Toronto Blue Jays Sign Jake Petricka to Minor League Contract
Minor League contracts are rarely very interesting. The player is obviously only receiving a minor league deal for a reason. However, they also come with no risk and are pure upside plays. The Blue Jays have lots of uncertainty in their bullpen and need as many options as possible so today they inked Jake Petricka to a minor league contract. This deal being a minor league pact means they don't have to guarantee a roster spot to a risky player and can see how Petricka performs before giving him a role with the big club.
The Jake Petricka signing is a depth move, but it could end up being a good pick-up when considering the division the Jays are in. Jake Petricka does one thing well. He keeps the ball on the ground. Since the start of Petricka's MLB career in 2013 he ranks 7th among all pitchers with at least 150 innings pitched with a 61.5 groundball percentage. Because he keeps the ball on the ground he rarely gives up home runs. His 0.61 hr/9 is tied for the 29th lowest mark since 2013.
Petricka has dealt with injuries the past 2 seasons and his numbers have shown it. If we look at his healthy seasons from 2013-2015 he ranks 2nd in baseball with 0.31 hr/9. If Petricka can prove he is healthy again and get back to that level of home run aversion, he would be a very valuable piece to have come in against the heart of the Yankees order. Petricka obviously wasn't brought in just to face one rival, but it's a nice luxury to have a guy who could potentially stifle an opponents biggest weapons.
Petricka doesn't strike out many batters and his walk rate isn't very good. His 3.24 ERA from 2013-2015 was almost entirely because he doesn't give up extra bases. Brad Ziegler and Jared Hughes are a couple of pitchers with similar strikeout rates who also post low ERAs due to keeping the ball on the ground. Ziegler and Hughes have had more success with lower walk rates and their career numbers show it. If Petricka can find a way to keep the ball in the zone more often then he could potentially put up an ERA under 3.
There is no guarantee that Petricka will revert back to his home run suppressing ways. He gave up 2.10 hr/9 during a dreadful 2017 season and his gb% went from a career rate of 64.3% to 47.3% last year. If there is any chance of this signing paying off Petricka will have to go back to being one of the best groundball pitchers in the game. There's no way of knowing if that will happen and that's why the Jays were able to get him on a minor league deal.
Countless pitchers have failed to return to form after injury and Petricka could be yet another on that long list. Since there is no risk in giving a guy a minor league deal it's a very nice pick-up. If Petricka is healthy and can prove his groundball ways have returned I would expect to see him often during the middle innings when the heart of the other team's order is up. If he can limit the walks or up his strikeout totals while producing elite groundball rates then the Jays have found themselves an impact reliever. It not the likeliest scenario, but for a minor league signing that's about as exciting as it gets.
