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When Marcus Stroman of the Toronto Blue Jays was drafted 22nd overall in the 2012 MLB Draft, there was a lot of excitement with the selection. He finished his career at Duke University with a 3.27 ERA and an impressive K/9 rate of 11.86. Stroman also received second and third team All-American honors from numerous publications that year. Due to his accolades, he was seen by many to become the next ace for the Blue Jays.
Stroman pitched fairly well in his initial call-up with Toronto in 2014 as he finished with an 11-6 record, an ERA of 3.65 and a K/9 rate of 7.67. He even tacked on a save as he was moved to the bullpen later on that season. This was definitely a solid debut for the promising prospect.
Unfortunately, during spring training in 2015, Stroman tore his ACL and wouldn’t return to the mound until September 11 of that season. His return was a triumphant one as he finished with a 4-0 record and a 1.67 ERA. As a result, expectations raised for Stroman entering the 2016 season especially since Toronto decided not to try and re-sign David Price. This would leave Stroman as the de facto ace of the Blue Jays.
The “Stro-Show” has an impressive 6-2 record so far this year, but it doesn’t mean he’s been pitching well. If you exclude his first two starts, which were gems, Stroman has not pitched like an ace at all. He has an ERA of 4.76 and a WHIP of 1.33 which rank him last amongst all Toronto starters.
His record is more of a product of the outstanding run support that Toronto provides with sluggers such as the reigning AL MVP, Josh Donaldson. The Blue Jays average 5.29 runs-per-start for Stroman and that ranks him second on the team behind J.A. Happ. It also ranks him 15th in the AL and 24th in the MLB out of all pitchers with at least 10 starts this season. Therefore, he should be thankful for the hitters since his record could easily be 4-4 or worse. It also helps that the Blue Jays are tied for third in the majors for fielding percentage. This adds an extra layer of “bailing out” for Stroman and it helps to cover up his less-than-stellar pitching this year.
It’s a shame that he’s still referred to as the Blue Jays’ ace when Marco Estrada and Aaron Sanchez have clearly pitched better. A valid argument can be made for either of them as the real ace of the Toronto staff right now. Both have been more consistent and yet they don’t receive half of the attention that he gets.
I understand that he has great upside and his signing with the Jordan Brand is a strong indicator of that. However, it seems like Stroman gets celebrated a bit too much before he has truly arrived as Toronto’s ace. He’s an exciting player, but he hasn’t given the fans of Toronto much to be excited about so far in 2016.
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