Here’s some good news for the Toronto Blue Jays.
Kevin Gausman appeared on MLB Network Radio on Friday and said: “I’ll be ready for the regular season.”
There are less than three weeks left until Opening Day and Toronto’s ace hasn’t made a Spring Training start yet. Gausman threw a live bullpen session at the team’s training complex in Dunedin, Florida last week but was scratched from his next session with shoulder fatigue.
“It kind of just popped up,” manager John Schneider told MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson earlier this week. “He didn’t really bounce back after his side session. We’ll see how he is in a couple of days.”
An MRI revealed that there was no structural damage or injury to the 33-year-old’s arm but any concern over the status of the team’s best starting pitcher is bound to cause some anxiety. Gausman finished second in American League Cy Young voting in 2023 after posting a 3.16 ERA over 185 innings and leading the league with 237 strikeouts.
Gausman isn’t the only Blue Jays pitcher who’s been dealing with some sort of issue during training camp. Alek Manoah has shoulder soreness and likely won’t be ready for Opening Day, top prospect Ricky Tiedemann was scratched from his first Grapefruit League start because of hamstring tightness, and off-season addition Yariel Rodriguez hasn’t been throwing because of back spasms.
The Blue Jays came into Spring Training with Gausman, Jose Berrios, Chris Bassitt, and Yusei Kikuchi pencilled in as their top four starting pitchers and Manoah as the most likely candidate to be the fifth member of the rotation. With Manoah likely not ready for Opening Day and both Tiedemann and Rodriguez behind schedule, the top options for Toronto’s fifth starter are Bowden Francis and Mitch White.
Francis posted an impressive 1.73 ERA for the Blue Jays across 36 1/3 innings in 2023 and has allowed two earned runs over eight innings with 10 strikeouts and two walks so far in Spring Training. White cleared through waivers last August but was added to the 40-man roster again in the off-season after a very strong finish to the season with Triple-A Buffalo.
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