Sandlin Brings Reliability, Versatility to Blue Jays' Bullpen
When the Blue Jays made their first trade yesterday, swapping Spencer Horwitz and minor-leaguer Nick Mitchell for 2B Andres Gimenez and RHP Nick Sandlin, most of the focus was on the stellar defence of Gimenez and how he makes the Blue Jays that much better.
And while that's true, not enough is being said about the inclusion of Sandlin and what he can bring to the Blue Jays relief corps.
Sandlin is a great addition for the Jays beleaguered Bullpen. And the numbers back that up.
Last year with the Guardians Sandlin went 8-0 with a 3.75 ERA in 68 games.
While he is predominantly a middle reliever, he is quite versatile, having finished seven games, starting one, and saving another.
And while his advanced metrics were down slightly from 2023, Sandlin will slot in nicely as a one-inning reliever in the middle-to-late innings.
He also has a high strikeout rate, something the Jays need more of in the pen, compiling 68 strikeouts in 57.2 innings of work last year.
Sandlin's best trait though, is his ability to strand inherited runners, something the Blue Jays struggled with last year.
While the Blue Jays will have a great back-end of their bullpen in Chad Green, Erik Swanson, and now Yimi Garcia, Sandlin will be an important bridge to that trio, and his high whiff rate will ease the middle innings transitions between starter and late-inning guys.
Overall for his career, Sandlin is 19-8, with a 3.27 ERA and 223 strikeouts in 209 innings to go along with a 126 ERA+ (which is very good).
While he has a slightly below average FIP rate, his career WHIP of 1.147 is a positive.
While Sandlin can get the job done against both righties and lefties, he is particularly effective against right-handed hitters.
While not overpowering, his low-90s fastball has plenty of sink, and this combined with Sandlin's near-sidearm delivery, makes him a unique weapon for any major league bullpen.
| POLL | ||
DECEMBRE 11 | 156 ANSWERS Sandlin Brings Reliability, Versatility to Blue Jays' Bullpen Was Nick Sandlin a good pick up for the Blue Jays? | ||
| Yes | 124 | 79.5 % |
| No | 32 | 20.5 % |
| List of polls | ||
