The Toronto Blue Jays starting pitching for the 2025 season is all but set in stone.
This is an off-season series, looking at the current Jays’ depth for starting pitching, their bullpen, the first base/designated hitter spot, outfielders, infielders, and catchers. In this article, we’ll look at how the rotation is shaping up before free agency begins.
Let’s dig in!

Some stats

In 2023, the Blue Jays had one of the best rotations in baseball, finishing with the third-best ERA (3.85), the seventh-best FIP (4.15), the third-highest strikeout rate (24.4%), and the 15th-best BB% (7.8%).
Unlike their bullpen, who also had a good 2023 season, the starting pitching didn’t regress massively in 2024. The Blue Jays’ 3.95 ERA ranked 14th in the league, but that’s more so because starting pitching improved significantly in 2024, as their 3.85 ERA in 2023 would’ve ranked tied for 11th in 2024.
Moreover, for the second straight season, the Jays finished with a 4.15 FIP, this time ranking 19th in the league. The K% dropped slightly to 22.4%, down to the 13th-best in the league, while they once again sat in the middle of the pack with 7.6 BB%.
As a whole, starting pitching was the one aspect of the 2024 Jays that didn’t cost the team games in any significant manner, even after they traded Yusei Kikuchi to the Houston Astros.

Looking at who’ll be in the rotation

In this section, let’s look at the pitchers who made up the 2024 rotation and who’ll be back in some aspect in 2025.

Kevin Gausman

Of the three seasons Kevin Gausman has spent with the Blue Jays, the 2024 season was his worst. He finished with a 3.83 ERA and a 3.77 FIP in 181 innings pitched, with a 21.4 K% and a 7.4 BB%. For context, Guasman finished third in American League Cy Young voting in 2023 with a 3.16 ERA, a 2.97 FIP, a 31.1 K%, and a 7.2 BB% in 185 innings pitched.
The right-handed pitcher suffered an injury in Spring Training, and although he was ready to go for Opening Day, he never looked like his dominant self throughout the season. Expect him to have a bounce-back season in 2025.

Chris Bassitt

Like Gausman, the 2024 season was a step back for Chris Bassitt in terms of on-field production. In 2023, the veteran righty had a 3.60 ERA and a 4.28 FIP in 200 innings pitched, along with a 22.5 K% and a 7.1 BB%.
However, his ERA increased significantly in 2024, rising to 4.16. On the other hand, his FIP dropped to 4.08, while his K% remained relatively the same at 22.2%, with his BB% jumping to 9.2%. Moreover, he also pitched 29 fewer innings in 2024, a little bit concerning.
As a whole, it wasn’t a poor season for Bassitt by any means, but the 35-year-old righty was much less of a workhorse in 2024 than he was the year prior.

José Berríos

José Berríos’ 2024 was his fourth season with the Jays after they acquired him from the Minnesota Twins before the 2021 trade deadline.
As a whole, he finished with a 3.60 ERA and a 4.72 FIP in 192.1 innings pitched, along with a 19.5 K% and a 6.9%. Through his first month, Berríos looked like an early front-runner for the Cy Young award, as he had a 1.44 ERA and a 4.04 FIP in 43.2 innings pitched. However, he struggled mightily from May 7 until July 23, posting a 5.51 ERA and a 5.88 FIP in 80 innings pitched.
Over Berríos’ final two months of the season, he was largely overshadowed by Bowden Francis’ accomplishments (more on him later), but he ended the season with a 2.75 ERA and a 3.79 FIP in 68.2 innings pitched, along with a 22.2 K% and a 5.5 BB%.

Bowden Francis

Bowden Francis started the season in the rotation, giving up 12 earned runs in 8.1 innings pitched for a 12.96 ERA and an 8.33 FIP. He pitched three more games in April, giving up two earned runs in 6.1 innings pitched, before a stint on the Injured List.
Upon returning in early June, Francis had a 4.13 ERA and a 4.92 FIP in 24 innings pitched, along with a 16.2 K% and a 6.7 BB% from June 4 until July 13. From the beginning of the season until he was optioned to Buffalo in mid-July, Francis had a 5.82 ERA and a 5.34 FIP in 38.2 innings pitched. I don’t think anyone expected his run of dominance once he returned.
In late-July, the Blue Jays traded Yusei Kikuchi to the Houston Astros, calling up Francis to replace the left-handed pitcher. From July 29 until the end of the season, Francis had a 1.80 ERA and a 3.78 FIP in 65 innings pitched, along with a 24.7 K% and a 3.4 BB%. 
This included a stretch of games from August 12 until the end of the year where he pitched 54 innings with a 1.33 ERA and a 3.41 FIP, carrying two no-hitters into the ninth inning along with one into the sixth inning.
In all but one game, Francis finished with a quality start, pitching seven or more innings in five of the eight starts he made in that stretch. The only pitcher in the same universe as Francis in this time frame was Chris Sale, who had a 1.44 ERA and a 1.69 FIP in 50 innings pitched from August 12 until the end of the season.
Francis has positioned himself well to be a key piece of the Blue Jays rotation in 2025.

