value is mostly derived from what he provides offensively. Bichette’s inability to make an impact for the 2024 club was a big reason that team found itself out of the race so early in the season and selling at the trade deadline. After going through the first month of the 2025 season with just a .693 OPS and zero homers, Bichette looked like he hadn’t been able to turn the page. However, in May, Bichette changed the narrative. Between May 1 and 31, he rocked an .838 OPS, helped by his walk rate jumping up to 8.7 percent, which would be a career high if maintained across a full season. He also had 15 extra-base hits, including a team-high seven homers. Most importantly, he scored 15 runs while cashing 19 RBI. With a very solid month of May, Bichette is looking a lot like the version of himself that was perennially considered for All-Star appearances, and if it weren’t for massive performances from a few of his teammates, he would easily find himself among the Blue Jays' top three hitters for May. Nathan Lukes - .299/.390/.463, 3 HR, 9 BB, 10 K, 148 wRC+, 0.6 fWAR It might be a little bit surprising to see Nathan Lukes’ name on this list, especially considering that a lack of production from internally developed players has been one of the biggest criticisms the Blue Jays have faced during this competitive window. But in a month in which the offence finally came alive and produced the fourth best team OPS in baseball (.785), it makes sense that they received major contributions from the bottom of the lineup. The face of the bottom lineup in the month of May was Lukes. His contact-first, up-the-middle approach from the left side of the plate saw him dominate right-handed pitching to the tune of a .299 AVG and .897 OPS. He walked nearly as much as he struck out and somehow was only beaten out by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Addison Barger for the best wRC+ on the team in May. Lukes is usually well protected against lefties, only registering 11 plate appearances against them this past month. That held him back from entering the top three, but in May, he did all the little things right, earning him a shout-out as an honourable mention for Jays Centre Hitter of the Month. Ernie Clement - .306/.349/.469 3 HR, 6 BB, 14 K, 1.3 fWAR In the first draft of this article, Ernie Clement's name did not appear. He'd had what I think most of us would consider a very solid month up until the final three games, but the lack of contribution from his bat made it hard to fully consider him for this list. Clement's ability to play very good defence at both second and third base, while filling in at shortstop the odd time, is typically his biggest contribution to the squad, and through the first 28 days of May, despite a disappointing 83 wRC+, he was tied with Bichette for the fifth highest fWAR among Blue Jays position players at 0.6. But in the final three days of May, facing the Athletics, a team that DFA'd him earlier in his career, Clement went crazy. He went 9-for-14 with three doubles and a pair of homers, while scoring four runs and cashing six RBI. He accumulated 0.7 fWAR in the final three days of the month alone, bringing his monthly total to 1.3 and allowing him to sneak ahead of our first honourable mention to lead the team in the statistic. While the numbers over those flashy final three games heavily skew his monthly numbers in a big way, Clement has been a very productive Blue Jay this season, and his honourable mention is well earned. 3. Addison Barger - .292/.370/.517, 4 HR, 10 BB, 22 K, 149 wRC+, 1.2 fWAR One of the most positive developments to come out of this month is the force with which Addison Barger has burst onto the scene. After starting the season in Triple A, it wasn’t until halfway through April that Barger earned the call to the bigs, and in 39 plate appearances across his first 14 games, he failed to produce. Despite an average exit velocity of 93 mph, Barger hit just .139 without a home run. Recognizing the impressive underlying numbers, and out of pure need considering the injury to Andrés Giménez, John Schneider continued to give Barger regular opportunities, and