Scuffling Toronto Blue Jays look to Kevin Gausman to right ship heading into Milwaukee
Photo credit: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images
The Toronto Blue Jays have leaned on Kevin Gausman for consistency over the years, but his importance to the team may be greater now than ever before.
The Toronto Blue Jays starting rotation has been hit hard by injuries, with Trey Yesavage, Shane Bieber, José Berríos, and Cody Ponce all sidelined.
The lineup hasn’t been spared either, as Alejandro Kirk, Addison Barger, and George Springer are also on the injured list.
What once looked like a World Series, caliber season is now in danger of slipping away.
After going 3–9 over their last 12 games and dropping four consecutive series, the Blue Jays are counting on the 35-year-old Kevin Gausman to halt the slide.
He’s set to make his fourth start of the season tonight in the series opener against the Brewers, marking the beginning of a nine-game road trip.
Lucky for the Blue Jays, Gausman looks as dominant as he has in several seasons.
In the final season of his five-year, $110 million contract, the veteran right-hander has struck out 40.6% of opposing hitters while issuing just two walks, posting a 2.08 ERA.
His expected ERA, a Statcast-based metric that factors in contact quality along with strikeouts and walks, is even more impressive at 1.75.
TEN strikeouts for Kevin Gausman! That's a NEW team #OpeningNight record 🔥
While Gausman’s approach remains familiar, he’s made a subtle but impactful adjustment in 2026.
He continues to rely heavily on his four-seam fastball and splitter combination, but this season he’s leaning more on the splitter than ever before, even throwing it more frequently than his fastball.
Despite the increased usage, the pitch remains highly effective. Gausman’s splitter has generated a 47.1% chase rate, with 12 of his 14 strikeouts on the pitch coming on offerings outside the strike zone.
Overall, his 40.8% chase rate leads all of Major League Baseball.
At the same time, he’s found success locating his four-seam fastball at the bottom of the strike zone, particularly in two-strike counts.
He’s already recorded five called strikeouts on low fastballs, often catching hitters off guard as they anticipate a splitter diving out of the zone.
Gausman has still been a reliable arm for Toronto over the past two seasons, logging 374 innings, but his performance dipped compared to his first years with the club.
During that span, he posted a 3.71 ERA and a 3.59 FIP, with declines in both swing-and-miss and strikeout rates.
This season, however, he looks much closer to the pitcher who finished third in the 2023 American League Cy Young Award voting, when he recorded a 3.16 ERA, a 2.97 FIP, and 237 strikeouts over 185 innings.
With injuries piling up and losses mounting, the Blue Jays need Gausman to continue performing at this level more than ever.
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