Sean Reid-Foley's possible finale reflects consistent inconsistency
TORONTO – If there’s one thing that the Toronto Blue Jays have been able to count on with rookie fireballer Sean Reid-Foley so far, it’s that they don’t know what they’re going to get from him.
That’s not atypical for a pitcher getting his feet wet at the major-league level, nor is it a concern. It’s simply a fact that in about half of his outings he’s looked like a future rotation staple while he’s seriously scuffled in the other half.
“He’s had a couple of really good starts and he’s had a couple where he’s struggled,” manager John Gibbons said of Reid-Foley prior to Friday’s 11-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays. “The experience will do wonders for him.”
On Friday — in a start that may have ended his season thanks to workload concerns — Reid-Foley showed the Blue Jays both what makes him so enticing as a prospect as well as a glimpse of his biggest issue right now: his command.
It was not a banner night from the right-hander who went just four innings allowing two earned runs with four walks and five strikeouts. There were times when the rookie didn’t get enough help from the defence, but also moments when he didn’t help himself.
“I’m just trying to give the team the best chance to win, and obviously I didn’t do that tonight,” Reid-Foley said, summing up his outing.
Coming off a 10-strikeout outing against the New York Yankees, Reid-Foley once again proved that his swing-and-miss stuff is beyond reproach, even at the highest level. His slider was nasty as he got three of his five strikeouts on the pitch. Particularly pretty were his punchouts of Willy Adames and Nick Ciuffo.
That pitch has been lights out for Reid-Foley as hitters had a batting average .069 against it with no extra-base hits coming into Friday — earning it a Pitch Value of +4.0 runs per FanGraphs.
With that kind of breaking ball, along with his plus fastball, there is no doubting the 23-year-old in the “stuff” department and Friday’s start demonstrated that as well as any.
Unfortunately for Reid-Foley, it also showed that he still doesn’t always know where the ball is going. Looking at his four-seam fastballs, it’s clear that he lost more than a few up high and left a couple meatballs over the centre. No start is going to be devoid of spots missed, but this one included more than its fair share:
“He was scattering ’em today,” Gibbons said. “You’ve got to throw it over the plate, take your chances, hopefully get some balls hit at guys.”
When you’re fastball command is off like that, you’re going to give up free passes and, as a consequence, runs. It doesn’t help your pitch count either.
To be fair, Reid-Foley is a known quantity in this regard. In 496.1 minor-league innings, he’s run a BB/9 of 4.0. Even this season he posted a 4.1 BB/9 in Double-A and a 3.2 BB/9 in Triple-A. He’s the electric-armed young pitcher with command issues — it’s a common archetype reflected in the dazzling 11.10 K/9, but ugly 6.00 BB/9 he’s produced in his first 30 big-league innings.
Reid-Foley is simultaneously one of the Blue Jays’ most exciting prospects and one of their up-and-comers most likely to bust — although with his arm a prominent bullpen spot is probably his floor.
On Friday he showed both sides of that coin. It wasn’t a pretty outing, but it was awfully representative of what we’ve seen so far.
There’s a good chance the best is yet to come. There’s a not-insignificant chance it isn’t.
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