Blue Jays stretching out Thomas Hatch despite 2020 bullpen success

TORONTO – In the midst of the whirlwind that was the shortened 2020 season, Thomas Hatch didn’t have much time to reflect on a strong rookie campaign. Among the young starters to end up in the Toronto Blue Jays bullpen, the right-hander logged 26.1 innings over 17 outings, including one start, allowing only eight earned runs on 18 hits and 13 walks with 23 strikeouts.

More importantly, perhaps, Hatch quickly earned the trust of manager Charlie Montoyo, as demonstrated by his game-entering Leverage Index score of 1.38 (1.0 is average pressure under the Baseball Reference metric, and anything above that is high pressure). He made four relief appearances of at least two innings, seven more in excess of one frame and generally provided the type of Swiss-Army-knife arm that was particularly valuable during the 60-game sprint.

Once the native of Tulsa, Okla., had a chance to catch his breath over the winter, there was plenty for him to feel good about.

"Ultimately, it’s a boost of confidence," Hatch said after logging two hitless innings in his spring debut, surrendering an unearned run on an errant pickoff throw in Friday’s 2-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates. "Going through a few months of resting allowed me to (reflect) and it was pretty special. Obviously, it was not a normal season, so I haven’t experienced everything this has to offer, which I’m looking forward to doing sometime in the near future. But it felt really good looking back and I feel like I’m in a good place going forward. It was a good stepping stone, maybe to get (back) into a starter role, to get that confidence going, get my feet wet."

To that end, the Blue Jays are stretching Hatch out this spring and the 26-year-old unveiled "a work in progress" curveball against the Pirates, using it to get a couple of strikes in the second inning. Right now, that’s his focus with the offering, locking down the feeling out of the hand to consistently get in the zone, and later working to manipulate it for chase swings in the dirt.

As a complement to his fastball and a plus changeup that’s his primary secondary weapon, a curveball would further allow Hatch to "switch up speeds and set up the high fastball," said catcher Danny Jansen. "So you can do all kinds of things with it."

How much he needs it, of course, will depend on the role in which he ultimately ends up. As things stand, he’s on the outside looking in on the Blue Jays rotation, even with Nate Pearson’s groin injury, and though Hatch has a lot to offer as a bullpen piece, Montoyo says "we’re going to stretch him out as a starter, for sure."

"I don’t see it as a tough call," he added, "because he has such good stuff."

The need for depth this year is a driver on that front, and with Tyler Chatwood expected to offer similar bullpen utility, Hatch may not be missed there. On the other hand, if the rotation struggles to consistently deliver five-plus innings and more length is needed in relief, the temptation to put him back in the bullpen will only grow.

Regardless of role, Hatch can keep the heat on the Blue Jays by building off what he did last year. "Definitely being more aggressive in the zone," is one area of focus he identified for himself.

"Obviously, that first inning (Friday) didn’t reflect that, the second inning a little bit more so, but I think my stuff plays well," he said. "There are times where I can be a little bit timid and I don’t think that needs to be the case all the time. If I’m aggressive no matter what, the stuff plays. As long as I’m pounding the zone, keeping guys off the bases as far as walks and just going right at them, that’s the major focus."

Timid?

"Honestly, as a bullpen guy, there’s no time to be timid," he said. "I felt pretty comfortable, really, throughout the year. Performance obviously fuels confidence. I felt pretty good throughout the year. There are times where it ebbs and flows with baseball. That first inning was a little timid, but then came out and was able to trust my stuff. So that’s what we need to do this year."

[snippet id=4722869]

PEARSON BACK TO THE MOUND: Nate Pearson, sidelined since his March 1 outing by a right groin strain, is due to throw a bullpen Saturday as he looks to rebuild in time for the regular season.

Charlie Montoyo conceded that the Blue Jays "are not going to be able to stretch him out to where he’s supposed to be … It could be three, could be four innings, it depends. But I don’t see him being stretched out to five. We don’t have enough time for that."

The lightning-armed right-hander was expected to occupy one of the five spots in the rotation but it’s unclear how the Blue Jays might use him if he’s only up to three or four innings by April 1. They could potentially let him continue building at the alternate training site, they could piggyback a reliever like Ross Stripling behind him, or they can use the downtime as a way to manage his workload and save bullets for later in the campaign.

"I’m never going to rule anything out," said Montoyo. "But I want to see how he does first in his bullpen and where we go from there. I don’t know how much we can stretch him out, but we’ll see where he is a couple of weeks from now."

[snippet id=3305549]

CRAFTY MILONE: Non-roster invitee Tommy Milone threw 1.2 inning shutout innings in his spring debut, surrendering a hit with two strikeouts, relying mainly on a fastball that averaged 83.8 m.p.h., and a changeup that sat at 76.8.

He followed Hatch, a drop of nearly 11 m.p.h. in fastball velocity, quite the shift for both the Pirates hitters, and Jansen with his game-calling.

"Hatch, you want to get him on the plate early, he throws hard, and he’s got that curveball today, so we’ve got different pitches just to get him ahead, because he’s got put-away stuff," said Jansen. “With Tommy, he’s such a spots guy, he did an excellent job hitting the spots. That was the first time working with him. Played against him a couple times so I knew his pitches. Awesome catching him. Command guy, big time, throws it to the glove. That’s his game. So you’re kind of playing the cat and mouse game of calling different pitches and different setups."

Milone is another depth add for the Blue Jays, but a bit of an atypical one. The 34-year-old had the fourth lowest fastball velocity among qualified pitchers last year at 86.1 m.p.h., which was still well ahead of Giants reliever Tyler Rogers’ 82.4.

Only 22 qualified pitchers averaged under 90 m.p.h. with their fastballs last year (Blue Jays ace Hyun-Jin Ryu among them at 89.8), underlining the spike in the velocity in the sport.

"The game’s obviously changed in that aspect of it where it’s a lot of power guys and Tommy’s a pitcher, man," said Jansen. "The velocity isn’t 95, but he’s a pitcher, he knows how to do it, he’s able to dissect batters and he’s all different speeds and adjusts curveball and slider, if he wants to make it bigger or smaller. Just a pro in that aspect."

[relatedlinks]

SHORT HOPS: Bizarre play in the fifth inning, when Lourdes Gurriel Jr., twisted to catch a Rodolfo Castro liner over his head, appeared to have the ball, didn’t seem to notice it had dropped, and then casually pursued it assuming an out had been called. One wasn’t, and Castro ran around the bases instead for a Little League homer. … Top prospect Austin Martin got four innings of work in centre field and didn’t for a moment look out of place. "Before the game, I told him nice job, because he was working really hard in the outfield, playing balls off the bat during batting practice," said Charlie Montoyo. "He looked really comfortable. Same in the game." … Danny Jansen was thrown out trying to steal in the fifth inning on what was a missed hit and run. "You won’t see me trying to steal much," he quipped. "They laid the tag on me, for sure." … Jordan Groshans, another of the club’s top prospects, brought in the only Blue Jays run with a sacrifice fly in the seventh.