logo
Blue Jays grades at the quarter mark: Starting pitchers
alt
Photo credit: © Kevin Sousa-Imagn Images
Ryley Delaney
May 16, 2026, 07:00 EDTUpdated: May 15, 2026, 21:25 EDT
Comments
The Toronto Blue Jays pitching staff can be best described as “average” a quarter of the way through the season.
Despite coming into the season with eight starting pitchers, the Blue Jays have already had several bullpen games, with six starters making four or more starters with 10 or more innings pitched.
As it stands, the Blue Jays’ rotation has a 4.03 ERA and 3.84 FIP, ranking 14th and 10th respectively. In terms of strike out rate, their 22.4 K% ranks 14th with a good BB% of 8%, which sits tied for 7th. The rotation could be used as the definition of the word “average”.
Let’s take a look at how the rotation has done so far and assess a grade for each of the six starters with four or more starts. It’s worth noting that players are graded based not just on their performance, but also the expectations heading into the season.

Dylan Cease

Grade: A
From 2020 until 2023, the Blue Jays had one starter who was at least a finalist for the American League Cy Young award, with Robbie Ray winning it in 2021. After two seasons with no finalists, it looks like they could have another contender to win the award, at least in the early goings of the season.
The Blue Jays jumped the market to sign Dylan Cease, agreeing to a seven-year deal worth $210 million, the second largest contract they’ve handed out. In turn, Cease has become the team’s ace.
Over his first nine starts, Cease has a 2.41 ERA and a sparkling 1.87 FIP in 52.1 innings pitched. The hard-throwing righty has a 34.6 K%, which is pacing to be a career-best. Cease has also allowed one home run this season after surrendering 21 last season.
There are quite a few qualified pitchers with a better ERA than Cease, 16 to be exact. However, only one qualified starter, Cam Schlittler, has a better FIP than Cease. Additionally, Cease’s strikeout rate ranks second in Major League Baseball among qualified starters, sitting behind Jacob Misiorowski, who can dial it back to 103 mph.
The only thing stopping Cease from getting an A+ to begin the season is efficiency. Over his first six starts, Cease pitched into the sixth inning four times, but only got through six innings once. That said, he’s pitched seven innings in each of his last three starts, so maybe he’ll get an A+ after game 81. For now, his grade is an A.

Patrick Corbin

Grade: A-
With José Berríos, Shane Bieber, and Trey Yesavage beginning the season on the injured list, and Cody Ponce joining them in his first start, the Jays had to sign a starter. They turned to left-handed veteran Patrick Corbin.
The 36-year-old had an outing in Single-A before joining the Jays for a game against the Minnesota Twins in early April. In that start, Corbin allowed four earned runs over four innings of work.
Since then, he’s been nothing short of being one of the team’s MVPs, much like Eric Lauer was in 2025. Corbin has made six starts since, posting a 3.26 ERA and 3.37 FIP in 30.1 innings pitched. That gives the left-handed pitcher a 3.93 ERA and 4.19 FIP in 34.1 innings this season.
Now that isn’t particularly noteworthy like Cease’s 2.41 ERA, but the expectations for Corbin when he signed that contract weren’t very high. Instead, he’s stabilized the back end of their rotation.
Thanks to exceeding expectations and eating significant innings, Corbin receives a grade of A-.

Trey Yesavage

Grade: B+
You know the story by now: Trey Yesavage was drafted 20th overall in the 2024 draft, made his professional debut in Single-A to start the 2025, pitched at every “A” level, then joined the Jays late in the year. He had an even better postseason, with two historical starts.
The 22-year-old began the season on the 15-day injured list with shoulder impingement. He had a few rough rehab starts in the minor leagues, but has had a strong start to his season. Over his first four outings, Yesavage has a 1.40 ERA and 2.33 FIP in 19.1 innings pitched. Add in a 25.9 K% and 9.9 BB%, and his return has helped the rotation so much.
That said, he’s dealt with his fair share of traffic to begin the season. Opponents are batting .236 against Yesavage, with the rookie stranding an impressive 88.5% of the batters who have reached.
He hasn’t been bad, in fact, he’s been good. But we have seen Yesavage at his best; and he can be better. Hence his grade of B+.

