It would appear that Brendon Little’s expiry date as an effective southpaw out of the Toronto Blue Jays bullpen has come and gone. After reigning supreme as the top high-leverage lefty out of the ‘pen for the first half of the season, he has been anything but in recent weeks.
After blowing yet another game on Monday, Little now has a 6.23 ERA in his last 13 outings covering the last four weeks. And in his last four appearances? How about an 11.57 ERA? His confidence looks shot, and it’s clearly time for a new lefty in the Blue Jays’ relief corps.
And with a move completed ahead of the opener Tuesday against the Cincinnati Reds, the Jays have decided that old friend Ryan Borucki is the man for the job.
It was just last week that the Jays signed Borucki, after he was released by the Pittsburgh Pirates. He has only pitched one inning for Triple-A Buffalo thus far, but the Jays can’t afford to wait any longer. The 31-year-old’s numbers in Pittsburgh overall weren’t impressive this season (5.28 ERA). But he has given left-handed hitters fits, holding them to a .132 batting average in 60 plate appearances.
Ryan Borucki called up by Jays ahead of big week
Jays broadcaster Dan Shulman appeared on Sportsnet 590 radio earlier on Tuesday and made the case for Borucki as well. He was specifically thinking about the upcoming critical series in The Bronx against the New York Yankees this weekend.
“They need another guy to go in there and face a (Trent) Grisham or a (Ben) Rice or a (Jazz) Chisholm or something like that at Yankee Stadium… They’ve got to figure out this lefty thing.”
But with the bullpen on life support, is Borucki the ultimate answer to settle down the imploding ‘pen? Shulman cautions that he isn’t quite saying that.
I think he could come up and contribute and get some big outs and all that, but you’re not asking him to be the saviour of the bullpen.
Borucki was drafted by Toronto in the 2012 MLB Draft (15th round) and spent the first 4 1/2 years of his major league career with the team. He first came up as a starter, then transitioned to a relief role. Overall, he posted a 4.47 ERA with the Jays his first time around, in 151 innings.
But he’s always been able to befuddle left-handed hitters. They hold a meager .185 average and .532 OPS off him in 410 plate appearances.
Perhaps manager John Schneider tries to ease Borucki in slowly with a non-leverage appearance or two during the series with the Reds over the next few days, before the pressure really gets ratcheted up on the weekend at Yankee Stadium.
