The Toronto Blue Jays made a handful of roster moves on Sunday morning.
Unfortunately, Nick Sandlin hit the 15-day Injured List with a right lat strain. His replacement is Dillon Tate, who was already on the 40-man roster and recalled from the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons.
Moreover, the Jays designated Jacob Barnes for assignment, adding Paxton Schultz to the 40-man roster and making him active for Sunday afternoon’s game.
Starting with Sandlin, he was acquired from the Cleveland Guardians in the off-season in the Spencer Horwitz trade and has had a good start to his Jays career. Through 10 outings, Sandlin had a 2.25 ERA and a 2.77 FIP, with a 27 K% and a 10.8 BB%. Hopefully, it’s a minimum day stint and he’ll be back after the 15 days are up.
Tate has pitched with the Jays before, as they acquired him off waivers toward the end of last season. With the Jays, he pitched just three and one-third innings with a 5.40 ERA and a 3.47 FIP. His best season came with the Baltimore Orioles in 2022, where he had a 3.05 ERA and a 3.48 FIP in 73.2 innings pitched.
Barnes had a rough outing on Saturday, giving up five runs (four earned), including a grand slam to Rowdy Tellez in the Jays’ 8-4 loss. For the season, Barnes has a 9 ERA in eight innings pitched. Just like Richard Lovelady being DFA’ed earlier this season, it was the right call to make.
His replacement is a right-handed pitcher named Paxton Schultz, whom the Jays acquired as the Player To Be Named Later in the Derek Fisher trade with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2021. Through four outings this season with the Buffalo Bisons, the 27-year-old has a 2.08 ERA and a 3.60 FIP in 8.2 innings pitched, with a 27.3 K% and a 6.1 BB%.
Last season in Triple-A, he posted a 4.11 ERA and a 4.05 FIP in 92 innings pitched. According to Baseball Savant, Schultz features a cutter, four-seam fastball, changeup, and slider, with his fastball sitting in the low 90s. He has experience starting and could give the Jays some length pitching out of the bullpen.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. They can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.
