Giants, Ryan Borucki Agree To Major-League Deal
The Giants and left-hander Ryan Borucki are in agreement on a one-year, major-league deal. Right-hander Hayden Birdsong has been placed on the 60-day injured list in a corresponding move. Borucki is a client of ISE Baseball.
Borucki, who turns 32 on March 31, joins a new organization just a day after being released by the White Sox. Since debuting with the Blue Jays in 2018, he owns a 4.28 ERA, a 19.7% strikeout rate, and an 8.9% walk rate in 256 1/3 innings. His strikeout and walk numbers are worse than average, though Borucki has shown flashes of success thanks to a strong 48.3% career groundball rate. His most recent above-average season came in 2023 with the Pirates. He posted a 2.45 ERA in 40 1/3 innings that year while walking just 2.6% of hitters and allowing less than one home run per nine innings for the first time since the pandemic season.
He has struggled mightily since then. In 46 innings from 2024-25, Borucki has a 5.28 ERA and a slightly more generous (but still not great) 4.32 FIP. His pinpoint control from 2023 now appears to be an outlier, as Borucki has walked 10.2% of hitters since the start of 2024. His hard-hit rate had reached a career-low 29.7% in 2023, though that returned to a more typical 38.5% in 2025. He missed most of 2024 with left triceps inflammation, then a month and a half of 2025 with lower back inflammation. Indeed, the 2023 season was his most recent injury-free year.
Recent track record aside, Borucki did very well in Spring Training with the White Sox. Leading up to his release yesterday, he had pitched six innings over an equal number of appearances without allowing an earned run. He also struck out eight hitters while allowing just a single walk and no home runs. As usual, spring stats should be taken with a grain of salt, though Borucki’s performance was enough to garner interest from several teams upon his release from Chicago. The Giants, who showed interest in Borucki earlier this offseason, now bring him in on what is undoubtedly a low-cost deal.
With this signing, San Francisco figures to carry three lefties in their season-opening bullpen. Erik Miller and Matt Gage come with less experience than Borucki, though they have intriguing profiles on their own. Miller’s four-seam velocity is in the 89th percentile, while his sinker, slider, and changeup all grade slightly above average by Statcast’s run value metric. He pitched 30 innings with a shiny 1.50 ERA in 2025, albeit with less encouraging peripherals and significant time missed due to a left elbow sprain. Gage does not throw as hard as Miller, but he did well last year with a 3.19 ERA in 31 innings between the Tigers and Giants. Although he doesn’t strike out many hitters, he makes up for it with a groundball rate in the upper 40s.
Assuming he sticks on the roster, Borucki will serve as a veteran complement to those two, as well as a potential trade piece should the Giants be out of contention by the deadline. Per RosterResource, the Giants’ 2026 payroll stands at $203MM, with a projected luxury tax number of $232.89MM. That puts them under the first tier of luxury tax threshold of $244MM, so Borucki won’t cost them anything beyond his modest salary.
Meanwhile, Birdsong’s IL placement was entirely expected after Thursday’s announcement that he is set to undergo Tommy John surgery. The procedure will keep him out for all of 2026 and a good part of 2027 as well. He will earn one year of service time while he is on the IL. Birdsong turns 25 in August and will have over two years of service time upon his return, leaving the Giants with four additional years of club control.
Jon Heyman of the New York Post was first to announce that the Giants and Borucki were close to a deal. Robert Murray of FanSided reported that the two sides were in agreement. Justice de los Santos of Mercury News added Birdsong’s IL placement as the corresponding move.
Photo courtesy of Mark Smith, Imagn Images
White Sox Release Four Players
2:27pm: Sims triggered an opt-out in his minor league contract and was granted his release, MLBTR has learned.
1:22pm: The White Sox have trimmed four more from their spring roster, per the team. Chicago announced that left-hander Ryan Borucki, first baseman/outfielder LaMonte Wade Jr., and right-handers Austin Voth and Lucas Sims have all been released. All four had signed minor league deals with spring invites. All are now free agents who can sign with any club.
