TORONTO – The payoff for all that pain the Toronto Blue Jays endured the past two-and-a-half seasons continues to show up on their roster, with Thomas Hatch becoming the latest prospect to deliver some major-league returns.
An impressive 2.1-inning, three-strikeout debut for the 25-year-old Sunday afternoon in the 6-5 loss in 10 innings to the Tampa Bay Rays, during which closer Ken Giles left with an injury, came almost exactly a year to the day he was acquired from the Chicago Cubs for veteran reliever David Phelps. He was followed by left-hander Anthony Kay, one of the two pitchers acquired from the New York Mets for Marcus Stroman last summer, who piggybacked with 2.2 frames of one-run work, with two K’s.
Along with Teoscar Hernandez (acquired in 2017), Giles, Brandon Drury, Jacob Waguespack and Santiago Espinal (all in ’18), Trent Thornton (18-19 off-season) and Derek Fisher, the Blue Jays had nine players on the roster acquired in recent present-for-future deals.
Another, outfielder Billy McKinney, was optioned before the game to make room for Drury, with whom he was acquired two years ago from the New York Yankees for J.A. Happ. While high-end impact from those deals may have to wait for 19-year-old right-hander Simeon Woods Richardson to arrive, their presence has helped dramatically transform the depth on the roster.
In arms like Hatch and Kay, there’s lots of upside, too.
[snippet id=4931337]
Hatch arrived from the Cubs as a double-A righty who seemed to have plateaued at the level but at the encouragement of Vince Horsman, the former pitching coach at New Hampshire who wasn’t renewed at the end of the season, began to throw his changeup more often.
In combination with a high-spin-rate fastball that sat at 94.8 m.p.h. against the Rays, it gave him two pitches coming out of the same tunnel going in opposite directions. Of his seven whiffs Sunday, three came on the heater, three came on the change and one came on a slider that gives him an offering with some horizontal movement.
“I always had the changeup,” said Hatch. “In high school it was my second-best pitch, it was fastball-changeup as opposed to fastball-slider. I get to college, and we went predominantly fastball-slider, so it got put on the back-burner. When I got to pro ball, you obviously need more pitches, so that started to be a focal point first year, and then I got away from it.
“When I came over to the Blue Jays, it started to become a focal point and they said throw it as much as you can, don’t even use it as a complementary pitch. That was huge, because I can throw it any count, and it plays my fastball up, as well. So there are a lot of thing that’s helped out with.”
Hatch looked unfazed by the moment from the jump, getting Ji-Man Choi on a popper to third, striking out Brandon Lowe on a pretty changeup, and after a pair of walks, inducing a routine grounder from Kevin Kiermaier. He retired his next four batters, leaving after catching Mike Zunino looking at a 94.6 m.p.h. fastball to open the third.
“The best thing I can take away from it is that everything translates to this level,” said Hatch. “Sometimes there’s that doubt going from minor-league ball to the big-leagues, but I was confident. Even getting my feet wet this spring and facing big-league hitters was a big step I (realized) that I can get these guys out. Coming into today, obviously there were nerves that first time, but being able to know I did it in spring, and even in this shortened spring we just had … really helps ease you into it.”
Kay, meanwhile, debuted last September and is a bulldog on the mound who also features a changeup to complement his fastball, with a curveball to complete his mix. The heater is his primary weapon, with all seven of his whiffs coming off a four-seamer that sat at 92.7 m.p.h. and topped out at 94.6 m.p.h.
He cruised until the sixth when Choi – who experimented with switch-hitting during summer camp and showed enough promise to break it out for the first time – homered in his second at-bat as a righty, after striking out versus Kay in the first.
A Lowe double ended his afternoon and manager Charlie Montoyo turned to his leverage arms from there, with Canadian Jordan Romano overwhelming the Rays in the sixth. Rafael Dolis danced through disaster again, surrendering a run but avoiding a big blow, while Anthony Bass was impressive for a second straight outing in the eighth, but things imploded on Giles before he left with an injury in the ninth.
Giles recorded the first two outs before losing the zone, becoming increasingly uncomfortable in his mechanics as he walked a pair and ran the count to 3-1 on Choi before leaving the game with right elbow soreness.
The Blue Jays plan to send him out for further testing.
