PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — When acting Toronto Blue Jays manager DeMarlo Hale watches a young pitcher work during spring training, he looks for the little things. Throwing good pitches is important, of course. But Hale likes to see how the pitcher carries himself, how he gets into a rhythm with his catcher, and how he sequences his pitches to keep hitters off balance.
Hale saw all that and more Monday from Ryan Borucki, who faced the minimum over two clean innings during his spring debut in a game the Blue Jays eventually lost to the Tampa Bay Rays, 7-4.
"I was impressed with his change of speeds. He showed a pretty good changeup and he mixed it well. He showed you why we’re very excited about that young man," Hale said. "He had his three-pitch mix going. Good pace, good poise — some of the little things that you’re looking for in a young pitcher. He definitely showed it."
Borucki cruised through an eight-pitch first, and allowed only a walk in the second, which was quickly erased by a double play.
The walk — drawn by Rays shortstop Willy Adames — was Borucki’s most interesting sequence all afternoon. Adames was the first Ray to get into a hitter’s count against Borucki, laying off a pair of changeups to get to 3-1. But then Borucki threw his hardest pitch of the day, a 93-m.p.h. fastball on the inside black, which caused Adames to jump back from the plate as it was called a strike.
Borucki lost Adames two pitches later when he missed with a fastball up and out of the zone. But he got a double-play grounder with his very next pitch — a 91-m.p.h. fastball to Mallex Smith — to escape the inning.
"When I got in there, 3-2, I got a little too confident and sailed one a little bit. But it was good for me to get into the stretch, even though it was only for a pitch," Borucki said. "It was good to get my work in today."
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In all, Borucki threw 13 of his 20 pitches for strikes, sitting 91-92 m.p.h. with his fastball and getting ahead of each hitter he faced. In the second inning, the 23-year-old flipped up a first-pitch changeup to one hitter and a first-pitch slider to another, finding creative ways to get into pitcher’s counts.
"I’ll try to steal a couple strikes and get the hitters guessing a little bit more," Borucki said. "I wanted to make sure I threw a couple sliders today. That’s what I’ve been working on."
Borucki attributed much of his strong 2017 — he pitched to a 2.93 ERA over 27 outings, starting his season at high-A and finishing it at triple-A — to the development of that slider, a pitch he’d long worked on with middling results until a breakthrough last summer. He only got to throw a few breaking balls Monday, but it’s a pitch he’ll continue to hone throughout the spring and into opening day.
"No matter what, I just try to come to the park and do as much as I can to get better," he said. "Today was just a good start for me — a nice jump start. Hopefully, we keep building throughout spring and then, wherever I end up, we keep building throughout the season."
Barring the unforeseen, Borucki will likely begin his 2018 in the rotation at triple-A Buffalo, and be right in the mix for a major-league call-up if the Blue Jays find themselves in need of a starter. Where Borucki falls in the pecking order will depend on what the club does with Joe Biagini, and how other top pitching prospects progress this spring. But after going from high-A to triple-A in 2017, Borucki is positioned to make his big-league debut before long.
"I had a good year. Moving up three levels, it was a lot of adjusting on the fly," he said. "But hopefully I opened some eyes."
Alford goes deep
In his first two at-bats Monday, Blue Jays outfielder Anthony Alford grounded out and struck out. He swung and missed at a few sliders. He was fighting to find his feel for the strike zone. So, when he stepped to the plate with a runner on third and the infield drawn in for his final at-bat in the sixth inning, he did so with a plan.
"I just had my mind made up — if it wasn’t a fastball, I wasn’t going to swing," Alford said. "Especially with somebody in scoring position."
The plan was a good one. After getting into a 2-1 hitters count, Rays righty Andrew Kittredge gave Alford the fastball he was looking for — middle-in, top of the zone. Alford crushed it over the left field wall, an absolute no-doubter.
Those are the kind of in-game adjustments the Blue Jays coaching staff is looking to see Alford make. And the kind the 23-year-old will have to make someday if his potential is realized and he develops into an everyday major-leaguer.
"He stays confident with his approach," Hale said. "It’s like, ‘Well, have a good at-bat this time.’ And, sure enough, he did. Those are the things that you look for from young players. Make the adjustment."
It’s a particularly good sign for Alford, who says the biggest thing he tries to get out of his spring training at-bats is a good sense of the strike zone and a handle on his pitch recognition.
"I just try to get to a point where I can trust my eyes and get my timing down," Alford said. "That’s all I’m really worried about."
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Alford is one of several young outfielders in camp competing to impress Blue Jays coaches and evaluators. Toronto’s major-league outfield is crowded, meaning Alford will likely begin his regular season in triple-A Buffalo as part of a very fast, exciting outfield that could also feature Teoscar Hernandez, Dalton Pompey and Dwight Smith Jr.
Of course, the performance of those young players in Grapefruit League games, coupled with early-season results, will go a long way to deciding who’s called upon if the Blue Jays require an outfielder at the big-league level in-season. Every plate appearance counts.
All those outfielders will push and challenge each other throughout camp. Pompey, for instance, hit an opposite-field double earlier in the sixth and was standing on third when Alford’s rocket cleared the fence. But when they’re not trying to one-up each other between the lines, Alford says the group is spending much of its time sharing insight and advice.
"Everybody’s competing for a job," Alford said. "But, at the same time, I think that I can learn something from each outfielder. Whether it’s Roemon Fields, who I can talk to about base-stealing. Curtis Granderson, base-stealing and defence. Kevin Pillar, defence.
"I’m not really worried about where I land. The ultimate goal is to get to Toronto. But I just want to take advantage of this opportunity, being surrounded by a good group of guys, to try to pick their brains. We can just build off of each other. If I can help them with something, I help them. And if I have a question, I go to them about it and see if they can help me."
