10 things you need to know about Kevin Gausman, the $ 110 million man from the Blue Jays

There was a lot of activity in baseball over the weekend with the threat of a looming lockout, days before the current collective bargaining agreement between Major League Baseball and the players union expired.

The Blue Jays were among the active teams prior to this extraordinary offseason deadline. Toronto reportedly first landed free agent right-hander Yimi Garcia on Saturday, signing him to an $ 11 million (US) contract for two years, with a club option for a third, according to TSN’s Scott Mitchell. It will be made official pending a physical examination.

And the Blue Jays were even bigger Sunday, signing free agent starter Kevin Gausman to a five-year contract worth $ 110 million. The deal, also pending a physical, was first reported by ESPN’s Jeff Passan and has since been confirmed by Star.

The club has yet to officially announce either of the two signings.

Strengthening the rotation was a priority for the Blue Jays this offseason, and free agents Robbie Ray and Steven Matz, who already signed with the St. Louis Cardinals, will always likely land elsewhere. Toronto began by blocking the midseason acquisition of José Berríos to a seven-year, $ 131 million extension. Gausman helps solidify a team that also includes Hyun-Jin Ryu, Alex Manoah, and probably Ross Stripling, for now.

Here are 10 things to know about Toronto’s newest Blue Jay.

1. Gausman, now 30, was selected in the sixth round of the 2010 MLB draft from Grandview High School in Aurora, Colorado, but chose to go to college. He landed at Louisiana State University, pitching two seasons for the Tigers, posting a 3.08 ERA in 213 1/3 innings and winning a number of individual awards in his sophomore season, including Louisiana’s 2012 Pitcher of the Year honors. The athletic management leadership student was listed as a “smooth and easy delivery” pitcher whose fastball ranged in the 1990s to mid-1990s range.

2. Gausman tried the draft again in 2012, this time selected by the Baltimore Orioles with the fourth overall pick. He was considered a top-tier power pitcher out of college, albeit inconsistent with his breaking stuff. Gausman also shared a quirky habit that he added to his routine in high school: eating three mini powdered donuts between entrees. When he arrived at spring training in 2013, teammate Adam Jones filled Gausman’s locker with about 1,500 goodies. Since then he has abandoned the routine.

3. There is history between Toronto and Gausman. He made his debut at the Rogers Center on May 23, 2013, pitching five innings for the Orioles. Gausman allowed four earned runs and seven hits that day, including a two-run homer to JP Arencibia. Toronto finally won 12-6.

Four. One of his childhood heroes was former Jays ace Roy Halladay, a native Colorado countryman. After Halladay was killed in a plane crash in November 2017, Gausman announced on Instagram that he would wear No. 34 the following season to honor his idol.

“For me, Roy gave me the inspiration to fulfill even my biggest dream – to be a pitcher like him,” Gausman wrote at the time. “As I got older, the more I began to understand the challenges of being a baseball player in Colorado. There have been less than 100 Major League Baseball players who were born here. I would like to think that we have our own brotherhood among us. “

5. Gausman left Baltimore with a longtime Jays foe, reliever Darren O’Day. They were traded to the Atlanta Braves mid-season in 2018. While Gausman had been a mainstay in the Orioles’ rotation since 2014, peaking with a 3.61 ERA in 30 starts in 2016, he hadn’t necessarily lived up to expectations. . The long ball was his weak point; He allowed 1.42 home runs per nine innings in 2014-2018.

6. By 2019, Gausman had bounced back from Atlanta, which released him, to the Cincinnati Reds, who claimed him from the waivers. There, he was pitching from the bullpen or as a starter, posting a 4.03 ERA in 22 1/3 innings. It was in Cincinnati that he met pitching coach Derek Johnson, who noticed Gausman was picking up his target too late, causing command problems in the zone. Gausman turned to the sport of archery for help, studied snipers and developed a mantra of “aim small, miss small,” MLB Network Radio said in March.

7. His rise from reliable to elite pitcher began with the San Francisco Giants in 2020, when Gausman went 3-3 with a 3.62 ERA, posting (then) his career-best WHIP record (1.06) and walks by nine. inputs (2.4).

8. Gausman’s splitter, which he pitched 1,061 times in 2021, made a difference last season, his first all-star turn. He produced a batting average of .133 opponents and a slugging percentage of .224. Even AL MVP Shohei Ohtani, who throws an impressive splitter of his own, said in June that Gausman’s pitch was “moving in a way that I haven’t seen recently.”

9. The Jays’ front office has set its sights on Gausman in each of the past two offseason. He signed a one-year deal with the Giants before the 2020 season and accepted a qualifying offer last year. Gausman told Sportsnet at this summer’s All-Star game that Toronto made him a “very competitive” offer last offseason, but his decision to stay with the Giants came down to comfort, especially amid the COVID pandemic. 19.

10. The Gausman deal is the second-largest contract awarded to a pitcher in Toronto franchise history, behind only Berríos’s recent extension. But Gausman’s final number is lower than he was expected to win, with MLB Trade Rumors predicting he would sign for around $ 138 million and Fangraphs placing a “medium expectation” for a deal with Gausman at $ 114 million. The largest contract Gausman had ever signed was last year’s $ 18.9 million qualifying offer. Before settling with the Blue Jays, he had made just over $ 42 million during his nine-year career, according to Spotrac.