I write a lot about Stuff on this site, with the goal of quantifying Stuff for the entire MLB. However, I am unabashedly, a Toronto Blue Jays fan first – and a Detroit Tigers fan (a distant) second. Part of the fun of using the PitchF/x data on the fangraphs site, is that I can look back in time, and figure out how different pitchers compare against each other. Also, if we’re looking to find out who had the best stuff in Blue Jays history – we can draw some inferences here. Fastball velocity has increased throughout league history, so it is reasonable to say that in the past 10 years, we have likely seen the best stuff in MLB pitcher history.
Let’s look at the Jays all time stuff leaderboard.
Overall Best Stuff
I’ve been writing stuff reports on the Jays pitchers over at Baseball Prospectus this season, so the top of this list shouldn’t be too shocking. Aaron Sanchez may have the best Stuff in the history of the Blue Jays. My favourite arm in the top 10 has to be Brandon League – I loved watching him pitch for the Jays, despite his short comings (giving up bombs at inopportune times). I was a bit surprised to see Ricky Romero up as high he was – as I always viewed him as a command type pitcher. In reality, his pitch separation was elite, and he had decent change in speed. It’s a shame his knees gave up on him.
Best Stuff Seasons
Once again, Aaron Sanchez tops the list – but Joe Biagini comes in second, with his rookie season being the second best stuff season we`ve seen in the past 10 years for the Blue Jays. The biggest surprise I`m seeing is down near the bottom of the list. BJ Ryan sits in the negative with his stuff – and all I remember is him coming out of the bullpen and annihilating hitters with his fastball. Maybe it was the fact they put up flames on the video boards, more so than he was throwing flames?? I’ve been tricked again!
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