Brian Moran came on and completed the walk, and then induced a groundball from Lowe that Vladimir Guerrero Jr., needlessly dove for rather than leaving it for Cavan Biggio and running to the bag. That left Moran to sprint over while the throw from Biggio was a step late.
That sent things into extra innings, a first for the Blue Jays under the new rules in which innings start with a runner at second base. With one out Santiago Espinal, pinch-running for Danny Jansen, was called out trying to steal third but replays showed that with a terrific slide, he managed to get a hand in safely. Once the play was overturned, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., followed with a sacrifice fly to break the tie.
But Shun Yamaguchi, making his big-league debut, issued nine pitches to Michael Martinez before Kevin Kiermaier ripped a two-run double that won it.
What the roles are for both Hatch and Kay in the short-term, let alone longer-term, isn’t clear.
[snippet id=3305549]
Ryan Borucki is expected to join the team as soon as Monday to add some length in the bullpen ahead of a Thornton start against the Washington Nationals, while top prospect Nate Pearson will be through the service time concerns by mid-week and could debut Friday, when the fifth spot in the rotation next comes up.
Regardless, the way Hatch pinned Rays hitters down reinforces the club’s excitement for him. Montoyo said pitching coach Pete Walker loves the rookie, who impressed throughout summer camp.
“(Hatch) has got good stuff – 94-95. But he’s like this,” Montoyo said, using his hand to draw a flat line, “from what I’ve seen so far. If you want to be a good pitcher in the big-leagues, you have to be like that, an even-keeled guy.”
Kay has that, too, and each outing right now is pivotal with the Blue Jays playing games that count while still building up their pitchers. In some cases, they are also trying to continue developing them, too, which is why Sunday’s outings carry some extra meaning.
“I wanted to prove to the Blue Jays they made a good decision, that I belong in the big-leagues and that I have everything a pitcher needs to compete at this level,” Thornton remembers of his debut a year ago after coming over from the Houston Astros for veteran shortstop Aledmys Diaz. “But I’m still out here trying to do that every single day. It’s important to go out there with a chip on your shoulder. You’re never given anything in the big-leagues, you have to keep proving yourself and be consistent. That’s the same mentality I think any pitcher should take.”
[relatedlinks]
OFFENSIVE AWAKENING
The Blue Jays scored four runs in the sixth, collecting six consecutive hits to open the inning, capped by a two-run single from Bo Bichette.
More notable, however, is the way Blue Jays hitters put away their all-or-nothing swings in the frame to work with what Rays pitchers were giving them. Randal Grichuk, who left the game in the bottom half with irritation to the right SI joint (where the spine meets the hip), started things with a base hit before Hernandez ripped a double that was misplayed in left-centre by Manuel Margot, allowing a run to come in. Danny Jansen then cleverly flared a base hit to right against the shift to make it 2-0, while Bichette’s base hit, on an 0-2 count, followed singles by Drury and Gurriel Jr.
Some of that may be the influence of Dante Bichette, formally hired as a major-league coach recently, whom Charlie Montoyo says “has made a big difference for our team.”
“The two-strike approach is getting much better,” said Montoyo. “A lot of guys are choking up with two strikes, that’s a big difference already. You can see with Grichuk, when he got that infield hit (Saturday). I told him, that’s a big difference. You put the ball in play, you never know what could happen.”
Dante Bichette was first brought in as a guest instructor during spring training but Montoyo said, “the more I liked him and I said he’d be a great addition for this team and he has been.”
While his work is primarily on offensive approach, he’s being viewed as an asset on multiple levels.
“His experience to me is big,” said Montoyo. “When you bring in somebody with that experience you have to be careful when it comes to that with the hitting coach (Guillermo Martinez). But he’s got that experience, they get along, and he’s doing a good job. The approach of our players has already changed, big time.”
HOME HUNTING
The Blue Jays won’t have Buffalo’s Sahlen Field ready in time to host Friday’s series opener against the Philadelphia Phillies, with those games shifting to Citizens Bank Park. Their first action at their temporary home will come Aug. 11 when the Miami Marlins arrive to open a five-game homestand.
Meanwhile, the players who didn’t break camp in the majors will begin working out in nearby Rochester, N.Y., which will begin serving as the club’s Alternate Training Site on Monday. Those players went from Toronto to Buffalo, and now will settle in at Rochester, allowing the work at Sahlen Field to pick up.
