Blue Jays manager John Gibbons has indicated that top pitching prospect Marcus Stroman could break camp with the team for the 2014 season, according to Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith.
Pitching prospect Marcus Stroman could break camp with Blue Jays
As one of Toronto’s top prospects, Stroman has a bright future with the team, and it could start this season.
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Gibbons cautioned that Stroman is a “longshot” to make the Blue Jays Opening Day roster, but the fact that he has a chance at age 22 is strong vote of confidence from his future skipper.
Baseball Prospectus’ Jason Parks ranked the diminutive Stroman as the organization’s best prospect.
Stroman might be even shorter than his listed height (5’9’’), and normally I would be the first person to put him into the reliever box—especially given the fact that he could be an elite closer in that role. But I think Stroman is a starter all the way, with more than enough strength and athleticism for the workload and a deep arsenal that he can command.
Last season, Stroman made 20 starts for the New Hamshire Fisher Cats (the team’s Double-A affiliate). He posted a 3.30 ERA in just over 111 innings with a strikeout rate of 10.4 per nine innings. He throws a mid-90s fastball and a “plus-plus” cutter. Scouts rave about his mid-80s slider, and the right hander has been working on a changeup that “flashes plus” as well.
The Blue Jays recently emerged as the “leading candidate” to land Ubaldo Jimenez or Ervin Santana, and while both players would help the Jays improve on a rotation that finished 29th in baseball in starter ERA last season, it must be encouraging for general manager Alex Anthopolous that inexpensive internal options like Stroman aren’t far behind.
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