For much of the season, the Toronto Blue Jays have been playing shorthanded in the starting rotation.
Bowden Francis, Cody Ponce and Jose Berrios are out for the season, while Shane Bieber, Dylan Cease and Max Scherzer are currently on the injured list. Trey Yesavage was on the injured list earlier in the campaign.
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That said, the Blue Jays are headed for a situation where they will have too many pitchers and some tough decisions to make. And eventually, the situation could become even more pronounced.
Why? Because of the emergence of Jake Bloss.
Ranked as the team’s No. 7 prospect by MLB Pipeline, Bloss was acquired by the Blue Jays in the 2024 trade that sent Yusei Kikuchi to the Houston Astros.
The 24-year-old debuted with Houston in 2024, making three starts, but went just 0-5 for the Blue Jays at Triple-A Buffalo in 2025 before undergoing Tommy John surgery.
He’s working his way back right now and has been stellar through five rehab outings, going 0-0 with a 2.81 ERA in the Florida Complex League and with the Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays.
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He’s only thrown 16 total innings, so pitch count and innings limits are absolutely in play, but he’s showing that if he remains healthy, he can be part of the team’s plans in the second half of the season.
He might be better suited as a reliever in that case, pitching in shorter outings, but the fact remains: He could be a solution for this team as it looks to get back to the World Series for the second consecutive year.
Bloss was a third-round pick of the Astros in 2023 out of Lafayette.
Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Jake Bloss (39) throws a pitch during the fourth inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at LECOM Park. Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images
The Jays will finish out a series with the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday afternoon at 1:37 p.m. ET. Kevin Gausman will pitch against Shane Baz. Gausman is 4-4 with a 3.36 ERA while Baz is 3-5 with a 4.29. The Blue Jays enter play at 31-34 overall while the Orioles are 31-34 as well.
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After this series is over, the Jays will remain home to take on the Philadelphia Phillies, who have completely flipped their season around after firing manager Rob Thomson. They are now managed by Don Mattingly, who served as the Toronto bench coach for the last few years. He left the organization following the 2025 campaign.
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