The Toronto Blue Jays have used over 29 different arms out of the bullpen this season, not including Chris Bassitt and his lone relief appearance against the A’s, and Easton Lucas, who made five starts across six appearences. However, this number does include Tyler Heineman (x2), Michael Stefanic, and Ali Sanchez, position players called into action when the club needed to save some bullpen arms for another day.

This is a long-winded way of saying that injuries and poor performance have seen a few different faces come through the Jays’ relief corps this year, such as Richard Lovelady, Spencer Turnbull, Jose Urena, Josh Walker and a host of others who had just a cup of coffee under the Toronto banner. This has accumulated in a collective 4.02 ERA through 478 2/3 innings, which is good enough for 17th best in the big leagues. A few names have struggled in August, such as newcomers Louis Varland (5.59) and Seranthony Dominguez (5.87) and some other usually dependable names in Braydon Fisher (5.40) and Mason Fluharty (5.63), who are now both back in the minor leagues.

One name standing out amongst the crowd is right-hander Tommy Nance, who has been a shot in the arm for a bullpen that needed some reassurance down the stretch.

The Jays selected Nance’s contract on July 11th when Ryan Burr landed on the 60-day IL, clearing a spot on the 40-man and active roster for the bullpen arm. Since returning to the big leagues, Nance has been a bright spot in the relief corps and a dependable arm regardless of the situation he finds himself in.

Through 17 2/3 innings, Nance owns a 1.02 ERA and a 1.53 FIP. Across 15 outings, five of which were finishing games, the 34-year-old has crafted a 0.849 WHIP with a tidy 6.1 H/9 and a 1.5 BB/9. He’s also struck out 20 batters to the tune of a 10.2 K/9 and has allowed just two earned runs so far this season.

Nance has allowed just one earned run this past month (against the Cubs on August 12th), and although he has seen his hits against tally climb recently, he limits the damage and keeps runs from coming back to bite the Jays.

For example, he pitched 1 2/3 innings of relief against the Marlins in extra innings on August 23. Although he allowed one run to score in his only full inning (unearned because of the ghost runner), he had taken over from Mason Fluarty the inning prior and escaped a jam, stranding Jakob Marsee after his one-out double, to keep the Jays in the game.

While he won’t rank against other arms because of his limited action after just being recalled in July, he’s putting up strong numbers when called upon. He’s held opponents to a .258 xBA and a .194 wOBA and has limited opponents’ launch angle to -0.7, which has gone a long way in preventing hits from coming back to bite him.

His slider has been his best main offering, ranking with a +3 run value, with opponents mustering just a .266 wOBA. His curveball is his lesser-used but most effective out pitch, accounting for a 43.8% whiff rate and a .045 batting average and a .078 xBA on 64 pitches (26.2%). The breaking pitch has resulted in a 60.9% strikeout rate and has worked to a 33.3% putaway rate while he also mixes in a mid-90s sinker to keep hitters honest.

Nance isn’t the flashiest name down in the Blue Jays bullpen, but he gets the job done when called upon, a trademark that numerous arms before him have failed to get done. With injuries keeping others like Burr, Yimi Garcia, and Nick Sandlin on the sidelines, Nance has carved out a role on the Jays roster that has seen him remain while others like Fluharty or Fisher were optioned to triple-A, something Nance doesn’t have at his disposal. The Blue Jays have kept him around versus risking him to the waiver wire via DFA, and after looking at his numbers, it’s easy to see why.

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