Ryan Borucki Has Lots Of Backers

Ryan Borucki (Photo by Bill Setliff)

TORONTO—Highly touted prospects Anthony Alford and Richard Urena made for obvious additions to the Blue Jays’ 40-man roster, but the inclusion of Ryan Borucki was somewhat less expected.

The 22-year-old lefthander selected in the 15th round of the 2012 draft earned notice this past season at low Class A Lansing. In combination with a 6-foot-4, 175-pound frame, that was enough to prompt the Blue Jays to protect him from exposure at the annual Rule 5 draft.

“Obviously very talented, had flashes of average to above-average major league pitches objectively and subjectively,” general manager Ross Atkins said. “Athletic, above-average changeup, he’s what we’re looking for in a Toronto Blue Jay.”

He threw just six innings in 2012 after he was drafted before he had Tommy John surgery that cost him all of 2013. He rebounded well in 2014 by pitching to a combined 3-2, 2.37 mark in 57 innings over 13 games for Rookie-level Bluefield and short-season Vancouver, but was limited to 5.2 innings in 2015 with elbow and shoulder troubles.

The jump forward came in 2016, when he posted a 2.80 ERA in 115.2 innings over 20 starts at Lansing before six outings at high Class A Dunedin, where his ERA bloated to an unsightly 14.40.

That didn’t give the Blue Jays a moment of pause when they set their 40-man roster.

“It’s rare that you have a group of people absolutely pound the table for a player without one exception,” says Atkins. “When that happens, when they are talented, albeit he was in low-A ball and had a previous injury, he did have a good year. It was unanimous across player development that from a work-ethic and competitive standpoint, what he means to this organization as a teammate, that it was somebody we were excited to add to our 40-man.”

JAYS CHATTER

•Bobby Meacham was promoted to manager at Triple-A Buffalo after three seasons at Double-A New Hampshire. Gary Allenson, who managed the Bisons in 2016, will take over at Double-A.

• After being recently promoted from New Hampshire to serve as Buffalo’s hitting coach, Canadian Stubby Clapp left the organization to take over as the manager of Triple-A Memphis in the Cardinals’ system.