Borucki, 32 later this month, has pitched in each of the past eight major league seasons. He sports a career 4.28 ERA with a below-average 19.7% strikeout rate, an 8.9% walk rate that’s narrowly north of average, and a strong 48.3% ground-ball rate. He notched a middling 4.63 ERA in 35 innings between the Pirates and Blue Jays in 2025 but has been outstanding with the White Sox this spring, firing six shutout innings with an 8-to-1 K/BB ratio.
Wade, 32, has had a big spring himself. He’s taken 49 plate appearances and slashed .289/.429/.605 with three homers, two steals, nine walks and 10 strikeouts. He’s appeared in each of the past seven big league campaigns, mostly with the Giants, and is a lifetime .236/.341/.390 hitter in the majors. His most recent work was well shy of his career marks, however; in 282 plate appearances between San Francisco and Anaheim last year, he posted a dreadful .167/.271/.254 batting line (52 wRC+) with a career-worst 24% strikeout rate. Wade grades out below average at first base (his primary position) and in the outfield corners, and he’s never hit left-handed pitching. He could latch on with a club seeking a lefty-swinging corner bat — ideally one looking for help at first base.
The 33-year-old Voth has more than five years of MLB service but spent the 2025 season in Japan pitching for the Chiba Lotte Marines. He totaled 125 innings with a 3.96 ERA, sub-par strikeout numbers and strong command. In 360 1/3 MLB frames, the former Nats farmhand carries a 4.70 earned run average. Voth is a fly-ball pitcher with average strikeout and walk rates overall in his big league tenure. He only pitched two official innings for the Sox this spring, allowing a run with two strikeouts and no walks.
Sims, 31, looked like a potential late-inning weapon earlier in his career with the Reds, but injuries have continually set him back. He has more than six years of MLB service but only 318 1/3 innings pitched due to frequent IL trips. In that time, he’s posted a 4.86 ERA, 26.5% strikeout rate and 12.5% walk rate. Sims tossed five shutout innings and fanned seven while walking three this spring. He spent 2025 with the Nationals and was torched for 19 runs in 12 1/3 innings due to staggering command troubles: 19 walks and seven hit batters. His command was better in camp with the South Siders, but he’ll head back to the market and look to latch on with another club seeking bullpen depth.
White Sox Sign Ryan Borucki To Minor League Deal
The White Sox announced that left-hander Ryan Borucki has been signed to a minor league deal that contains an invitation to Chicago’s big league Spring Training camp. It’s something of a homecoming for Borucki, who grew up just north of Chicago in Mundelein, Illinois.
With eight MLB seasons under his belt, Borucki brings a lot of veteran know-how to an overall inexperienced White Sox relief corps. Though Chicago’s priority during a rebuild is still giving innings to these younger pitchers, having a seasoned reliever like Borucki around might be helpful if Borucki pitches well enough in camp to earn a roster spot. Brandon Eisert and Tyler Gilbert (likely the two top left-handed options in the Sox pen) are coming off so-so performances in 2025, so Borucki also provides some added southpaw depth.
Borucki has plenty to prove himself, however, as his struggles against right-handed batters and his inability to keep the ball in the park have led to middling results. Over 256 1/3 career innings in the Show, Borucki has a 4.28 ERA, 19.7K%, and 8.9BB%. While Borucki has been prone to allowing home runs, he has done a good job of avoiding fly balls in general, with a 51.8% grounder rate over 135 1/3 innings from 2021-25.
In 2025, Borucki posted a 4.63 ERA, 22% strikeout rate, and 11% walk rate over 35 innings with the Pirates and Blue Jays, while missing about six weeks due to a back injury. He signed a minor league deal with Pittsburgh last winter, and caught on with Toronto (his original team) on another minors contract after being released by the Bucs in August, but the Jays also designated Borucki for assignment and then outrighted him in September after four MLB outings.
