Editor’s Note: Starting today MLB Debuts will be published every Friday throughout the season.
Hundreds of baseball players make their debut over the course of a season. However, for every Ronald Acuña and Scott Kingery, there are dozens of lesser-known prospects making their debuts who aren’t as frequently discussed. To remedy that, Alex Fast, Adam Garland, Ben Palmer and I will be doing a write-up on every single player making their MLB Debut. Inspired by the Effectively Wild podcast and Andrew Perpetua, we’ll discuss each debut’s skill set, how long they will likely remain in the majors and any other pertinent information you need to know. Each player will also be stored in a spreadsheet featuring further information (bio, D.O.B, player ID’s, etc) that can be accessed at the bottom of the article.
Here is the lone debut between June 26th and June 28th:
Ryan Borucki (SP, Toronto Blue Jays, 24 years old)
Debut Date: 6/26/18
Role: Starter
Organization Ranking: 8th
Overall Ranking: N/A
Grades: Fastball: 55 | Slider: 50 | Changeup: 60 | Control: 60 | Overall: 50
Fantasy Relevance: Streamer against weaker offenses
With Jaime Garcia and Aaron Sanchez on the shelf for a little while, the Blue Jays decided to call up their 8th best prospect – and best LHP prospect – in Ryan Borucki. So far in the minors, Borucki has thrown 77 IP with a 3.27 ERA, a 6.78 K/9 and a 3.27 BB/9 and while he was a bit shaky in his last 5 minor league starts, his last before being called up was good: 7 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 4 K. The oldest of the Blue Jays top 10 prospects, Borucki’s been plagued by injury for a few years. He had TJS in 2013 and had elbow and shoulder pain in 2015 before getting back on track in 2016. His fastball is more of a ground ball pitch than a producer of K’s but it sets up his changeup very well. His change is his best pitch and has similar movement to his fastball making it a good put away pitch. Borucki’s stuff was immediately tested in his baptism-by-fire against the Astros. He went 6 IP with 2 ER, 6 H, 4 BB and 3 K and while he was unable to get the win I certainly wouldn’t call that a poor debut. The walks were certainly as a result of nerves as he actually has a good ability to keep them down (this year’s statistics are more the exception than the rule). Moving forward, I don’t expect Borucki to be more than a back-end starter for the Jays and when Garcia or Sanchez comes back – assuming they don’t move any pitching pieces (cough cough JA Happ cough cough) – I think he’ll be sent back down. For now, he can be streamed against the weaker offenses.
Missed a player’s debut? Read detailed reports on all 2018 MLB debuts in this spreadsheet.