The Toronto Blue Jays yesterday lost to the Atlanta Braves 10-9 in Grapefruit League play and they will return to the diamond tonight as they take on the Pittsburgh Pirates with Ricky Tiedemann on the mound making his third start of the spring, he is 0-0 with a 7.36 ERA, a 1.64 WHIP, and three strikeouts in 3.2 innings. Today Blue Jays Manager John Schneider informed righty Bowden Francis that he would be in the Starting Rotation coming Opening Day as he will join Jose Berrios, Chris Bassitt, Yusei Kikuchi, and potentially Kevin Gausman depending on how his throwing on Monday goes.
Bowden Francis By The Numbers
This spring Francis has appeared in five games with four of them coming as starts he is 2-1 with a 3.38 ERA, a 1.02 WHIP, and 15 strikeouts in 18.2 innings. Last season, he appeared in 20 games with the Blue Jays going 1-0 with a 1.73 ERA, a 0.83 WHIP, and 35 strikeouts in 36.1 innings. He also pitched at Single-A Dunedin and Triple-A Buffalo last season appearing in 10 games with eight of them as starts going 0-2 with a 2.40 ERA, a 1.16 WHIP, and 45 strikeouts in 30 innings. He was originally drafted in the seventh round of the 2016 draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks but didn’t sign and would later be drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 2017 draft. He joined the Blue Jays by trade in 2021 when they traded Rowdy Tellez to Milwaukee for Francis and Trevor Richards. Francis has earned this opportunity and will likely be the number five starter meaning he’ll likely pitch on April 1st against the Houston Astros.