Ryan Borucki, Michael Stefanic Elect Free Agency
Left-hander Ryan Borucki and infielder Michael Stefanic have both elected free agency, as per the MILB.com transactions wire. Both players were outrighted off the Blue Jays’ 40-man roster during the regular season and chose to accept the outright assignments rather than elect free agency at the time, but it was expected that they would opt into minor league free agency at some point after season’s end.
Borucki began his career in Toronto’s organization and spent parts of his first five MLB seasons (2018-22) with the Jays before he was traded to the Mariners in June 2022. After a brief stint in the Cubs’ farm system, the southpaw’s next big league action came with the Pirates from 2023-25 until he was designated for assignment and released in August. The Jays soon picked him up on a minor league contract and he got a brief run on their active roster in September, appearing in four games before being DFA’ed and outrighted.
Over 256 1/3 innings in the Show, Borucki has a career 4.28 ERA, 19.7% strikeout rate, 8.9% walk rate, and 48.3% grounder rate. Those numbers included a 4.63 ERA in 35 combined innings with the Pirates and Blue Jays in 2025. Borucki is the type of specialist reliever whose career was heavily impacted when MLB instituted the three-batter rule for relievers in 2020, as Borucki has struggled badly against right handed-hitting batters but dominant against left-handed bats.
Between those splits, his low strikeout totals, and the natural variance involved with being a grounder specialist, Borucki will very likely again have to settle for a minor league contract as he enters his age-32 season. He is bound to land somewhere since so many teams need bullpen depth and/or left-handed relief help, but Borucki may be facing another round of DFA and outrights unless he can both earn a look in a big league bullpen and start producing consistent results.
Stefanic began his pro career as an undrafted free agent with the Angels in 2018, and broke into the majors by appearing in 90 games with Los Angeles over the 2022-24 seasons. He inked a minors deal with Toronto last winter and had his contract selected for a nine-game cup of coffee in May when the Jays were in need of infield depth. Stefanic produced a .462 OPS over 25 plate appearances in 2025, and he has hit .227/.314/.267 in 289 career PA in the Show.
This uninspiring slash line is a far cry from the impressive numbers Stefanic has posted in Triple-A, as he has batted .332/.427/.454 over 1884 PA with the Blue Jays’ and Angels’ top affiliates. Between these stats and his ability to play all over the infield, Stefanic should catch on somewhere on another minors contract, but he is out of minor league options.
Blue Jays Outright Ryan Borucki
The Blue Jays announced that lefty reliever Ryan Borucki has been outrighted to Triple-A Buffalo. He went unclaimed on waivers after being designated for assignment on Monday.
Borucki had sufficient service time to decline a minor league assignment. He probably would’ve remained unsigned for the rest of the season had he chosen free agency. Manager John Schneider said Monday that Borucki was hoping to stick with the organization (relayed by Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet). That’ll come to fruition after he accepted the outright assignment.
Toronto signed Borucki to a minor league contract late last month after he was released by the Pirates. The Jays selected his contract a little over a week later. Borucki managed 4 1/3 scoreless frames across four appearances, though he walked four of the 19 hitters he faced. The southpaw tossed 30 2/3 innings for the Bucs earlier in the season, working to a 5.28 earned run average. He had middling strikeout and walk numbers but got ground-balls at a 55% clip.
The Jays are familiar with Borucki, whom they drafted out of high school more than a decade ago. That came under a previous front office, but he spent his first four and a half MLB seasons with Toronto under the current regime. Brendon Little and Eric Lauer are the two southpaws in John Schneider’s bullpen. Mason Fluharty, Justin Bruihl and Easton Lucas are on the 40-man roster and on optional assignment. Borucki no longer carries a 40-man spot but that’s largely because he could not be optioned. The Jays might still view him as their third-best lefty reliever and could bring him back if Little or Lauer suffer an injury.
Blue Jays Designate Ryan Borucki For Assignment
4:43pm: Manager John Schneider says Borucki informed the Jays he hopes to stay in the organization for the rest of the season (relayed by Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet). There’s a good chance he clears waivers as an impending free agent, and it seems he intends to accept an outright assignment and report to Triple-A Buffalo if that proves to be the case.
