A row of lockers rests at the back of the Toronto Blue Jays’ spring clubhouse, tucked between hallways leading to the coaches’ offices and the sauna. It’s not a coveted spot, with constant foot traffic and misplaced ping-pong shots skittering by. But the young starting pitchers assigned to those lockers in the early days of spring training could be crucial to Toronto’s success in 2026.
The Jays have big-league rotation depth, with eight established starters after the signing of Max Scherzer. But the next wave, including CJ Van Eyk, Grant Rogers and Chad Dallas, will surely be called upon, too.
The Jays required 15 starting pitchers last year, forced to dip into waivers and free agency to get by. This year, they hope the young pitchers seated at the back of the clubhouse will help them survive the long season and avoid midseason Spencer Turnbull signings. Here are some notes on Toronto’s next wave of starting depth.
RHP Grant Rogers
Walking off the mound following his first big-league spring outing, Rogers clapped twice and stared to the sky. He ended the inning with a lazy fly ball off the bat of Aaron Judge, winning a seven-pitch battle against the reigning American League MVP.
Rogers, in many ways, is the same guy the Jays drafted in the 11th round in 2023. He’s still 6-feet-7, still throws a bunch of pitches and still relies on deception more than raw stuff. But there’s one clear difference. His shoulder-length locks are gone.
Rogers was out with Ricky Tiedemann and Chad Dallas last spring, and the trio talked about Tiedemann’s buzz-cut look. It was so easy to maintain, Tiedemann said. When the young hurlers got back to their apartment, Tiedemann took out the trimmers. Initially, it was to cut Dallas’ hair, but Rogers, a soft-spoken giant, was quickly talked into a new style.
“I loved my curls,” Rogers said after his first spring start. “But it took a span of like five seconds. I was like, ‘All right, let’s do it.’”
The fresh look worked for Rogers. His fiancée liked it, the righty said, and it kick-started the best season of his professional career. The 24-year-old posted a 3.47 ERA across 28 starts, earned a promotion to Double A and was one of just six minor-league pitchers to surpass 150 innings.
“We saw tremendous growth in his ability to sequence pitches and change patterns,” Blue Jays director of pitching Justin Lehr said, “the second time through the lineup. So just looking for more of the same and challenging, hopefully, with a higher-level ball.”
Rogers possesses a sinker, slider, cutter, splitter and curveball and can vary the grips and shapes on those pitches within starts. None grade out as elite pitches or live in the upper 90s. But it’s innings-eating potential that has Rogers close to the big leagues this year.
The righty is a bit of a throwback to an era before velocity and stuff models were king. His upside is a career like Chris Bassitt’s, providing many valuable innings without blowing up radar guns. If the Jays need someone to soak up innings this year, Rogers appears set to step up.
“I can provide good innings,” Rogers said. “I can provide long games. I can get outs. I can get a double play.”
CJ Van Eyk is “one of the more gifted guys we have in the system,” according to the Blue Jays’ director of pitching. (Kim Klement Neitzel / Imagn Images)
RHP CJ Van Eyk
“El mejor tiempo de mi vida.”
That’s what Van Eyk called his Mexican Winter League experience — the best time of his life. It’s easy to see why.
Fans chanted cheers that Van Eyk couldn’t quite understand, and dancers filled the field ahead of first pitch. His Opening Day start against Charros de Jalisco was the first time Van Eyk had to crank his PitchCom volume up.
“In Triple A,” Van Eyk said, “you never really have to turn the PitchCom up to 20.”
But more than enjoying raucous crowds and on-field dancing, Van Eyk savored 2025 because of newfound consistency and health. Since joining the Jays’ organization in 2020, he’d never made more than 20 starts in a season due to Tommy John surgery, a lengthy recovery and other minor setbacks.
The righty nearly doubled his career-high workload last year with 33 starts across the minors and winter ball. He earned a promotion to Triple A, posted a 3.04 ERA in his last 11 outings, and carried the success into nine more outings with Águilas de Mexicali. He’s 27 years old, hardly a budding prospect. But Van Eyk has long been a guy the Jays dreamed on, if healthy, and he finally showed durability in 2025.
“He has an amazing arm talent,” Lehr said. “Probably one of the more gifted guys we have in the system.”
The Tampa, Fla., native posted a 2.90 ERA in Mexico, ranking No. 5 among starters with at least eight outings. He specifically worked on his sweeper shape and sinker location to help attack righties more effectively. The Jays and Van Eyk hope it’s finally a year he can build on. If the Jays need to summon a minor-league starter early, Van Eyk could be one of the first guys up.
“I was really impressed with the way he capitalized on those learning experiences in winter ball,” Lehr said. “Kind of looked like this really finished product, which he looks like now.”
RHP Chad Dallas
After 2023, Dallas was named the Blue Jays’ minor-league pitcher of the year. The 2021 fourth-round pick posted a 3.65 ERA with high strikeout totals and earned his way up to Double A. He seemed primed to establish himself as a potential big-league starter but stumbled in 2024 and underwent Tommy John surgery in September that year.
The right-hander, with a burly moustache and the nickname “Cheese,” made his return to the mound Feb. 23, throwing 1 2/3 shutout innings for the Jays. He relies on a sweeper, fastball and cutter. The velocities on all three pitches returned to his 2023 norms, and all earned whiffs in his brief spring outing.
Dallas may not be ready to haul heavy like Van Eyk or Rogers, as he continues to build back from Tommy John, but he could be a bulk reliever or shorter starter for the Jays at some point this year. The Jays want to keep him as a starting option, but his pitches could play better as a multi-inning reliever.
Other names to know
The rest of Toronto’s upper-minors prospect pitching depth includes Lazaro Estrada, Adam Macko, Fernando Perez, Gage Stanifer and Austin Cates. Estrada and Macko are closest to the majors, but both could be more long relievers than long-term starters.
The Jays are attempting a starter transition for Alex Amalfi, who posted a 4.41 ERA mostly in relief last year. He made five starts in the Arizona Fall League last year, posting a 9.95 ERA, but the Jays, Lehr said, think his four-pitch mix could work in the rotation.