From Nate Pearson to (maybe) Alek Manoah, the Blue Jays get a grip on their rotation after ugly start

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This article was published 10/05/2021 (1648 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Blue Jays had so many injuries during the first month of the season that the only requirement to earn a starting job was proper health. Performance and skill became secondary to the battle of attrition that was taking place at all levels of the organization.

If a pitcher was stretched out and medically cleared there was a good chance he was going to get a shot. Through the first 33 games the Jays used 12 starters, most in the American League and more than the club used during last year’s entire abbreviated 60-game schedule.

They have tried just about everything to get through each day: traditional starters, openers, bulk guys, piggybacking two pitchers to mimic a regular outing. This has been about survival more than anything else for a team that currently ranks 26th in the majors with a 4.88 ERA from its starting staff.

The positive for everyone inside the organization is that, despite the early setbacks, the Jays will enter Tuesday’s series opener in Atlanta within striking distance of first place in the division. They entered Monday four games back of Boston and just a half-game behind the Rays and Yankees for second in the AL East.

The landscape also appears to be changing.

Nate Pearson returned from a groin injury on Sunday, Thomas Hatch will be eligible to return from his right elbow injury at the start of June and top prospect Alek Manoah is making his case for a promotion from Triple-A Buffalo. With any luck, being healthy won’t be the only requirement to start games. Soon results and skill will be factored in as well.

Right-hander Ross Stripling appeared to acknowledge the elephant in the room after his last start against the Astros. The 31-year-old was unable to complete five innings for the second consecutive outing and his ERA now sits at a disappointing 6.61 through four starts. The native of Pennsylvania will have to pitch better than that to hold onto his role for much longer and he knows it.

“Everything has got to get a little bit sharper if I expect to have success and keep my job as a starter in the big leagues,” Stripling conceded after he allowed three runs on six hits and three walks across 3 2/3 innings.

The big wild card is Manoah and while there were a lot of valid reasons to not have him break camp with the team, the argument for keeping him in the minors appears to be losing steam with each passing day. The better the native of Florida pitches, the closer he gets to forcing the club’s hand on a promotion.

Manoah entered this year having never pitched more than 125 1/3 innings in one season. His professional career was limited to a grand total of 17 innings for low Class-A Vancouver in 2019. If he started the year with the big-league team, he would have run out of bullets well before the end of the summer.

It’s a much different scenario now, with the season already five weeks old. There are fewer concerns about an innings limit for a guy who tossed six scoreless frames last week in his Triple-A debut. Some creativity will still be required with periods of rest built in, but with more than a month of his season shaved off, a second-half shutdown should be avoidable.

Instead, the decision on when to promote Manoah will come down to ability, and the high-ceiling talent has that in spades. During spring training, Manoah allowed just one hit while striking out 15 over seven scoreless. For Buffalo, he struck out 12 more while surrendering two hits. Equally impressive is that Manoah has yet to walk a batter, either in the spring or for the Bisons.

If Manoah has another outing or two like that for Buffalo, there won’t be much of a decision to make. Promoting him becomes a no-brainer and sets Manoah up to be the pitcher who could buy the Jays some time until additional upgrades can be found around the July 31 trade deadline.

The other starter who could still have a sizable role is the rehabbing Hatch. The 26-year-old was expected to open the year as the primary backup starter until he went down with a sore elbow this spring. Hatch has yet to begin an official rehab assignment, but according to Jays general manager Ross Atkins he is progressing well at the club’s minor-league complex in Florida.

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By the time Hatch is eligible to come off the 60-day injured list at the end of the month, the Jays expect him to ready for six innings and around 85 pitches.

“We have to focus on what we can control and improve upon it,” Atkins said recently. “As it relates to pitching depth, we do feel like we have weathered the storm relatively well. As we’ve looked across the industry, it’s not only us that’s dealing with injuries. We feel good about some of the alternatives moving forward and some of the guys who are coming healthy soon.”

Options and alternatives. The Jays haven’t had too many of those this year despite entering the spring with pitching depth supposedly one of their strengths.

The tides are turning and while another injury or two could alter these projections in the coming weeks, the Jays can take some solace in the fact that reinforcements are on the way and at least a couple of them are pretty darn good.

Gregor Chisholm is a Toronto-based baseball columnist for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @GregorChisholm or reach him via email: gchisholm@thestar.ca