The early to mid-2020s for the Blue Jays have been defined by the number of pitching redemptions they produced. Hyun Jin Ryu opened the door by earning recognition as one of the AL Cy Young finalists in 2020, while Robbie Ray won the hardware in 2021 after winning 29 out of 30 votes. Kevin Gausman and Alek Manoah each placed third in the Cy Young race in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
Toronto was talented at identifying diamonds in the rough, so how did they help pitchers refine through their struggles? The answer to that question goes beyond the math.
Scouting for potential
The Blue Jays weren’t just starting from scratch when they traded, developed or signed pitchers; they saw the raw talent first.
Hyun Jin Ryu was a top end arm who already earned his Cy Young finalist recognition with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2019. In Robbie Ray, they saw a pitcher racking up strikeouts, even with his early 7.84 ERA in a shortened 2020 season. Right-hander Alek Manoah came up in the system as a fiery workhorse who was a constant in the Blue Jays’ rotation out of the gate. Kevin Gausman turned into a starting pitching sensation with the 107-game winning San Francisco Giants after enduring as a journeyman with the Baltimore Orioles, Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds.
Historically speaking, the Blue Jays have only taken on a calculated pitching risk. They picked pitchers who they knew had the stuff and gambled on those who could maximize their upsides. Gausman, Ray and Ryu weren’t just nobodies; they each earned some recognition for their talents long before they were on Toronto’s radar. Manoah was supposed to be the next pitching success story, and for a short period of time, he was that guy.
Most starts with 0 walks & 10+ strikeouts: Blue Jays history
Roger Clemens 7
Kevin Gausman 6
Roy Halladay 4
Robbie Ray 4#TOTHECORE pic.twitter.com/4tO7pC8Kro— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) August 25, 2024
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What the Blue Jays excelled at was translating past track records to unleash a whole new potential.
Focus on pitchers’ strengths
In some cases, the Blue Jays were taking on proven talents as their top starters in the rotation. At least that was the case for Gausman and Ryu, which meant that the team only needed to help the pitchers hone their craft.
Ryu had six pitches in his arsenal (four-seamer, two-seamer, cutter, curveball, slider and change-up, and when he could command the zone with surgical precision, he was the definition of unpredictability. Pitching coach Pete Walker understood that the left-hander needed time to get into his rhythm and work on his pitch locations and deliveries, which helped him post a 2.69 ERA over 12 starts during the 2020 season.
Despite his alarmingly high walk rates and unstable commands, Ray was told to throw as many strikes in the zone by the Blue Jays’ pitching staff when he joined the team in a trade. That transition gradually helped him cut down the walks and become the pitcher with the most strikeouts in the league in 2021, which earned him the AL Cy Young Award.
Gausman reinvented himself with his deadly splitter in San Francisco, and the Blue Jays concentrated even more on reinforcing this strength since he came to the north of the border in 2022. This led to the right-hander recording 127 strikeouts with his splitter during the 2023 season, which was the second most on a single pitch behind only Spencer Strider’s slider. He also recorded the most strikeouts in the AL (237) that season, with a 3.16 ERA over 185 innings.
Building on pitchers’ existing strengths has been the most notable trend in the current Blue Jays’ pitching system.
Understanding the full story and analytics
The Blue Jays didn’t have a magic potion that would free pitchers from their slumps, nor was every pitcher who came into camp turned into a success story. But what they had was a full set of information, including analytics, on pitchers who joined the club. When Ray was traded to Toronto in 2020, pitching coaches Pete Walker and his crew already had a good grasp of his pitching style, arsenal, makeup, and personality, in addition to other details, before even sitting down with Ray.
In this rigorous analysis process, Walker and the Jays staff would each do a deep dive on a pitcher’s data and video (and in some cases, reach out to former coaches who have worked with the pitchers) to formulate their thoughts. The end goal is to form a narrative that incorporates a pitcher’s best year, best pitch and year-over-year changes; this understanding would then help build a plan that would help a pitcher stay true to who he is.
Listening and keeping an open line of communication
The Blue Jays’ pitching coaches were never the ones to tell their pitchers what to do. Instead, they watched and listened to the pitchers so that they could understand their perspectives.
Hearing a pitcher’s story speaks volumes about what worked and what hasn’t; this would ultimately allow the team to find the best way to work with each pitcher. What Walker has stuck to is letting a pitcher become comfortable with the new environment and gradually introducing suggestions and new ideas.
Cody Ponce grew up a fan of Hyun Jin Ryu and played with him with the Hanwha Eagles.
He wore Ryu’s Blue Jays jersey at the KBO All-Star Game 😂 pic.twitter.com/vqAdrdh49e
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) December 11, 2025
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Toronto’s pitching philosophy has been earning pitchers’ trust, not forcing it. And that comes from hearing a pitcher out rather than just talking at them. This was the recipe for success for the Blue Jays’ pitching coaches, especially Walker. What players want is for the team to care about what they think, how they approach the game and what’s next for them – that listening is what led to success for Walker et al.
Testing resilience
In a 162-game season, the best way to tell whether a pitcher is ready is to let them deal with it.
As Walker has said in the past, unless pitchers learn how to deal with their struggles, they are usually out of the game. Former Cy-Young winner Ray knew he was going to get through his tough times and didn’t let himself wallow in them. That, and his work ethic, were what helped him pump out strikes and win the award at the end of the 2021 season.
By committing to a pitcher’s development and tweaks, the Blue Jays signed up for the long game and didn’t rely on quick fixes. They invested in time, and that has paid off in a few starters they worked with down the line.
The Blue Jays are looking to continue their path to pitching success this year, especially with new signings like Dylan Cease and Cody Ponce. This is a staff that helped turn around the story for some pitchers while helping others thrive even more in the big leagues. If Toronto continues to focus on building relationships and trust first with the pitchers, they may just have the perfect pitching stories to tell, hopefully by the end of this year.
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