While his name cannot be made official until after the season, a Toronto Blue Jays official confirmed the return that the team would be receiving for Josh Donaldson on Wednesday
Jon Heyman reported today the same name, right-hander Julian Merryweather, that has been rumored since the moment the Josh Donaldson trade went down between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Cleveland Indians had been confirmed to him as the eventual player to be named, though he cannot be officially named until after the season.
Many Toronto Blue Jays fans may feel underwhelmed by Merryweather, but his profile is one that should be exciting for Blue Jays fans who have been witnessing significant innings from soft-tossing starters in their home park, which is a haven for power-hitting, which requires quality power pitching to combat.
While Julian Merryweather is not a guy that projects as an ace, and as a guy who will open 2019 as a 27-year-old without a day in the majors and a rough time in AAA in 2017 before Tommy John surgery took his entire 2018 season, he doesn’t strike as the young hotshot that jumped up 3 levels. Instead, Merryweather is more likely going to remind many of a guy from his previous organization that is just breaking out this year, Trevor Bauer.
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Merryweather at his best before surgery worked up to 97-98 with a fastball that he gets very good late wiggle and plan on from his 6’4″ frame, generating a ton of ground balls with that and his heavy change. He also has a slider and curve that both flash plus and definitely can work as average.
While he profiles well as a very good #3 to a solid #2 in a rotation, Merryweather was a late bloomer with Dallas Baptist before being drafted in the 5th round in the 2014 draft. He does have very good location and has walked just over 5.6% of hitters over his minor league career, which portends well to a career out of the bullpen if he ends up not able to work as a starter.
With that profile, one very good comparison that someone made that I find very fitting is Jonathan Papelbon. While Merryweather’s change is more of a sinking change rather than a split-finger, the pairing of the heavy fastball and heavy off-speed with the ability to throw a pair of breakers is a good comparison. Papelbon spent his entire career as a dominant reliever, and that could be a role Merryweather could fill.
Of course, the Toronto Blue Jays will want to see Julian Merryweather healthy first and then judge whether he can be a factor in their rotation, but the good news is that he should be able to show that quickly, whereas a 2019 compensation pick for losing Donaldson would have likely been 2-4 years to get to the big leagues.