The Toronto Blue Jays brought in some more relief depth on Sunday.
According to Aram Leighton of Just Baseball Media, the Blue Jays signed Justin Bruihl to a minor-league deal.
Bruihl wasn’t drafted and instead signed as an undrafted free agent during the summer of 2017 with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Five seasons later, he made his big league debut with them and had a 2.89 ERA and a 3.97 FIP in 18.2 innings pitched, along with a 15.1 K% and a 9.6 BB%,
The lefty remained with the Dodgers the following season, posting a 3.80 ERA and a 5.35 FIP in 23.2 innings pitched along with a 13 K% and a 6 BB%. Bruihl split his time between the Dodgers and Colorado Rockies in 2023, posting a 5.46 ERA and a 4.11 FIP in 28 innings pitched, with an 18.2 K% and a 9.1 BB%.
Last season, Bruihl only pitched 5.2 innings with the Pittsburgh Pirates, where he had a 9.53 ERA and a 4.75 FIP with an 18.5 K% and a 3.7 BB%. The 27-year-old spent the majority of the season in Triple-A with the Cincinnati Reds and Pirates, where he had a 3.02 ERA and a 4.10 FIP in 41.2 innings pitched, with a 25.1 K% and a 10.7 BB%.
In a small sample size, Bruihl’s fastball averaged 90.4 mph with the Pirates last season but usually sat around 88 mph in prior seasons. Bruihl also features an upper-70s sweeper and an upper-80s cutter.
With the addition of Bruihl, the Jays have quite a few lefty options in the bullpen. It’s expected that Brendon Little and Ryan Yarbrough will start in the bullpen, with the latter not yet on the 40-man roster. As depth options, they have Josh Walker and Easton Lucas on the 40-man roster while Mason Fluharty is a prospect who’ll no doubt make his big league debut this season.
Another left-handed reliever the Jays brought in was Amir Garrett but he was pulled from his last appearance and there hasn’t been an update as of yet. Richard Lovelady and Eric Lauer are two more left-handed pitchers the Jays brought in on minor-league deals while prospect Jimmy Burnette is another one to keep an eye on this season.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. They can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.