It didn’t take long for the Blue Jays to start tweaking their Opening Day bullpen.

After just two appearances in the club’s first three games, left-hander Richard Lovelady was designated for assignment, freeing up a spot for relief prospect Mason Fluharty. With right-hander Jacob Barnes experiencing similar struggles, it may not be long before a different arm is summoned from the minor leagues.

The Blue Jays’ triple-A affiliate, the Buffalo Bisons, opened their season on Friday with a 6-2 win over Rochester. They boast several intriguing arms with major league experience who seem poised to factor into Toronto’s bullpen plans at some point in 2025. Let’s take a look at three guys who seem to be next in line for a promotion. Remarkably, all three are left-handers who spent time with the Pittsburgh Pirates’ triple-A affiliate in 2024.

Left-hander Josh Walker has spent the better part of the last four years in the upper minors, making his major league debut with the Mets in 2023 and seeing time during the 2024 season as well.

The results at the big league level have not been encouraging, with the 30-year-old producing a 6.45 ERA and 1.65 WHIP across 24 appearances.  He was traded to the Pirates at the trade deadline last year before electing free agency and singing with Toronto in December.

Walker’s triple-A numbers with the Mets were strong (2.83 ERA, 12.2 K/9), but he struggled after the trade to Pittsburgh (8.00 ERA). His strikeout stuff (minor league career average of 10.1 K/9) and ability to limit baserunners (1.22 WHIP) will likely earn him another big league opportunity at some point soon. He flashed his relief potential on Friday, striking out three while giving up just one hit across his inning and a third in the Bisons’ season opener.

The Otisville, New York native may be the odds-on favourite to be next in line for a call-up. One thing to note would be that if Walker or any of the other names on this list replace Barnes, there would be five right-handers and three left-handers in the bullpen, compared to the current six-to-two ratio.

The 29-year old Lauer offers the most experience and success of any pitcher starting the year in the minor leagues, seeing action in six major league seasons. He has been almost exclusively used as a starter in the big leagues (112 of his 120 appearances), although a shift towards a bullpen role may be his quickest path back to the majors.

He was excellent in 2011 and 2012 for the Brewers, accruing 2.7 fWAR while maintaining a sub-4.00 ERA in each season across 49 starts. The wheels fell off a bit in 2023, leading to his demotion to triple-A and opting out of his contract in the offseason. After spending time at Pittsburgh and Houston’s triple-A affiliates in 2024, he ended up signing with the Kia Tigers of the KBO, producing mixed results across seven starts.

Lauer’s 2024 struggles as a starting pitcher over the last couple of years have likely pushed him into a long relief/spot start kind of role. He started the Bisons’ first game of their season but completed just four innings. The former Padres’ first-rounder signed with Toronto in December and appeared in three spring training games, two of which were out of the bullpen. Yariel Rodriguez figures to be a guy who can pitch bulk innings out of the pen this year, but having a left-hander who can do the same may be an asset to the big league club after the club let Ryan Yarbrough walk.

Bruihl has appeared in 79 major league games over the last four years, splitting time with the Dodgers, Rockies, and Pirates. His numbers have declined since his 2021 debut with the Dodgers when he posted a 2.89 ERA and 1.07 WHIP across 21 appearances. His major league career ERA of 4.62 and lacklustre K/9 of 6.0 leave a lot to be desired, but he has been fairly successful at limiting baserunners in the majors (1.27 career WHIP). He elected free agency after struggling in his stint with the Pirates in 2024, signing with the Blue Jays in March.

The Blue Jays were likely intrigued by his quality work in triple-A (in both the Reds and Pirates’ organizations), holding a 3.02 ERA and 10.2 K/9 in 37 relief outings. The 27-year old’s career minor league K/9 (10.0) is much better than what he’s accomplished in the majors, which may indicate that better results could be in store for him in the future.

Bruihl may be behind Walker and Lauer in the bullpen pecking order at present, but a solid start to the season could earn him a call-up to Toronto at some point this summer.