Eric Lauer decided not to hold back.
After the Blue Jays’ loss in Arizona on Friday night, the lefty pitcher made it clear he wasn’t happy with Toronto’s strategy against the Diamondbacks.
That strategy? Using an opener.
Instead of Lauer taking the mound to start the game like usual, the Blue Jays began with relief pitcher Braydon Fisher. Fisher threw one scoreless inning before Lauer came in for the next five frames.
Lauer allowed three runs, including a home run to Nolan Arenado, and took the loss. His ERA now sits at 7.13 for the season.
And he’s definitely not happy about the opener approach.
“To be real blunt, I hate it. I can’t stand it.”
Lauer went on to call starting pitchers “creatures of habit” and said it messes with his routine.
“Hopefully it’s not something that we will continue doing, but that’s above my pay grade,” Lauer added.
The Opener Strategy’s Growing Role
The opener has become a way for teams to navigate games differently – the top of an opposing lineup faces different arms rather than seeing the same pitcher multiple times through the order.
It’s probably not a big deal for the reliever who opens the game, although it’s still a bit different for them. It’s much more challenging for the starting pitcher who normally has a well-timed pregame routine and now has to figure things out in a new way while waiting for an unpredictable first inning to conclude.
What makes this interesting is that Lauer probably isn’t the only pitcher who doesn’t like the strategy. Most guys just don’t speak out about it this publicly.
The way I see it, Toronto’s struggling rotation means they’re going to keep experimenting with different approaches. Whether Lauer likes it or not might not factor into those decisions, especially with his current numbers.
