DUNEDIN, Fla. — The Toronto Blue Jays expect Marcus Stroman to miss the entire 2015 season because of an ACL tear he suffered during pitchers’ fielding practice on Monday.
The 23-year-old pitcher, who broke through with an impressive rookie campaign in 2014, felt a pop in his left knee when third baseman Josh Donaldson called him off during a bunting drill.
An MRI revealed that Stroman tore his ACL, and while he’ll get a second opinion from Dr. James Andrews to confirm the diagnosis, the Blue Jays are confident the right-hander will require season-ending surgery.
WATCH LIVE: Marcus Stroman will address the media on Wednesday morning to discuss his injury and missing the 2015 season. Catch it live on Sportsnet, Sportsnet 590 The Fan and right here on sportsnet.ca at 9:00 a.m. ET.
The injury represents a major blow for a team with designs on reaching the playoffs.
“He’s a great starter and did a great job for us last year, but you move forward,” general manager Alex Anthopoulos said. “It’s all you can do. We’re going to play the season. There’s going to be a lot of opportunities for some of the other guys to step up, but no doubt to lose a guy like Stroman’s a significant loss for us.”
Anthopoulos described the accident as a ‘freak thing’ and said the incident occurred during a routine fielding drill. Stroman was “crushed” by the news, according to Anthopoulos, and many other Blue Jays were similarly affected.
“It’s terrible news,” manager John Gibbons said. “It’s terrible for the kid — he’s going to lose a year — and it’s tough for the team. He’s one of our go-to guys. He really came into his own last year and we expected him to have a big, big year.”
Aaron Sanchez, Stroman’s roommate and best friend felt sick when he saw Stroman go down. R.A. Dickey described the injury as a ‘gut punch’ to the team. Daniel Norris had trouble coming to terms with the news, too.
“It’s almost disbelief,” Norris said. “It’s just really hard to hear for such a good dude. I’ll definitely shed a tear for him. It’s tough. You don’t want to believe it. All you can do is pray. I told him ‘hey man, I’m going to pray for you.’”
For now, the Blue Jays intend to support Stroman while fielding the best team possible.
“Tough times don’t last, tough people do,” Sanchez said. “I know how strong that kid is and he’ll be ready. He’ll come back just fine.”
The Blue Jays expect to fill Stroman’s rotation spot internally, since quality starting pitchers are hard to come by in trades this time of year and the free agent market offers little. That means Norris, Sanchez and Marco Estrada will continue being stretched out as starters.
“There’s no doubt about it, there’s another opportunity there with Stroman being down,” Anthopoulos said.
Stroman posted a 3.65 ERA in 130.2 innings last year, striking out 111 while walking 28. That production will be tough to replace, but Dickey expressed confidence that some of the Blue Jays’ other young arms can step up in Stroman’s absence.
“Daniel Norris is an incredible pitcher,” he said. “Aaron Sanchez is an incredible pitcher. Marco Estrada has the ability to pitch in the big leagues and have a good year. We’ve got pieces that can step in, and it’s important that we don’t panic. I think we’re of that ilk. I think we’re going to be OK. But it certainly in the moment is a very sad thing.”
The Blue Jays’ projected starting rotation consists of Dickey, Mark Buehrle, Drew Hutchison with the final two spots up for grabs.