Kevin Gausman

Grade: B-
Kevin Gausman has been the Blue Jays’ ace for nearly half a decade at this point. But for the first time in his tenure, Gausman was named the Opening Day starter. It also happened to be one of, if not, the best Opening Day start in team history.
Facing the Athletics, Gausman allowed just one hit, a solo home run, and went six innings with 11 strikeouts. The Jays set records in that series, because Cease struck out a boatload of Athletics as well. In his second start, Gausman struck out 10 Colorado Rockies, allowing two hits over six innings of work.
Since then, Gausman has three quality starts in his last seven games, but hasn’t been anywhere near as dominant as he had been. Gausman has a 4.81 ERA and 4.07 FIP since his April 7th start, striking out just 27 batters for a 16 K%.
His last outing saw him notch his 2,000th strikeout, just the 91st pitcher in Major League Baseball to achieve that feat, but he also gave up a season-high seven runs, six of which were earned. 
If I wrote this after his first two starts, Gausman would get an A+, but because of this span of seven games he gets a B-.

Max Scherzer

Grade: D
Max Scherzer is undoubtedly a first ballot Hall of Famer. He’s just one strikeout away from his 3,500 career punch out, in which he’ll become just the 11th pitch in history to achieve that feat. Scherzer’s 2025 was a mixed bag, having a good stretch during the middle portion of the season and having a memorable postseason.
With all the injuries, the Blue Jays brought Scherzer back, and it just hasn’t gone well. Currently on the 15-day injured list, Scherzer has made five starts, authoring a 9.64 ERA and 8.36 FIP. He’s pitched two quality starts, going six innings of one-run one ball in his season debut, then six innings of two-run ball in his second to most recent start.
In between those two starts are three starts where he’s failed to get through three innings. One, his second start of the season, was due to injury. However, he gave up eight earned runs in two and one-third innings of work against the Minnesota Twins on April 12th, and seven earned runs in two and one-third innings in his most recent start on April 24th.
Scherzer gets a grade of D.

Eric Lauer

Grade: D-
Eric Lauer was arguably the Blue Jays’ MVP in 2025. Signed to a minor league deal with an invite in Spring Training, the left-handed pitcher authored a 3.18 ERA and 3.85 FIP in 104.2 innings pitched, finding success in both the bullpen and rotation.
With all the injuries, Lauer was in the rotation to begin the season and had a great season debut. Over five and one-third innings against the Athletics, Lauer allowed two earned runs, but struck out nine.
It’s well known that the Blue Jays’ pitching staff dealt with a sickness, and by all accounts, Lauer got the worst of it. Despite that, he made his next start (with an extra day to recover), going two innings of two-run ball. But after that, Lauer struggled.
Against the Twins, Lauer allowed seven earned runs in five and one-third innings. The Jays turned to an opener for his start against the Arizona Diamondbacks, something Lauer disliked publicly. Still, he gave up three earned runs in five innings of work.
Lauer started his next three games, giving up three earned runs in five innings of work against the Los Angeles Angels. His best start since the season debut came on April 29th against the Boston Red Sox, where he gave up a home run in the first inning, but went four and one-third innings with no other earned runs.
In his penultimate start as a Blue Jay, Lauer gave up a three-run home run in the first inning, something the Jays couldn’t recover from. Then in his final start, Lauer allowed six earned runs after four scoreless innings from Spencer Miles and Tommy Nance. He was designated for assignment shortly after.
Lauer wasn’t expected to have the success he did last season, but a 6.69 ERA and 6.93 FIP in 36.1 innings pitched is just nowhere near good enough, especially with the drama in mid-April. He gets a D- grade.
Next up, we’ll look at the relievers, then finally the position players.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.
Editorials

Breaking News