in May, it paid off in a massive way. It’s never been much of a secret that Barger hits the ball really hard. On the season, he’s got an average exit velocity of 95.2 mph, the fourth highest mark in baseball, behind Aaron Judge and ahead of Matt Olson. In May, Barger finally found an extended stretch of good results. He's earned the chance to play just about every day, typically finds himself in the middle of the lineup (especially against right-handed pitching), and has continued to produce results. Amid all of the pulverized baseballs on the offensive side of the ball, it’s easy to miss that the defensive metrics (which we always take with a grain of salt) like Barger at third base. He seems to have above-average range, and his arm is so strong and accurate that as soon as he gets it in his glove, it’s safe to assume an out. Barger’s May gave Blue Jays fans lots to dream on when it comes to the outlook of this offence moving forward. If he has truly unlocked something, the Jays may have finally found that power bat they’ve been so desperately missing. 2. Alejandro Kirk - .365/.430/.419, 1 HR, 10 BB, 4 K, 146 wRC+, 1.1 fWAR The way he does it isn’t sexy, but Alejandro Kirk is a premier catcher. His 1.1 fWAR was tied for fifth amongst catchers in May, and while his single home run in the month doesn’t hold a candle to Cal Raleigh, who hit 11, his .430 on base equalled Raleigh for the second best mark among catchers with at least 80 plate appearances. He also ranks among the best defensive catchers in baseball in just about every metric, from blocking, to framing, to throwing. In 2025, Kirk is hitting line drives at a career-best 29.3% rate and, just as importantly, is hitting groundballs just 40.8% of the time, his lowest rate since his rookie campaign in 2021, where he only appeared in 60 games. He doesn’t get quite the same top exit velocities as Barger, or the next guy on this list, but his average exit velocity of 92.2 mph puts him in the 87th percentile across MLB, and he hits it hard nearly 54% of the time, perfectly maximizing his line drive approach. The final impressive statistic I want to highlight concerning Kirky is his anomalistic walk-to-strikeout ratio of 2.50 in the month of May. This means he walked 2.5 times for every strikeout he took. The only player with at least 80 plate appearances last month within a full point of that was Luis Arraez at 1.67. This speaks for itself to highlight just how consistently Kirk put together quality at-bats. Another month similar to the one he just had, and Kirk should find himself as one of the Blue Jays’ representatives at the All-Star Game in Atlanta this July (likely backing up Raleigh of the Mariners). 1. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. - .291/.413/.456, 5 HR, 21 BB, 16 K, 149 wRC+, 0.9 fWAR I’d have a hard time picking a player on the roster that’s more important to the Blue Jays' overall success than Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and in a month where the team went 16-12, no Blue Jay hitter put together a more complete month. Hear me out a little bit here, but Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is what I imagine you’d get if you combined the offensive profiles of Addison Barger and Alejandro Kirk. It’s common knowledge that his exit velocity numbers stack up next to anybody in baseball, but it’s the fact that he puts it together with an elite approach that sees him walk nearly as much as he strikes out, and the fact that he can get to and do damage on just about any pitch you offer him that makes him an elite offensive player instead of just a good one. Another part of his game that sets Vladdy apart from some of the league's other great hitters is that he doesn’t need his home run stroke to produce. He hit just five in May, but he reached base in all 28 games the Jays played in the month, leading to a team-best .413 OBP. This was not the most dominant month we’ve seen from Vladdy, but he’s the heart and soul of the team, the face of the franchise, and he played like it. Who else but the $500 million man to top the list for Hitter of the Month in May? View full article

