Just before their first official workout of spring training, the Toronto Blue Jays added one more pitcher to the organization.
According to the official Major League Baseball transactions log, the Blue Jays on Tuesday signed 29-year-old right-hander Jack Cushing to a minor-league contract. Cushing previously spent 6 1/2 years in the Athletics organization before electing free agency in November.
There has been no report as of Tuesday afternoon concerning Cushing receiving a potential non-roster invite to major league spring training.
Cushing had one of the strangest stat lines you’ll ever see for Triple-A Las Vegas last season. He pitched to a 6.67 ERA over 77 2/3 innings, but somehow compiled an 11-2 record in his 38 appearances, all but six of which came out of the bullpen.
In general, Cushing has battled ups and downs in the minors and posted decent, if unspectacular, strikeout numbers. He owns a career 4.95 minor-league ERA with 538 punchouts in 565 innings, all for the Athletics’ farm teams.
A 22nd-round pick out of Georgetown in the 2019 draft, Cushing has advanced to the Triple-A level in each of his last four seasons, but is still looking for that elusive call-up to the majors.
The Blue Jays have one of the better pitching staffs in the sport on paper, so Cushing’s odds might be long at the outset of his tenure, but almost anyone who has pitched at Triple-A has the natural ability to make it to the majors with the right adjustments.
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