Scout’s Analysis: Canada’s captain, goalie among early standouts at Hlinka Gretzky Cup
The semifinal matchups are set at the U18 men’s Hlinka Gretzky Cup with Canada facing the U.S. in one game on Friday and Sweden battling upstart Czechia in the other. Here are some of my notes following the conclusion of the round robin.
TORONTO – One of the primary strengths the Toronto Blue Jays have to buoy hopes of a rebound to playoff contention next year is the rotation trio of Jose Berrios, Kevin Gausman and Chris Bassitt.
Good pitching is always hard to find and something that’s really been underlined in this season of alarming industry-wide attrition, is that the sport simply isn’t developing enough starters to turn over those currently doing the heavy lifting in the years ahead. When the game’s most durable pitchers age out, it’s not going to be only one team’s problem.
For the time being, that’s a player-development issue but it also reinforces that having three durable, reliable and heavy front-line arms in the rotation, like the Blue Jays do for 2025, is a good starting point for any team. And if they’re to be part of the bedrock the club is basing its current intentions to compete next year upon, perhaps the trio should be managed with an eye on setting them up for that over the remaining seven weeks of this wayward campaign?
It’s a complicated question, especially when Berrios follows up gems from Gausman on Thursday and Bassitt on Tuesday with seven innings of one-run ball in a 3-1 win over the Oakland Athletics on Friday.
Shaking off a worse-than-it-looked outing last Saturday in New York, when he gave up three Yankees homers that were amplified by defensive miscues around them, he allowed just six hits and a walk while striking out eight against a sneakily pesky A’s lineup.
Some of Berrios’ best work came in the sixth inning, when Lawrence Butler led off with a double and Miguel Andujar followed with a walk before JJ Bleday smashed a liner to centre that Daulton Varsho chased down, Brent Rooker struck out and Shea Langeliers popped out, with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. leaping into the protective netting in foul territory to make the grab.
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That held the game 1-1 and the Blue Jays capitalized in the bottom half, as Guerrero, who extended his hit streak in the first, singled ahead of a Spencer Horwitz base hit, and scored on Alejandro Kirk’s fielder’s choice.
Horwitz added a 404-foot solo shot to right in the eighth to make it a 3-1 game and Chad Green locked the game down in the ninth for his 11th save. George Springer’s solo shot in the first opened the scoring before a Rogers Centre crowd of 39,894.
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That formula is one the Blue Jays expected a lot more of this season and, with the right moves in what’s a pivotal off-season to come, gives credence to the idea of returning this core next year for another run at the playoffs.
Berrios is now at a team-high 142.2 innings, followed by 132.1 for Gausman and 130 for Bassitt. Behind them in the rotation are Yariel Rodriguez, working as a starter this season after several years of relief work in Japan, and Bowden Francis, who is still trying to find a role.
Both need runway to develop, as does Jake Bloss, the centrepiece of the return for Yusei Kikuchi, makes his Blue Jays organization debut Saturday at triple-A Buffalo.
Running a six-man rotation for a period of time is one way to both give that trio some opportunity while lightening the load on the veteran trio the rest of the way through.
But the Blue Jays “haven’t discussed that, really, a lot,” said manager John Schneider. “We would like to keep (Bloss) starting and basically, you see how Yariel and Bowden do the next couple turns through. But a six-man isn’t something we’ve talked about. We’ve kicked it around maybe a little bit, but you want to keep everyone as regular as you can. We’ll see how he is on Saturday and ultimately you want to keep him starting.”
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