Blue Jays 2025 free agent target: Hoby Milner

The Blue Jays have had many reliable but also unlikely heroes in the bullpen who helped the Jays reach the postseason last year.

Still, Toronto will have to boost its bullpen strength to keep up with the competition in the AL East and punch its ticket to the playoffs again in 2026.

While there are top-tier closers available in this winter’s free-agent market, there are underrated relievers who can add further depth to a team’s bullpen.

One of those potential depth relievers is lefty Hoby Milner, who most recently pitched for the Texas Rangers for the 2025 season. Milner’s numbers or name may not jump off the page right away, but he has the potential to become a middle or setup relief pitcher for a contender’s bullpen.

2025 Season Stats

The left-hander had a bounce-back season with the Rangers after having a disappointing 2024 season with the Milwaukee Brewers (4.73 ERA, 3.14 FIP and 1.19 WHIP in 64.2 innings pitched). This year, Milner recorded a 3.84 ERA, 3.39 FIP and 1.27 WHIP in 70.1 innings pitched, which was an adequate result for a middle-of-the-pack reliever. The 34-year-old used a sweeper, sinker, change-up and four-seam fastball in the past year, with the sweeper (35%) and sinker (33%) being his top two pitches.

Milner hasn’t been, and certainly wasn’t, a flamethrower in the past year, but where his value lies is his groundball rate. Last year, he ranked in the 91st percentile for groundball rate and recorded a whopping 52.7% groundball rate. This translated to fewer strikeouts, where he posted a 7.4 K/9 but kept the walks in check (2.7 BB/9), although this was an uptick from his 2024 stat (1.9 BB/9).

Milner recorded a 19.8% strikeout rate, demonstrating that his value comes from generating weak contact and putting balls in play for the defense to take care of.

Does Milner fit on the Blue Jays?

If the Blue Jays are focused on adding depth and diversity to their bullpen, bringing Milner would give the team a different look. However, since the Dallas native isn’t a swing-and-a-miss type of pitcher, his addition may be a risky move for a team that his building a playoff-ready bullpen.

Milner brings experience and has shown that he can readjust to become a better reliever, but Toronto’s front office would have to decide what their bullpen priority is to see if signing Milner would make sense for the next season. If the front office doesn’t mind adding a groundball specialist to add more dimension to the relief pitching core, the 34-year-old would become a wild card who can be deployed in setup situations.

However, if the Blue Jays value building a bullpen that generates more strikeouts than someone like Milner may not make the most sense, given his specialty. That said, having a left-handed reliever is always an asset for any team, and Milner would relieve some of the existing lefty relievers’ burdens on the Blue Jays, should the team decide to offer a contract to the Texan.