The Blue Jays have designated reliever Matt Gage for assignment, the club announced. The move opens a 40-man roster spot for Chad Green, who has officially signed his two-year deal.
Gage, 30 next month, played eight seasons in the minor leagues after entering the professional ranks as a 10th-round pick of the Giants in 2014. Signed to a minor league contract by the Jays last offseason, the Siena product had a breakout year for Triple-A Buffalo. He worked to a 2.34 ERA over 42 1/3 innings of relief for the Bisons, striking out 27.4% of opponents with a 47% grounder rate. Gage’s 9.5% walk percentage was the only yellow flag, though that was just a hair north of average.
That production earned him his first major league call last June. He got into 11 MLB games, working 13 innings of four-run ball. Gage induced grounders on half the batted balls he allowed. The 6’3″ hurler had a modest 12:6 strikeout-to-walk ratio in his limited big league time but induced swinging strikes on over 14% of his pitches. He relied on a low-90s four-seam and a mid-80s cutter during his big league work.
Gage held left-handed hitters to a laughable .086/.149/.111 line in 88 Triple-A plate appearances last year. Righties hit .271 with a .363 on-base percentage but only mustered a .355 slugging mark. That could appeal to clubs looking to stockpile left-handed relief depth. Gage has two minor league option years remaining, so any team willing to keep him on the 40-man roster could stash him in Triple-A for the foreseeable future. The Jays will have a week to deal him or look to run him through waivers.
