The Blue Jays trade Ryan Borucki for minor leaguer Tyler Keenan
1 year ago
Well, the longest tenured Blue Jay, Ryan Borucki, has been traded.
On Saturday evening, Mitch Bannon announced that the Blue Jays traded the left handed pitcher to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for minor leaguer Tyler Keenan. We’ll get to the prospect in a moment.
Borucki debuted with the Jays in 2018, where he posted a 3.87 ERA and 3.80 FIP in 97.2 innings pitched. His mound presence reminded me a lot of Mark Buehrle.
Unfortunately for the lefty, he missed most of the 2019 season with multiple injuries, only pitched 6.2 innings.
He returned in the 2020 season, this time as a reliever. Again, Borucki showed promise as he was a key piece in the bullpen, posting a 2.70 ERA and 3.61 FIP in 16.2 innings pitched. Furthermore, his K/9 increased from 6.17 as a starter in 2018 to 11.34 as a reliever.
However, 2021 was another tough season for the lefty, eventually being passed in the depth chart by fellow lefty, Tim Mayza.
Another tough start to his season and out of options, Boruck was DFA’ed on May 31st.
Despite him not pitching for the Jays, I hope Borucki can show that promise he had early in his career. We here at Blue Jays Nation wish him nothing but the best.
Tyler Keenan:
Usually when a player is DFA’ed, he is claimed. However, I’m assuming Seattle saw the potential in Borucki, meaning that instead of hoping that they would be the only team to claim him, they decided to act first by trading a prospect.
The Jays received first baseman/third baseman Tyler Keenan. The 23-year-old was drafted in the fourth round of the 2020 draft and has only played at the High A level.
This season, he’s slashing .250/.349/.391 with 3 homers and a wRC+ of 119 in 106 plate appearances. He has a rather high BB% of 11.3%, but there is certainly some swing and miss in his game, as he has a K% of 27.4%.
Looking at his college sample, he slashed .306/.419/.550 with 31 homers in 599 plate appearances. Unlike in the minor leagues, he had a K% of only 17.36% in his three seasons of college. This was paired with a BB% of 14.43%, so the potential to eliminate the swing and miss could be there.
Furthermore, Fangraphs ranked Keenan as their 32nd best Mariners prospect in their preseason ranking. Below are his grades, with present value on the left, future value on the right.
Hit: 35/55
Game Power: 30/50
Raw Power: 50/50
Speed: 30/30
Field: 40/40
Overall: 35+
The most likely assignment would be joining the High A Vancouver Canadians, but maybe they have something in Keenan!
As always, you can follow me on Twitter @Brennan_L_D
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