Veteran Relief Pitcher Could Make Positive Impact for Toronto Blue Jays if Called Up

Could Dillon Tate help the Toronto Blue Jays bullpen if called up?

Sep 19, 2024; Arlington, Texas, USA; Toronto Blue Jays Dillon Tate (33) throws to the plate during the sixth inning against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field. | Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images

The Toronto Blue Jays are off to a strong start in 2025, and the team is looking to continue that momentum.

After a strong offseason, the Blue Jays are playing very well in almost every facet so far this year.

Despite some key players getting off to slow starts, the team is fighting for first place in the American League East.

What might be the biggest surprise is how well the pitching staff as a whole has done. While the offense boasts some serious star power, it has been the staff carrying them to a degree to begin the season.

So far, the Blue Jays rank in the top half of the league in both bullpen ERA and starters ERA. A lot of the success in the rotation is because of the excellent start to the campaign by Chris Bassitt.

In the bullpen, offseason acquisition Jeff Hoffman has been performing very well with an ERA of 1.74 to go along with four saves.

However, even though both units are doing well, there is always room for improvement and one player in the minors might be an option to help the bullpen.

MLB.com contributors recently spoke about potential impact call-ups in the coming days and weeks. For the Blue Jays, the spoke about right-hander Dillon Tate potentially helping.

“With Orelvis Martinez and Jake Bloss off to rough starts at Triple-A, we turn to a much more veteran presence in Tate, who re-signed with the Jays in March after making four relief appearances for the big club last year.”

Due to a couple of the young prospects in the system struggling a bit, it could be Tate who gets a chance first. At 30 years old, the right-hander has a good amount of experience already in the Majors with the Baltimore Orioles, and a bit with Toronto last year.

While the results in the Majors haven’t been great, he has performed well in the minors both last year and to begin this season. An improved sweeper has created a lot of swings and misses in the minors, and Toronto will hope that continues.

In 2024 with both the Orioles and Blue Jays, he totaled a 2.08 ERA in the minors. To kick things off this campaign, he has yet to allow a run in five innings of work.

For Toronto, adding help to the bullpen is always something to monitor over the course of the year, and the team was clearly impressed by what they saw in a limited sample size last year.

Even though he might not be a highly touted prospect, Tate could come up and make a positive impact in 2025.