Blue Jays add Jake Petricka on a Minor-League Deal

The Blue Jays added some more pitching depth today, inking former White Sock Jake Petricka to a minor-league contract. According to Ben Nicholson-Smith, Petricka, a righty, will earn $1.3 million if he plays in the major leagues with $500k in incentives.

Petricka was a really solid arm for the White Sox between 2013 and 2015, but in 2016 he had surgery to repair a labral tear in his right hip and didn’t pitch again that year. In 2017, Petricka was really bad, posting a 7.01 ERA in just 25 2/3 inning of work navigating through injury. But in 2015 and 2016, Petricka posted a 2.96 and 3.63 ERA respectively. His walk to strikeout numbers weren’t sexy for a reliever, but he did a very good job at keeping the ball in the park. That seems to be the trend for pitchers with this front office.

The excellent resource ‘The Pitcher List‘ has a breakdown of Petricka’s pitch usage. He largely tosses a fastball and a changeup, which look very Danny Barnes esque.

This isn’t a big signing, or anything, but depth is never a bad thing. The Jays are going into spring training with quite a few options for the bullpen. Roberto Osuna, Ryan Tepera, and Barnes figure to be three arms at the back of the ‘pen, while Petricka joins Al Albuquerque as veterans seeking a role on the team.

You may now carry on with your Thursday.