Aaron Sanchez looks set to start after Blue Jays trade J.A. Happ

Aaron Sanchez had just as much to do with the Blue Jays trading left-hander J.A. Happ to the Mariners on Wednesday as Michael Saunders, the Canadian outfielder Toronto received in exchange for Happ.

With Happ around, Sanchez appeared destined to return to the relief role he held for the final two and a half months of 2014. The 22-year-old right-hander impressed in 24 appearances out of the bullpen, posting a 1.09 ERA and 2.80 FIP over 33 innings.

Now it looks like the Blue Jays are going to give Sanchez a shot to start.

"[The trade] certainly increased his odds [of being in the rotation]," said Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos. "But he’s still going to have to earn his spot right now, depending on what else we might do."

The chatter that Sanchez could be Toronto's closer in 2015 won't go away just yet though. The Blue Jays remain interested in adding starting pitchers and there are still a couple questions as to how Sanchez will do as a starter in the majors.

In the bullpen he was able to keep his walks down, only giving out free passes to 7.4% of the batters he faced, which was something he struggled with during his time in the minors. In 356 1/3 minor league innings his walk rate was 13.2%.

A big reason for the sudden decrease is that Sanchez doesn't have to rely on his secondary pitches close to as much as a reliever. 88% of his pitches last year were fastballs or sinkers. He'll need to use his curveball and changeup more often and more effectively when he faces hitters two or three times in the same game.

It's also worth noting that Sanchez's BABIP last season was an unsustainably low .157. That means that only 15% of the balls put in play against Sanchez fell for hits - league average is usually close to 30%.

Sanchez is a young pitcher with a ton of promise and even if he's a shutdown relief pitcher he can provide more value to Toronto as a starter. After Marcus Stroman experienced immediate success in the starting rotation in his rookie season, the Blue Jays are hoping Sanchez will be the next one to make the jump.

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