TORONTO -- While the Blue Jays took on the Yankees in their series finale Sunday at Rogers Centre, Spencer Arrighetti was pitching in a rehab game for Triple-A Buffalo.
Arrighetti is on the IL while dealing with Morton’s neuroma in his right foot, a buildup of skin tissue in the foot that impacts the nerves and can cause sharp pain.
This is what you need to know:
How did Arrighetti perform?
Arrighetti rolled through the early innings before allowing a two-run homer in the fourth, the only damage against him over 3 2/3 frames on 50 pitches (35 strikes).
On the radar gun, Arrighetti’s four-seamer averaged 90.5 mph, which is noticeably below his average of 92.4 mph this season in the big leagues. Part of that can be chalked up to the adrenaline of a big league game, so it’s not necessarily a cause for worry at this point.
This workload fell right in line with what the Blue Jays had planned on. Now, they’ll need to evaluate how Arrighetti’s foot felt throughout the outing and determine whether it was limiting him on the mound in any way.
What’s next?
The context of Toronto’s rotation matters here. Trey Yesavage just underwent left knee surgery to repair his meniscus, and Jameson Taillon is on the IL with right forearm tendinitis, so the Blue Jays are rolling with a bullpen game as their No. 5 starter right now.
Arrighetti doesn’t need to be built up to 90 pitches to be deemed “ready,” he just needs to be able to pitch in a legitimate “bulk” role his first time through as he continues to stretch back out. Normally, he’d still need two more rehab starts, but perhaps only one more is needed. If that pitch count gets up over 60 with less of a dropoff in velocity, that should be enough, but it’s worth monitoring how his velocity in the third or fourth inning compares next time out.
What are they saying?
Arrighetti’s move from the Astros was a difficult one, and understandably so. Houston was home for Arrighetti, where his family could catch nearly all of his home games, which he described as a “bubble of supreme comfort” as a young player.
Getting back into the groove of baseball with his teammates can only help, though. And now that we’re back to Arrighetti facing hitters, he’s looking to better control his stuff after walk rates of 5.1 per nine innings in each of the past two seasons.
“The zone is really small now, so I’ve been working on not walking people,” Arrighetti said soon after being traded. “I’m actually taking some really good strides, leaning into the pitches I throw in the zone. That was actually a conversation I had with [the Blue Jays] earlier, just lean into the weapons that made me who I am today. Obviously, I’ve got swing-and-miss stuff. I’m going to lean into that, just being as competitive as possible and suffocating the zone.”
What else?
Beyond the 2027 season, the Blue Jays also have club control through ‘28 and ‘29 with Arrighetti, so there’s also a long-term angle to this.
We’ve already seen a bit of this with José Soriano. Any bigger “overhaul” can be saved for next spring down in Dunedin, Fla., but it’s never too early to tinker. The Blue Jays have already moved Soriano back toward his sinker instead of his four-seamer, and there could be some similar arsenal adjustments to keep an eye on early with Arrighetti.
If the Blue Jays can develop Arrighetti into a reliable back-end starter, that’s an excellent trade in exchange for two months of Daulton Varsho.