Blue Jays Bullpen Notes: On Danner's Comeback, García's Velo, and Francis' Role
DUNEDIN, FL— Bullpen depth concerns dominated the Blue Jays discourse the past two seasons. But, entering 2023, Toronto seems flush with relievers.
While the Blue Jays' bullpen roles seem pretty set with weeks to go before Opening Day, there are still some reliever storylines to follow. Here are three notes on Toronto's relief options and bullpen depth from Spring Training:
Hagen Danner's Comeback
The Blue Jays placed Hagen Danner on the 40-man roster 35.2 innings through his minor-league pitching career.
The converted catcher earned his way onto the expanded roster last offseason with a high-90s fastball and two complementary breaking pitches, but proceeded to miss the entire 2022 minors season with an elbow injury. When he got healthy at the end of the year, he convinced the Blue Jays to let him go to the Arizona Fall League for a few innings, looking to add some kind of positive at the end of a lost season.
"I somehow convinced them I was good to go, and then I showed them I was," Danner said.
After some early nerves and a wild pitch to start his AFL campaign, the righty struck out eight batters in 7.2 innings and quickly re-found the 98 MPH fastball he was flashing prior to injury. Now, with that taste of confidence at the end of '22, he enters 2023 camp looking to turn some heads, earn his way up the bullpen promotion pecking order, and stay on the field.
"As long as I'm healthy, everything's kind of there for me," Danner said. "Just gotta be able to stay healthy."
Yimi García's Heat
Most pitchers are still working up to their peak velocities, but Yimi García looks to be in mid-season form. The 32-year-old averaged 95 MPH on the fastball last year, but early this spring he's been sitting at 97 and touching even higher in his handful of appearances before taking his scorching fastball to the DR's bullpen for the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
"I think he's probably shooting it up a little bit more with the WBC coming," Manager John Schneider said. "I don't want to say he's a forgotten piece, but he's kind of a guy that gets overlooked sometimes in the bullpen. He's just been awesome."
García posted a 3.10 ERA across 61 innings last year, acting as Jordan Romano's primary set-up man and leading the Blue Jays with 24 holds (12th in all of baseball). In high-leverage situations in 2022, opponents hit just .196 off García. While Toronto added dependable arms like Erik Swanson and Anthony Bass in recent months, García remains in line for late-inning duties once again.
Bowden Francis' Role
After earning his MLB debut in April last year, Bowden Francis' season went a bit topsy-turvy. After he was optioned back to Triple-A, Francis posted a 9.96 ERA in the next two months and lost his spot on Toronto's 40-man roster.
But, after some mid-season mechanical adjustments, he re-found the form that earned him his call-up and carried the success into a Winter League role with the Puerto Rican team Criollos de Caguas. The 26-year-old posted a 1.51 ERA in nine starts in the PRWL (35.2 IP) with 47 strikeouts and nine walks.
Entering this year, Francis' role is ambiguous. He's got four pitches and stamina to be a starter, but can also pare down to mainly his fastball/curveball in a relief role (like he did against the Tigers in Lakeland on Saturday).
In 3.1 innings of scoreless relief this spring, Francis has struck out four batters and let up a single hit. He'll have to earn his way back onto the 40-man, but Toronto's had to reach deep into its pitching depth before and Francis finding his early-2022 success could position him as an MLB option later this year.