We break down the Blue Jays 11-7 victory over the Athletics. Ernie Clement's second straight big night leads a second straight double-digit scoring effort, as the Blue Jays improve to 29-28. View full video

Let's talk about the dominant, 12-0 Blue Jays victory over the Athletics. Jose Berríos strikes out nine over six scoreless and the Jays mash four homers amid an offensive explosion with Ernie Clement leading the way with three hits. View full video

We break down the Blue Jays 2-0 win over the Rangers. Bo Bichette's big swing is enough to secure the win after the pitching staff combines to throw a one-hitter. View full video

We break down the Blue Jays' series-opening 2-1 win against the Rangers. Kevin Gausman builds off his last start, and two runs is enough offence to secure the win. View full video

Yimi García, one of the most trusted relievers in the Blue Jays bullpen, was placed on the 15-day injured list on Saturday with an impingement in his right shoulder. There’s not a whole lot of information about his timeline to return, although the hope is that his absence won’t last long. Still, while he’s gone, his innings, which have come almost entirely in high-leverage spots, are going to need to go to someone else. If you told a Jays fan at the start of spring training that García would hit the IL at some point, their natural reaction would likely be to expect guys like Erik Swanson and Nick Sandlin to take on a higher-leverage role. Yet, with the two of them already away from the team battling injuries of their own, the Blue Jays are going to need somebody else to step up in a big way. My pick to be this guy, from the limited options available (the Jays hardly have an excess of bullpen arms that have shown they deserve to be thrown into the fire), is Yariel Rodríguez. Rodríguez's perception in Blue Jay land has been something of a rollercoaster since he signed as an international free agent prior to the 2024 season. There was some serious excitement heading into his first big league campaign that he could stick as a starter. Although he survived 2024, working a not-quite-catastrophic 4.47 ERA in 21 starts, he had a hard time carrying his velocity deep into his outings and often found himself struggling to locate the strike zone – and getting knocked around when he did. His league-average strikeout percentage and below-average fastball velocity were indicative that he’d benefit from a shift to shorter appearances. So, coming into 2025, with a lot of Rodríguez's shine from the 2023-24 offseason worn off, the Blue Jays very quietly declined to stretch him out as starting pitching depth. Instead, they’ve given him shorter assignments, no more than two innings, and requested that he, and I’m paraphrasing here, throw the s*** out of the ball. Instead of trying to leave some gas in the tank for the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings, Rodríguez comes out of the ‘pen with the intent to attack hitters with his best stuff from the jump. Thanks to this, we’ve seen his average fastball velocity increase more than two miles per hour, now sitting at 96 and at times touching 98 mph. In turn, this has helped raise his whiff and strikeout rates from about league average to considerably above it. The other adjustment Rodríguez made coming into the year was eliminating his curveball in favour of his much more effective slider. As a starting pitcher, it made sense for him to have two breaking balls in his arsenal, especially when facing a lineup for the second and third time in an outing. Now a reliever, he doesn’t need to worry about a hitter getting comfortable against his featured pitches and can always offer his best stuff. In 2024, Rodríguez threw his slider 28% of the time and his curveball 10% of the time. Last year, his slider was a solid pitch, registering a 103 Stuff+ according to FanGraphs, whereas the curveball graded out with a poor Stuff+ of just 92 (league average is 100). This showed up in the results as well. Opponents hit the curveball to the tune of a .348 average, and it had a Statcast run value of -6 despite only being thrown 157 times. This meant that even though his slider was an effective pitch (+1 run value), Rodríguez finished 2024 in just the 11th percentile in breaking ball run value. Now, Rodríguez has bumped up his slider usage to 36%, and by simply eliminating the curveball, he has gone from having one of the worst breaking ball run values in baseball to one of the best, sitting in the 86th percentile early in 2025. Now that we’ve checked under the hood and everything looks encouraging, the most important development of Rodríguez's 2025 is how positive his results have been. Since giving up a run in two of his first four outings of the season, he has settled in very nicely, allowing opponents to hit just .154 against him while working a 1.74 ERA since April 9. It’s pretty clear John Schneider and the Jays have recognized his success, because even before García went down, Rodríguez had been finding himself in more and more close games, especially when García or Jeff Hoffman were unavailable because they’d pitched the previous day. García’s absence leaves a big hole in the Blue Jays bullpen, and the jury is still out on whether there’s a reliever in-house with the sauce to fill it. If there is, my money is on Yariel Rodríguez. Stats updated prior to games on Monday, May 26. View full article

We examine Kevin Gausman's pitch sequencing against Jackson Merrill, explaining why it was so effective, despite Merrill seeing the same pitch repeatedly. View full video

A faster react vlog tonight, following the Blue Jays' 3-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays. With the pitching staff on fumes, Eric Lauer and Braydon Fisher gave the Jays what they needed to win, but the bats went quiet. View full video

The Blue Jays overcame a Jeff Hoffman blown save, as Nathan Lukes completed the sweep of the Padres with a walk-off single in the 11th inning. View full video

The Jays are rolling over the Padres as the offence explodes for 14 runs and Kevin Gausman looks like vintage Kevin Gausman. Daulton Varsho and Nathan Lukes homered as the Jays combined for 14 hits and three walks against Padres pitching. View full video

