Breaking down the Blue Jays’ newest arm, José Ureña

The right-hander will offer approximately 40-70 innings per year if he stays in the bullpen, with an average of three innings per game in a long-relief type opportunity. His offerings will prosper in a short or long relief role, providing good relief innings, but as we have seen, the Jays seem interested in giving him a chance to start as well. This is likely temporary, barring some exceptional performances from the veteran out of the rotation, as he is bridging the gap for Max Scherzer to return and/or Spencer Turnbull to get up to speed, although he also could be an option in the bullpen.

He has a four-pitch repertoire: sinker, slider, changeup, and four-seam fastball. His fastball has up to a 97-98 mph max velocity, and was the lowest used of the four pitches during his Mets outing, sitting at 10.3% usage compared to the sinker and slider, which both sat at 32.4%. The sinker, slider, and changeup are also in the mix for reliable options; he’s confident in using all three pitches, which hold value in their own way.

Across a bigger sample size (2024), his sinker drops vertically at around 21.6 inches downward with 16.5 inches of arm-side movement. The changeup has 26.4 inches of vertical movement with 15.3 arm-side movement. Both pitch options can instigate groundouts and flyouts, and they both hold between 11.2% and 12.9% put-away percentages.

Ureña’s clear-out pitch is the slider. The slider led his put-away percentage with a 21.8% put-away percentage last year and generated a 33.1% whiff rate and a 27.7% strikeout rate, boasting a .299 wOBA through 137 plate appearences.

So, how do the Blue Jays find success with the right-hander? He needs to continue to last three to four innings each outing, along with forcing ground balls (47.9% groundball rate for his career), and continuing to sit around the 3.0 BB/9 area while reducing the number of hits he allowed in his previous outing.

The Jays need him to start tonight to bridge the gap in the fifth spot in the rotation, and he later could find himself in the bullpen down the road. Ureña is a versatile pitcher, and the Jays need his 2024 form again.