TORONTO — The Toronto Blue Jays will feature two fresh faces in their lineup when they take on the Royals in Kansas City on Monday.
Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said Sunday that Sean Reid-Foley will make his Major League debut on the mound and he will be caught by Danny Jansen.
“I don’t know what to expect, to be honest with you,” said Gibbons of the right-hander’s first start.
“You never really do — he’ll be excited. Sometimes you can get too excited, but (I) didn’t know what to expect out of (Ryan) Borucki and look what he’s done. Debuts, those can be really good (or) really bad.”
Reid-Foley is the Blue Jays’ No. 10 prospect, according to MLB Pipeline. The 22-year-old, who was Toronto’s second-round pick (49th overall) in 2014, was 7-4 with a 3.50 ERA with 94 strikeouts over 82 1/3 innings with triple-A Buffalo.
In order to make room for Reid-Foley, who will be added to the 40-man roster on Monday, the Blue Jays will option Danny Barnes to the Bisons — Toronto’s minor-league affiliate.
Jansen, 23, was Toronto’s 16th round pick (475th overall) in 2013 and is rated by MLB Pipeline as the club’s No. 3 prospect. He was hitting .275 in 298 at-bats, and led Buffalo with 12 home runs and 58 RBI.
The six-foot-two, 225-pound catcher started alongside fellow Jays prospect Bo Bichette for Team USA in this year’s MLB Futures Game, with Jansen launching a game-tying, two-run homer in the fourth inning.
The Blue Jays placed third baseman Yangervis Solarte on the 10-day disabled list with a right oblique strain and recalled Jansen before Sunday’s series finale against the Tampa Bay Rays
“He’s going to play a lot,” said Gibbons.
“He’s here to play, otherwise it doesn’t do him any good to be here, so he knows the guys on the staff that he’s caught this year, so we’ll get a pretty good look at him.”