Five Toronto Blue Jays Storylines to Watch this Spring Training
After one of the busiest offseasons in baseball, here are the top five storylines for the Blue Jays this Spring Training.
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The Toronto Blue Jays have one of the league’s most intriguing Spring Training rosters, boasting plenty of prospects looking to prove themselves against strong competition and new free-agent signings getting their first looks in Blue Jays uniforms.
Spring Training gives many players opportunities to contend for MLB roster spots and put themselves on the map, and there are plenty of storylines to follow this spring for the AL Champions. They find themselves simultaneously having most of their roster already established while also looking to see performances from certain players who might contend for spots.
This offseason was a very busy one for the Blue Jays, as they signed Dylan Cease, Cody Ponce, Tyler Rogers, and Kazuma Okamoto to multi-year free-agent contracts. They lost important pieces like Bo Bichette and Chris Bassitt, but the Jays still look like they’re hungry to defend their AL title and return to the World Series with a vengeance.
Here are five of the most important storylines and players to pay attention to as the Blue Jays amp up for the start of the regular season.
How Well Can Kazuma Okamoto Adjust to MLB?
Japanese phenom Kazuma Okamoto signed a four-year, $60 million deal with the Blue Jays this offseason. He’s going to get his first taste of MLB-caliber action this spring, and Toronto will be looking to see how well his skillset can grade out in North America.
Okamoto is one of the most accomplished players in Japan’s NPB, their highest professional league, and he earned every dollar of his MLB contract.
What will really be under inspection is his ability to keep up his walk-to-strikeout rates and his power at the plate. Only 32 MLB hitters bested Okamoto’s 11.3% walk rate in NPB last season, so if he’s able to control the strike zone in a similar way in MLB, he’ll be among the league’s best.
One thing to keep an eye on in terms of his batted-ball profile is his hit direction, as his pull-centric approach at the plate differs from Toronto’s widespread ability to spray the ball to all fields.
In each of his last three seasons, Okamoto has posted pull rates of 47% or higher. At times in his career, he’s shown a better ability to control this and spread out his batted balls, but it’ll be interesting to see how this grades out in MLB. Facing different pitch speeds and mixes might even this out.
When it comes to defense, Okamoto will likely be Toronto’s third baseman for the majority of the season with an occasional appearance at DH, first base, or the corner outfield if the team needs it. Okamoto’s best fit is definitely at third base, even though he’s capable of appearing elsewhere in the field for the Jays.
Okamoto’s never been known primarily for his glove, but he’s received two Gold Glove equivalent awards at third base in NPB (2021, 2022), so it’s safe to say Toronto will expect him to put up at least league-average defensive numbers.
He’ll also be representing Samurai Japan in the 2026 World Baseball Classic next month, so that tournament will combine with Spring Training as an opportunity for him to show his skillset.
Final Rotation Spot Up for Grabs
The Blue Jays have most of their rotation solidified at the moment, with their top four starters being (in no particular order) Kevin Gausman, Trey Yesavage, Dylan Cease, and Cody Ponce. Shane Bieber was slated to hold the other spot in this rotation but has been delayed with arm fatigue concerns and will begin his throwing program in a few weeks.
Contenders for this last spot in Bieber’s absence will be the veteran José Berríos and the versatile lefty Eric Lauer. While it’s hopeful Bieber will return to regular action early in the 2026 season, a temporary solution needs to be found for the time being.
Berríos has started at least 30 games in each of the last eight seasons (excluding 2020) and has been one of the most consistent starters in baseball in recent years. Berríos is one of only four pitchers to throw at least 975.0 innings since 2020 alongside Logan Webb, Zack Wheeler, and fellow Blue Jay Kevin Gausman.
He had a tough final stretch to the 2025 season and didn’t factor into the team’s playoffs, but he could have an important starting role yet again this season.
Lauer was a very crucial pitcher for the Jays last year, starting 15 regular season games and appearing in eight games as a reliever. Overall, he threw 104.2 regular-season innings of 3.18 ERA baseball and got the ball in some of the most important games for the Jays.
His postseason performance was equally as impressive, throwing 8.2 innings over five appearances, including a heroic 4.2 inning effort in extra innings of Game 3 of the World Series.
Both of these starters will look to fight for the right to start games for the 2026 Blue Jays come the start of the season, and it’ll be intriguing to see which will win the role. The pitcher who doesn’t get the spot will be relinquished to a long-relief role, which is still a very crucial position but likely not what either pitcher wants.
Young Starters on Display
The Blue Jays have a few minor-league pitchers that have made Spring Training this year as non-roster invitees, including right-handers Gage Stanifer and Fernando Perez.
These are two young prospects with electric arms that have already seen great success at various minor-league levels, and they’re looking to prove themselves at a higher level this spring.
