The Toronto Blue Jays are looking to excel across all avenues of baseball. Pitching is without a doubt the team’s priority thus far in the offseason, as they have added a total of five pitchers intended to be on their major league roster come 2026.
With the team being heavily stocked up on right-handed pitchers, left-handed pitchers are a question going into the upcoming season. By that, the team has some decisions to make about left-handed relievers or potential starters.
Major League Ready: Eric Lauer, Brendon Little, Mason Fluharty
The two names listed above are the ones with the most major league experience.
Lauer has over seven years of major league experience (and some time overseas) and has proven he can be a solid major league arm in both the rotation and the bullpen. He was a key cog in the Jays’ machine last season, posting a 3.18 ERA and a 3.85 FIP across 104 2/3 innings.
While Brendon Little had a brutal second half of the season and playoffs, he was a great story in the first half. Little led all relievers with 91 strikeouts, in the second most amount of innings with 68 and 1/3.
I put Mason Fluharty here because of how crucial he was in the back half of the season. A 2.41 ERA to end 2025 was a great showing that he was gaining the trust of John Schneider in high-impact situations. He even became the team’s designated lefty pitcher in the playoffs. Despite a 5.68 ERA in 11 playoff appearances, he managed to strike out nine batters across 6 1/3 innings of work. He got a ton of swings and misses on his sweeper, with 37.3% of batters whiffing at the pitch. As well as a cutter that factored into 34 of his 56 strikeouts (58%). Fluharty has shown he’s slowly trusting his stuff, and Alejandro Kirk can read his pitches behind the plate.
While no spot is guaranteed in professional sports, all three players are a lot higher on John Schneider’s list of trusted relievers than others. Little’s numbers, despite his ERA rising to 4.88 in the second half of the season, were the Blue Jays’ go-to lefty. To avoid burning out pitchers, the team is going to want to add more depth to balance out innings.
Fringe MLB Arms: Ricky Tiedemann, Adam Macko
With Ricky Tiedemann, the team’s fourth-ranked prospect, missing all of 2025 while recovering from Tommy John surgery, many are wondering if he is capable of bouncing back to the hyped form that he showcased back in 2022. If he returns to the stable form he had years ago, he likely finds himself in the big leagues at some point in 2026.
Then there’s Adam Macko, who has struggled with both command and injuries since the Blue Jays acquired him in the Teoscar Hernandez trade back in 2022.
While he had a tough season in Triple-A Buffalo with the Bisons last year, through his last eight starts for the team, his command improved as he only walked six batters and struck out 32. Injuries and health are crucial, but if Macko can find his form, he can rise on the depth charts and be an option the team could depend on in 2026.
Minor League Depth: Michael Plassmeyer, Trenton Wallace
Minor league depth is good to have, as it’s something you need to look at if in a pinch. Looking at Eric Lauer for a key example, signing a minor league contract is not a bad thing for the player, as you can find a future opportunity.
No knock on Michael Plassmeyer, but his upside is low given the small major league sample.
A career 9.82 ERA doesn’t look promising at all, but on the flip side, it’s across only three games in the big leagues. In 28 games with the Round Rock Express last season, the minor league team for the Texas Rangers, Plassmeyer pitched to a 4.43 ERA. He logged over 105 innings and struck out 99 batters. The biggest issue with him is the home runs, as he surrendered 17 last season. Some fine-tuning with the Blue Jays’ pitching staff could help curve that issue.
In this group is Trenton Wallace, an interesting pitcher who made 25 appearances for the Bisons in 2025. He was second on the team in strikeouts last season behind CJ Van Eyk. While walks are a problem for him as a starter, he is still a name that the team can look to evaluate when looking at their left-handed depth.
Prospects: Brandon Barriera, Johnny King
These are names that likely aren’t going to be in the big leagues this season, but as Trey Yesavage proved this past year, is that anything is possible.
Johnny King is the Blue Jays’ fifth-ranked prospect behind Ricky Tiedemann, and at 19 years old, is really creating a name for himself. Last year, in 18 games with the Blue Jays minor league teams in the Florida Complex League and with the Dunedin Blue Jays in A-ball, King put up a 2.48 ERA, recording 105 strikeouts across 61 2/3 innings. While his WHIP (1.314) was a bit high, a reminder that this kid is only 19 years old and has a huge ceiling for him in the organization. In 2024, he was the third pitcher taken, 95th overall in the third round. For reference, Trey Yesavage (20th overall) and Khal Stephen (59th overall) were taken before him. With Stephen now a member of the Cleveland Guardians organization, King now sits as the second-highest-ranked pitching prospect, and with Yesavage likely graduating to the major league level, we can see him potentially be the top arm by year’s end.
Brandon Barriera was once listed as the team’s ranked prospect back in 2023 and was ranked fourth in 2024. Unfortunately, injuries pushed him down to 24th in 2025. At 22, there’s still some time to develop yourself as a major league arm, but he’s been dealt quite a few curveballs early in his career.
Tommy John surgery is unfortunately becoming more common amongst pitchers in the current era of baseball, which messes with development, even if you have a hybrid surgery like Barriera did back in 2024. Having a hard-throwing lefty like Barriera in your system is a huge benefit, but since the procedure in his recovery, his control has been tough. Granted, five games in rookie ball is a small sample size, but the team would have to take extra time to work on him to return to the form he once showed back a few seasons ago.
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