3:33pm: The Blue Jays announced Monday that left-handed reliever Ryan Borucki has been designated for assignment. His spot on the roster will go to top prospect Trey Yesavage, whose previously reported promotion is now official.
Yesavage will make his major league debut tonight in Tampa Bay. He’ll start opposite hard-throwing Rays righty Joe Boyle. Yesavage, last year’s first-round pick out of East Carolina, made a quick ascent through the minors. He didn’t pitch at all in his draft year and began this season in Low-A. He pitched his way through each full season minor league level and now gets a couple weeks to make a case for inclusion on Toronto’s playoff rosters.
That decision probably ends Borucki’s second stint with the Blue Jays. Toronto signed him to a minor league contract late last month after he was released by the Pirates. The Jays selected his contract a little over a week later. Borucki managed 4 1/3 scoreless frames across four appearances, though he walked four of the 19 hitters he faced. The southpaw tossed 30 2/3 innings for the Bucs earlier in the season, working to a 5.28 earned run average. He had middling strikeout and walk numbers but got ground-balls at a 55% clip.
The Jays are familiar with Borucki, whom they drafted out of high school more than a decade ago. That came under a previous front office, but he spent his first four and a half MLB seasons with Toronto under the current regime. They evidently weren’t planning to carry him as a situational grounder specialist in the postseason. They’ll place him back on waivers within the next few days, and he could get a head start on the offseason by electing free agency if he goes unclaimed. Borucki would be a free agent this offseason either way, and he would not be playoff eligible if another team were to claim him.
Blue Jays Select Ryan Borucki
The Blue Jays announced that they have selected left-hander Ryan Borucki to the roster. Fellow lefty Easton Lucas has been optioned to Triple-A Buffalo in a corresponding active roster move. To open a 40-man spot, righty Robinson Piña has been recalled and placed on the 60-day injured list due to a sprain of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow.
Borucki, now 31, began his career with the Jays many years ago. He showed some promise as a potential starter but some injuries eventually got him moved to a relief role. As a reliever, he has bounced around to the Mariners and Pirates with some occasional success. From 2020 to the present, he has thrown 147 2/3 innings with a 4.39 earned run average. His 22.3% strikeout rate and 8.8% walk rate in that time are close to average, while his 50.1% ground ball rate is quite strong.
This year hasn’t been his best. After an injury-marred 2024 season, he had to settle for a minor league deal with the Pirates. He cracked Pittsburgh’s Opening Day rotation and stuck on the roster through mid-August, with an IL stint of over a month due to back inflammation mixed in. He had a 5.28 ERA over 30 2/3 innings when they designated him for assignment a few weeks back. He had a 21.4% strikeout rate, 9.5% walk rate and 55% ground ball rate.
After he was released, the Jays scooped him up on a minor league deal. Toronto has had Brendon Little as the primary lefty in their bullpen this year. Guys like Mason Fluharty and Justin Bruihl have also factored in but both of those guys were optioned to the minors in recent days. A pitcher optioned to the minors can’t be recalled for 15 days, unless someone else is going on the injured list.
Eric Lauer is now in the bullpen, per Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet, but he’ll likely be deployed more as a long man. Lucas is also more of a long relief guy, so the Jays are swapping him out for Borucki.
For his career, Borucki has held lefties to a .185/.268/.265 line, whereas righties have hit .280/.347/.494 off him. That split has been even more extreme this year, as he has held opposing lefties to a .132/.217/.170 line but righties have lit him up for a .333/.400/.649 slash. The Jays will probably try to target Borucki against lefties in the other team’s lineup, though the three-batter minimum makes that a challenge. Little has pitched in the past two games and three of the past four, so it’s possible he’s not available tonight.
Pina, 26, was acquired from the Marlins in a June trade. He has largely been on optional assignment since then. His health status is unclear but he hasn’t pitched in an official game since August 1st. The Jays putting him on the 60-day IL suggests they don’t expect him to pitch again this season. If his UCL sprain requires surgery, then he’s obviously slated to be out even longer. There’s no 60-day IL between five days after the World Series and the start of spring training. The Jays will therefore have to add him back to the 40-man roster in November or remove him somehow.
