Blue Jays pitcher Marcus Stroman to miss 2015 with ACL tear

Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Marcus Stroman will miss 2015 after suffering a torn left ACL, the team announced Tuesday.

The 23-year-old injured himself during pitchers' fielding practice, according to Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. The club will send Stroman for a second opinion, but the consensus is that he will miss the entire season, according to MLB.com's Gregor Chisholm. General manager Alex Anthopoulos said Stroman was "crushed" by the news.

Shortly after the announcement, Stroman tweeted the following:

After a promising rookie season, in which he posted a 3.65 ERA over 130 2/3 innings, Stroman was set to open the season in the team's rotation in 2015. In fact, many pegged him as a breakout candidate for 2015.

With Stroman sidelined, the club will look to fill his spot internally, says ESPN's Jim Bowden. Prospects Daniel Norris and Aaron Sanchez were already competing for the fifth spot in the team's rotation, and Anthopoulos also mentioned Marco Estrada as a possible option.

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The club acquired Estrada in a trade with the Brewers during the offseason. He's the more experienced option, but has home-run issues (i.e. he gives them up often), which may not play well in Toronto's small park.

Norris and Sanchez were ranked as the top two prospects in the organization coming into the year, according to Baseball America. Both players got a taste of the majors last season, but mostly pitched out of the bullpen.

After an aggressive offseason in which they acquired Josh Donaldson and signed Russell Martin, the Blue Jays emerged as a possible favorite to take the American League East crown. Without Stroman, that's going to be a lot harder to accomplish.

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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik