Can Blue Jays Count on Braydon Fisher to Repeat His Breakout Season?
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The Toronto Blue Jays are coming off a World Series appearance and spent big this offseason to get back. They signed Dylan Cease to a seven-year, $210 million deal and added Tyler Rogers on a three-year, $37 million contract. They traded for sidearm reliever Chase Lee, too. But one key arm is already in-house.
Braydon Fisher Became a Different Pitcher in 2025
Braydon Fisher wasn't supposed to be this good in his rookie season. The scouting reports on the 25-year-old right-hander always mentioned his power arm but questioned whether he could throw enough strikes.
Fisher made his MLB debut in May and immediately became one of Toronto's most reliable relievers. He held opponents to a .181 batting average while posting a 2.70 ERA across 50 innings, according to his official stats page. The performance earned him a fourth-place vote for AL Rookie of the Year, where he finished 10th overall.
The transformation came from his slider. Fisher scrapped his old breaking ball and developed a sweeper that gave hitters fits all season. Batters couldn't lay off it even when he threw it out of the zone. That pitch paired perfectly with his fastball, which sits in the mid-90s and seems to rise through the top of the strike zone. Hitters either swung through the heater up or chased the slider away.
Control had always been Fisher's biggest obstacle. He walked too many batters in the minors and struggled to repeat his delivery. But by leaning on his slider early in counts, he could steal strikes without needing perfect fastball command. The adjustment worked. He cut his walk rate dramatically while maintaining his ability to miss bats.
The underlying numbers back up what the results showed. Fisher wasn't getting lucky on balls in play or relying on his defense to bail him out. He genuinely became a swing-and-miss reliever with improved command. That's the type of skill set that typically translates year to year.
Hitters Will Make Adjustments This Time Around
The league doesn't stay fooled for long. Fisher succeeded in 2025 partly because teams hadn't seen him before. His vertical fastball and horizontal slider created a puzzle that took hitters time to solve. By 2026, every advance scout in baseball will have a book on him.
Projection systems expect his ERA to rise into the mid-3.00s next season. That's not a knock on Fisher. It's just the reality of being a second-year reliever. Hitters will know to lay off the slider in the dirt and wait for fastballs in the zone. The element of surprise disappears.
October offered a preview of what happens when elite lineups get multiple looks at him. Fisher posted a 6.43 ERA across seven postseason innings in eight games. He faced some of the best hitters in baseball, and they made him pay. That doesn't erase his excellent regular season, but it shows the ceiling on his dominance.
There's also the question of workload. Fisher threw 50 innings in his first season back from Tommy John surgery. If Toronto leans on him harder in 2026, will his command stay sharp? Will his velocity hold? The Blue Jays clearly considered this when they added Rogers and Lee this week.
The recent moves give Fisher breathing room. He'll likely work the sixth or seventh inning, ahead of Rogers in the eighth, and Jeff Hoffman closing. That keeps him away from the most critical moments while limiting his innings. It's a smart deployment for a young arm still proving he can handle a full season.
Fisher might not post a 2.70 ERA again, but the Blue Jays don't need him to. Toronto is building around young pitching talent, with rookie sensation Trey Yesavage anchoring the rotation alongside veterans like Cease and Gausman.
Fisher represents that same development success in the bullpen. His slider is legitimate, his command improvements are real, and his stuff works against both righties and lefties. Some regression is expected, but he's proven he can handle high-leverage situations. The Blue Jays can count on Fisher as a reliable setup arm in 2026, even if the surface numbers don't match his breakout campaign.
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Jayesh Pagar is currently pursuing Sports Journalism from the London School of Journalism and brings four years of experience in sports media coverage. His current focus is MLB coverage spanning the Blue Jays, Astros, Rangers, Marlins, Tigers, and Rockies, with additional expertise in basketball and college football.