'Best Lefty in the League': Blue Jays' Tim Mayza is Quietly Carving

How Blue Jays pitcher Tim Mayza quietly became one of baseball's best left-handed relievers.

Jordan Romano has seen Tim Mayza’s lows.

He was there when the lefty reliever could barely earn playing time for rookie-league Bluefield in 2014. It was then that a Blue Jays coach explained to Mayza, rather bluntly, how precarious his career was: “You need to show something next spring training, or it might be it,” they said.

But now, Romano is a front-row witness to the highest peak of Mayza’s career. Almost 10 years after he nearly fell out of professional baseball, the 31-year-old is a leverage weapon in Toronto's bullpen and one of MLB's best left-handed relievers.

“He’s had his bumps along the way, but it’s not a fluke why he’s performing so well,” Romano said.

Since recovering from 2019 Tommy John surgery, Mayza's been a dependable southpaw in Toronto's bullpen mix. He added a two-seam fastball in 2019 that helped the lefty miss bats and induce soft grounders. Across the last two seasons, Mayza owns a 3.28 ERA and 3.52 FIP. But in 2023, he's found a new level. Mayza's 1.33 ERA ranks second among all qualified left-handed relievers, behind only Josh Hader.

"He's been a steady is basically any reliever in the league and kind of gets overlooked," manager John Schneider said. "I feel like left-handed relievers that aren't closers often get overlooked, which is, you know, kind of the way the game is. But he's gotten huge outs for us, really, for the last couple of years. He's just been as steady as you can ask for. "

The biggest difference between 2023 Mayza and his previous forms is a refined second delivery. For the last few seasons, Mayza’s been a two-pitch guy in name only. He had a slider, but with no "trust" in the pitch, used it just 17% of the time in 2022.

“Last couple years I would say I threw it because I had to, not because I wanted to,” he said.

Riding almost exclusively sinkers worked for Mayza, but predictability is death in baseball. His ERA rose 1.44 points in the second half last year as hitters began to hone in on the sinking fastball. After the Jays were eliminated in the playoffs, Mayza and the team’s pitching coaches sat down to create an offseason plan. The priority: create a better slider.

The lefty’s previous breaking pitch was a glorified cutter, he said, sliding just a few inches away from a righty’s barrel. Wanting more vertical drop and a few MPH less on the pitch, Mayza forced himself to think of the pitch as a curveball — stay on top of the ball and snap it down for depth. 

It’s still a slider, of course, but after an offseason of tricking his brain into thinking curve, the pitch has the downward movement he desired. Mayza’s usage on the slider is up just 6% this season, but the opponent chase rate is up 10%. Hitters are batting just .233 against Mayza’s breaking pitch, even lower than against his sinker.

"I think kind of him evolving with a little bit of a different shape on his slider with a couple of miles an hour off of what it has been," Schneider said. "That's been a weapon and it's kind of made his fastball that much more effective, too."

The results have been immediate. Mayza's allowed just four earned runs this season, hasn't allowed a homer, and rocks the lowest walk rate of his career. If you ask his manager or teammates, Mayza's criminally underrated. But, Romano is hoping that changes with a trip to Settle next month.

“He’s, in my opinion, the best lefty in the league right now," Romano said. "A guy like that deserves to be in the All-Star Game, we all want to see Timmy walk down that red carpet. Supremely underrated and I think the best lefty we have in the league.”