It didn’t take long for the Blue Jays to make a change in their bullpen.

The club called up left-handed pitching prospect Mason Fluharty ahead of Sunday’s finale with the Orioles, replacing the spot previously held by Richard Lovelady, who was designated for assignment. After surprisingly claiming one of the last bullpen spots coming out of spring training, Lovelady struggled across two appearances, allowing four runs and hitting three batters across 1 2/3 innings.

Originally drafted out of Liberty in the 5th round of the 2022 draft, the 22-year-old Fluharty has worked his way up the minor leagues while producing high strikeout totals along the way. He needed just 22 games in high-A Vancouver before getting the call-up to double-A New Hampshire in 2023, compiling a cumulative ERA of 3.28 and WHIP of 1.37.

The Blue Jays started the six-foot-two Fluharty off in triple-A Buffalo to start the 2024 season, which is where he ended up pitching for the duration of the season. All told, he produced a 3.63 ERA and 1.17 WHIP across 56 relief appearances. The soft-tossing lefty struck out 10.2 per nine innings while walking a respectable 3.4 per nine.

Appearing at #19 on MLB Pipeline‘s ranking of Blue Jays prospects, Fluharty has the makings of a long-time big league reliever. He’s not a guy that throws particularly hard (low 90’s cutter), but he wins with deception and a plus sweeper that generates a lot of swings and misses. Like most lefthanders, the Lynchburg, Virginia native thrives against left-handed hitters, although he can still hold his own against righties.

The Blue Jays’ bullpen woes was a big issue last season, with further problems already arising through the first couple of games of the season. Given the fact that Fluharty engineered a 1.29 ERA and 11 strikeouts in seven spring training innings, it’s a mystery why the Blue Jays opted to keep Fluharty off the opening day roster to begin with. Now that he has arrived, the Blue Jays may have found a homegrown reliever that they can rely on going forward.