The Buffalo Bisons, Triple-A affiliate of the Blue Jays, announced that left-hander Ryan Borucki will be active for the club tonight. That suggests that the Jays and Borucki have signed a minor league deal. The southpaw was released by the Pirates last week.
Borucki, now 31, started his career with the Blue Jays. He showed some potential as a rookie starter but some injuries and control issues eventually pushed him to the bullpen. He has since bounced to the rosters of the Mariners, Cubs and Pirates in recent years.
He has occasionally had some success as a big league reliever, with 2023 standing out as a highlight. He gave the Bucs 40 1/3 innings that year with a 2.45 earned run average. His 21.7% strikeout rate was around average but his 46.8% ground ball rate was pretty good and he had an absurdly low 2.6% walk rate.
He hasn’t been quite as impressive since then. He missed most of last year due to left triceps inflammation. He was only able to toss 11 innings with a 7.36 ERA. That was a tiny sample and he still posted solid underlying numbers, including a 25.5% strikeout rate and 7.8% walk rate.
The Pirates re-signed him to a minor league deal with a $1.15MM base salary if he made the major league club. He cracked the Opening Day roster but his results this year have been a bit uninspiring, at least at the surface level. He gave Pittsburgh 30 2/3 innings with a 5.28 ERA. The numbers under the hood were more encouraging. His 21.4% strikeout rate and 9.5% walk rate were both near average while his 55% ground ball rate was quite strong. An unfortunate 56.9% strand rate seems to have put some extra runs on his ledger, which is why his 4.32 FIP and 3.81 SIERA look a bit better.
Regardless, the Pirates decided to move on a little over a week ago and no club claimed his salary off waivers. That makes him a sensible depth add for the Jays. The Pirates are on the hook for the majority of what remains of his salary. If the Jays call him up at any point, they would only pay him the prorated portion of the league minimum salary for however long he has a roster spot.
The Jays have Brendon Little as their primary lefty out of the bullpen. Behind him, they have had guys like Mason Fluharty and Justin Bruihl moving on and off the roster. Fluharty has had a bigger role for the year overall but he’s currently on optional assignment while Bruihl is currently on the active roster. Borucki gives the Jays another arm at Triple-A alongside Fluharty, one who doesn’t require an immediate roster spot. By signing this deal before September 1st, Borucki is eligible for Toronto’s postseason roster.
Photo courtesy of Rick Osentoski, Imagn Images
Emergency back up, kid was decent as a jay
He was there for the real bleak years between Bautista/EE/JD and the emergence of the current core. Welcome back.
He had a few bad outings this year that skewed his results.
The Pirates should have kept him instead of Heaney.
Borucki was going to be a money pitcher before the injury. During his first few years there was too much shifting between starter and reliever and very poor conditioning, He sometimes had little muscle mass, sometimes he was bulked up, sometimes overweight.
I hope he does well with the jays. AAAA MLB player at this point.