It’s been a rather difficult start to the 2026 season for Toronto Blue Jays pitching prospect Gage Stanifer.

The 22-year-old right-hander, ranked as the organization’s No. 6 prospect per MLB Pipeline, ran into command issues again during Thursday’s start with Double-A New Hampshire, issuing a career-high six walks to the Binghamton Rumble Ponies — the New York Mets’ affiliate — over four innings.

Stanifer, who opened the contest by walking Binghamton’s leadoff hitter, threw just 39 of his 79 pitches for strikes while allowing four runs (two earned) on four hits. He did, however, still manage to strike out six batters on 13 whiffs during his fifth start with the Fisher Cats — the seventh of his career.

Throwing enough strikes has been a recurring theme for the short-arm-delivery hurler early in ’26, having recorded at least three walks in four of his five starts thus far. Some of that inconsistency can be chalked up to experimenting with his changeup, which is, by far, his third-best pitch behind his fastball-slider combo.

But missing down-and-away with that pitch to left-handed batters wasn’t Stanifer’s primary issue on Thursday night. Instead, this time it could be traced to his fastball command — or lack thereof.

Struggling to minimize walks isn’t a new storyline for Stanifer, though it’s been far more prominent than it was during his breakout campaign last summer. In 27 games (16 starts) between High-A and Double-A, he issued free passes to nearly 13 per cent of the batters he’s faced. Following his latest start, he’s now walking opponents at a clip of over 18 per cent — albeit across a much smaller sample size.

The strikeouts have still been there for the 2022 19th-round selection — who’ll be Rule 5-eligible this fall — as he’s now punched out over 30 per cent of his batters faced thus far. Having said that, it’s been a step down compared to last season, when he was punching tickets over a third of the time against High-A hitters.

Unlike a season ago, Stanifer opened this year as a traditional starter after spending the first two months of his ’25 campaign as a bulk reliever, working in tandem with Trey Yesavage during his rapid accession through the Single-A and High-A levels. While it’s been a tad rocky early on, as he now carries a 7.23 ERA at Double-A, there’s still plenty of talent and time worth betting on here.

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