The 5 most memorable Blue Jays position player pitching performances

The first nod on this list is the most recent addition to the position players to take the mound for the Blue Jays. Yesterday was Heineman’s third appearance as a pitcher for Toronto, with one inning of relief under his belt from a 15-1 loss to the Red Sox back on June 28th.

Heineman’s most recent pitching appearance has the distinction of coming in a winning effort for the Blue Jays, not a blowout loss. Every other appearance in franchise history was during a lopsided loss. It was odd to see Heineman pulled out of the dugout for pitching duty, but he threw strikes and only surrendered one hit and one earned run to the Texas Rangers.

4. Craig Kusick – August 25, 1979

By all accounts, the early days of the Blue Jays franchise in the late 70s were tough to watch. That includes one of the worst losses in franchise history, a 22-2 blowout to the California Angels on August 25, 1979. Blue Jays starter Balor Moore only recorded one out, which meant the bullpen had to pick up 26 outs that day.

The Blue Jay who has the distinction of being the first position player to take the mound was Craig Kusick. He saved the bullpen that day and pitched 3 2/3 innings of relief, despite never pitching in a big league game before. Kusick was the Blue Jays’ most effective pitcher that day, giving up only two earned runs and three hits.

Kusik faced 14 batters, gave up three hits (one of them being a home run) and walked one batter. Meanwhile, the combination of Moore, Jesse Jefferson and Jackson Todd combined to give up 17 earned runs to the Angels.

3. Luke Maile – May 25, 2019

We always hear about position players who are converted into pitchers, but this is one guy who might have enjoyed some success as a reliever if he ever hangs up his catcher’s gear. Luke Maile made two pitching appearances for the Blue Jays in May 2019, his most memorable being a game against the San Diego Padres on May 25, 2019.

Amid a 19-4 loss, Maile was the sixth reliever in a game started by Edwin Jackson. Maile struck out not one, but two of the five batters he faced in his appearance. His velocity varied from 59.4 miles per hour to 86.6 miles per hour, so it’s easy to understand why hitters were so off-balance facing the catcher-turned-relief pitcher.

2. Cliff Pennington – October 20, 2025

You know things have gone sideways when you see a position player in a postseason game. That’s exactly what happened on October 20, 2025, when the Blue Jays deployed their secret weapon — waiver deadline pickup Cliff Pennington — as the one man who could stop the bleeding in Game 4 of the 2015 ALCS.

Pennington was the first position player ever to make a pitching appearance in a playoff game, which tells you how desperate the Blue Jays were that day to fast forward to the next day and potentially send the series back to Kansas City.

With the Blue Jays losing 12-2, manager John Gibbons dug into his bag of tricks and called upon his veteran infielder to record the final out of the game. Pennington gave up consecutive singles to Paulo Orlando and Alcides Escobar before retiring Ben Zobrist for Pennington’s sole out of the appearance.

Surprisingly, Pennington hit 91 miles per hour on the radar gun on his very first pitch, which was a fastball down the pipe to Orlando. Despite a massive loss, the crowd was all for Pennington coming to pitch in this blowout, because frankly, there wasn’t much for the home crowd to get excited about in this playoff game.

1. Ryan Goins and Darwin Barney – July 1, 2016

Looking back, this might be one of the biggest cautionary tales of allowing position players to get their work in during blowout games. But Gibbons didn’t have much choice but to send not one position player out there on the mound, but two. Both Ryan Goins and Darwin Barney saw work in an eventual 2-1 loss in 19 innings to the Cleveland Guardians.

Goins entered the game as the ninth reliever for the Blue Jays, got himself in trouble loading the bases, but got out of the jam by inducing an inning-ending double play to send the game to the bottom of the 18th. Barney started the top of the 19th inning and immediately gave up the go-ahead solo home run to Carlos Santana to give Cleveland a 2-1 lead.

However, Barney rallied and finished the inning by striking out Mike Napoli on a nasty breaking ball.

It would be one thing if the Blue Jays emptied their bullpen and bench to win this game, but they did not come out as victors on the battle of Canada Day, 2016. Even worse, Goins was placed on the 15-day injured list with forearm tightness due to his pitching appearance.