The Toronto Blue Jays have been the talk of the MLB town in the early goings of the season. Some of that chatter is picking up in the way of Lazaro Estrada and Cody Ponce.
The Blue Jays got shelled by the Colorado Rockies in their most recent outing, and it appears as though they are prepared to soften the blow of Cody Ponce going down with an injury. Unfortunately, that is the nature of sports. The Canadian squad boasts a fabulous rotation consisting of Kevin Gausman, Dylan Cease, Eric Lauer, Max Scherzer, and Ponce.
But if Ponce is going to miss any time, they need a body to replace him. And that is where Estrada comes in.
Blue Jays Call Up Reinforcements
With Ponce being the latest in a line of pitchers to suffer an injury for the Blue Jays, the organization needs to make a move to help soften the blow. Calling up a pitcher seems like the right move at this time.
That said, there is a new report that they will call up Estrada on March 31st.
“The Toronto Blue Jays have recalled right-hander pitcher Lázaro Estrada from Buffalo, Triple-A, per source,” Francys Romero reports on X. “He is expected to join the team tomorrow. Estrada, 26, threw 2.2 scoreless innings with 3 strikeouts on Friday in Triple-A Buffalo.”
In addition to the three strikeouts, Estrada has recorded one walk, thrown 35 pitches, and owns a 0.38 WHIP in his Triple-A appearance.
Last season, he made two appearances for the big club. While those appearances didn’t go as smoothly as everyone would hope, the 26-year-old arm recorded 10 strikeouts in 7 1/3 innings.
Lazaro Estrada Up With Yesavage, Berrios, & Bieber Down
Bringing up an arm makes a lot of sense for the Blue Jays. At the time of this writing, they have Trey Yesavage, Jose Berrios, and Shane Bieber as starters who are on the 15-day injured list.
According to their transaction page, all three pitchers have their IL stints retroactive to March 22nd.
Having those three pitchers down is a big enough blow, but adding Ponce to that list would be less than ideal.
Cody Ponce Up & Down MLB Return
Unfortunately for Ponce, he was in the middle of his return to the MLB when he went down during an innocent-looking fielding play.
The 6-foot-6 starter hasn’t pitched in the MLB since 2021 with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Before going down, Ponce had thrown three strikeouts and a walk in 2 1/3 innings.
And then things slowly started to go off track from there.
Things didn’t go badly immediately; however, in the sixth inning, the Blue Jays got rocked for seven runs, giving Colorado a 9-1 lead.
Losing Ponce was the second half of a double whammy that no team wants to experience in a game. It’s bad enough to lose a game or to lose a player to injury, but both? That’s putting salt in a wound and then stirring with a fork.
The Blue Jays will look to put it behind them quickly. Toronto faces the Rockies again on Tuesday, March 31st. Their short three-game series against the Rockies ends on Wednesday, after which they play another three-game series, this one against the Chicago White Sox.
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