Reporter Park Sang-hyun = The Toronto Blue Jays have reinforced their starting pitching resources. Jack Thompson, who played for the Pittsburgh Pirates, was brought in.

Toronto and Pittsburgh clubs announced on their official website on the 11th (Korean time) that they had agreed to a trade for Thompson and outfielder Chavez Young.

Born in 1993 and turning 30 in October, Thompson is a latecomer who has not yet seen the light of day. He was selected by the Chicago White Sox in the 5th round, 138th overall, in the 2014 draft, but his big league debut did not come until July 2021.

Thompson, who went 3-7 with a 3.24 ERA while playing for the Miami Marlins in 2021, went 3-10 with a 5.18 ERA with Pittsburgh last year. His career record of 6-17 and a 4.44 earned run average isn’t enough to make him a regular starter in Toronto.

However, Toronto has been changing its starting pitchers recently. First of all, Toronto has four starting pitchers in a solid position 메이저놀이터. Alec Manoa, who emerged as Toronto’s ace last year, along with Kevin Gaussman, Jose Berrios, and Chris Bassit are in charge of Toronto’s starting rotation.

But Toronto doesn’t have a clear top five starter. There is Yusei Kikuchi, a left-handed pitcher from Japan, but he was not trusted due to his sluggish performance last year. Ryu Hyun-jin, who underwent Tommy John surgery, can only return in the middle of the season, but it is unclear whether he will recover his prime due to his considerable age.

In addition, Ryu Hyun-jin’s four-year contract with Toronto ends this year. In fact, if you consider that it will be difficult to go with Ryu Hyun-jin, who cannot play half a season this year, next year, you need to bring in a new 5th starting resource.

Considering Thompson hasn’t seen the light of day yet, he’s a good starter for a fifth starter. The reason why Thompson did not show much performance during the two seasons he spent in the big leagues was due to the influence of weak teams such as Miami and Pittsburgh. In addition, Thompson played the role of a ‘swing man’ between the starter and the bullpen, making his position uneasy. It is expected that if Thompson becomes a built-in starter, he can show a surprisingly good performance.