Photo courtesy of Rick Osentoski, Imagn Images
Blue Jays Sign Ryan Borucki To Minor League Deal
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
Pirates Release Ryan Borucki
The Pirates released veteran reliever Ryan Borucki, according to the MLB.com transaction log. That was the expected outcome after Pittsburgh designated the southpaw for assignment on Friday. Borucki has more than five years of service time and had the right to refuse a minor league assignment, making the release a formality.
Assuming no team claims Borucki off release waivers, he’ll be a free agent. The Pirates will remain on the hook for the rest of his $1.15MM salary, while a signing team would pay him the prorated $760K league minimum rate if he gets an MLB opportunity. If he does sign somewhere, it’d likely come before the beginning of September. Players need to be in an organization by September 1 to be eligible for postseason play. They don’t need to be on the 40-man roster by that point, so Borucki would be playoff eligible even if he signs a minor league contract within the next two weeks.
The 31-year-old would be a long shot to make a postseason roster but should get attention from teams seeking left-handed relief depth. While he has struggled to a 5.28 earned run average through 30 2/3 innings, his underlying marks are a little more intriguing. Borucki has kept the ball on the ground at a huge 55% clip while posting slightly worse than average strikeout and walk marks.
Borucki recently returned from a six-week absence due to a lower back injury. He reeled off five straight scoreless outings upon coming off the IL, but he gave up three runs in an inning of work in Milwaukee last week. The Pirates designated him for assignment after that, calling up lefty Evan Sisk to take his spot in the bullpen. Sisk is a 28-year-old rookie reliever, so the ceiling isn’t exactly high, but the Pirates liked him enough to acquire him from Kansas City in the Bailey Falter deadline deal. It’s understandable they’d rather take a look at Sisk for the final six weeks of the season than continue pitching Borucki, who was headed for free agency at season’s end.
Pirates Designate Ryan Borucki For Assignment
The Pirates have designated left-handed reliever Ryan Borucki for assignment, manager Don Kelly announced to reporters prior to this afternoon’s game (link via Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). Pittsburgh also recalled righty Colin Holderman and lefty Evan Sisk from Triple-A Indianapolis and optioned righty Cam Sanders.
The 31-year-old Borucki has had a second straight rough season with the Bucs. Back in 2023, he turned in a sharp 2.45 ERA with a 21.7% strikeout rate and superlative 2.6% walk rate through 40 1/3 frames. He’s since turned in successive ERAs of 7.36 and 5.28 over a combined 41 2/3 frames while navigating multiple injuries. Borucki was out for more than a month due to a lower back injury earlier this summer, and a triceps injury limited him to just 11 innings in 2024.
Even with that rough stretch, Borucki still carries a career 4.38 ERA in 252 big league innings. He’s set down 19.6% of his career opponents on strikes and walked 8.7% of them. Neither is a plus mark, but neither is too far from league average. Borucki’s career 48.3% ground-ball rate (55% in 2025) is several percentage points north of average.
Borucki’s minor league deal with the Pirates contained a $1.15MM base salary that locked in when he was added to the big league roster. Any team that claims him off waivers — he obviously cannot be traded now that the deadline has passed — would be responsible for the prorated remainder of that sum, about $272K through season’s end. Since Borucki has more than five years of big league service, it doesn’t make much of a difference whether he’s placed on outright waivers or release waivers. He has the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency and still retain the remainder of his guaranteed money.
For the Pirates, it’s an understandable decision to move on. Borucki allowed three runs in his most recent outing and has struggled for much of the season when healthy. He’d have been a free agent at season’s end, so they’ll instead give his innings to younger arms who can be controlled beyond the current season. If a team claims the remaining $272K that’s on his contract, it’s all the better, but either way his departure will allow the Pirates more opportunity to evaluate potential future pieces in the ‘pen.