Blue Jays aim to build up Jake Bloss after rapid rise with Astros

FORT MYERS, Fla. – A quick rundown of Jake Bloss’s time with the Houston Astros:

• Drafted in third round, 99th overall, on July 15, 2023;

• Two outings in the rookie level Florida Complex League followed by four appearances at low-A Fayetteville to close out his season;

• Opened 2024 in advanced-A Asheville, where he made four starts;

• Promoted to double-A Corpus Christi, where he logged eight outings;

• Promoted to the big-leagues and debuted against Baltimore, allowing two runs in 3.2 innings;

• Left that start after 79 pitches due to shoulder discomfort that landed him on the injured list;

• Went to triple-A Sugar Land for one rehab start;

• Back to the majors for two more starts, against Miami and Oakland;

• Traded to the Toronto Blue Jays, along with Joey Loperfido and Will Wagner, for Yusei Kikuchi on July 29.

Capping that wild whirlwind were eight outings of mixed-bag results at triple-A Buffalo, where the Blue Jays deliberately slowed down a remarkably fast trajectory neither Bloss nor the Astros had really anticipated.

“I mean, I was throwing pretty well, but probably not that fast,” said Bloss. “In Houston, they have a model they believe in and if you're throwing well or hitting well, they're going to move you quick. So I had an idea it might be pretty quick, maybe not quite that quick. But I'm not going to complain about it, you know?”

Obviously not – no one is turning down a promotion to the big-leagues – but notable is in November, Astros GM Dana Brown conceded that, forced by a glut of injuries, they’d “interrupted (Bloss’) development” and “rushed him to the big-leagues.” 

Sink-or-swim is a dangerous approach to developing any athlete, let alone pitchers, even if Bloss rejected Brown’s notion that he’d been rushed, saying “you learn a lot quicker being thrown into it.”

Regardless, the Blue Jays pumped the brakes once he arrived, checked out his shoulder, learned how he works, shared their data and ideas for him and developed the plan he’s followed since. His first outing this spring came in Sunday’s 8-7 win over the Boston Red Sox, an uneven 1.2 innings in which “he didn't have the swing and miss with the fastball or the breaking ball, but got his work in,” in the words of manager John Schneider.

Like Yariel Rodriguez – who started and also couldn’t escape his first inning of work – both needed the re-entry rule to get their second up-and-down and allowed two runs. Rodriguez is being stretched out for now but is likely ticketed for a job in the bullpen while Bloss is likely to open the season back at Buffalo, positioned to be rotation depth when needed.

“Whatever role they see in that can help them win,” said Bloss, “I'll fill.”

With two members of the rotation – Chris Bassitt and Max Scherzer – eligible for free agency in the fall, and Kevin Gausman up after the 2026 season, when Jose Berrios can opt out of the final two years of his contract, the Blue Jays very much need Bloss to play a big part in their future.

Having graduated from Lafayette College with a double-major in economics and math plus a minor in data sciences, and Georgetown University, where he earned a master's in finance, the 23-year-old is both open to advanced analytics and information fluent.

That helped initially once he came over, when “the Blue Jays didn’t try to re-invent the wheel,” but presented him their assessments of what he was doing, and what they thought he should be doing.

Rather than asking for specific ideas, Bloss said he’s “a believer in just give me all the information that you can and I'll filter it myself once I have it, which is what they did. If there's something that they think will help and they have a good reason for why they think it'll help, I'm all ears and I'll usually implement it.”

Some of what he took revolved around his physical preparation for 2025, “hitting the weights really hard to make sure the body's durable for 162 games,” but “we've definitely tweaked a couple pitches” also, adjusting the shape of his changeup and slider.

Bloss relies primarily on his fastball and slider, with a curveball and changeup also in his repertoire, although his usage will vary from start-to-start, based both on what he’s featuring on a given day and how best to attack hitters.

Some pitchers prefer to approach opponents based on their strengths, but Bloss far prefers attacking hitter weaknesses.

“That's the way to go,” he said. “It’s important to emphasize your strengths as much as you can, but if a hitter really struggles with something, why would you not try to expose that? Even if you have a wipeout slider, if you're facing a guy that loves sliders and hates changeups, you're probably going to be better off throwing the changeup.”

In that way, Bloss thinks about pitching in a way that belies his age and his experience, a factor in his atypical ascent to the majors.

Schneider said that five years ago, his general belief was that it was better to err on the slow side in terms of moving pitching prospects through the system but “right now, with the way guys train and the way that they are built up early, and just the sheer stuff that they possess, if they're ready, they're ready.”

“A guy like (Bloss), he's got all the tools,” Schneider added. “The biggest thing looking at him is innings last year. But if you're showing that you can get major-league hitters out consistently and you're going to help us win right now, come on board.”

CLOSE CALL

Addison Barger is day-to-day with a contusion on his right hand as X-rays taken after a Garrett Crochet pitch caught him came back negative.

The close call came in the first inning of Sunday’s 8-7 win, on a pitch that also caught some bat knob and was ruled a strike. After a quick assessment on the field, he came out of the game, with Charles McAdoo taking over to finish the at-bat.

“Whenever you're getting a heater from Crochet off the hand it's not fun, but so far, so good,” said John Schneider. “Probably give him the day (Monday) no matter what and then hopefully get back after it Tuesday.”

YARIEL PREPARES

Yariel Rodriguez is being stretched out as a starter through the early part of camp but he understands that he may very well end up in the bullpen when the Blue Jays head north.

“Whatever the decision at the end of spring training is, I'm fine with it,” he said through interpreter Hector Lebron after logging 1.1 innings with three hits, two walks and two strikeouts. Switching roles “is a big change so it will maybe be a little bit hard until I make the adjustment to being in the bullpen. But I did that in Japan so I know what it takes to be effective.”

Erratic fastball command kept Rodriguez from utilizing his splitter, a pitch that once again is a focal point for him in the spring. He said the command will come, but was pleased that he held his velo through a long first inning and still had enough in the tank to come back out for the second.

“I didn't want it that way, of course,” he said. “But physically I felt good and my stamina was great.”

He heads into his second big-league season on much more stable footing after not pitching in 2023 as he left Cuba for North America. Over the winter, Rodriguez was able to buy a home near Dunedin and begin planting roots he lacked while in limbo.

“Definitely. This off-season was a whole different thing,” he said. “It's great, I could prepare myself, not just physically, but mentally, knowing that was set up here, family, everything. That gave me the opportunity to prepare myself a lot better than last year.”

SHORT HOPS

The Blue Jays scored six runs in the ninth inning to erase a 5-2 deficit, with Cutter Coffey, one of the prospects acquired from Boston in the Danny Jansen deal last summer, delivering a go-ahead RBI single. “(Associate manager) DeMarlo (Hale) was telling me we had Jacob Wetzel, a lefty, on the on the bench and I said, no, no, no, this is Cutter Coffey's time against his old team,” quipped John Schneider. “Worked out well for us.” … Alan Roden fought through a tough left-on-left matchup against Garrett Crochet to rip a double to left in the second, then added another double to right off Josh Winckowski in the third. He also walked in the fifth and made a nice diving catch on a Rob Refsnyder liner to left in the third. … Orelvis Martinez, who homered Saturday, walked and added a double to left off Crochet.