Stanifer led all minor-league pitchers with a 35.5% strikeout rate, recording 161 of them over 110.0 innings in 2025 with a 2.86 ERA and 2.70 FIP. He’s got incredible swing-and-miss potential but also limits hitters beating him with their bats, as opposing hitters notched just a .182 batting average against Stanifer last year.
He earned promotions from Single-A Dunedin to Double-A New Hampshire in 2025 and in just 76.0 innings, he struck out 115 batters at the High-A level. He struggled slightly in his very limited tenure with New Hampshire and will look to earn more promotions this season, but 2026 Spring Training provides him with an opportunity to contend for a promotion even sooner.
Perez tossed 121.1 innings of his own across the High-A and Double-A levels last year with a 3.04 ERA and 3.20 FIP over 26 games started. Perez doesn’t have the same strikeout stuff that Stanifer attacks hitters with, but he controls the strike zone with much more prowess.
His 5.6% walk rate and 3.75 strikeout-to-walk ratio were the second best among all Blue Jays minor leaguers behind rookie-ball arm Edgar Gallegos.
He limits home runs among the best with a minimal 5.1% HR/FB (Home Run/Flyball) rate and his ERA and FIP both came in at least 30% better than league average. Perez doesn’t necessarily limit contact, but he allows well-below-average hard contact.
Perez will get some starts this Spring Training, and Blue Jays fans can expect a fun show with him on the mound.
New Faces on the Pitching Staff
Similarly to how Berríos and Lauer will be competing for the fifth starter’s spot, Dylan Cease and Cody Ponce are making their first appearances as Blue Jays this spring. Both free-agent signings are coming off impressive seasons and will be looking to make good first impressions with their new team.
Cease struck out 200+ batters for the fifth consecutive season, the only starter in MLB to do so over this span. His ERA somewhat ballooned to 4.55 last year, but his FIP sits at a comfortable and impressive mark of 3.56.
He has finished top five in Cy Young voting twice in his career, coming in second behind Justin Verlander’s ridiculous 2022 season and finishing fourth in 2024, a year where he threw a no-hitter.
In an era where strikeouts seem to be more prevalent than ever, Cease is one of the most efficient strikeout artists the game has to offer. He’s also been the epitome of consistency, making at least 32 starts for five straight years. He notched his worst fWAR since the shortened 2020 season with just 3.4 fWAR and will look to establish himself as the ace of this strong pitching staff.
Ponce is coming off an MVP campaign in South Korea’s highest league, the KBO, where he went 17-1 with a 1.89 ERA, 2.15 FIP, and 252 strikeouts to just 41 walks over 180.2 innings of work. He set a single-season strikeout record for the league and earned a three-year, $30 million contract with the Blue Jays to make his return to MLB for the first time since 2021.
He’s retooled his pitch arsenal since the last time MLB hitters have seen him, with an electric fastball and a mix of a slider, changeup, cutter, and sweeper. It will be interesting to see how he handles MLB hitters following a multi-year hiatus from North American baseball, and his pitch mix should provide him with plenty of weapons to deal with opponents in the big leagues.
Toronto also added submariner Tyler Rogers to their bullpen, and he’ll be a big part of the team’s success in 2026. Signing a reliever capable of throwing 70 to 80 games per season with regularity brings immense value, and his spring will merely be a warmup for the extensive work he’ll do in a Blue Jays uniform.
Arjun Nimmala, Shortstop of the Future?
The Blue Jays have two young infielders in Just Baseball’s Top 100 Prospects List, one of whom being 20-year-old shortstop Arjun Nimmala, who comes in at No. 95.
Nimmala has been invited as a NRI to Toronto’s Spring Training, and while he won’t yet be competing for a roster spot at the big-league level, he’ll still be proving his capabilities among MLB competition.
Nimmala spent the 2025 season at High-A with the Vancouver Canadians, where he slashed .224/.313/.381 with 13 home runs, 17 stolen bases, and 61 RBI. His 29 doubles ranked second in the Northwest League and scored the fifth-most runs in the NWL, as well as leading the Blue Jays organization in doubles and runs (70).
Nimmala was drafted 20th overall in the 2023 MLB Draft by the Blue Jays and he’s been honing in on his talents in the lower levels of the minor leagues. While some may be skeptical of his value as a top prospect because he hasn’t elevated past High-A, his power potential is still among the best for his age.
The biggest thing to focus on with Nimmala is making contact at the plate. His .224 batting average does leave much to be desired, but in 2025 he registered by far the best strikeout rate of his professional career. In 2023 and 2024, Nimmala notched strikeout rates of 31.3% and 30.7%, respectively, and this number was slashed massively to a mark of just 21.4% this season.
He did this in his first season at the High-A level, and Nimmala is primed to climb the ranks in the near future. If a promotion or two are in the cards for Nimmala this season, he’s done a good job over the last year or so proving himself worthy of them.
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Ethan has been writing for Just Baseball since 2024 and is fascinated by how sabermetric statistics can assist our understanding of outcomes and probability in baseball.…