Danny Barnes' quiet contribution has been crucial for Blue Jays

One of the biggest reasons the Toronto Blue Jays have started rolling in recent weeks is a bullpen that has seemingly held opponents down every night.

Coming into Sunday’s action, the club has seen their relievers post a 2.51 ERA in May backed by a 11.19 K/9 and 2.48 FIP that suggest those results are well-earned. Roberto Osuna finding his groove has been a factor, but with Joe Biagini heading to the rotation perhaps no one has been more important to the group’s success than Danny Barnes.

Since returning to the team from Triple-A on May 1 Barnes has given his manager more innings than any other reliever (8.2), making four multi-frame appearances and allowing just two runs while striking out 10.

“He’s not overpowering, but he can locate the ball and he’s got a great feel,” manager John Gibbons says of the right-hander, who’s quickly becoming one of his favourites. “Shoot, since he’s been back he’s been on that shuttle [back and forth from Buffalo] a little bit, but you can’t deny how good he’s been.”

In a baseball climate where teams seem to covet big power arms more than ever before, Barnes is an easy guy to miss. He’s a compact 6’1″ 195 lbs. His fastball sits around 92 mph. He was drafted in the 35th round. But the way he sees it, not fitting the mold of the ideal flamethrower has been advantageous to his development.

“I feel like a lot of guys who throw hard, the whole minors they don’t really have to work on other stuff,” Barnes said before the final game of a four-game series against the Seattle Mariners. “But someone like me I’ve been working on the changeup and the slider my whole career and it’s helping me now. It’s different, but I can be just as effective with it.”

Having a true three-pitch mix is rare for a reliever and gives Barnes some interesting pitch sequencing options. Most two-pitch guys use the fastball to set up their big breaking ball, but the Blue Jays right-hander often works backwards using his slider and changeup to set up his fastball for strike three. Barnes has 27 strikeouts so far in his MLB career and 21 have come on the fastball.

“They just can’t sit on it because I’ll throw a little changeup in any count,” said the 27-year-old. “You just put a little doubt in the hitter’s mind and that’s enough to make them miss the ball.”

It’s unusual for a 92-93 mph heater to be a big strikeout pitch, but when hitters have two other offerings to contend with they can find themselves making a decision too late and failing to catch up to it – like Corey Dickerson of the Tampa Bay Rays did in a crucial bases-loaded spot on May 5.

The changeup is particularly tricky for opposing hitters because Barnes has a Marco Estrada-esque 12.48 mph gap between it and the fastball. If a hitter misidentifies the pitch early they can look very silly swinging through it, as former Blue Jays Danny Valencia did on Friday.

“Even in high school and college it was always my best offspeed pitch,” he said. “It wasn’t until last year that I really started to use it more. I’ll use it to righties and lefties and throw it all over the plate. The more I started to throw it the better I got.”

Barnes has been so successful crossing up hitters that in his 27 innings in the major leagues he has yet to concede a home run. He’s paired that with a healthy 22.6 percent infield fly ball rate – meaning the right-hander has done a stellar job preventing his opponents from squaring up on balls they hit in the air.

“A lot of times I’ll be in the top part of the zone or a little off outside or of in,” he said. “That just comes with command. Everybody makes mistakes, but that’s probably the reason I haven’t been crushed yet.”

For all his confidence in his command, Barnes concedes the thought that his homer-less streak might be over has crossed his mind more than once.

“There have been some close calls. Every fly ball they hit I think ‘that could be it'”, he said with a smile. “Then I turn around and it’s to the shortstop.”

With his ability to miss bats and keep balls in the park, Barnes has shown Gibbons that he can be relied on, and his heavy workload certainly demonstrates that he’s earned his manager’s trust.

“The more he pitches you see how good he is. When they first show up you have to see it over time,” Gibbons said. “Some guys can go out and they can look good a couple outings, but you want to see it over an extended period of time, and that’s just what Barnes has done.”

Despite his sterling performance so far, Barnes hold on his roster spot is slightly tenuous. Should Troy Tulowitzki return from the disabled list next week as planned, a reliever will be on the way to Buffalo. Osuna’s not going anywhere. Neither is Jason Grilli, Joe Smith or either of the two southpaws.

That means the team will have to send down one of Ryan Tepera, Dominic Leone or Barnes – all of whom have options. Gibbons hasn’t tipped his hat on a potential move, but he did joke that being a Princeton graduate could give Barnes a leg up.

“He’s an Ivy Leaguer, so he’s got that inside track going to same school as [Mark] Shapiro.”