The Toronto Blue Jays tapped into Robbie Ray at right time
Raise your hand if you thought the Robbie Ray signing this offseason was going to be a mistake. Yeah, me too. When the Toronto Blue Jays threw $8M at Ray and made him the first big name free agent off the board this winter, I was thinking they were wasting money.
Seems like their investment is paying off. The dumpster fire which was Robbie Ray a year ago (pre and post trade) has turned into a quality signing early on.
A 2020 season which saw him walk nearly one hitter per inning and have a WHIP of nearly two, has turned into a 2021 season where Ray is walking the fewest number off batters in his career. His strikeout per walk ratio is at an all-time high as well.
Robbie Ray has righted his ship this year with the Toronto Blue Jays.
With the exciting young lineup the Jays send out each night, all they ask from their pitchers is to keep the team in each game. Ray has done just that. He has gone at least five innings in all his starts and held opponents to three or fewer earned runs each time out.
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His high pitch counts are worrisome, yet Ray has never pitched deep in games. The fact he is putting fewer hitters on base (career best 1.15 WHIP) means he is able to stick around longer than he was last year.
When the Blue Jays acquired a downtrodden Ray from the Arizona Diamondbacks at the trade deadline, they hoped he would become a key cog in the starting rotation. In five starts with Toronto in 2020, Ray pitched five innings just once.
According to FanGraphs, Ray is throwing his fastball more, his slider less, and inducing a lot more ground balls than he has in the past. The velocity on his fastball hasn’t been this high since the 2016 season and he is locating his pitches better.
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The turnaround for Ray has been a welcome sight for the Jays as they sit in the thick of things among American League East teams. With Steven Matz and Hyun Jin Ryu (currently on the IL) leading the way, the Toronto Blue Jays are pleasantly surprised with the performance of Ray thus far.