Blue Jays Place Borucki on IL, Re-call Vasquez

The Blue Jays made a roster move before Wednesday’s game, placing reliever Ryan Borucki on the 10-day injured list with a blister, and re-calling left-hander Andrew Vasquez in a corresponding move.

Borucki, who only recently worked through a hamstring injury, suffered the blister on his finger in his short outing against Houston on April 23, and pitched with that finger taped up Tuesday. Evidently, the blister was significant enough to send him to the IL.

“I know a lot of pitchers deal with that stuff,” manager Charlie Montoyo said. “And he was trying his best.”

On the flipside, the decision to call up Vasquez had more to do with the 28-year-old’s minor-league success than a straight lefty-for-lefty swap. The 6-foot-6 reliever has been great through 6.1 innings in Triple A, striking out seven with just one walk and two hits allowed.

Vasquez offers Toronto a dramatically different look out of the ‘pen. Using his “sideways curve,” which he threw 89% of the time last year, he’s carved out a role for himself on this roster. Still, the big leagues present a different challenge, and Vasquez may need to iron out his pitch usage a bit.

“I’m not trying to reinvent my wheel. I'm just trying to maximize it,” Vasquez told Inside The Blue Jays’ Mitch Bannon during spring training.

Vasquez is an interesting talent, and Toronto gave him a major-league deal because it saw something in him. Now he’ll get his first crack out of the Blue Jays bullpen.

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