The BlueJays haven’t explicitly stated how they plan to deploy Robbie Ray for the rest of the season. But if they want to maximize his value, keeping him in the bullpen — even in a bulk role — seems a wise approach. NickAshbourne explains ⬇
made his Toronto Blue Jays debut on Tuesday night, it was his first relief appearance since Sept. 27, 2014. He’d come out of the bullpen just six times in his entire professional career prior to the outing, but you wouldn’t have known it from 3.1 innings he gave his new club, with just one earned run against and four strikeouts against a single walk.
A traditional starting role doesn’t seem to be the best way to use him — which is an idea that’s been floating around prior to his current scuffles. In, Craig Edwards pointed out that the lefty is exceedingly inefficient with his pitches, even during his best seasons, and loses velocity over the course of games. His times through the order splits are also stark.
Normally when we talk about possible conversions, we’re dealing with pitchers whose stuff is relatively unimpressive in longer outings. Andrew Miller had a K/9 of 6.92 in the last seasons he started and saw that number climb to 11.38 in his first year as a full-time reliever. Ryan Borucki posted a 6.17 K/9 in his rookie season out of the rotation, so far in 2020 he’s looking at 13.97.
It’s probably unfair to assume Ray would experience that kind of gain again, but those numbers make it seem more likely that something like a 2-m.p.h. boost isn’t out of the question. If Ray were to manage that, here’s how his velocity would look on his three primary pitches . Those numbers look alarming, but these pitches have been exceedingly effective over the years. That’s often come down to their velocity. A comparable on the Blue Jays is Borucki, whose slider has below-average movement both horizontally and vertically, but is devastating because it reaches the upper 80s.
On the other hand, when the velocity on Ray’s breaking balls goes down they are far looser and less impressive. This 82.8-m.p.h. slider floats in harmlessly, making it an easy take for Trevor Story.
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