Roden among Jays to make Opening Day roster; Barger to AAA
Published
Outfielders Alan Roden, Myles Straw and Nathan Lukes have all made the Opening Day roster, manager John Schneider told reporters Sunday morning via MLB.com's Keegan Matheson.
Addison Barger will open the season in Triple-A despite hitting .367 with a 1.162 OPS and three home runs in 15 spring games.
Roden, 25, tore the cover off the ball during spring training, entering Sunday's finale with a .423/.556/.731 OPS to go along with two home runs and six RBI in 19 games. The Creighton University product has yet to play a game at the Major League level.
Lukes, who has spent time with the big club in each of the previous two seasons, hit .206 across 16 spring games. Straw, acquired from the Cleveland Guardians in the off-season, hit .414 in 14 games.
All three players will provide outfield depth as centre fielder Daulton Varsho continues to recover from shoulder surgery and will begin the season on the injured list. Varsho got into games as a designated hitter this spring but did not play the field. Schneider said Saturday that Varsho will be in Toronto for Opening Day on Thursday to receive his Gold Glove but then head back to Florida to continue his recovery.
On the pitching side, Schneider said on the Blue Jays' broadcast Sunday that righty Jacob Barnes and left-hander Richard Lovelady have made the team, joining Yariel Rodriguez, Nick Sandlin, Brendon Little, Jeff Hoffman, Yimi Garcia and Chad Green as the Toronto bullpen to open the season.
Left-hander Ryan Yarbrough was granted his release and is now a free agent.
Right-hander Jose Berrios gets the ball Thursday afternoon for the Jays at Rogers Centre against the Baltimore Orioles.