BRADENTON, Fla. — As important as it was for Kevin Gausman to simply get his work in without issue during the Toronto Blue Jays’ spring finale, don’t sleep on how vital it was that he also very much looked like his dominant self.
After all, there’s a difference in being ready to pitch and being ready to pitch at full capacity and while it’s certainly helpful for the Blue Jays to just have their ace right-hander take the mound, they definitely need him within reach of his Cy-Young-calibre ceiling.
The 33-year-old took a major step toward that over three encouraging innings Monday in a 4-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates that closed out the Grapefruit League schedule. Slowed by some shoulder fatigue earlier this month, hustling to be ready for his first turn in the rotation, Gausman was nasty, his fastball sitting at 95.1 m.p.h. and topping out at 96.9 and his splitter averaging 87.2 m.p.h., striking out seven against a near-everyday lineup.
Final calls won’t be made until Gausman and the Blue Jays discuss how he’s feeling Tuesday, but barring a surprise he should be ready to start either Sunday’s opening-series finale at the Tampa Bay Rays or Monday’s series opener at the Houston Astros.
“Everything worked out well today,” said Gausman. “It could have been bad and we would be in a spot where I need to go throw 40 more pitches or something. So we got lucky that didn’t happen. I pitched well enough to where that wasn’t an issue. But the biggest thing is getting used to the ups and downs and having four of those is huge. That was a big sign.”
So too was the way he threw his splitter, which was inconsistent early before he locked in with the offering, throwing it as hard as 88.6 m.p.h. The Pirates swung at eight of them, missing four, fouling off three and getting a generously scored single by Ke’Bryan Hayes on the other, on a grounder that spun weirdly under Bo Bichette’s glove.
Gausman admitted to having “a little bit of a question” about how he was going to feel going into the game, but said a key sign that he’s right is “probably when my split is carrying the zone,” and that was there Monday.
“When I’m able to throw my split upper 80s, that’s where my arm is back, that’s where I feel like, all right, I can play my fastball off of that really well,” he added. “That’s one of the things that I wanted to check today, getting that velocity up on the splitter. It was there early and often, so that was good.”
Manager John Schneider called Gausman’s performance “outstanding from start to finish” and added that “he looked like Kevin” on what was “an important day for him and for us.”
Still, Schneider wasn’t ready to commit to any final roster decisions — the closest he came was admitting before the game that “it’s reasonable to say” closer Jordan Romano and set-up man Erik Swanson will start the season on the injured list — but Gausman sure seems to have answered questions about him moving forward.
“With the way he has been going, he’s been on the right trajectory,” said Schneider. “So hopefully Tuesday’s a good day and then we’ll go from there.”
Assuming the above goes to plan, that leaves the Blue Jays with two open bullpen spots and though they’ll have a fully stretched out Mitch White and Trevor Richards to provide length, multi-inning options might make most sense.
Zach Pop (two runs, one earned, on two hits and a walk with one strikeout in a third of an inning) and Wes Parsons (two shutout innings with two hits allowed and two strikeouts) each made their final pitches Monday, while Nate Pearson (two innings, two runs, one strikeout) threw Saturday.
All are already on the 40-man roster, as is Cuban Yariel Rodriguez, who in a vacuum might be the best option but given his year off as he came to North America, may need more structure than sporadic long relief work for the time being.
“The stuff is obviously real and it plays,” said Schneider. “What it comes down to, first and foremost, is what’s best for him after the layoff and what we’re trying to do with him not only this year but beyond, and then how it fits with everyone else that’s going to be on our roster. …
“In a perfect world, you have probably somewhat of a set schedule for him and then you can kind of build in the length that way. But it’s an imperfect equation because you never know how games are going to unfold and who else you’re going to want to use. So it’s a fine balance of keeping him pretty regular and wanting to utilize his talent, if that makes sense.”
To their great relief, the Blue Jays appear able to utilize Gausman’s talent out of the gates.
One spring start isn’t an ideal build up, but he sounds like someone prepared to make it work.
“If this was my first year going in as a full-time starter, I wouldn’t be too happy with where I’m at, but I kind of know what I need to do and the boxes that I need to check daily to be right for when games matter and that’s a couple of days away now,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that this happened in spring and that I got pushed back a little bit but it seems like I’m not going to miss much time, so that’s good.
“If we need to build me up over my first two starts, that’s OK.”
The Blue Jays seem to agree.
