The 2023 season was one of triumph and success for the Toronto Blue Jays pitching staff, one that included reliever Erik Swanson and his debut campaign North of the border. He was no stranger to the Blue Jays, as the right-hander has been a big leaguer since the 2019 season with the Mariners, but it was his first season with the Jays after being traded in the 2022/2023 offseason as part of the trade package for slugger Teoscar Hernández.

Used in high-leverage situations as a setup man for closer Jordan Romano, the North Dakota product posted a 2.97 ERA and a 1.095 WHIP through 69 appearances, the second most on the team behind only Yimi García. He authored a 10.1 K/9 and finished with a 3.51 FIP and a 143 ERA+ in his inaugural campaign with Toronto.

This season, the Blue Jays relief corps remained almost entirely intact and Swanson was going to be a big part of the bullpen again as the Blue Jays were still on the hunt for their first postseason win since 2016. While the plan was for Swanson to be back in the setup position, the 30-year-old was dealt a few tough hands early in the season when Spring Training was just getting underway.

Most notable was the incredibly unfortunate accident involving his son, who required a two-week stay at a Florida hospital while recovering. Swanson was away from the team for some time to be there for his family and returned shortly after once things stabilized on the home front.

Following this incident, Swanson suffered from shoulder inflammation and started the season on the IL, making his debut a couple of weeks later.

Once healthy, the right-hander was a shade of his former self on the mound. He allowed four earned runs through his first two outings and was holding a 12.60 ERA through April, allowing seven earned runs through five innings of work. Swanson wasn’t fooling opponents with his splitter and was missing over the zone, with opponents capitalizing on the mistake pitches. This trend continued into May and by the end of the month, Swanson’s ERA had ballooned to 7.64 and he had allowed seven walks, six home runs, and 15 runs through 17 2/3 innings. The right-hander was struggling to find a rhythm in the bullpen and the Jays eventually decided to send him down to triple-A to get things ironed out away from the spotlight.

The veteran arm spent over a month and a half in Buffalo before rejoining the Blue Jays following the All-Star break. Since his return, the former Mariners arm has turned things around in a way that Jays fans were used to seeing during his dominant form last season.

Through nine appearances, Swanson has allowed seven hits and two runs through 8 2/3 innings while striking out seven batters. Both runs have come via solo shots and while his command has been shaky at times (five walks), he has found ways to limit the damage while striking out batters at a higher rate than what fans were witnessing earlier this season (seven punchouts). Looking even further back, including his appearances just before the demotion, Swanson owns a 1.93 ERA through his last 15 outings while striking out 11 batters and holding batters to a .225 BAbip.

At a deeper analytical level, his FIP is still elevated since his return given the walks and home runs he has allowed (6.29) but he keeps getting himself out of jams, which at the end of the day is a positive for a Jays bullpen has struggled mightily for most of the season. With Chad Green the only other dependable reliever down in the relief corps, Swanson will be heavily leaned on the rest of the season as the Jays move into their spoiler role. The hope will be that his outings are less stressful as the season continues but looking back at the first half of his season, things have been trending in the right direction since his return.

Looking ahead, the overall stat lines still don’t favour Swanson because of his first half of the season. However, should he continue to put zeros up on the scorecard and find a way to reel in the walks, the Blue Jays will be in a better position late in games with Swanson returning to his 2023 form and hopefully help ease a fanbase that is a little too used to multi-run leads not being safe.