The Blue Jays introduced that reliever Tim Mayza dislocated his proper shoulder throughout a play in tonight’s 7-3 loss to the Twins. Within the sixth inning, Sandy Leon bunted in entrance of the mound and Mayza grabbed on the ball to try to tag Nick Gordon, who was operating from third base. Mayza missed the ball and Gordon slid into his outstretched arm, leaving Mayza in apparent ache earlier than he was naturally faraway from the sport.
Mayza will definitely be positioned on the 15-day injured listing, and now the one query is simply how lengthy the left-hander could possibly be out of motion. Although the harm was to his non-throwing shoulder, the severity of the dislocation might doubtlessly put the remainder of Mayza’s season in jeopardy.
Heading into tonight’s sport, Mayza had a 2.41 ERA/3.01 SIERA over 33 2/3 innings, lacking a month of motion attributable to irritation in his left forearm. With solely a 20.9% strikeout fee, Mayza was counting on grounders (a robust 58.2% groundball fee) and mushy contact to get outcomes. Whereas a .277 wOBA that sat effectively under his .322 xwOBA indicated that Mayza was getting some luck, it marked the southpaw’s second consecutive yr of high quality outcomes since getting back from the Tommy John surgical procedure that worn out his 2020 season.
The Jays added Zach Pop, Anthony Bass, and Mitch White to their pitching combine on the deadline, and but all of these hurlers are right-handed. That left Mayza as the one left-hander within the Toronto bullpen, although the Blue Jays have executed respectably effectively towards left-handed batters this season regardless of the overload of righty relievers. The Jays aid corps has a cumulative 3.44 ERA (Tenth-best in baseball) towards lefty swingers, as nearer Jordan Romano, David Phelps, and significantly Yimi Garcia are all doing very effectively towards the alternative aspect of the plate.
Nonetheless, working with none lefties in any respect isn’t superb for any bullpen, and Mayza’s absence reveals an absence of confirmed southpaw depth on the organizational depth chart. Tayler Saucedo is on the 60-day IL and has been rehabbing at Triple-A Buffalo since mid-June, plus Matt Gage, Anthony Kay, and Foster Griffin are additionally at Triple-A and on the 40-man roster.
Left-hander Ricky Tiedemann is Toronto’s prime minor league pitcher and has shot up prospect rankings in his first professional season. Nevertheless, Tiedemann was solely simply promoted to Double-A, so transferring him as much as the majors this early in his growth (he turns 20 later in August) would maybe be too dangerous a transfer, even for a Jays crew in win-now mode.
Trying on the massive league roster, Yusei Kikuchi might get some consideration for a bullpen position, assuming Ross Stripling returns from his present IL stint in across the minimal 15 days. If Stripling is wholesome and White (at the moment taking Stripling’s rotation spot) is pitching capably, the Jays might look to shift Kikuchi to aid pitching. A transfer to the pen might each assist the shortage of left-handed pitchers, and in addition assist Kikuchi get on observe throughout what has been a troublesome first season in Toronto.
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