The Blue Jays announced that outfielder Nathan Lukes has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a left hamstring strain. Taking Lukes’ place on the active roster is outfield prospect Yohendrick Pinango, whose contract has been selected from Triple-A Buffalo. Right-hander Yimi Garcia was moved from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL in order to create space for Pinango on Toronto’s 40-man roster. Prior to the Jays’ official announcement, the Ander Beisbol X account was the first to report that Pinango was on his way to the Show for his first taste of MLB action.
Friday’s 8-6 Jays loss to the Guardians saw Lukes lead off the bottom of the first with a double, but the right fielder then had to be replaced by pinch-runner Davis Schneider due to the hamstring issue. Blue Jays manager John Schneider is expected to update reporters today on the outcome of Lukes’ MRI, though obviously the problem was immediately serious enough to warrant an IL placement.
George Springer (toe fracture) and Addison Barger (ankle sprain) are making progress in their recoveries and could be activated from the 10-day IL within a week’s time. That said, Lukes is now the 12th player on Toronto’s current injured list, adding to what has been a snakebitten start to the Blue Jays’ defense of their American League title.
Lukes in particular has had a tough go of things, as the outfielder has spent much of the season plagued by vertigo symptoms. A visit to a specialist in Phoenix during the Jays’ recent series with the Diamondbacks seemed to solve things — Lukes had just two hits over his first 34 trips to the plate before the Arizona series, but then posted a 1.260 OPS over his next 22 PA, going 11-for-21 with four doubles.
The hamstring strain both interrupts this hot streak for Lukes, and creates another vacancy in Toronto’s outfield. The Jays have already had to dig pretty deep into their depth chart to address their many injuries on the pitching and position-player sides, and the situation has now created an opportunity for Pinango (who turns 24 next month) to make his big league debut.
Pinango began his career as a Cubs international signing in 2018, and he was dealt to the Jays along with minor league infielder Josh Rivera in the 2024 deadline trade that saw Nate Pearson sent to Wrigleyville. Pinango hit .235/.335/.379 over his first 340 Triple-A plate appearances in 2025, and he has jumped out to a .288/.370/.488 slash line and three homers over 92 PA for Buffalo this season.
MLB Pipeline ranks Pinango as the 10th-best prospect in the Blue Jays’ farm system, with Baseball America slotting him 11th on their list. His lack of defensive value hurts his ceiling, as Pinango is seen as a below-average corner outfielder at best who is probably best suited for a DH spot. That puts more pressure on his bat, and his ability to consistently get the ball into the air. When he is able to keep the ball off the ground, Pinango has displayed intriguing raw power to go along with his solid contact skills and excellent bat speed.
While Pinango lacks Lukes’ defensive upside, he’ll fill in as a left-handed option in Toronto’s outfield mix. Pinango joins Jesus Sanchez as the left-handed hitting corner outfielders, with Davis Schneider and Myles Straw providing right-handed complements.
Garcia underwent surgery last September to fix scar tissue in his throwing elbow, and the Jays were slowplaying his ramp-up period throughout Spring Training and in the early part of the 2026 season. The shift to the 60-man now delays Garcia’s 2026 debut until the last week of May, which doesn’t alter his planned timeline. Garcia has been facing live batters in the latest step in his throwing progression, and the reliever may not be far away from a minor league rehab assignment.
Jays could field a decent MLB team from players currently on their IL.
Berrios, Yesavage, Bieber and Ponce is a pretty good 4 man rotation. Garcia as closer then Barger, Kirk and Lukes
Tony Taters at DH
Says a lot that I forgot about him
Garcia can’t close he’s worse than Hoffman at closing
You’re 💯 right Whyme I wouldn’t trust Garcia as far as I could throw him everytime he came into the ballgame I cringed waiting for him to screw up and cost the team the game Toronto started off slow last year so I’m going to go out on a limb and say after Memorial Day they will take off make the playoffs and this time win the World Series because I’m a true fan of the Toronto Bluejays baby with a capital A (you heard it here)
sounds like Yesavage is making his season debut Tuesday against Boston
Even better/worse: combine their IL with the Astros’ IL, then add in the Braves’ injured position players. Congrats, with that alone you have enough for an actual normal-looking 26-man roster.
Man can’t get a break. Vertigo and batting like .100 since start of spring training then gets the vertigo figured out gets crazy hot and now this
Lukes and Clement at the top of the order was working well
for the 3 games……
tough tough break
Clement and Varsho were working well too but for some reason the manger keeps moving Varsho down and he stops hitting as well as he was in the 2 hole.
Whoever is in the 2-hole for that team is going to get fat pitches to hit
And had his starting role taken away from him for a toolsy player that can’t field or run bases well.
Let us see what the manager does now, does he play Eloy Jimmenz that deserves to play or will he keep him on the bench until he can’t hit at all.
Eloy is just such a defensive liability that he’s not going to play much when Springer is back. But the injury to Lukes at least ensures Eloy keeps his roster spot, I think. Having a dedicated pinch hitter is unusual in the modern game but I’ll take it.
Springer returning probably means Eloy getting waived.
When Springer returns, this kid they called up is going right back down. Is the consensus really that Springer or Jiminez can’t stand in a corner outfield spot for 6 innings?
What is the good of defense if you are not winning and are desperate for offense? So playing Schneider or Straw is a better decision than playing Jimenez you are saying? Before you answer you may want to look at the last 7 games of each and decide is it better to lose and have good defense or play all the offense for awhile and try to get something going?
Would I rather play the guy who was worth nearly 3 WAR last year despite only playing part time, or the guy whose cumulative WAR the last 3 years is negative and was 1.9 in the best year of his whole career? That’s not a tough question. Giving up more runs doesn’t win games and Eloy Jimenez is not Barry Bonds at the plate.
While there’s no case for playing Jimenez over Straw, obviously while Schneider is slumping like he is right now there’s a case for Jimenez to split time with Schneider when you’ve got a ground ball pitcher on the mound. That might get him out there once every week or two.
Darth you’re 100% correct. When Springer returns I would drop Pinango, and when Barger returns drop Davis Schneider. Sosa acquisition made Davis expendable. Straw is your OF to cover Sanchez late in games. Barger and Varsho take the other spots.
That would give Eloy more time until Lukes returns. He would be used less frequently but would remain on the team while Schneider gets everyday at bats in Buffalo. Defense argument died once the Jays traded for Sanchez.
So I should hang on to Sosa on my bench for fantasy? How he acclimating?
I’d have someone else control your fantasy team if you have Sosa on it.
Hee hee!
“It was thw Lukes! It was the Lukes!” – Billy Ray V
Once had a lingering case of Yohendrick Pinandro but after the doctor prescribed antibiotics, it finally went away.
Might as well take a whack at Pinandro