If you’ve heard about J.A. Happ of the Toronto Blue Jays being one of the strongest pitchers to open the baseball season, it’s true. Despite a nightmare performance against the Tampa Bay Rays at home on May 16th (a game I attended), in which he only lasted two innings and gave up eight earned runs, Happ had entered the game with a 2.05 ERA which was good for 4th best in the American League. The native of Peru, Ilinois has been everything the Toronto Blue Jays hoped for and more when they signed the southpaw in the off-season.
The Beginnings
To truly understand the transformation that James Anthony (J.A.) has made, you have to start with his first tenure with his current team. Prior to joining the Jays in 2012, Happ was a member of the Houston Astros. The Astros decided to trade the lefty in a package deal near the deadline that resulted in 10 players switching teams. The Jays avoided arbitration the following season and kept Happ at a reasonable one year deal. It was during that season he suffered a scary incident, when he took a hard hit ball from Desmond Jennings straight to the temple that caused him to be down for several minutes before being helped off the field. There was concern from both teams as an inch or two closer it could have been lights out. The incident put him on the 15-day disabled list with a skull fracture, and it was quite obvious that when he returned he was never truly 100 percent.
The year after that, he was traded from the Blue Jays to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for outfielder Michael Saunders. In 20 starts as a Mariner he had a 4.64 ERA and was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates at the trade deadline. Things were looking gloom for Happ, who was already on his fourth team in seven years. It was in Pittsburgh that Happ was able to flourish under the tutelage of pitching coach Ray Searage. Searage is highly regarded around baseball as one of the top pitching coaches, and in 2015, along with Happ, helped a Pirates pitching staff post the second-lowest ERA (3.21) in all of baseball, and the lowest mark by the Pirates since 1984. In 11 starts for Pittsburgh, Happ posted a 7–2 record, 1.85 ERA, and 69 strikeouts and he was pitching on a one year deal which meant that he was going to be making a lot of money in free agency.
Back in Toronto
The Blue Jays decided to not fork out the money on David Price and chose Happ instead. On November 27, 2015, The Blue Jays signed the southpaw to a three-year, $36 million contract, and Happ was returning north of the boarder for his second go-around. Few could have predicted what would come next. In the first two months of baseball, Happ has far outplayed Price and has been one of the best pitchers across the Major Leagues. Happ is second in Major League Baseball in quality starts with eight, only behind Clayton Kershaw who has nine. A huge reason for his success this season is that he has introduced a change-up into his arsenal that he credits teammate Marco Estrada for helping him.
There is no question that Happ has been steady to say the least this season, but the question still lingers in the back of everybody’s mind, is this J.A. Happ for real? The answer, at least quickly, is no. He is not a sub 2.00 ERA pitcher. His strikeout to walk ratio has returned to his relative career norm of 2.31, and his BABIP sits at .277. It would be insane to compare him to a Chris Sale or Jake Arrieta in Chicago or Kershaw in Los Angeles.
Happ’s most stellar start came against the San Francisco Giants, where he went 8 2/3 innings to shutout a tough NL lineup. However, as I mentioned, he has had blunders and I have been to one of them. The setback caused Happ’s ERA to jump to 3.43, but he still maintained a record of 5-2. He suffered his second loss of the season on May 21st against the Minnesota Twins, and despite that his stat line will show an L in the Win/Loss category, for most of the game he was flawless. He was locked in for the first seven innings, giving up just one hit while striking out five, before getting knocked out of the game in the eighth inning after giving up three runs and the lead.
After Happ’s first tenure with the Blue Jays from 2012 to 2014, it was impossible to envision him being a solid starting pitcher, let alone ever coming back across the boarder. However, this is a different type of pitcher than he was two years ago. The 33-year-old lefty is working quickly and efficiently, and came one out away from his first complete-game shutout in nearly six years, throwing eight-and-two-thirds scoreless against the Giants. Blue Jays manager John Gibbons can see the difference.
He’s a different cat now, he’s a pitcher now, he’s not a thrower, he thinks differently and is able to go deeper in games because he’s not trying to overpower anybody. He used to get a lot of foul balls, now he’s getting a lot of ground balls, which you’d hardly ever see before.
I have personally been to three of Happ’s starts. Two of them resulted in wins against the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers in which he was able to use his arsenal of pitches to get batters out one by one. He used to try to blow his fastball by batters, now he is not afraid to pitch to contact and is utilizing his two-seam fastball and cutter to get more ground balls. More importantly, he is commanding all of his pitches and throwing them with confidence. He has arguably been the best pitcher for the Blue Jays who are looking to make it back to the post-season after last year’s success. A big component for the Jays if they want to play in October is the starting rotation which has been solid this season for the most part. However, if Happ can maintain his strong start throughout the season, he should help the Blue Jays get back to the post-season and will have everyone in Toronto forgetting about David Price.