Yariel Rodríguez

Yariel Rodríguez’s rookie season in the big leagues was a mixed bag.
As a whole, the right-handed pitcher finished with a 4.47 ERA and a 4.34 FIP in 86.2 innings pitched, along with a 23.1 K% and a 10.9 BB%. He started the season with Triple-A Buffalo and had a rehab assignment with the Bisons later in the season, finishing the year with a 1.33 ERA and a 2.39 FIP in 20.1 innings pitched. Overall, the numbers in the big leagues weren’t fantastic, but you can see the potential.
His best game as a Blue Jay came on July 6, as he threw six scoreless innings while allowing a single hit, with six strikeouts and two walks. This start was featured in his best stretch of baseball all season, as he had a 2.01 ERA and a 2.58 FIP in 22.1 innings pitched (four starts) from July 1 until July 24. Rodríguez also had a 30.5 K% and a 9.8 BB% in this span.
The 27-year-old signed a five-year deal with the Blue Jays in the off-season, with a luxury tax hit of $6.4 million. This is to say it’s an incredibly team-friendly deal and we’re so fortunate to have four more seasons of the Cuban.

Depth options

Coming into the 2024 season, the Blue Jays were believed to have great depth for their starting pitching. However, after injuries and a few designated for assignments, that depth quickly evaporated.
With that being said, we’ll look at some depth options for the Blue Jays in 2025.

Jake Bloss

The Blue Jays acquired Jake Bloss, along with Will Wagner and Joey Loperfido, before the 2024 trade deadline for Yusei Kikuchi.
Loperfido and Wagner each played for the Jays after the trade, but Bloss ended up pitching the rest of his season with the Bisons. In 27.1 innings with Toronto’s Triple-A team, Bloss finished with a 6.91 ERA and a 5.87 FIP, with a 19.1 K% and an 11.5 BB%.
Bloss, a third-round pick in the 2023 draft, already has experience in the big leagues, as the 23-year-old had a 6.94 ERA and a 5.87 FIP in 11.2 innings pitched with the Astros. He essentially skipped Triple-A as the Astros needed reinforcements in the rotation.

Adam Macko

Adam Macko was born in Slovakia, raised in Ireland, and played high school ball at Vauxhall Academy in Alberta. The Mariners selected him in the seventh round of the 2019 draft, with him eventually being traded to the Blue Jays in the 2022-23 off-season along with Erik Swanson for Teoscar Hernández.
His first season with the Jays was positive, as he threw a career-high 86 innings with a 4.81 ERA and a 3.97 FIP, while his BB% decreased to 10.8% with a good K% of 28.5%. This earned him a spot on the team’s 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft.
Macko had another good season in 2024 with the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats, posting a 4.87 ERA and a 3.72 FIP in 81.1 innings pitched, along with a 26.4 K% and an 8.8 BB%. Towards the end of the season, he was placed on the Injured List with left forearm soreness but returned towards the end of the season.
With question, Macko needs a stint in Triple-A facing batters who have big-league experience, but he could potentially impact the Blue Jays at some point in 2025.

Alek Manoah

It’s unclear when Alek Manoah will be back in 2025, that’s if he’s back. The 26-year-old finished as an American League Cy Young nominee after the 2022 season, posting a 2.24 ERA and a 3.35 FIP in 196.2 innings pitched.
However, the 2023 season was a disaster, as he had a 5.87 ERA and a 6.01 FIP in 87.1 innings pitched, along with a 19 K% and a 14.2 BB%. He looked good when pitching in 2024, posting a 3.70 ERA and a 5.19 FIP in 24.1 innings pitched, along with a 25.2 K% and a 7.8 BB%. Sadly, he underwent Tommy John surgery in mid-June.
It’s reported that he has a timetable of 12-14 months, meaning that he won’t be back until July at the earliest after a rehab assignment. He was one of many pitchers in the Jays organization that underwent Tommy John surgery in 2024, including the next pitcher we’ll look at.

Ricky Tiedemann

Ricky Tiedemann was formerly Toronto’s top prospect, but after a rough 2023 season filled with injury, along with an even worse 2024 season, he’s fallen to their fourth-best prospect on MLB Pipeline.
Tiedemann’s first professional season in 2022 is well-documented, as the then 19-year-old dominated Single-A, High-A, and Double-A. In 2023, he pitched 32 innings pitched with the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats, finishing the season with a 5.06 ERA and a 2.12 FIP, receiving more innings in the Arizona Fall League where he won the league’s pitcher of the season.
With that being said, the year 2024 wasn’t kind to Tiedemann, as he pitched just 17.1 innings between Triple-A, Single-A, and the Florida Complex League, with the latter two leagues being on a rehab assignment.
Like Manoah, Tiedemann also underwent Tommy John surgery in the summer, receiving the full operation on July 30. With a timetable of 12-14 months, Tiedemann could impact the Jays’ rotation (or bullpen) late in 2025.
As always, you can follow me on Twitter @Ryley_L_D.