Despite a few blips on the radar and injuries to some key guys, the Blue Jays' bullpen has been a bright spot for the team early in the season. Jays relievers have paired their league-best K% of 28.4% with a 9.0% BB% to get the best K-BB% in baseball (entering games on Wednesday). Despite flashes of dominance, Toronto’s is just the ninth best bullpen in baseball according to fWAR (1.5), mainly because of the pure number of home runs they’ve given up as a group. They’re tied with the Athletics and Rays for the ninth most homers allowed in baseball, which has led to a slightly inflated 3.80 ERA, putting them in the middle of the pack at 14th in baseball. All things considered, a bullpen with elite strikeout numbers but league-average results is something most Jays fans would have signed up for in a heartbeat after the absolute tire-fire we were subjected to watching in 2024. The back end of the bullpen was bolstered this offseason with the addition of Jeff Hoffman and the return of Yimi García, while returning guys like Chad Green and Yariel Rodríguez have gotten big outs in high-leverage spots as well, especially when the former two have been unavailable. The two lefties, Brendon Little and Mason Fluharty, have been a revelation, as both have worked their way into John Schneider’s circle of trust. They have pitched high-intensity innings, getting both left-handed and right-handed hitters out. The final two bullpen spots have been a bit of a revolving door as the rotation has needed help and guys have struggled, but Braydon Fisher and José Ureña have successfully filled those spots in recent days. With that being said, let’s get into my personal Blue Jays bullpen trust hierarchy! Low Leverage Only, Please! As much as we want to avoid seeing these guys in the game whenever possible, their ability to eat multiple innings in blowouts, either wins or losses, and pitch early in games on bullpen days is vital to every major league team. In the Blue Jays' case, in which the starting rotation has faced some injury issues, forcing the front office to reach into their depth options, these guys have become even more important, as they can open games before a guy like Eric Lauer pitches bulk innings. We probably won’t see the guys in this tier closing games any time soon, but it doesn’t mean they’re not important! José Ureña José Ureña is a recent addition to this Blue Jays bullpen, as he signed as a free agent earlier this month after he was DFA'd by the New York Mets. We haven’t seen a whole lot of Ureña in his brief time as a Blue Jay, and digging into his stats from this year, we can see why. In 7 1/3 innings across three appearances as a Blue Jay, Ureña has given up more home runs (three) than batters he’s struck out (two). The standard small sample size caveat applies here, but when we dig into his peripherals, we can see an expected ERA over 13, an expected batting average close to .400, and the fact that he’s at the bottom of the barrel when it comes not only to missing bats, but missing barrels. It’s not hard to see why Ureña’s made just three appearances in nearly three weeks on the Blue Jays roster, and I’d expect his roster spot to be the first available when one of Erik Swanson, Ryan Burr, or Nick Sandlin is healthy enough to rejoin the big league team. Braydon Fisher Fisher is another new face to the Blue Jays bullpen, called up from Triple A on May 7 and making his major league debut just a few days later. Another small sample size caveat is required here, but in four appearances, Fisher has looked effective coming out of the bullpen. Unlike Ureña, there’s a little bit to dream on when it comes to Fisher’s stuff. He relies heavily on his breaking balls, a hard slider in the upper 80s and a slower curveball in the low 80s, but so far his approach has been effective. Fisher’s done a good job of getting swings outside of the zone and has yet to walk a hitter in five innings while striking out six. He’s only thrown his mid-90s four-seamer 12 percent of the time, so I have some concerns that word will get out on what Fisher is trying to do to hitters soon, but so far, it’s hard not to be happy with what we’ve seen from him. He’s got a lot of work to do to build up enough trust to move into the next tier of bullpen arm, but he’s on the right track early in his career. Chad Green This one might be a surprise for a lot of readers! Chad Green has been effective this season, pitching to a 3.48 ERA and giving up just 17 hits (.227 BA). Yet, gone are the days of Green being one of the most feared relievers in the New York Yankees' bullpen. At 33 years old and with a couple of major arm injuries behind him, Green has lost a tick on his high-spin four-seam fastball, which has also hurt his already mediocre slider. Not only does Green not miss bats like he used to, but he is currently giving up hard contact and barrels at a first percentile rate. He’s managed to survive so far this year without giving up too much catastrophic damage, but he’s already given up seven homers in just 20 1/3 innings pitched, the most among any reliever in baseball. To be frank, it’s really hard to use a reliever that’s liable to give up a homer at any time in close games! His expected ERA sits at 5.73, and while flyball pitchers with his profile tend to outperform their expected stats, I have a hard time trusting Green will be able to outrun them if he continues to rack up high-leverage innings. Trusted in Close Games, but Not Against the Top of the Order This category is for the guys I trust to get big outs late in games but feel a lot more comfortable watching against the bottom