When Joe Mantiply landed on the injured list, the Toronto Blue Jays had to pivot to the minor leagues to find another left-handed arm for the bullpen. Mason Fluharty was the go-to option for manager John Schneider at the time, and Mantiply was going to be a tough arm to replace after his strong start when he was called upon from the Buffalo Bisons earlier this season.

To fill the gap, the Jays staff turned to a Canadian connection, selecting southpaw Adam Macko from the Bisons’ bullpen.

Macko was born in Slovakia but moved to Alberta at a young age and was a product of the prestigious Vauxhall Academy. The Jays acquired him as part of the trade package for Teoscar Hernandez years ago, and while injuries had derailed his development at times, he put himself in a position for a promotion this season.

Macko started the year with Team Canada at the World Baseball Classic, where he made three appearances out of the bullpen to the tune of three hits, one walk, and four strikeouts with zero runs through 2.1 innings. After not cracking the big league roster out of camp, Macko went down to Buffalo, where he was finding mixed results, allowing nine earned runs off 13 hits and eight walks through 18 innings.

The promotion to the active roster made Macko the first Jet to grace a big league diamond, and he did so in front of a packed crowd at Yankee Stadium. He would toss a clean inning of work, with zeroes across the board, while throwing 10 strikes across 15 total pitches. He even faced one of the toughest bats in the big leagues in Ben Rice, getting the Yankees slugger to line out to right field.

Since his debut, the work has been limited to eight innings across eight outings, but Macko continues to put up strong numbers. He’s allowed eight hits and zero walks with one hit batter while striking out six, holding opponents off the scoreboard even when he’s dealing with some pressure on the base paths. Opponents own a .258 average on the southpaw, but Macko has limited the hard contact and extra base hits, so opposing bats are not faring well in terms of on-base percentage (.281), slugging (.290), and OPS (.571).

A former starter who has moved into a bullpen arm this year, the 25-year-old boasts a four-pitch mix and leans heavily on his slider and four-seamer, sitting at a 40.7% and 35.2% usage rate, respectively. He sits in the lower to mid-90s with his fastball, and his slider and other offspeed offerings have been his best pitches so far.

Opponents have mustered a .217 xBA and a .138 wOBA against the slider, which slots in the mid-80s in terms of velocity. In comparison, the fastball has been hit at a much higher rate – .625 xBA, .x608 wOBA, and a 13.6% whiff rate – but he’s not experiencing the negative consequences in terms of runs against. Add in his changeup and knuckle curve, which have much lower usage rates but a strong rate of return in terms of whiffs and low contact, and Macko has carved out a strong path to begin his pro career.

Overall, it will be on Macko to continue this strong trend and with Brendon Little still struggling to find the strike zone and keep his walks down in Triple-A, there’s no real reason to mess with what’s working for the Jays left-hander situation.

The 0.00 ERA likely won’t last too much longer, considering big leaguers eventually find ways to find cracks in the armour, but the early returns from Adam Macko have provided some strong innings for the Jays when they needed him. Riding the hot hand should be in the Blue Jays best interest until Macko shows them otherwise.

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