The Blue Jays have released left-hander Marc Rzepczynski, per Baseball America’s Chris Hilburn-Trenkle. The veteran reliever had previously signed a minor-league deal in hopes of earning a second stint with the Jays, but he wasn’t included in their 60-player pool for Summer Camp.
Last year marked the first time in a decade that the 34-year-old Rzepczynski didn’t throw at least 10 big league innings in a season. He spent the year with the Diamondbacks’ Triple-A affiliate, struggling to a 5.04 ERA in 44 2/3 frames. His last full big league season came back in 2017.
Rzepczynski has long been one of the league’s more recognizable lefty specialists, holding same-handed batters to a career .227/.295/.305 batting line in 837 plate appearances over a decade in the majors. Right-handed opponents, however, have logged an .822 OPS against him in 1,035 trips to the plate. The new three-batter minimum rule doesn’t exactly do any favors for pitchers of this ilk, although Rzepczynski has had a few seasons along the way where he’s held righties in check for the most part.
In his 10 MLB seasons, Rzepczynski has pitched to a 3.89 ERA (3.88 FIP) with 8.5 K/9, 4.2 BB/9, 0.74 HR/9 and a huge 59.7% ground-ball rate in 434 2/3 innings.
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