Long relievers providing value for Toronto

There isn’t much glory in long relief. Whether it’s bridging the wide gap between a starter and the high-leverage arms on the back end or mopping up a lopsided game, the reliever who hauled three innings in the middle isn’t often the story of the night.

Joel Payamps and Trent Thornton deserve more shine than they’ve gotten, though, especially given how the Blue Jays have structured their pitching through the first seven weeks of the season. They’re not mopping up, they’re giving the Blue Jays legitimate innings, often keeping the team in the game for one or two more cracks at a comeback.

With a lineup like the Blue Jays have, that will put them in a position to steal a win or two over the course of the season.

Thornton seems to have found his comfort zone in a multi-inning role, paring down his deep repertoire to focus on three or four pitches most nights instead of six. His numbers from 2019, when he led the Blue Jays in starts and innings, also suggested he’d have more success in shorter stints, which has been the case. The right-hander owns a 2.70 ERA over 23 1/3 innings.

Payamps, who bounced back and forth between the Blue Jays and Red Sox on waivers multiple times in February and March, owns a 1.74 ERA over 20 2/3 innings. With injuries seemingly everywhere else in the bullpen, he has been thrust into some unexpected roles and succeeded.

“He’s going to throw strikes. Credit to him, he’s come in and done exactly that with really good stuff,” said Matt Buschmann, the Blue Jays’ bullpen coach and director of pitching development. “That’s been huge for us, because in the times he’s pitched, he gets in and out without a lot of pitches. To have that is so valuable. I’ve been so impressed with that. He’s been better than a lot of people expected. He’s been an awesome find by our front office.”

Payamps says he finally feels “home” with the Blue Jays after bouncing around earlier in his career. He has been putting some focus on his changeup recently to round out his arsenal. But like so many other pitchers, he says that the first message he received from Buschmann and pitching coach Pete Walker was to be himself.

“They both told me to keep working on what I’ve been doing in the past and to stay in my routine, but they did tell me to work more on my four-seam fastball,” Payamps said through a team translator. “They actually showed me through the computer the movement on my four-seamer. They really wanted to reinforce that, to throw it more and for me to know the damage my four-seamer can do.”

Breaking from tradition
Few Major League bullpens follow the traditional setup of long reliever, middle reliever, setup man and closer. The Blue Jays embody that.

Instead, they target leverage. With their current healthy relievers, that means Jordan Romano, Tyler Chatwood or Rafael Dolis will be used in the highest-leverage spots, regardless of whether that’s the sixth inning or the ninth. It has been part of a broader organizational philosophy that goes well beyond the MLB roster.

“Not only are we trying to bring about the concept of workload in general and figuring out the best way to measure it, manage it and understand what’s important, I think you’re also seeing that the standard reliever roles have started to go out the window,” Buschmann said. “You manage it by getting ahead of it, so a lot of that starts down in the Minor Leagues and preparing guys for roles that aren’t the standard roles.”

Communication is key with analytics
As Major League clubs have access to more information than ever with advanced camera technology, player tracking, biometric data and more, the challenge is making it make sense.

Spewing data to a player not comfortable with the data itself won’t help anyone, so the Blue Jays are working to communicate that clearly to players to explain why a suggested change will benefit them. It’s also a matter of timing, and managing the personalities of the players on the roster over the ups and downs of 162 games.

“It’s less the person and more where they’re at,” Buschmann explained. “It’s about presenting positive feedback. If a guy is pitching really well and you start to see a trend, then when do you say something? He’s pitching well, so let him keep doing his thing. That’s the fun part. But we’ve created something where we’re constantly giving feedback, so it’s not just random and you’re used to it.