of the lineup or with more than a one-run cushion. Yariel Rodríguez The lone name in this category is Yariel Rodríguez, and based on how he’s been used recently, I think John Schneider agrees with my evaluation. The Blue Jays pushed Rodríguez to be a starter in his first season as a big leaguer, but those days look to be done based on how effective he’s looked as a reliever so far in 2025. Instead of having to leave some gas in the tank and maintain his composure for five or six innings, Rodríguez is now freed up to come out of the 'pen throwing max effort four-seamers and rip off hard sliders for an inning or two, and he looks really comfortable doing it. After a few blips early in the season, eight of Rodríguez’s last nine appearances have been scoreless, with five of them being more than one inning of work. On Tuesday night, in a game the Blue Jays were winning 3-0, Schneider opted to use Rodríguez in the eighth inning against the nine through two hitters in the Padres lineup, rather than sending out Yimi García to set up for Jeff Hoffman as we’ve seen so often in 2025. Rodríguez rewarded Schneider with a 1-2-3 inning, including groundouts from Fernando Tatis Jr. and Luis Arráez. Am I still a little bit skeptical of Yariel Rodríguez? Absolutely. But based on what he’s done lately, I think trying him out in some higher-leverage situations is absolutely warranted, especially considering the benefits García and Hoffman will see from not being forced to pitch in every close game. The Lefties I’m sure I could have fit the lefties into one of my other three categories, but considering how strategically the Jays deploy their left-handed relievers, and how effective the southpaws have been at getting the job done so far, I figured they deserved their own group. Mason Fluharty Mason Fluharty is another Blue Jays reliever who made his major league debut this year, and in 19 appearances, his success has been one of the best developments for this team early in the year. He doesn’t light up the radar gun, with his cutter averaging just under 90 mph and sweeper sitting in the low 80s, but his nearly sidearm delivery and impressive movement profiles on both pitches have helped him not only to induce weak contact but miss a lot of bats entirely. Fluharty has a very good 31.9% whiff rate and an elite 29.5% hard-hit rate. We expected Fluharty to be tough on lefties, but the true revelation has been what he’s done to righties. They’re hitting just .091 off of him, with just three hits in 37 trips to the plate. Fluharty has been more than reliable in middle relief, against both righties and lefties, and I’d love to see him continue to get opportunities against tough left-handed hitters in big spots. Brendon Little If I were perfectly honest, Fluharty probably belongs in the same category as Rodríguez, and Brendon Little would slide into the next category with the back-end guys. After getting some solid run in 2024 where he was good but not great, working a 3.74 ERA in 45 2/3 innings, Little was expected to play a big role in 2025’s new-look bullpen. Early on, he’s delivered. He has a 1.61 ERA in 22 1/3 innings pitched and has held opponents to a .173 batting average. He tunnels a curveball and sinker very effectively, with one breaking towards right-handed hitters and the other away, which has led to his ridiculous 52.7% whiff rate and 37% strikeout rate. Little is somewhat prone to hard contact, but it feels like it’s almost impossible for hitters to raise the ball against him, as he’s racked up a 61.7% groundball rate. Little has pitched some huge innings for the Blue Jays, and I feel more than comfortable every time I see him warming up in the bullpen, preparing to face the other team’s best left-handed hitters. Slam the Door This category is simple. Game on the line, a one-run lead to protect, who do I want coming in to pitch? Yimi García Ironically, the two guys I trust most with the game on the line have some inflated numbers early in the season. Yimi García has shown flashes of being as dominant as any pitcher in baseball, with a four-seamer that gets up to 99 mph and a pair of breaking balls that seem to never miss the bottom left quadrant of the strike zone. He is the guy I want coming in to clean up someone else’s mess late in the game, or against the other team’s best hitters because he’s so effective at inducing strikeouts. He has a 30.4% strikeout rate this year, coming almost entirely in high-leverage situations. The 3.32 ERA isn’t as impressive as that of many of the other elite relievers in the game, but García has thrown just 19 innings so far this season, and it’s really only a couple of tough outings that have brought that number up. Jeff Hoffman Finally, my most trusted reliever in the Blue Jays bullpen is the closer, Jeff Hoffman. Similar to García, Hoffman’s numbers are inflated due to a few poor outings in which he got hit around. His 5.48 ERA is quite cringeworthy, but his leash is still pretty long before I worry about the team demoting him from his role as the closer. Hoffman differs from many relievers because he offers a legitimate four-pitch mix, which can feel like an embarrassment of riches when he blows a high-90s four-seamer by a hitter and follows it up with an elite slider and hard splitter. The Jays have felt his slip-ups harder than anyone else’s this year, as they typically result in being the difference between a win and a loss, but there’s not a pitcher on the staff that offers Hoffman’s combination of pure stuff and command, and not a pitcher on the staff I want in the biggest spot of a game more than him. View full article