The worst is over. The dog days of winter are behind us. The calendar has finally flipped to March. The weather is warming up ever so slightly. The Blue Jays play real baseball games that actually count at the end of the month. All is right in the world again!

We’re nine games into the spring slate for the Blue Jays, and their Golden Grapefruit title defence is not looking so good as they’ve gotten off to a 2-6-1 start. In all seriousness, the number one end goal for the ballclub *knocks on wood* is that they’ve remained relatively healthy since actual games have started.

The main group of players have had strong starts to their spring, particularly Daulton Varsho, Ernie Clement, and Kazuma Okamoto, who’ve each been scalding the ball regularly in the early days. On the pitching front, Cody Ponce pitched an inning over in Lakeland earlier last week and looked sharp, as did Dylan Cease in his spring debut this past Saturday against the Phillies – punching out three in 1 2/3 innings while hitting 99 on the gun with his heater.

There are very few areas on this roster where jobs are up for grabs, with the bullpen offering the most opportunity on that front. To that end, the two Rule 5 guys – Angel Bastardo and Spencer Miles – have a chance to earn a spot on the Opening Day roster with strong showings.

So far, it’s Bastardo who’s got pole position in the early days.

Angel Bastardo is a 23-year-old right-hander who was signed out of Morón, Venezuela as an International Free Agent by the Boston Red Sox in July of 2018. He spent parts of four seasons in the Red Sox minor league system (all as a starter) before going under the knife for Tommy John Surgery in the summer of 2024. The Red Sox elected not to add Bastardo to their 40-man roster that winter, which left him vulnerable in the Rule-5 draft, where the Blue Jays plucked him up and stashed him on the 60-day IL for the entirety of the 2025 season, which means Bastardo only needs to accumulate 90 days on the active roster in 2026 for the Blue Jays to obtain his rights.

Before his surgery, Bastardo worked exclusively as a starter in the Red Sox system. His pitch mix consisted of a 4-seam fastball, which sat 93-95 MPH with vanilla pitch shapes, a devastating changeup that tunnelled off his fastball with incredible vertical action, a slider used predominately vs RHB’s that produced 8~ inches of horizontal glove side movement, and a 12-6 curveball which was more of a north-south offering.

The Blue Jays were projecting that by moving to the bullpen once healthy, all of Bastardo’s pitches would play up in shorter stints… and if his first two outings of this spring are any indication, they were spot on with that line of thinking.

This is the fun part. Bastardo’s stuff belongs in a big league bullpen.

The fastball is firmly a 70-grade offering. It sits 97 MPH (touching 98) while producing 18″ of IVB and 9″ of horizontal coming in at a steep -4.8 VAA. That kind of cut-ride action with premium velocity is elite. He’s been spamming the 4-seamer at the top of the zone and given the elite ride he generates, hitters aren’t able to get on top of the pitch, which has resulted in lots of popups and swing-and-miss.

The changeup tunnels beautifully off the heater, sitting 87.5 MPH with 15″ of horizontal movement and 1.7″ of vert. This gives his changeup a great base in the lower quadrant of the strike zone, as Bastardo is a north-south arm rather than east-west. The 10 MPH separation in velocity is right in that sweet-spot territory, and Bastardo’s arm speed is consistent, making it impossible for hitters to pick up which pitch is coming until it’s too late.

The stuff plays. Is the question will the control? His outing on Saturday was a great step in the right direction.

It’s still too early to say.

There’s a glut of relievers right now and not as many spots for them. Braydon Fisher, Brendon Little, and Mason Fluharty each have MiLB options remaining. You figure at least two of them will be on the Opening Day roster. Tommy Nance is out of options and would have to be exposed to waivers if he doesn’t make the team out of camp. Then there’s the fact that there’s another Rule-5 guy in camp battling to that very roster spot in Spencer Miles, and people who read my work will know how much I like him, too.

Ultimately, it’s still early days in camp. There could be injuries that open up even more of an opportunity. Bastardo could blow up in his next couple of outings and have Miles leapfrog him in the race. Point being, it’s still much too early to make any concrete conclusions one way or the other.

But with each passing outing, Angel Bastardo is improving his standing and making a stronger and stronger case to force the Blue Jays’ hand when the time comes.

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