The Blue Jays and righty Connor Overton are in agreement on a minor league contract, per the transaction log at MLB.com. The KHG Sports client spent spring training with the Mets and pitched well (5 1/3 innings, two runs six hits, one walk, three strikeouts) but didn’t make the club and was released in late March. He’ll now head back to the Blue Jays organization, where he made his MLB debut in 2021. He’ll head straight to Triple-A Buffalo.
The 31-year-old Overton has seen big league time in parts of three seasons, suiting up for the Jays, Pirates and Reds. He’s pitched 59 1/3 major league frames and carries a 4.85 ERA in that time. Overton has fanned 15.7% of his opponents, issued walks at a 9.4% clip and kept 38.7% of his opponents’ batted balls on the ground.
All of those rate stats check in worse than the respective MLB averages, but Overton has a strong track record in Triple-A. He’s pitched in parts of five seasons at the top minor league level, totaling 116 1/3 innings with a 3.87 ERA, a 21.4% strikeout rate, a 5.3% walk rate and a 44.8% ground-ball rate.
The Jays are currently operating with four starters: Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt, Jose Berrios and Bowden Francis. Future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer signed a one-year deal over the winter but has been sidelined by a nerve issue in his thumb that has caused other problems in his right arm. Toronto has turned to lefty Easton Lucas for four starts — two of which were excellent (combined 10 1/3 shutout innings) and two of which were disastrous (combined 14 runs in 6 2/3 frames). They recently called up 27-year-old righty Paxton Schultz for his MLB debut, wherein he tossed 4 1/3 scoreless innings of long relief.
Schultz could step into the vacant fifth spot in the rotation, and Toronto also has righty Jake Bloss in Triple-A. He’s had a tough start to his 2025 season, but Bloss ranked on the back end of multiple top-100 prospect rankings last year and was a key piece in the return the Jays received when trading Yusei Kikuchi to the Astros.
The Blue Jays’ depth beyond Schultz, Bloss and Lucas is fairly thin, due in large part to injuries. Alek Manoah is still on the mend from UCL surgery and won’t be an option until late this season. Left-hander Ricky Tiedemann was widely considered one of the top pitching prospects in all of baseball before undergoing Tommy John surgery last July. Righty T.J. Brock had Tommy John surgery in January. Southpaw Adam Macko suffered a meniscus tear early in spring training and underwent surgery in late February. Tiedemann, Macko and Brock were considered three of Toronto’s best and near-MLB-ready pitching prospects. Veteran Eric Lauer is in Triple-A Buffalo on a minor league deal but has had a rocky start to his season as well.
Given all that uncertainty, it’s not all that surprising to see the Jays turn to a familiar face to provide some further depth for the staff. Overton won’t be an immediate option, but if he pitches well in his first few turns with the Bisons, he could find himself in the mix for a big league look late next month or early this summer.
Fire shapiro !! Fire shapiro !!
And Atkins.
31 already? The Overton Window is closing
Maybe he could become a railroad man if baseball doesn’t really work out.
Dang you beat me to the Overton Window quip.
Jays pen has been elite this year. Their ERA is 3.54 but SIERA is much lower at 2.73. That tells me that they’re getting a bit unlucky compared to how they’re pitching. If the Jays could get some decent offense, that would be a tough team to beat.
After watching the offence the last few years since Ross went all in on defence, that’s a tall order.
@gomer33
I’m not suggesting they will; just that if they had proper offense, they would be dangerous. Instead, their offense gets exposed, swept by the Astros and back to under .500. Jays are already cooked and it’s April. I honestly thought they should have traded Vlad and some of their assets but I can only hope that they see the writing on the wall and cash in on some of their other assets (obviously no longer Vlad) in July.
They don’t have a whole lot to trade with much value. Either dwindling control or high salaries or both. Pitching is always needed and they’ll have a ton of it trade if they want to. It’s no guarantee any of them will be super desirable but the market demands might create enough value.
@KamKid
Yes, it’s true, they don’t have a lot of assets but if they don’t plan to help out that offense, they need to sell off some of what they have to refresh the rebuild. I get that they Jays have been in the playoffs for a few years but you’d think that after being knocked out a few years in the first round, they should have been more focused on getting some offensive pieces. I get that they weren’t getting Ohtani or Soto but there were other bats out there that they could have sought after.
Don’t worry, Daulton Varsho should be back next week!!!!
Sure. At the core of it, they’re just not replenishing themselves from within. So they could keep spending money to complement the roster, but I think they weren’t seen as contenders and that more than the geographical and tax issues made attracting free agents difficult. I’m not sure that’s going to change soon. They could use their money in trade like they did with Gimenez I suppose. Take contracts for players that other teams might not want on the books. But at some point, they also need pre arbitration everyday players. Trading rentals and limited impact players adds to the farm and is worth doing when you are not in contention. But your chances of unearthing everyday players from such trades aren’t great.
With Vladdy signed to an extension, I do think it backs them into a bit of a corner in some ways. They do need to leverage the early end of that contract while he’s in his prime. So they aren’t likely to intentionally take a step back from trying to contend. But I do hope they see that pulling the plug on this season rather than stubbornly marching forward while playing from behind both in the standings and by projections would position them better for the medium term. Last year, it was obvious. This year, despite being an obviously flawed team, the AL isn’t exactly separating into clear contenders and non contenders.
They went 9-90 at the plate in Houston….LOL
Weird to include TJ Brock as if he would be starting depth. He’s a pure reliever.
Good. I don’t want to see wes parsons or Lawrence or espino more depth better
Well I guess my hope of a Triston Mckenzie trade in the works is maybe off the table
Expecting McKenzie to amount to anything useful this year is unrealistic. Seems like he needs a bit of a rebuild.
I agree but when you only have 4 starters and a 2nd teir lux tax team at best trying for a wild card a chance at lightening in a bottle is worth the cost.
Mall Santa (John Schneider) should be on the hotseat !!!
New Gm and Pres first
Jays have a top 5 payroll, no depth, bottom 5 farm and bottom 10 offense.
I don’t like Schneider but none of that’s on him
Jays needed 2 more above average bats like I said in the offseason. This all defense approach is very hard to watch. Mall Santa and Donny loses at Baseball need to go to.